Description: Thomas William Hammond 1854-1935. Born in Philadelphia of Nottingham emigres, and orphaned at the age of four, he came to England with his younger sister Maria and lived for a short while with his grandparents in Mount Street. In 1868 age 14 he enrolled in the Government School of Art. On the 1871 census he is described as a lace curtain designer, and in 1872 he was awarded the 'Queen's Prize for a Design of a Lace Curtain'. Other prizes followed and in 1877 he was again awarded the Queen's Prize, this time for the design for a damask table cloth. Hammond was an indefatigable worker, and soon began to use his skills as a draftsman to record aspects of the changing town. He began showing his work at local venues in 1882 and in 1890 exhibited for the first time at the Royal academy. His real hobby was black and white sketching in charcoal. He drew about 350 pictures all together mainly scenes of a Nottingham he knew but which has largely passed away today. Extracted from 'The Changing Face of Tom Hammond's Nottingham' by John Beckett which is the introductory essay in 'A City in the Making Drawings of Tom Hammond'. This very beautiful picture is a proof of what an artist can produce from somewhat unsavoury surroundings, for no one would expect to find in the midst of the dirt and turmoil of the canal bank such beauty and picturesqueness as this view shows. This section of the Canal was part of a large scheme of water carriage which occupied the attention of our fore-fathers, and was used to bring coal from Wollaton to the Trent. The picture shows it crossed by a wooden bridge (well-known to earlier generations as a short cut to the old Midland Station) which is now replaced by a modern structure. It was for foot passengers only, and was reached by a short flight of steps at either end and carried an astonishing amount of traffic. In the background will be seen the square tower of Sneinton Church. Image and descriptive text taken from 'Nottingham Past and Present', published in 1926.