Vintage Photo Collection London Then and Now in Streetmuseum App

For most Londoners, the most common view they enjoy as they trudge to work is the back of another commuter's head. But now, thanks to the Streetmuseum app, anyone traipsing through the capital's streets can step back in time to see what London looked like in the 19th and 20th century compared with today all in the same image. A vast amount of different locations are available to view, ranging from Blackfriars station in 1930 to Oxford Street at the turn of the 20th century. Popular spots such as Covent Garden, Tower Bridge and Hyde Park are also included. Unsurprisingly, Streetmusem has been popular with both residents and tourists, and its rise to prominence has seen it accumulate 125,000 downloads so far on iTunes and Android, surpassing their original target of just 5,000. Joe Krishnan via The Independent

A street seller of sherbert and water on the streets of London in 1893 and the same street in 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

An exterior shot of the completed Gloucester Road Station in 1868 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A view of Duncannon Street decorated with bunting and banners for the coronation ceremony of Edward VII. There are pedestrians and vehicles in the foreground and the National Gallery is visible in the distance in 1902 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A traffic in Oxford Street in c.1905 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A view of Bow Lane, off Cheapside in the City of London in c.1930 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

Blackfriars station entrance from outside 179 Queen Victoria Street in c.1930 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A street scene in Londons Covent Garden with the underground station and a horse and cart in the background in c.1930 and the same street in 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A view of the forecourt of the Southern Railway's terminus at London Bridge in c.1930 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A view from the west side of Tower Bridge in c.1930 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of

London/Streetmuseum app)

Byward Street near Tower Hill in c.1930 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

An evening street scene outside Foyles book shop on Charing Cross Road in c.1935 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

Boy shining shoes outside the Tea Room at Victoria station in 1950 and the same location in 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

Piccadilly Circus in 1953 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

The view north up Brick Lane in Spitalfields, close to the markets in 1957 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

People sunbathing in Hyde Park in 1956 with Marble Arch and the Odeon cinema in the background in 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

A night shot outside the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue before an evening's performance in 1958 and 2014. (Photo by Museum of London/Streetmuseum app)

British History from Above

Douglas DC-3 airliner. Advertising image prepared by Aerofilms for a client showing rays of sunshine from behind a cloud.The DC-3 entered civilian service with American Airlines in 1936. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

While the lido was described as bringing modernism to the masses on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to move in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Leeds showing new Town Hall September 1933. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Bush House, Kingsway and the British Museum, Westminster, 1946 With the grand faade of the British Museum just visible in the top left, the central London transport artery of the Kingsway is picked out here in strong shadow running down to the monolithic Bush House office complex. When first opened in July 1925 at a construction cost of 2 million. Bush House was declared the most expensive building in the world. Originally built for an Anglo- American trading organisation headed by a man called Irving T Bush, its huge size soon saw other firms leasing office space including Aerofilms. In 1932, Francis Wills oversaw the rental of 1,000 square feet of the basement of Bush House to accommodate the company drawing offices, darkrooms, and, most important of all, the vast photo library. 1946. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

St Pauls Cathedral sits seemingly untouched at the centre of a scene of urban devastation. At the height of the Blitz, Londons largest religious monument was transformed into a symbol of resolve, resilience and hope. Winston Churchill was keenly aware of the role that Christopher Wrens Renaissance masterpiece could play in maintaining national morale and pride, and he issued the order that the cathedral must be preserved at all costs. Patrols monitored the building day and night, with fire fighters on constant standby. Despite mass incendiary bombing raids on central London including an attack on the night of 29 September 1940, which saw the lead in the roof of the Cathedrals dome begin to melt after a direct hit St Pauls remained standing. The media used imagery of the building as potent propaganda, with the famous BBC war correspondent Ernie Pyle going as far as describing it as a picture of some miraculous figure that appears before peace-hungry soldiers on a battlefield. Pyle used the buildings survival to allude rather neatly to a collective spirit of fortitude: St Pauls was surrounded by fire, but it came through. This symbolism remained just as important after the War. In this photograph from 2 June 1947, Aerofilms captured a perfect image of the cathedral as a source of inspiration to begin the rebuilding process both in London, and in Britain as a whole. 1947. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

