Workers Collection (#3)

Cotton Plantation
A Cotton Plantation in the South, USA 1890s. Painting by Herman Hubner. Date: 1890s

View of Tirpentwys Colliery, Pontypool, South Wales
View of Tirpentwys Colliery near Pontypool in South Wales

The Vaux Brewery in Sunderland - on the day that it was announced that the North East hotel was quitting its brewing and wholesaling business to concentrate on its Swallow Hotels

J. G. Graves Ltd. Enterprise Works, Sheffield, Yorkshire, c. 1900
Colourised from a black and white original. Original at Sheffield Libraries: y02810

The Great Docks Strike of 1912 - Scene at Grays, Essex
The Great Docks (Docker s) Strike of 1912 - Scene at a Demonstration at Grays, Essex. The pre-war era witnessed massive industrial unrest as dockers, transport workers

Ruins of Petworth boys school, 29th September 1942
Buildings after being bombed. Military personnel clearing rubble from bomb site. 29 September 1942. George Garland Collection West Sussex Record Office Ref No: Garland N21852

Welsh miner in coal mine pushing truck
A Welsh miner, stripped to the waist, pushing a truck in a coal mine

Harland & Wolff - promotional brochure
Harland and Wolff - extremely rare Harland & Wolff promotional brochure. This soft-bound volume includes company history and information

Pulling the Hops - Hop Pickers - West Malling, Kent. Date: 1938

Bridge workers board on 007, the Humber Bridge service bus, for the journey over the centre span of Humber Bridge from Hessle towards to Barton

Labour Union Poster - Great London Dock Strike
Labour Union Poster Commemorating the Great London Dock Strike of 1889. This industrial dispute involving dock workers in the Port of London broke out on 14 August 1889

Josephine Baker singing to British Factory Workers
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) singing to British Factory Workers for ENSA (The Entertainments National Service Association) in July 1951, her first visit to England since the end of WW2. Date: 1951

Woodkeepers cottages, Tregothnan, St Michael Penkivel, Cornwall. Probably early 1900s
Tregothnan has been home to the Boscawen family since 1334. The house was rebuilt by Edward Boscawen (1787-1841), fourth Viscount and First Earl of Falmouth, near the site of an older mansion

Workers at Sheffield Smelting Co. Ltd. Sheffield, Yorkshire, late 19th cent
From an original at Sheffield Libraries: s09119

Battery of Cornish stamps with engine man, miners and grass captain (or surface captain) in white, Wheal Sparnon
The area in the photograph is now covered by Clinton Road, Park Road and Albany Road, Redruth. According to the Ordnance Survey Six Inch map Cornwall LXIII

Staff from Schonhuts butchery factory, Rawmarsh, South Yorkshire, 1955. Artist
Staff from Schonhuts butchery factory, Rawmarsh, South Yorkshire, 1955. In this photograph, Mr George Schonhut can be seen on the far left of the group

James Nasmyths steam hammer erected in his foundry near Manchester in 1832. Artist: James Nasmyth
James Nasmyths steam hammer erected in his foundry near Manchester in 1832. The steam hammer was invented by the Scottish engineer and inventor James Nasmyth (1808-1890)

The condensers at the South Metropolitan Gas Companys works, East Greenwich, London, 1891. Wood engraving

WW1 - Home Front - The Queens Work for Women Fund
After the outbreak of WW1, many women in the textile and clothing industry had lost their jobs as export markets closed, posing a direct threat to their job prospects

Communist China - training barefoot doctors
Communist China - a military doctor trains three young women as so-called barefoot doctors, usually village-based farm workers trained in primary health care and basic hygiene, including acupuncture

Clamping Turf in a Fermanagh Peat Bog - a view of a group of workers stacking turf into piles over the peat bog. (Location: Northern Ireland; County Fermanagh). Date: circa early 1900s

Cutting the Turf in a Co. Derry Peat Bog - a view of a group of workers cutting turf from a face. There are two turf barrows being used. (Location: Northern Ireland; County Antrim)

Mrs A. E. Grant (Bettine Stuart-Wortley) as a nurse, WW1
Mrs A. E. Grant, the former Bettine Stuart-Wortley, pictured around the time of her marriage in nursing uniform as she was doing war work at a hospital in Cavendish Square, London

London Life - The Busy Docks of the Port of London Date: circa 1940

Working shaft in the Kilsby Tunnel 8 July 1937 The tunnel is located near the village of Kilsby in Northamptonshire and opened in 1838 as a part of the London and Birmingham Railway

