2-634-906 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

On board a lighter, London, c1900 (1903). A lighterman is a worker who operates a lighter, a type of flat-bottomed barge. The highly skilled men who operated the unpowered lighters moved by oar and water currents in the Port of London. The Company of Watermen and Lightermen was formed in 1700 by Act of Parliament. Watermans' Hall, 16 St Mary At Hill, Billingsgate, dates to 1780 and is the only surviving Georgian guildhall. From Living London, Vol. III, by George R. Sims. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris, New York & Melbourne, 1903]