Street Life in London in 1877 - in pictures

Recruiting sergeants at Westminster Photograph: John Thomson/Alinari via Getty Images

Flower sellers with their baskets Photograph: John Thomson/SSPL via Getty Images

Transport workers travel up the Thames
Photograph: John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A woman and child sit in a doorway Photograph: John Thomson/Alinari via Getty Images

Italian street musicians
Photograph: John Thomson/Alinari via Getty Images

Men sit outside a pub Photograph: John Thompson/Alinari via Getty Images

A street doctor Photograph: John Thomson/Alinari via Getty Images

Cheap fish at St Giles's Photograph: John Thompson/Alinari via Getty Images

'The Temperance Sweep' and a barefooted boy small enough to fit inside narrow passages Photograph: John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A young independent shoeblack shines the boots of a city gent Photograph: John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A Gypsy caravan at an encampment near Latimer Road, Notting Hill, London Photograph: John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Porters with boxes of plants at Covent Garden market Photograph: John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A street photographer at work on Clapham Common Photograph: John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images