Leonard Bentley
Charing Cross Pier
This is a "Real Photograph" published by Boots Cash Chemists in their "Pelham" series but was originally a Valentine & Co photograph. It dates from about 1904 and shows the view from Hungerford Bridge looking downstream which includes the Hotel Cecil, Savoy Hotel, the Medical Examination Hall, Somerset House and Cleoptra's Needle. There are two paddle steamers moored alongside Charing Cross Pier, the "Kaiser" at the rear and I believe one of her sisters, either "The Shah" or "H.M. Stanley" but by this time "The Shah" had been renamed "Penelope" and "H.M. Stanley" had been renamed "Portia". Both boats are wearing the livery of the Thames Steamboat Company although they were originally built for the River Thames Steamboat Company in 1889 by the Samuda Bros at Poplar. The "Kaiser" continued in service on the Thames until 1909 without a name change.
Charing Cross Pier
This is a "Real Photograph" published by Boots Cash Chemists in their "Pelham" series but was originally a Valentine & Co photograph. It dates from about 1904 and shows the view from Hungerford Bridge looking downstream which includes the Hotel Cecil, Savoy Hotel, the Medical Examination Hall, Somerset House and Cleoptra's Needle. There are two paddle steamers moored alongside Charing Cross Pier, the "Kaiser" at the rear and I believe one of her sisters, either "The Shah" or "H.M. Stanley" but by this time "The Shah" had been renamed "Penelope" and "H.M. Stanley" had been renamed "Portia". Both boats are wearing the livery of the Thames Steamboat Company although they were originally built for the River Thames Steamboat Company in 1889 by the Samuda Bros at Poplar. The "Kaiser" continued in service on the Thames until 1909 without a name change.