Sufferers from the Floods (1877): Art, History and Details

Sufferers from the Floods (1877) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is John Thomson (Scottish, 1837–1921).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Smith and Thomson decided to photograph the once-prosperous Rowletts in front of the rag shop that they owned and lived in to show that the floods caused long-term financial losses and health problems that drove even the middle class into poverty. The woman with the baby lived in the house next door; her entire family suffered constant colds and rheumatism from the persistent dampness.

Object facts

• Title: Sufferers from the Floods
• Date: 1877
• Creator attribution: John Thomson (Scottish, 1837–1921)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: woodburytype
• Dimensions: Image: 11.5 x 9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.); Paper: 11.5 x 9 cm (4 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.); Mounted: 27 x 20.7 cm (10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in.)
• Collection: PH - British 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2019.52

A detail from the museum

Annual tidal overflow of the Thames River flooded less prosperous areas of London, leaving behind “a trail of misery . . . and a damp, noxious, fever-breeding atmosphere.”

Collection credit

Photography Discretionary Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.