Discovering an Unsung Hero of the London Blitz:
but who was Sir Thomas Peirson Frank?

Gustav Milne 14/04/25

In May 2025, the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the Post Office will issue a new set of stamps, the VICTORY & VALOUR collection.

THREE CRANES

Gustav Milne

CONTENTS
1: THE DIG  2: A ROMAN QUAY  3: CLASSICAL MUSIC 
4: SAXON BEACH MARKET  5: A SAXON SHIPYARD
6: DAILY GRIND  7: WAREHOUSE CONVERSION 
8: MAKING MONEY  9: TIMBER BUILDING

BOMBING LONDON: 40 years on

Gustav Milne

We know that the systematic scientific study of our City’s past began after the Blitz with Professor Grimes and his dedicated work on bombsite after cheerless bomb site.

Telling Tales: a Thames Tug of War

Gustav Milne

“Did I ever tell you my Dad worked on a Thames tug in the war?” No she hadn’t. What follows is as much of his story as can be pieced together, 80 years later.

Telling Tales: a Baker’s Boy in Pudding Lane

Gustav Milne

One of the few dates in English history that every school person knows is “1666: the Great Fire of London”.

Every Picture Told a Story:
a Christina Unwin Retrospective

Gustav Milne

If memory serves, Chris Unwin walked onto the Baynard's Castle site in June 1975, taking a break from her studies at UCL.

Common Markets: Leadenhall Court LCT84-6

Gustav Milne

Running up that Hill

Pretend you'd crossed London Bridge in the late 2nd century and were heading north up the main road to the crest of Cornhill.

Tales of the Unexpected: Thames Exchange TEX88

Gustav Milne

Looking in the Wrong Place

The Billingsgate Lorry Park excavations had top billing in the DUA calendar for 1982-3. It was seen as the last major waterfront excavation in the City,

A Café on a Bridge  PEN/PDN 1979-82

Gustav Milne

Once upon a time there was a café on a bridge. But it was not just any café, and it certainly wasn’t just any bridge. The cafeteria in question was Joe’s, 127 Lower Thames Street at the junction of Fish Street Hill in the City of London.

Now for Something Completely Different:

Custom House 1973  CUS73

Gustav Milne

The amalgamation of the London and Guildhall Museums was long in the planning, but only formally completed in the summer of 1975.

Archaeology in the City of London: an end and a beginning 1972-6

Gustav Milne

PART ONE- A CASTLE AND A CRISIS

Although the Museum of London closed in December 2022, its remarkable archaeological legacy remains.

A DAY in the LIFE: Trig Lane, 1974

Gustav Milne

Leaving Home

Gustav got up, got out of bed and stretched. Since the head of the bed butted against the low kitchen cabinet, it was not a long walk to the kitchen sink to clean teeth, or to the outside loo.

1973: the Birth of the DUA

Gustav Milne

The ground-breaking Museum of London brought together the collections and expertise of the former London Museum (founded 1911) and the City’s own Guildhall Museum (founded 1826).