The Times weather forecast for 12 August 1947 advised that a ridge of high pressure had moved in over the British Isles, and that it will be fair and fine or warm. Just like the thousands of holidaymakers shown here spread out across nearly every grain of the Ramsgate Sands, Aerofilms were keen followers of the weather. Clear skies and bright sunlight provided optimal conditions for aerial photography and, particularly in the summer months, almost guaranteed that a flight to the coast would offer up iconic, postcard-friendly shots of the British seaside experience. 1947. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

The Houses of Parliament, River Thames and the Festival of Britain South Bank Site, 1951. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Weekend crowds throng Sandford Park Swimming Pool in Cheltenham in May 1947. First opened in 1935, the Park's massive baths, which measured 165 by 90 feet and held over 498,000 gallons of water, stayed in use throughout the Second World War. Despite a German bomb smashing the paddling pool seen here on the right of the image in July 1942, Sandford Park remained extremely popular with the townspeople and visitors, recording some 90,000 admissions each year over the course of the conflict. These attendances may well have been helped by the government's wartime introduction of double summer time, which saw the clocks being put forward two hours to allow it to stay light in the south of England until close to midnight. 1947. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

St Paul's Cathedral, London, 1921. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

This remarkable shot of Blackpool Tower and the Winter Gardens was a speculative capture by an Aerofilms photographer and pilot as they navigated Englands north-west coastline in July 1920. Both the Blackpool Gazette and the Radio Times bought the image most likely to advertise the town and its increasingly famous attractions to prospective tourists. The Winter Gardens first opened in July 1878 as a six-acre pleasure park made up of concert halls, skating rinks and ballrooms. The year this photograph was taken also marked the first ever staging of the Blackpool Dance Festival in the wonderfully grand Empress Ballroom. Partly hidden in the background here is the Big Wheel, a 220-foot-high ride built by the Winter Gardens as direct competition for the Tower. It remained literally and metaphorically in the shadow of its more celebrated counterpart, and was eventually pulled down in June 1929. 1920. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

March 23rd 1929, FA Cup Semi Final between Portsmouth And Aston Villa. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

1921 photograph of Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria memorial. Flight restrictions today would make this a near impossibility. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

What at first glance stands out as a stunning view of one of London's most recognisable structures becomes more intriguing on closer examination. Here, Tower Bridge is the site of a chaotic logjam of traffic caused, perhaps, by what seems to be an accident right at the centre of its span. Newspapers at the time reported the closure of the Rotherhithe Tunnel for road works, with Tower Bridge and the Blackwall Tunnel advised as alternative routes. Despite the novelty of horses and carts mixing in the traffic lanes with motorcars, this eight-decade-old image of London congestion may appear wearily familiar to any modern commuter. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

A Heinkel He111 bomber flies over central London on 7 September 1940 in this shot taken by the Luftwaffe, and found in a German archive of aerial photography seized by the Allies after the War. Visible directly below is one of the city's key targets the huge industrial complex of the Royal Docks. 1940. (Photo by US National Archives)

Wembley Park, Boxing Match between Tommy Gibbons and Jack Bloomfield, 1924 Pictured on 9 August 1924, Wembley Stadium is the somewhat unexpected venue for a boxing match between the American heavyweight Tom Gibbons and his British opponent Jack Bloomfield. The stadium was constructed earlier that year as part of the British Empire Exhibition and was described in glowing terms by the official guidebook: There is not in all England a modern building that can compete with the Empire Stadium in the effect it creates upon the mind of the spectator In a world that has developed so great a devotion to sport there is no arena that can compare with Wembleys. While the bout which was won easily by Gibbons drew a crowd of 50,000, this experiment with boxing in the stadiums wide open spaces was not considered a success. The press reported that the combination of ringside standing room and distant seating failed to create a compelling spectacle or atmosphere, and the fights promoter, Major Arnold Wilson, had to file for bankruptcy immediately afterwards. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

