Photography — 1956
'We Want Clean Air' protest banner, Paddington
'We want clean air!' demands a banner stretched across Gloucester Terrace, in Paddington, a grass-roots reaction to London's polluted air and its impact on health.
Air pollution known as The Great Smog smothered London from 5 to 9 December 1952. Its name combines the words smoke and fog, and smoke from burning coal was the chief culprit. At least 4,000 Londoners died as a result of the smog, and 100,000 were made ill.
In 1956, the year this photo was taken, the Clean Air Act was passed, in an attempt to curb smoke pollution.
- Category:
- Photography
- Object ID:
- HG1695/13
- Object name:
- 'We Want Clean Air' protest banner, Paddington
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- Grant, Henry
- Related people:
- Related events:
- —
- Related places:
- —
- Production date:
- 1956
- Material:
- cellulose acetate
- Measurements/duration:
- 6 x 6
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 60%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Credit:
- Purchased with V&A Purchase Grant Fund support.
- Copyright holder:
- London Museum
- Image credit:
- © Henry Grant Collection/London Museum
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.
Tags
Download image file
You are welcome to download and use this image for free under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0
Credit: London Museum
To licence this image for commercial use please contact the London Museum Picture Library
