Leonard Bentley
Lambeth Palace
This is a F.C. Morgan & Co postcard showing the view from Lambeth Suspension bridge looking east towards Lambeth Palace on the south bank of the River Thames. Moored at Lambeth Pier is the “Empress Frederick” which is in the livery of the Victoria Steamboat Association. The boat was one of very few which the VSA ordered during their six-year tenure on the Thames. It was built in 1891 by the Samuda Bros at Poplar, the design was based on three boats built by that company in 1889 for the River Thames Steamboat Company, they were “The Shah”, “Kaiser” and “H.M. Stanley”. The “Empress Frederick’s” sister boat was named “Bismarck”, later renamed “Phyllis”. The human Empress Frederick was Queen Victoria’s oldest daughter, Princess Victoria who married the heir to the Prussian throne in 1858. When her husband became Frederick III in 1888, she became Kaiserin Friedrich, translated as Empress Frederick. Frederick III was suffering from a terminal illness when he ascended the throne and lasted a further ninety-nine days until his death. The Empress’s oldest son became Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany and later known as Kaiser Bill. During the 1890s the Empress made many visits to the UK to visit her mother, they both died in 1901 about six months apart. The boat was taken out of service in 1911.
Lambeth Palace
This is a F.C. Morgan & Co postcard showing the view from Lambeth Suspension bridge looking east towards Lambeth Palace on the south bank of the River Thames. Moored at Lambeth Pier is the “Empress Frederick” which is in the livery of the Victoria Steamboat Association. The boat was one of very few which the VSA ordered during their six-year tenure on the Thames. It was built in 1891 by the Samuda Bros at Poplar, the design was based on three boats built by that company in 1889 for the River Thames Steamboat Company, they were “The Shah”, “Kaiser” and “H.M. Stanley”. The “Empress Frederick’s” sister boat was named “Bismarck”, later renamed “Phyllis”. The human Empress Frederick was Queen Victoria’s oldest daughter, Princess Victoria who married the heir to the Prussian throne in 1858. When her husband became Frederick III in 1888, she became Kaiserin Friedrich, translated as Empress Frederick. Frederick III was suffering from a terminal illness when he ascended the throne and lasted a further ninety-nine days until his death. The Empress’s oldest son became Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany and later known as Kaiser Bill. During the 1890s the Empress made many visits to the UK to visit her mother, they both died in 1901 about six months apart. The boat was taken out of service in 1911.