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Philip Mernick Photographic Postcard Collection Guide

Explore an amazing range of vintage postcards of Tower Hamlets and its people. Search item catalogue descriptions and access scanned digital copies in our Reading Room. No digital versions are available online.

The originals are in the collection of Philip Mernick of the East London History Society. We would like to thank Philip Mernick for allowing us to provide onsite access to scanned digital copies.

The postcard images depict views across Tower Hamlets, including:

  • street scenes
  • churches, hospitals, schools, public houses and other key buildings
  • markets
  • parks
  • riverside scenes
  • portraits of people and commemorative events

Most date from 1890s-1910s and feature black and white photographs, some hand tinted. Some are in colour dating from 1900s-1960s.

They can be useful for:

  • illustrating research from trade directories and maps of the period
  • showing street scenes and open spaces which have since changed or no longer exist
  • providing images of notable members of the community not elsewhere in our collections
  • showing exterior and interior views of buildings long since demolished
  • providing ‘local flavour’ for novelists/family historians, showing the clothing and fashions of the time
  • insights into local life from handwritten messages. These sometimes relate to the image on the postcard

The images are in 6 numbered albums under the collection ‘Photographic postcards collected by Philip Mernick’.

Search the whole collection by typing ‘PM/*’ in the “Reference number” field of the Advanced Search page.

Individual albums can be called up by adding ‘Album 1’ in the “Any Text” field. You can also use your choice of search term in the “Any text” field.

Beneath the album level, individual postcards are listed as files and items.

Each file contains the digital item scans of both sides of the postcard. Usually

  • item 1 is the back of the postcard with address and message
  • item 2 is the front or image side.
  • This is not always the case in Album 1 - please check item descriptions.

The backs of the postcards are often blank. These are noted as “unused”. Others have messages and notations of interest. These are usually also noted in the catalogue description for the back of the card.

Item level descriptions often feature more details of places of interest that can be seen in, but are not the subject of, the picture.

For example, a search “St Dunstan” in the ‘Any text’ field will bring up around 90 results. One entry of a postcard will appear as follows:

File level description:

  • PM/2/368: Stepney Church, c. 1910: Digitally scanned image of postcard showing a view of St Dunstan and All Saints Church, Stepney

Item level descriptions:

  • PM/2/368/1: Stepney Church, c. 1910: Digitally scanned image of back of postcard showing a view of St Dunstan and All Saints Church, published by Charles Martin, 39 Aldermanbury, London E.C., unused

  • PM/2/368/2: Stepney Church, c. 1910: Digitally scanned image of front of postcard showing a view of St Dunstan and All Saints Church, walkway and garden, with Stepney Meeting House spire visible in the background, captioned 'Stepney Church'.

Postcards are often arranged by Philip Mernick to form series of related cards.

These are searchable in the catalogue. Search PM* in the ‘Reference Number’ field.

Add subject keywords in the ‘Any Text’ field. For example: Sidney*, Hospital* or Market*.

Examples:

  • The Siege of Sidney Street, 1911. Also known as the Battle of Stepney, was a gunfight between the police and army, and two revolutionaries. See Album 3, PM/3/386/1 – PM/3/411/2
  • The London Hospital c. 1900s – 1930s, see Album 2, PM/2/70/1 – PM/2/338/2
  • Petticoat Lane market (mostly early 20th century), see Album 3, PM/3/412/1 – PM/3/516/2

Many were produced by local printers such as M & A Roberts at 293 Mile End Road. Often they were taken by local photographers such as H. Harrison of Roman Road, Bow or William Whiffin of Poplar.

Some cards were published as part of a series, but most are single postcards. Many postcards were popular - often the same image was used by different publishers,

Postcards were often used years after their original publication date. Dating by time of use rather than date of publication was used during cataloguing.

Dates usually reflect the postmark where legible or date of issue of the stamp used. Where no date is apparent, the year is estimated and preceded by circa (c.)

Digital images of the postcards are in folders matching the original albums. These are arranged by borough, parish, street, and sometimes building type. This reflects their original order in the albums. Some categories spill over into different folders.

Examples of contents:

Album 1: PM/1/1/1 to PM/1/272/2: Bow, Poplar, Mile End, and Stepney

Dates: 1900s - 1931

  • Harley College, Tredegar House, Coborn School, Coopers' School (Boys), Bow, Malmesbury Road Schools, Bow, East London College, Peoples Palace, Queen Mary College, University of London
  • Bow and Bromley Institute, Bow Bridge, Bow Public Baths and Library, Roman Road, Vestry Hall, Mile End, City of London Infirmary, Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum, St. Mary's Training Home for Girls
  • St Stephen’s Church, Bow, Holy Trinity Church, Bow, Holy Trinity Church, Stepney, Bow Baptist Chapel, St. Michael's Church, Poplar, Bromley Church, Harley Street Congregational Church, East London Tabernacle, St. Paul's Church, Burdett Road, Church of "The Holy Name", Bow Common, St. Luke's Church, Burdett Road, Church of the Guardian Angels, St. Benet's Vicarage, Convent of Marie Auxiliatrice
  • Mile End Road, Grove Road, Burdett Road, Carlton Square Gardens, Grafton Street, Roman Road and Green Street, Bow Road, Addington Road, Cottage Grove, Bow, Malmesbury Road, Coborn Road, Campbell Road, Tomlins Grove