The swimming pool on Clacton Pier, Clacton-on-Sea, 1932. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Henley-on-Thames, an Eights race approaches the finish at the Royal Regatta, 1923. Two crews of eights race between the riverbank and a chaotic jumble of spectator boats to approach the finish line of the Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames. First held in 1839, the Regatta has been staged annually ever since apart from during the two World Wars. This spectacular image from 7 July 1923 the last day of the Regatta captures the massed crowds of one of the largest attendances that the event had ever seen. A report in The Times two days later remarked that in the afternoon it was not possible to hire a boat of any description. Trains from Paddington had to be run in duplicate, and the motor traffic was much heavier than ever before. 1923. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Traffic Jam, on the way to Epsom Derby 1923. In this photograph of a three-way traffic jam at Fir Tree Road in Banstead in Surrey, taken on the day of the 1923 Epsom Derby, it is easy to see why Alan Cobham saw aviation as the only solution to Britains road congestion business. In his autobiography A Time to Fly, Cobham recalled how Francis Wills came up with the idea of flying over Epsom to survey and photograph the worst of the Derby Day jams to help the police plan anti-congestion measures in the future. They even invited a senior officer to go up in an Aerofilms aircraft to direct operations on the ground by radio. As Cobham recalled, this was a qualified success. Unused to aviation, the officer was so horribly sick that he was able to do practically nothing. So the pilot and photographer took over the job, passing messages down to the police on the ground about the traffic situation as it developed, and taking pictures of it at the same time: and the joke is that when they landed the suffering officer was summoned to receive the Kings congratulations Nobody revealed his secret. 1923. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Archery at Cowdray House, Easebourne, 1928. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

General view of Aberystwyth showing seafront and town in summer, The dignified seafront of Aberystwyth is captured here in the summer of 1932, with pleasure boats moored on the beach ready to take holidaymakers on trips around Cardigan Bay. This mid-Wales market town enjoyed a sustained tourist boom following the arrival of the railways in the latter half of the nineteenth century which also coincided with the evolution of the religious ceremony of wakes week into a regular summer holiday for industrial workers from the West Midlands. As the nearest seaside resort to the Midlands, Aberystwyth quickly became a popular destination, and was even billed as the Biarritz of Wales. The Great Western Railway Company promoted the town intensively during the 1930s through a series of eyecatching graphic posters. When Aerofilms toured west Wales in 1932, Aberystwyth was an obvious target for aerial photography to sell on for potential publicity and marketing purposes. 1932. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Piccadilly Circus, Westminster. Pictured here in March 1921 before the installation of any traffic lights Piccadilly Circus is a busy throng of pedestrians, horsedrawn carriages, omnibuses and motorcars, all revolving around the aluminium-cast statue of Eros. Even at this fledgling stage in Aerofilms' existence, the company was targeting wellknown sites and landmarks to sell to postcard manufacturers. Early clients for this kind of material included Ludo Press a company that is still in business today and LepAerial Travel Bureau, one of the first ever travel agencies to arrange assenger transport on aircraft. That LepAerial also had an office in Piccadilly Circus was unlikely to be a coincidence. 1921. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Crowds line the streets of Edgware Road, Hyde Park Corner and Park Lane for the homecoming procession of Edward Prince of Wales the future King Edward VIII. 21 June 1922 marked the Princes return to London from his Oriental Grand Tour, an eight-month sojourn to India, Ceylon, the Philippines, Borneo, Malaysia, Japan and Egypt. The tour was conducted as part of Edwards role as Britains Empire Ambassador although it has subsequently emerged that neither the Prince nor his various hosts were enthusiastic supporters of the trip. The writer E. M. Forster even noted quite bluntly that scarcely anyone in India wished the Prince of Wales to come a sign perhaps of the increasing fragility of the Empire in the aftermath of the First World War. The Prince arrived back in Plymouth on HMS Renown and, after a train journey to Paddington Station, embarked on this elaborate ceremonial procession all the way to the gates of Buckingham Palace. 1922. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via A History of Britain From Above)

