2-798-442 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Swan-Upping on the Thames, from Brentford Ait, 1844. Annual event in which mute swans on the River Thames in west London are rounded up, caught, ringed, and then released. The procedure is carried out by members of the the London guilds. 'In the Thames, at present, the greatest number of swans belong to the Queen, and the Companies of Vintners and Dyers own the next largest proportion; but the birds are far less numerous than they used to be. They are marked upon the upper mandible with a knife or other sharp instrument. The "Swan-upping", or "Swan-hopping", as it is vulgarly termed, is the catching and taking up the swans to mark the cygnets, and renew that on the old birds, if obliterated, in the presence of the royal swan herdsman...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.