In March 1905, 34 Deptford High Street near the south bank of the River Thames in London was the scene of a double murder. Brothers Albert and Alfred Stratton killed Thomas and Anna Farrow, an elderly couple who ran George Chapman’s oil and colour shop. The Strattons were arrested, tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed at Wandsworth Prison on 23 May 1905. The case was the first murder trial in Britain where fingerprint evidence played a crucial part.
In the late 16th Century, Christopher Marlowe (26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), the poet and playwright whose name appears jointly alongside William Shakespeare’s on the title pages for the Henry VI plays in New Oxford Shakespeare, was murdered in Deptford, killed or possibly assassinated on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I in an apparent bar brawl with three government agents over an unpaid bill.
It wasn’t all blood, the lash and mystery in Deptford, home to the first Royal Dockyard. This is where Sir Francis Drake was knighted by The Virgin Queen aboard the Golden Hind; where Sir Walter Raleigh laid down his cape for Her Majesty; and from where Captain James Cook’s embarked on his third voyage aboard HMS Resolution. Deptford has a rich history. In the 1980s Peter Marshall walked about taking photographs of the everyday things he saw in what remains a vibrant part of London.
Cafe, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Riverside park, Deptford. 1982
The Hoy pub, Creek Rd, Stowage, Deptford, 1988
Mural, Deptford Train Yard, Douglas Way, Deptford, Lewisham, 1984
Cafe, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Robert Wallace, shop, sweets, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
The Lord Clyde, Clyde St : Wooton St, Deptford, Lewisham . 1982
Deptford Creek, Creek Rd, Deptford, Greenwich, 1988
St George’s Wharf, Deptford, Southwark. 1982
China Garden, Deptford Broadway, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Stowage, Deptford, Greenwich, 1988
New Oxford, cafe, Brookmill Rd, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Watergate St, Deptford, Greenwich. 1982
Car and vessels, 1982
Creekside Motor Spares, Creek Rd, Deptford, Greenwich, 1988
Landmann Way, Deptford, Lewisham, 1985 Taken from a train window.
Shop shutters and Doorway, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Solid Cut, records, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Liquor Barn, Evelyn St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Howard & Wilton Ltd, Canada Wharf, Trundley’s Rd, Surrey Canal Rd, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Ted’s Rooms, Creek Rd, Deptford, Greenwich, 1988
Champs Night Club, Deptford Broadway, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Creekside Motor Spares, Creek Rd, Deptford, Greenwich, 1988
Real Sounds of Africa, poster, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1986
Panda, Car Hire, Watergate St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Scrap Metal, Stowage, Deptford, Greenwich, 1984
Tideway Clothing Store, Deptford High St, Deptford, Lewisham, 1988
Via: Peter Marshall.
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