The Layton Collection

THE THOMAS LAYTON TRUST & LAYTON'S COLLECTION

Lives of famous London beggars

Lives of Famous London Beggars with Forty Portraits of the most remarkable drawn from life by John Thomas Smith, published by Diprose and Bateman: London. Layton Collection no 1196

Layton’s collection includes several books recording the appearance and lives of comparatively ordinary people. This is a Victorian example which is exceptional because of its 40 portraits.

The Collection

Thomas Layton collected books, coins, and archaeological items (usually described as ‘antiquities’) for 70 years. In that time he had accumulated what has been described as “probably the largest collection of London antiquities ever amassed by a single individual”.

The vast majority of items are believed to have been bought at auctions. Some came to him from his men working on the river. His businesses provided opportunities for finds from dredging, building of bridges and embankments along the banks of the Thames, for which Layton paid good money. Even by the standards of the day Layton kept poor records of where items were found. Despite this, the collection is considered highly important particularly to archaeologists and pre-historians.