Vintage: B&W Photos of Scotland from between the 1840s and 1880s

Vintage: B&W Photos of Scotland from between the 1840s and 1880s

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

In 19th century Glasgow became one of the largest cities in the world, and known as “the Second City of the Empire” after London. After 1860 the Clydeside shipyards specialised in steamships made of iron (after 1870, made of steel), which rapidly replaced the wooden sailing vessels of both the merchant fleets and the battle fleets of the world. It became the world’s pre-eminent shipbuilding centre. The industrial developments, while they brought work and wealth, were so rapid that housing, town-planning, and provision for public health did not keep pace with them, and for a time living conditions in some of the towns and cities were notoriously bad, with overcrowding, high infant mortality, and growing rates of tuberculosis.

Tolbooth and Canongate, Edinburgh, ca. 1870s

Tolbooth and Canongate, Edinburgh, ca. 1870s

Jamaica Street, Glasgow, ca. 1880s

Jamaica Street, Glasgow, ca. 1880s

Trongate from Tron Steeple, Glasgow, 1868-71

Trongate from Tron Steeple, Glasgow, 1868-71

Leith Pier in Edinburgh, 1870

Leith Pier in Edinburgh, 1870

William Ewart Gladstoneat the Edinburgh Exhibition, 1884

William Ewart Gladstoneat the Edinburgh Exhibition, 1884

Monument in Glasgow Necropolis, 1852

Monument in Glasgow Necropolis, 1852

Old Town Edinburgh from the Calton Hill, ca. 1870s

Old Town Edinburgh from the Calton Hill, ca. 1870s

Princes Street, the Scott Monument and the Royal Institution, Edinburgh, 1858

Princes Street, the Scott Monument and the Royal Institution, Edinburgh, 1858

Interior of the Drawing Room, Mar Lodge, 1863

Interior of the Drawing Room, Mar Lodge, 1863

Rosslyn Chapel Apprentice Pillar, Edinburgh, 1860

Rosslyn Chapel Apprentice Pillar, Edinburgh, 1860

Saltmarket from Bridgegate, Glasgow, 1868-71

Saltmarket from Bridgegate, Glasgow, 1868-71

Skating, St Margaret's Loch, Edinburgh, ca. 1870s

Skating, St Margaret’s Loch, Edinburgh, ca. 1870s

St Cuthbert's Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, 1882

St Cuthbert’s Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, 1882

The Cowgate arch of George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, 1860

The Cowgate arch of George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, 1860

Glasgow Exhibition, 1888

Glasgow Exhibition, 1888

via National Galleries of Scotland Commons


MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025