Album 2: PM/2/1/1/ to PM/2/396/2: Mile End & Stepney

Dates: c. 1890s - 1922

  • Mile End Workhouse; The London Hospital (many images of wards, departments and grounds), PM/2/70/1 – PM/2/338/2
  • Stepney churches: St Peter’s Mile End, St. Mary’s Whitechapel, St. Faith’s Stepney, St Dunstan's (also some portraits of members of the clergy and their families), Monastery and Church St. Anne's Underwood Street, Whitechapel Primitive Methodist Mission, Mile End Salvation Army Brigade
  • The Vine Tavern, Mann, Crossman and Paulin Limited Brewers, Whitechapel Road, The Blind Beggar, Mile End Waste, The Olde King Harry Public House
  • The Great Assembly Hall, Mile End, Wickham's Premises, Trinity Almshouses, London Eastern District Office post office, King Edward Statue, Whitechapel, Mildmay Mission Central Hall, Green Coat School, Stepney

Album 3: PM/3/1/1 to PM/3/543/2: Poplar, Blackwall, Cubitt Town and Millwall, Limehouse, Stepney, Petticoat Lane

Dates: 1900 – 1966

  • Poplar and Limehouse churches: St Anne’s, St Frideswide’s, All Hallow’s Church, Christ Church, St Saviour’s, All Saints, Trinity Congregational Church, St Stephen’s, St Mary and Joseph Presbytery and Church, St Matthias', Poplar Methodist Church, St. Mary's and St. Michael's, Swedish Lutheran Church, Princes Square, Polish Catholic Church, Shadwell, St Peter's London Docks
  • The Railway Tavern (Charlie Brown’s) public house, Riverside pubs (Prospect of Whitby, Town of Ramsgate), The Blue Posts, Limehouse
  • Dr Barnardo’s Home for Children (including portraits of Dr Barnardo, staff and children)
  • The Mission to Seamen Institute, The Scandinavian Sailors' Temperance Home, various scenes of The Poplar Hospital, The Strangers' Home, East End Mothers' Lying-in Home, Her Majesty's Hospital for Sick Children, Stepney Causeway
  • Oban Street School, George Green’s Schools, St John's Schools, Wapping, Raine's Foundation School
  • Chrisp St Market, London County Council School of Marine Engineering, The Hippodrome Theatre, Poplar and Millwall railway stations, Howrah House Convent, Poplar Town Hall, Poplar Recreation Ground, The Town Hall, Limehouse, Watney Market, Wapping Pier Head, Blackwall Tunnel and Pier, East and West India Docks, Millwall Dock, Island Gardens,
  • Manchester Road, East India Dock Road, Poplar High Street, Limehouse Broadway, Ratcliff Highway, St George's Street,

This album also includes themed series for

  • The Siege of Sidney Street, PM/3/386/1 – PM/3/411/2
  • Petticoat Lane Market, PM/3/412/1 – PM/3/516/2

Album 4: PM/4/1/1 – PM/4/338/2: Bethnal Green & Victoria Park

Dates: c. 1900 – 1920s

  • Churches and places of non-conformist worship: St Jude’s, St James the Less, St James the Great, Our Lady of The Assumption, St Augustine’s, Pott St Congregational church, St John’s Cambridge Rd, St Mark’s Victoria Park
  • Views of Victoria Park, including Grove Road, Molesworth Gate, Boating Lake, The Queen’s Hotel, Victoria Park Lodge, Bonner Gate, Canal Bridge, Approach Road, Old Bathing Lake, The Pagoda, Burdett-Coutts fountain
  • Children’s Hospital Hackney Road, London Chest Hospital, Mildmay Mission Hospital, Bethnal Green Military Hospital, City of London Chest Hospital, The Children’s Hospital Hackney Rd, The French Protestant Hospital Victoria Park
  • Columbia Market, St Margaret’s House, Bethnal Green Town Hall, Bethnal Green Library, Oxford House, Salmon and Ball public house, Bonner Road Children’s Home, The Boundary Estate, Arnold Circus, Parmiter’s Foundation Schools, The Bethnal Green Estate

Album 5: PM/5/1/1 – PM/5/266/2: Miscellaneous East End postcards

Dates: c. 1902 – 1960s

  • The Lithuanian Church, Hackney Road, St Paul’s Shadwell, Alpha Road Wesleyan Chapel, St. Mary's and St. Michael's Church, St. Casimir's Lithuanian Church, church processions
  • Roland House Scout Settlement, The Royal Mint, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, King Edward Statue Whitechapel Road, Marner St. School War Memorial
  • Local sporting teams, East London College sports teams, community brass bands, outings, East London Scout Rally in Victoria Park, images and portraits of workers of various professions, wartime entertainment troupes
  • Local industries: shops and public houses, advertisements and promotional postcards
  • North London Line railway, and London, Midland and Scottish locomotives
  • Peace Day 1919 street gatherings to mark the end of the First World War, victory dinners, Borough of Stepney Nature Study Museum, Culloden Street and Wilmot Street School class portraits
  • Postcards for places outside Tower Hamlets: Newham, Hackney, Tottenham and Deptford

Album 6: PM/6/1/1 – PM/6/1/2: Loose postcard outside of the 5 albums

Date: 1906

  • Postcard featuring the old Bethnal Green Town Hall