1890s

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Nuremberg, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Nuremberg, Germany (1890s)

After the Thirty Years’ War, Nuremberg attempted to remain detached from external affairs, but contributions were demanded for the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War and restrictions of imports and exports deprived the city of many markets for its manufactures. The Bavarian elector, Charles Theodore, appropriated part of the land obtained by the city during the…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Lucerne, Switzerland (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Lucerne, Switzerland (1890s)

It was during the latter part of the 19th century that Lucerne became a popular destination for artists, royalty and others to escape to. The German composer Richard Wagner established a residence at Tribschen in 1866 from which he lived and worked. The city was then boosted by a visit by Queen Victoria to the city in 1868, during which…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of the Isle of Rugen, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of the Isle of Rugen, Germany (1890s)

After the death of the last Slav prince, Wizlaw III, in 1325, the principality was acquired by Pomerania-Wolgast as a consequence of the 1321 inheritance agreement (Erbverbrüderung), and from 1368/72–1451 was part of the estate of a branch line, the House of Barth. This state of affairs, together with the disputes over the Danish throne that occurred at that time,…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Towns in Wales (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Towns in Wales (1890s)

Prior to the industrial revolution in Wales there were small-scale industries scattered throughout Wales. These ranged from those connected to agriculture, such as milling and the manufacture of woollen textiles, through to mining and quarrying. Agriculture remained the dominant source of wealth. The emerging industrial period saw the development of copper smelting in the Swansea area. With access to local…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Edinburgh, Scotland (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Edinburgh, Scotland (1890s)

Despite an enduring myth to the contrary, Edinburgh became an industrial centre with its traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in the 19th century and joined by new industries such as rubber works, engineering works and others. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland’s largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), Germany (1890s)

In 1772, in the First Partition of Poland, the town was acquired by the Kingdom of Prussia as Bromberg and incorporated into the Netze District in the newly established province of West Prussia. At the time, the town was seriously depressed and semi-derelict. Under Frederick the Great the town revived, notably with the construction of a canal from Bromberg to…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of the Riesengebirge, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of the Riesengebirge, Germany (1890s)

The modern names of Krkonoše (Czech), Riesengebirge (German) and Karkonosze (Polish) became widely accepted only in the 19th century. The range is also often referred to in English as the “Giant Mountains”. The Czech name “Krkonoše” is first mentioned (in the singular, as “Krkonoš”) in a 1492 record of the division of the Manor of Štěpanice into two parts. The…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Westphalia, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Westphalia, Germany (1890s)

After the defeat of the Prussian Army by the French at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt, the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 made the easternmost portion of today’s Westphalia part of the French client Kingdom of Westphalia until 1813, when the kingdom was dissolved by the Russians. While this state shared its name with the historical region, it only contained a…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of County Dublin, Ireland (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of County Dublin, Ireland (1890s)

Despite harsh penal laws and unfavourable trade restrictions imposed upon Ireland, Dublin flourished in the 18th century. The Georgian buildings which still define much of Dublin’s architectural landscape to this day were mostly built over a 50-year period spanning from about 1750 to 1800. Bodies such as the Wide Streets Commission completely reshaped the city, demolishing most of medieval Dublin…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bath, England (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bath, England (1890s)

In the early 18th century, Bath acquired its first purpose-built theatre, the Old Orchard Street Theatre. It was rebuilt as the Theatre Royal, along with the Grand Pump Room attached to the Roman Baths and assembly rooms. Master of ceremonies Beau Nash, who presided over the city’s social life from 1705 until his death in 1761, drew up a code…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Pomerania, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Pomerania, Germany (1890s)

Prussia gained the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania in 1720, invaded and annexed Pomerelia from Poland in 1772 and 1793, and gained the remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars. The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the former Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania, while Pomerelia was made part of the Province of West…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Towns in Bavaria, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Towns in Bavaria, Germany (1890s)

When Bavaria became part of the newly formed German Empire, this action was considered controversial by Bavarian nationalists who had wanted to retain independence from the rest of Germany, as had Austria. As Bavaria had a heavily Catholic majority population, many people resented being ruled by the mostly Protestant northerners of Prussia. As a direct result of the Bavarian-Prussian feud,…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Blackpool, England (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Blackpool, England (1890s)

The most significant event in the early growth of the town occurred in 1846, with the completion of a branch line to Blackpool from Poulton on the main Preston and Wyre Joint Railway line from Preston to Fleetwood. Fleetwood declined as a resort, as its founder and principal financial backer, Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, went bankrupt. In contrast, Blackpool boomed. A sudden…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland (1890s)

Lake Lucerne is singularly irregular and appears to lie in four different valleys, all related to the conformation of the adjoining mountains. The central portion of the lake lies in two parallel valleys whose direction is from west to east, the one lying north, the other south of the ridge of the Bürgenstock. These are connected through a narrow strait,…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Thuringia, Germany (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Thuringia, Germany (1890s)

The modern German black-red-gold tricolour flag’s first appearance anywhere in a German-ethnicity sovereign state, within what today comprises Germany, occurred in 1778 as the state flag of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, a defunct principality in the modern state’s borders. Some reordering of the Thuringian states occurred during the German Mediatisation from 1795 to 1814, and the territory was included within…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of County Cork, Ireland (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of County Cork, Ireland (1890s)

In the early 17th century, the townland of Leamcon (near Schull) was a pirate stronghold, and pirates traded easily in Baltimore and Whiddy Island. In the 19th century, Cork was a centre for the Fenians and for the constitutional nationalism of the Irish Parliamentary Party, from 1910 that of the All-for-Ireland Party. The county was a hotbed of guerrilla activity…
Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bernese Oberland, Switzerland (1890s)

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bernese Oberland, Switzerland (1890s)

In 1729, Albrecht von Haller published the poem Die Alpen about his travels through the alpine regions. This combined with other reports and alpine paintings started the tourism industry in the Bernese Oberland. By 1800 there were resorts on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz (especially at Interlaken between the two lakes). Shortly thereafter the resorts expanded into the alpine valleys…
Vintage: Interiors of North German Lloyd ships (1890s)

Vintage: Interiors of North German Lloyd ships (1890s)

The German shipping company North German Lloyd (NDL) was founded by the Bremen merchants Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann on 20 February 1857, after the dissolution of the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, a joint German-American enterprise. The new shipping company had no association with the British maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register; in the mid-19th century, “Lloyd” was used as…