Vintage Photos

USA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1950. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt/Contrasto)

Willa Mae Ricker and Leon James demonstrating a step of The Lindy Hop, December 31, 1942. (Photo by Gjon Mili/Time & Life Pictures)

The little Parisian, Paris, 1952. Courtesy of TASCHEN. (Photo by Willy Ronis/Agence Rapho)

Paris, 1989. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos)

A man flies off a trampoline at Santa Monica Beach, Calif., on July 1, 1948. (Photo by Loomis Dean/Time & Life Pictures)

USA. New York City, 1988. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos)

Dr. Konrad Lorenz, a Viennese scientist and animal behaviorist, is followed by goslings who have accepted him as their mother, at Woodland Institute, on June 1, 1955. (Photo by Thomas D. Mcavoy/Time & Life Pictures)

Cable Car Turnaround, San Francisco, 1946. (Photo by Fred Lyon)

Children watch the story of Saint George and the Dragon at an outdoor puppet theater in Paris, in 1963. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures)

Uniformed drum major for the University of Michigan marching band practicing his high-kicking prance as he leads a line of seven admiring children who are all trying to imitate his flamboyant technique while marching across the campus lawn, 1950. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures)

Released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm is greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., as he returns home from the Vietnam War, March 17, 1973. In the lead is Stirm's daughter Lori, 15; followed by son Robert, 14; daughter Cynthia, 11; wife Loretta and son Roger, 12. (Photo by Sal Veder/AP Photo)

Sacrow, 1934. (Photo by Marianne Breslauer)

Paris, 1989. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos)

Test Pilot Neil Armstrong and the X-15 #1, on January 1st, 1960. (Photo by NASA)

USA. California. 1955. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt/Magnum)

An incident at 133rd Street and Seventh Avenue during the Harlem Riot of 1964. (Photo by Dick DeMarsico/New York World Telegraph & Sun)

Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris, 1990. (Photo by William Klein/'William Klein ABC'/Abrams)

A grandmother cools off in a wading pool beside an open fire hydrant beneath the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, New York, Summer 1993. (Photo by Eugene Richards)

Pont Alexander III, Paris, 1960. (Photo by William Klein/'William Klein ABC'/Abrams)

Dance School. New York, 1977. (Photo by Elliott Erwitt)

Gun 1, New York, 1955. (Photo by William Klein/'William Klein ABC'/Abrams)

I'm the champ! screams Cassius Clay as his handlers hug him joyfully after he defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight boxing title. Clay was credited with a 7th round TKO when Liston was unable to answer the bell because of a shoulder injury suffered in the first round. February 25, 1964, Miami Beach, Florida, USA. (Photo by Bettmann/Corbis)

A man balancing on a piece of wood on the roof of a skyscraper. New York, USA, 1939. (Photo by Hulton Archive)

Boulevard Saint-Germain/Place Henri, 1961. (Photo by Wim van der Linden)

Foggy Night at Lands End, 1953. (Photo by Fred Lyon)

Herman Huseby, art director at the Rockaway Playland Amusement Park in Belle Harbour, New York, works on a mural with the help of a model, circa 1950. (Photo by Orlando/Three Lions/Getty Images)

Guest at a garden party held at No 10 Downing Street, London, on 7th July 1965. (Photo by Len Trievnor/Express/Getty Images)

American comic actor, Phil Silvers, with Patricia Peters and Rikki Howard in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 29th January 1974. (Photo by Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images)

Swedish pop stars (from left), Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus of the Swedish pop group ABBA posing at Waterloo railway station, 10th April 1974. (Photo by John Downing/Express/Getty Images)

An after dinner speaker appears to have forgotten what he was going to say, 1964. (Photo by Chaloner Woods/Getty Images)

