Christmas special: Postcard Stockings galore! - Picture Postcard ...

Cheapside’s
postcard heritage
Sir Robert Peel, founder
of the Metropolitan
Police, keeps watch on
Cheapside on this Edwardian
postcard view. Peel
(1788-1850) was twice
Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom, and as
Home Secretary oversaw
the creation of the police
force as we know it
today. The statue, sculpted
by William Behnes,
was unveiled in 1852. It
was moved to Postman’s
Park (near St. Paul’s
Cathedral, on the site of
the original General Post
Office) in the 1930s, and
now stands at the Metropolitan
Police Training
Establishment at Hendon.
Many other statues
of Peel can be found
around England, including
ones in Parliament
Square, London, and
Peel Park, Bradford. A
number of pubs were
named after him, and
many other memorials
exist.
Cheapside itself was
originally the site of various
produce markets.
Charles Dickens rated it
“the greatest thoroughfare
in the City of London”,
though today it is
just one of several routes
from the East End and
City to the West End. It
was badly damaged by
German bombing in
1940. The detail in this
photograph is amazing,
with a procession of
horse-drawn buses and
carriages. It illustrates
perfectly why old
postcards, with their
often unique (though
not in this case!)
images, are so useful
and fascinating for
social, transport and
fashion historians.
The vantage point
used to create the
image of this scene
was a popular one for
postcard photographers.
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Picture Postcard Monthly December 2009 45