Hop picking at Maplescombe Farm, Farningham, Kent. 1938

Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead BL22201_003
Cammell Laird & Co shipyard, Birkenhead. Interior view showing men working in the ship shed. One of a series of photographs of Cammell Laird works. Bedford Lemere. June 1913

Construction of St Pancras Station, London, c 1867
Travelling Gantry and First Girder of Midland Station St Pancras. This station was completed in 1868, as the London terminus for the Midland Railway. The station was designed by William Barlow

French poster for the Socialist Party (SFIO)
A French poster for the Socialist Party SFIO (French Section of the Workers International), showing men who have fought in the First World War facing up to a degenerate capitalist kneeling down to

Cornish tin mining, 19th century
Cornish tin mining, 19th-century artwork. Miners working in a shaft in a tin mine in Cornwall, UK. Many such excavations were near the coast and extended out under the sea for nearly a kilometre

An old Kikuyu lady picks coffee Taken in the 1960 s, this photograph depicts a traditional form of dress and ear ornaments among Kikuyu women, which has completely disappeared

Armstrongs Elswick Works, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 1900
Mitchell and Kenyon 35 Armstrongs Elswick Works Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 1900

Beaming Deartment at Regent Cotton Mill owned by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation Limited, in Failsworth, Manchester, Circa 1935. The mill opened in 1906, closing 1958

Crowd outside the closed East India Dock Gates, Poplar, London, 1897. Men wait, locked out of the East India Docks, probably during a strike in which the dock workers demanded fair pay

Printing the Daily Telegraph newspaper, London, c1900 (1903). From Living London, Vol. II, by George R. Sims. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris, New York & Melbourne, 1903]

The Engineer, 1867. The workman is using a file on an engine part held in a vice. Engineers made and maintained the steam engines and machinery used in manufacturing and transport

Trade union. Manifest published by the World Congress in London
Trade union. Emerged from the development of the Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth century in Great Britain. Manifest published by the World Congress in London. 1896

Gandhi in England 1931
MAHATMA GANDHI with enthusiastically supportive factory workers in Lancashire, 1931. Date: 1869 - 1948

WW1 - Pekin Camp, Camp for Chinese Labour Corps, Mont Kemmel
WW1 - Pekin Camp - Camp for The Chinese Labour Corps on the Western Front. The camp was near The Kemmelberg (also known as Kemmel Hill or Mont Kemmel), Heuvelland, West Flanders, Belgium

The tea boys at Lloyd Loom. 1938

Women hop pickers in Beltring, Kent. Each worker has a gas mask over their shoulder in box in case of a gas attack. 1939

The R34 airship being walked out by the workers of the Beardmore factory at Inchinnan

Four crew members enjoying a break, 1950
Four crew members of an engineers train enjoy a break near Glenfinnan on the West Highland extension line between Fort William and Mallaig, 13 August 1950

Blitz in London -- rescue workers in bombed street, WW2
Blitz in London -- rescue teams and building workers (not firefighters) searching and making safe houses in Sydney Street, East London, after a bombing raid in the East End

19th-century gold mining, Australia. Artwork of Chinese workers excavating and washing gold ores at a gold mine in Australia

Great Crane at Woolwich Arsenal, south east London
The Great Crane at the Arsenal, Woolwich, south east London, used to lift sections of large guns

Poster depicting Colombo, Ceylon
Poster for the Empire Marketing Board, depicting dock workers loading and unloading cargo at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Thailand farmers rice planting and grow rice in the rainy season. Chanwit Whanset

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"Workers: The Backbone of Nations, United by Labor" From the bustling streets of China during the Cultural Revolution to the coal miners in South Wales and Cornwall, they have always played a vital role in shaping societies. In Chairman Mao's China, a powerful cultural revolution poster depicted workers as heroes, inspiring unity and progress. Meanwhile, deep underground in shaft lifts and at Geevor Tin Mine, Pendeen and South Wales coal mines, brave miners risked their lives daily to fuel industrial growth. The Workers May-Pole design showcased solidarity among laborers striving for socialist ideals. In 1910 Britain, even political parties recognized the importance with colorful posters appealing for support. Swindon witnessed the dedication of builders constructing diesel locomotives while LNER promoted North East Coast Exhibition through an artistic poster celebrating hardworking individuals. Artists like Harold Harvey captured scenes from clay pits in Cornwall - be it Polkanuggo Quarry or Leswidden - highlighting arduous work that sustained local economies. Soviet propaganda also exalted workers' contributions under the sun of the motherland. Boris Parmeev's iconic poster from 1970s USSR symbolized strength gained through collective effort. Across continents and eras, these glimpses into worker's lives remind us that they are not just cogs within a system but essential pillars upon which nations stand tall. Their unwavering determination fuels progress and shapes our shared future.