Boats moored at Tower Bridge, 1890s.

A photograph by Colonel Joseph Gale (c 1835-1906) of boats on the River Thames, London. The picture was taken between 1881 and 1894 during which time Tower Bridge was being built, (scaffolding is visible on the towers). This image indicates something of the trade carried out on the River Thames at the turn of the nineteenth century. These boats are moored almost beneath Tower Bridge.  Joseph Gale specialised in naturalistic photographs of rural life and figures in landscapes. He was one of the first members of the Linked Ring Brotherhood and was also a member of the Royal Photographic Society.  From the Kodak at the National Science & Media Museum. This collection of photographs, equipment and printed material tracing the history of photography, was assembled by Kodak Limited and acquired from them in the mid-1980s. As well as approximately 200,000 photographs, the Collection includes nearly 10,000 items of photographic and cinematic equipment as well as books and printed ephemera. The Collection is especially strong in the area of popular photography. It includes examples of most of the products made by Kodak Limited and thousands of snapshots, dating back to the 1880s. It also contains work by known photographers such as Frank Meadow Sutcliffe and Paul Martin.