2-791-463 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Humane Society's iceman, 1844. Man employed to rescue people who fell through broken ice while skating in the winter. 'The Serpentine River, in Hyde Park [in London], was entirely frozen over; the ice was however, not more than an inch and a half thick, and was, therefore, dangerous. During the day full 5000 persons ventured, at the risk of their lives, upon the ice, notwithstanding the repeated cautions they received from the icemen of the Royal Humane Society'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I.