Maisie the Robot talks to its designer David Strange at the Alexandra Palace studios, on 1st December 1977. (Photo by Goodman/Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Children peer into one of the indigo dye pits, used for dyeing cloth in Kano, northern Nigeria, on October 1959. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Arthur Lowe and members of the Dad's Army cast ready to defend their country, 23rd August 1975. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Police officers running along Downing Street, London, circa 1938. (Photo by Topical Press

Agency/Getty Images)

British comedian Les Dawson (1934 1993) with Crackerjack girl Jan Michelle, on 11th August 1980. (Photo by Mike Lawn/Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Millionaire entrepreneur and company director Richard Branson who founded the Virgin group of companies, which covers a wide range of interests, from records to airline travel, on 24th April 1986. (Photo by Colin Davey/Express/Getty Images)

Actress Penny Snow reclines on the bonnet of a pink, six-wheeled Rolls Royce outside Woburn Abbey. The car is a specially built, full-size replica of the vehicle FAB 1 owned by the character Lady Penelope in the puppet television series Thunderbirds. 1968. (Photo by Joe Bangay/Express/Getty Images)

Departure of the La Paz to Buenos Aires express from the Argentine frontier station La Quiaca, circa 1955. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

Two children from the west African Republic of Liberia take a bath in a large bowl, circa 1955. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

American tennis player Gertrude Moran, or Gorgeous Gussie, waking up in her Paris hotel room, 3rd June 1950 (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

A man buried in spent cartridges in a dump in at the Gun Club in Crayford, Kent, which has been building up over five years. During the shooting season over 20,000 cartridges are fired a week. 25th May 1934. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Nudie Cohen, known as Nudie (1902 1984), Russian-born costume designer for many country and western singers, sitting in his famous white Pontiac convertible, April 1971. The car has 14 guns mounted in varying positions, including Colt revolvers which work as door handles, armrests and gear levers. A silver saddle is mounted on the rear seats, the interior decorated with hundreds of silver dollars, and the horn blasts out a cattle stampede to the sound of Dale Evans singing Happy Trails. (Photo by Marti Coale/BIPs/Getty Images)

Arfur, the tin dog created by Steve Brooks of east London, approaches a lamppost, March 1981. Brooks spent nine months and almost 2,000 creating his unusual pet. (Photo by Stanley Lewis/BIPs/Getty Images)

Railway centenary and pageant at Liverpool, 10th September 1930. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

British model Jean Shrimpton at London Airport (now Heathrow), 5th June 1967. (Photo by Dove/Express/Getty Images)

Violence

A confrontation develops between a group of associates, resulting in one of the men being restrained by his lapels, circa 1929. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

American actor George Chakiris holds a switchblade open, ready to fight a rival gang in a still from the musical film, West Side Story, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961. (Photo by United Artists/Courtesy of Getty Images)

An armed soldier attacks a protestor on Bloody Sunday when British Paratroopers shot dead 13 civilians on a civil rights march in Derry City, on 30th January 1972. (Photo by Frederick Hoare/Central Press/Getty Images)

A teenage street gang carry out a mugging in a deserted alley in New York City, circa 1955. (Photo by Carl Purcell/Three Lions/Getty Images)

Members of a teenage girl gang convincing an unwilling recruit to join the gang, circa 1955. (Photo by Vecchio/Three Lions/Getty Images)

A man steps in to break up a brawl between Edna Nolan and her husband's girlfriend, on 13th March 1954. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Two members of a teenage New York street gang threaten another member who wants to leave, circa 1955. (Photo by Carl Purcell/Three Lions/Getty Images)

A young man is attacked as he flees the taunts of a pursuing mob following a Ku Klux Klan rally May 31, 2003 in west suburban Chicago town of Berwyn, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

People beat up another man during clashes of Pro-Russian and Pro-Ukrainian activists during a rally in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine, 09 March 2014. The USA and European Union have threatened sanctions against Moscow over the military standoff in the strategic Crimean peninsula, and are urging Russia to pull back its forces in the region and allow in international observers and human rights monitors. Crimea, which has a majority ethnic Russian population, is strategically important to Russia as the home port of its Black Sea Fleet. (Photo by EPA/STR)

