Historical east London photos published

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

In 2009, anonymous London blogger The Gentle Author set out to write 10,000 stories about the East End's Spitalfields at a rate of one a day.

He has now published The Gentle Author's London Album, a compilation of more than 600 previously unpublished photos showing a century of east London life.

Archivist Stefan Dickers discovered the slides at the Bishopsgate Institute and highlighted them to the Gentle Author.

They include images of Tower Bridge under construction in the 1890s and a funeral effigy of Charles II on display at Westminster Abbey in the 1910s.

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All copyrights acknowledged. Photos courtesy of Bishopsgate Institute, Spitalfields Life, Jeremy Freedman, Bob Mazzer and Colin O'Brien.

Slideshow production by Andy Dangerfield. 

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