Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project

Today’s collection was gratefully received from an anonymous collector who claims to be a relative of the photographer. We have good reason to believe that the location of these photographs was Skegness around 1890. The only clue we have for this is those background buildings in photograph #5 which matches other photographs of Skegness around the same time.

In Victorian England, visiting the beach for an afternoon was the historical equivalent of a month vacation in the Algarve. Families, lovers and friends would painstakingly plan weeks, sometimes months, in advance how they might spend their limited time together. They’d also pray every night that the rain would stay away because, if it didn’t, they would usually have to cancel and then wait several more months before they could ask superiors for another summer holiday afternoon.

Typically we have no information on these subjects. However, we are able to provide some comments of interest.

We know that photograph #1 is a beachside seafood vendor although seafood and vendor is a bit of a stretch. We can see that he is primarily in the trade of selling pebbles and shells which would have served as cherished albeit expensive souvenirs for his customers and their families even though anyone could have found these items for free right under their noses.

The buckets of slop are likely to contain mussels mixed with sheep offal which has the appearance of seafood but none of the taste. This concoction was seasoned with sea salt and vinegar. Normally you also had the option of paying double for a squeeze of lemon or a dribble of gin to mask the appalling taste and to prevent your loved ones from vomiting at the beach which could result in heavy fines. A splash of lemon or gin allowed people to delay being sick for free once they were back home.

Photograph #2 appears to be a homemade postcard by the photographer. However, we don’t have any evidence for this other than pointing to the flying fish. On the contrary, photograph #3 and photograph #6 are not homemade postcards. Back in the late 19th century seahorses were trained alongside donkeys and large birds to carry passengers across beaches or to go ‘horsing around’.

We are still researching photograph #4 and photograph #5, but wanted to include them here for posterity. We expect to have more information on them in the coming months. In the meantime feel free to come up with your own backstories.

Regards

TVUP