[Oldies] Death Faces. Part I

A head strung up on a lamp stand during the 1912 Revolution in China. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1912

The corpse of Elizabeth Stride, murdered by Jack the Ripper at Derner Street, September 30, 1888. Jack the Ripper was an English serial killer who killed five women in London in 1888 and was never caught. (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images)

A Chinese revolutionary is summarily beheaded in the street by Imperial troops. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1912

Field where General Reynolds fell at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle took place from July 1 to July 3, 1863. (Photo by Timothy H O'Sullivan/Getty Images)

Executed Communards in coffins, the anonymous victims of the civil war between the Third Republic and the Paris Commune, during the Franco-Prussian war. During Bloody Week (21 28th May) 40,000 were killed in street fighting or summary executions. (Photo by Eugene Appert/Getty Images). 1871

Interior of the Secundra after Sir Colin Campbell's relief of Lucknow when 2,000 rebel sepoys were slaughtered by the 93rd Highlanders and the 4th Punjab Regiment. (Photo by Felice Beato/Getty Images). 1858

A crowd in the yard of Washington DC's Old Penitentiary, watching the hanging of Mrs Surratt and John Wilkes Booth's conspirators in the plot to kill President Lincoln. The conspirators were Mrs. Surratt, Lewis Payne, David Herold, and George Atzerodt. (Photo by Alexander Gardner/Getty Images). 1865

The corpse of a dead soldier after the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia, during the American Civil War, 1864. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Emily Davison (18721913) is fatally injured as she tries to stop the King's horse Amner on Derby Day, to draw attention to the Women's Suffragette movement. (Photo by Arthur Barrett/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1913

After their capture of Delhi the Indian mutineers lost the city to British forces who extracted swift reprisals by hanging the leaders. Two of them are hanging from a gallows. (Photo by Felice Beato/Getty Images). 1858

Tsar Alexander II (18181881) known as The Liberator lying in state. He was mortally wounded by an assassination attack in St Petersburg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). March 1881

A grieving woman sits by a rough wooden coffin in which is lies the body of a family member, the victim of a pogrom. (Photo by Henry Guttmann/Getty Images). Circa 1900

An African villager takes aim at a leopard which has attacked a youth. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 21st December 1910

Decapitated body of a victim of the 1912 Revolution in China. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1912

The burial of soldiers after Battle of Adrianople in Balkans. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). October 1913

Burial practice in Dutch New Guinea. The corpse of a Papnan is placed on the bier. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1910

Wilhelm I (17971888), king of Prussia and first German Emperor lying in state. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 9th March 1888

Chinese crowd round two decapitated bodies. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa

1912

Bodies lie in the public gardens in Mexico City during the conflict between the USA and Mexico. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1913

A decapitated body lies in the street while two foreigners look on, during the Revolution in China

191112. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1912

Mountaineers bringing down the dead bodies of fellow climbers on Mount Blanc. (Photo by G. Tairraz/Picture Post/Getty Images). 18th August 1895

A gruesome picture of victim's head and spoil are strung up on a pole during the Revolution in China 191112. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1912

The dead lie in the street following the bombardment of Vera Cruz by the Americans. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1913

A highway robber is executed with a well-aimed shot at Chia Tsoa, Honan, 1912. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Part II

An executed spy in France, with a sign above his head reading: Spy Traitor To His Country. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1918

Dead bodies in the trenches, the results of German machine guns and shelling at the Hill of Cividale in Italy. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1917

French soldiers combine gunfire with the throwing of rocks in an attempt to dislodge German soldiers from hillside trenches. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images). 1916

British prisoners of war search the bodies of dead soldiers for valuables while a German guard makes an inventory. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1917

An unknown dead French soldier lying across German barbed wire. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1915

A French soldier's grave, marked by his rifle and helmet, on the battlefield of Verdun. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1916

German troops advance across open ground at Villers-Bretonneux during Germany's last major effort to secure victory on the Western Front. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1918

A German rifleman beside the corpse of a French soldier in a trench at Fort Vaux, France. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1916

