English drunkards of the early 20th century

Cory Doctorow 11:35 pm Sun Mar 28, 2010

Here's a set of mugshots of "habitual drunkards" scooped up in Birmingham's enforcement of the 1902 Licensing Act. Their images were distributed to pub owners along with the instruction not to sell them alcohol. The accompanying bust-cards enumerate their professions and crimes — "woodchopper/prostitute," "polisher/prostitute," "tube drawer" and "grease merchant" all feature.

Bizarrely, Ancestry.co.uk asserts a copyright over these public domain images taken by the police over a hundred years ago.

Binge Britain 1904: The rogues' gallery that shows war on booze is nothing new

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