London in the 1930s tried to be cleaner, more modern and efficient. It was increasingly a city of electric lighting and motor vechicles, rather than gas lighting and horse-drawn vehicles. The Capital's old problems were being tackled by new public bodies. The London Passenger Transport Board was created in 1933 as a way of bringing all the capital's transport providers together. The General Post Office completed the automation of London's telephone exchanges.
The decade was dominated by the growing threat of fascism in Europe. Bitter clashes between English supporters of fascism and their opponents took place in central London and the East End. German Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, began to arrive, many settling in Hampstead. War with Germany began to look inevitable and the decade ended with preparations to evacuate London's children.
These fascinating images below from the 1930s show the ever-evolving city going through a period of exciting change and new beginnings.
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| Children playing cricket in a street in Millwall, east London on August 15, 1938, with a large liner in the background. |
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| Early morning rush hour traffic crossing London Bridge in 1933. |
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| Londoners in bathing suits taking advantage of a heat wave at Hyde Park lido in 1933. |
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| Children pour out of their School in Drew Street, Silvertown, in the east end of London, with the liner ,Rajputana in the background on January 15, 1932. |
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| American silent film actress Phyllis Gordon window-shopping in Earls Court, London with her four-year-old cheetah who was flown to Britain from Kenya. |
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