The term ‘key worker’ is used to describe workers who provide essential services such as healthcare, public safety, food supply and distribution, transport, waste disposal and maintenance of utilities. From rat catchers to omnibus drivers and sewer flushers to road sweepers, essential workers have kept London going throughout history.

This gallery presents forty images of London’s key workers from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The selection is, of course, limited by what is currently available on The London Picture Archive. To see more images of London’s workers past and present, try searching or using the subject lists on our Advanced Search page.