Leonard Bentley
Victoria Embankment
This is a Charles Martin postcard printed and colourised in Germany and dates from about 1903 although the photograph is a little earlier. The postcard shows the view from Charing Cross Pier looking downstream and includes Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle and Somerset House. It also shows a Thames Division rowing galley crewed by an Inspector and two police constables probably from the nearby floating Police Station at Waterloo Pier. Rowing Galleys were used by Thames Division from 1839 when the Marine Force was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Police to become Thames Division until 1905. After the Princess Alice disaster in 1878 the inquest into the 600 people who were killed recommended that the Thames Division be equipped with steam launches. By 1898 eight steam launches supplemented the Rowing Galleys and by 1910 motor launches replaced the steam launches.
Victoria Embankment
This is a Charles Martin postcard printed and colourised in Germany and dates from about 1903 although the photograph is a little earlier. The postcard shows the view from Charing Cross Pier looking downstream and includes Victoria Embankment, Cleopatra's Needle and Somerset House. It also shows a Thames Division rowing galley crewed by an Inspector and two police constables probably from the nearby floating Police Station at Waterloo Pier. Rowing Galleys were used by Thames Division from 1839 when the Marine Force was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Police to become Thames Division until 1905. After the Princess Alice disaster in 1878 the inquest into the 600 people who were killed recommended that the Thames Division be equipped with steam launches. By 1898 eight steam launches supplemented the Rowing Galleys and by 1910 motor launches replaced the steam launches.