A dead British pilot lies on the ground next to the wreckage of his aircraft, looked on by German soldiers. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1915

Street fighting in Berlin between Government troops and Spartacists, during the Spartacist uprising which followed Germany's defeat in World War I. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1919

Three British guardsmen looking at the body of a dead German in a shell hole, after the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 31st July 1917

Dead French soldiers waiting to be buried. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). October 1915

Casualties who died covering the retreat of the 5th Army at Albert, during the German Spring Offensive of 1918. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1918

British soldiers in the trenches during World War I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1914

The corpses of German soldiers lying amidst the debris in Louage Wood, during the Somme Campaign, World War I, 10th October 1916. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A Serbian soldier visits the grave of one of his colleagues in a field full of the graves of soldiers killed during the Austrian bombardment. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). September 1915

A memorial to the war dead at St Judes, Hampstead. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). August 1916

Death Faces. Part III. Execution

Suspected South Korean traitors are herded into lorries on their way to execution an incident that was later investigated by a United Nations observer. 1950 (Photo by Haywood Magee/Getty Images)

Indian Mukti Bahini guerilla troops preparing to bayonet men who collaborated with the Pakistani Army during East Pakistan's fight to become the independent state of Bangladesh. The round of executions are taking place at the racetrack in Dacca (Dhaka). (Photo by William Lovelace/Getty Images). 1971

General Idi Amin Dada seized power after a coup in January 1971. The cruelty of his repressive regime became legendary. Ex-Officer in the Ugandan Army and alleged guerrilla Tom Masaba is stripped of his clothes and tied to a tree before his execution at Mbale. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The first Nazi General to be executed, Anton Dostler, is tied to a post in Aversa to face a US Army firing squad. He was tried by an American military tribunal for the summary shooting of 15 prisoners while serving as the General Commanding the 75th German Army Corps. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1945

The body of the fascist leader Nickhazi Janos being cut down after he was hanged. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images). 1946

A man convicted of murder is imprisoned in a wooden cage on a street in China. He will be left to die of thirst,starvation and exposure. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1930

Former Hungarian Ambassador to Berlin, Doeme Sztojay, facing the firing squad in Hungary. He was executed for forming Hungary's first Quisling Government. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 6th September 1946

Master Sergeant John Wood of San Antonio, Texas, preparing a noose for a convicted Nazi war criminal. Sergeant Wood is the official hangman at the war trials. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 19th November 1945

The execution of a German spy by French troops during World War one. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1916

Russian womenfolk identify their loved ones, executed in numbers by the Nazis, as lines of people wait to conduct the sad search. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). September 1941

An executed spy, lies dead and blind-folded under a cross. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 1st June 1915

Benito Mussolini (18831945) and Clara Petacci's body hung up and exposed for insult in Milan, with those of other fascists, Favolini and Teruzzi. They were caught by Italians at Donga, on Lake Como, and were tried and shot. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 28th April 1945

A revolutionist kneeling at the side of a grave, his arms tied, awaiting the death blow which will send him to his grave, in the Chinese Revolution 1912. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The crowd gathers to watch as people hold down a victim who is tortured and executed during the Revolution in China 1912. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Chinese soldiers stand round as a prisoner is made ready for execution during the 1912 Revolution in China. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Self confessed Nazi spy Richard Jarczyk is examined an declared dead after his execution by US Army doctors. Jarczyk had confessed to operating behind the lines of the US 7th Army where he sabotaged equipment and killed American soldiers. (Photo by Horace

Abrahams/Keystone/Getty Images). 1945

Manchurian henchmen working for the Japanese put a noose around the neck of a Chinese patriot during the Sino-Japanese War. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1935

The public execution of a Boxer leader in China at point-blank range during the Boxer Rebellion. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1900

Two guards perform an execution in China, one holding the gun, the other holding a mask over the victim's face. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1925

A Chinese prisoner tied to a post before being executed in a campaign of mass execution in Shanghai. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). 1949

A firing squad aim and prepare to fire at a man whose comrade already lies dead on the ground beside him. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1925