In London, a great many workers had no fixed place of employement. Rather, their office was the street. The many and various cries of London's street vendors have given rise to several books on the topic (think "Who Will Buy?" from the movie Oliver!). Street workers included barrowmen, vendors who set up kiosks or barrows in established market locations, street cleaners, "street-corner men," advertising "sandwich men" who walked about wearing "sandwich boards," pavement artists, performers, and of course the ubiquitous cab and carriage drivers. The London streets were also a place of work for hundreds of children, who sold everything from flowers to newspapers, cleaned shoes, and kept the streets themselves swept and clean.

Christmas Day on the Pavement (Illustrated London Almanack, 1855)

Christmas day amongst the street vendors of London.

Business Hours in London Streets (Leisure Hour, 1868)

The street-vendors, hawkers, costermongers and barrow-traders of London.

Street Tumblers (Leisure Hour, 1868)

Small Traders, by William Gilbert (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

A look at street-traders and vendors in London.

The Doings of Dustmen (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Only One Penny (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Animated beetles, dolls, tiny parasols, squeaking birds, and a host of other marvelous items -- all to be had on the streets of London for "only one penny"!

The Way Some Folks Live: The London Organ-Grinder (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883)

Pavement Artists (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1884)

A look at London chalk art and artists.

A Shilling a Day and His Board (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1885)

His "board" was literally a board - these advertising "sandwich men" were walking billboards!

Peddlers and Hawkers (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1887)

Street Entertainments (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1887)

Street-Corner Men (The Strand, 1891B)

"Perhaps none are more interesting than the irregular individuals who may be seen at various street corners... cajoling, lecturing, flattering, preaching, and dogmatically declaring the advantages of their particular kind of goods or entertainment."

Street Musicians, by Gilbert Guerdon (The Strand, 1892A)

How the Other Half Lives: The Book-Barrow Man, by J.D. Symon (English Illustrated Magazine, 1895A)

How the Other Half Lives: The Fruit-Barrow Man, by J.D. Symon (English Illustrated Magazine, 1895A)

How the Other Half Lives: "Fine Oysters!" by James D. Symon (English Illustrated Magazine, 1895B)

The life of the oyster-barrow-man.

How the Other Half Lives: The Sandwich [Ad] Man, by Fred A. MacKenzie (English Illustrated Magazine, 1895B)

Street Toys, by Ernest Fincham (The Strand, 1895B)

Cabby Chronicles, by W.J. Wintle (Windsor Magazine, 1896B)

In 1625, four carriages were placed for hire in London; by 1895 the number of "cabs" had increased to 13,498. Here's a look at the work, and some of the tribulations, of the London "cabby."

Drivers I Have Known, by Montague Furtado (Windsor, 1897A)

Reminiscences about drivers of carriages, sleighs, donkeys, carts and more.

Pavement-Artists and Their Work, by C.L. McCluer Stevens (English Illustrated Magazine, 1899A)

Children of the Streets

Shoeblacks (Cassell's Family Paper, 1860)

Some Little Ones of the Street, by Thomas Archer (Little Folks, 1883)

The Crossing-Sweeper

The Flower-Seller

The Match-Seller

The Newspaper-Seller

The Little Water-Cress Seller

The Shoe-Black

The Flower-Girls of London, by Emma Brewer (Girl's Own Paper, 1892)

A look at the lives, manners and situation of London's flower-sellers.

London Flower Girls After the Great Frost (Girl's Own Paper, 1895)

A Day in the Life of a Scavenger Boy, by J.D. Symon (English Illustrated Magazine, 1899A)

The life of the "street orderly boy," responsible for keeping London's streets clean.