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'. Nottingham Castle in its prime, occupied a place in the history of England, that could only be reproduced now-a-days by combining Windsor Castle, the Houses of Parliament, and Aldershot, for within the walls of its Royal Palace met many Parliaments and it was the mustering ground for troops assembling for countless campaigns. Most of its old buildings have passed away, and only here and there remain fragments of masonry which speak of the wonderful past to the sympathetic mind of the antiquary. But this gateway remains, and even in its coat of modern stonework, it is an arresting sight for all men. It was erected in the fourteenth century, in the heyday of Castle building, and when it was new with all its panoply of portcullis drawbridge, machicolations, and doorways, must have been nearly impregnable against contemporary assault. But time passed on; through this gateway Richard III, passed to Bosworth and death, and with his departure the old order disappeared. Henry VII came to the throne and the Tudor policy had no need of castles, so that the grand old fortress became ruinous. So insecure did it become that when Colonel Hutchinson took possession of Nottingham Castle for the Parliament in 1642 he was forced to patch it up with hasty repairs. These repairs remain in our gateway and account for the red brick which is incorporated in its fabric. Well, there it stands, a grim old relic with its wonderful story. Its draw-bar hole and its portcullis-chase are patent to all beholders. The intricacy and skill of its construction can be made out with a little study. Some day, perhaps we shall realise what a priceless relic it is and we shall restore it to its original condition and shall exhibit upon it a list of some of the many famous men who have passed through its portals. Image and descriptive text taken from 'Nottingham Past and Present', published in 1926.