3-008-863 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Commencement of the Thames Embankment: driving the first pile in front of the Duke of Buccleuch's mansion, [London], 1862. An '...important work was very nearly spoiled, and for some time interrupted, not by the Sovereign, but by a Duke, who had possessed himself of some Government leases, and the battle of the "Thames Embankment," memorable for the mistakes of a Secretary of State and the imperturbable good humour and pluck of the Prime Minister, was fought out with considerable skill and much acerbity. The popular side gained; and the Duke of Buccleuch, if he should ever inhabit his new house, will have the mortification of seeing omnibuses and waggons pass along the road between his ducal presence and the silent highway. We must own, however, that the Duke, when he could no longer withstand, yielded with a good grace...when the embankment is finished, running as it will from Pimlico to Blackfriars-bridge, and beyond it, the relief to the crowded Strand and Fleet-street will be enormous. A commencement has been made with this important undertaking...several barges were moored in the river, immediately opposite the mansion, and gangs of labourers have since been busily employed in driving piles into the bed of the river'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.