
At the turn of the last century, civic pride inspired stories, songs, poems, and images of London and its people—both noble and humble. William Nicholson personified Londoners, such as hawkers selling trinkets, with his London Types. The series proved so popular that William Ernst Henley composed poems to accompany each print. Tourists could imagine encountering each of Nicholson's characters, from the barmaid to the beefeater, and locals could say, "I know him."