British Girls On Bicycles In Commercial Street Bangalore, 1904 Postcard
A 1904 postcard with a rare glimpse of British girls on bicycles in Commercial Street, Bangalore (Bengaluru). Three British girls are seen riding bicycles on the famous Commercial Street in Bangalore at the beginning of the 20th century. The name “Commercial Street” was derived from a London shopping center during the colonial era.
Scores of narrow bylanes branch off from this street, which is quite near M. G. Road and Russell Market (Shivaji Nagar). This is probably one of the earliest images of the street during British era Bangalore. It looks sparsely crowded at that time, unlike today packed with shoppers.
Officers and their families, generally British, would come shopping here. One such was Winston Churchill, a subaltern soldier, who frequented the place regularly. The ambitious Churchill would later become the prime minister of Great Britain from 1940-45. Bangalore was formed as a British Cantonment after the 4th Anglo-Mysore War against Tipu Sultan’s forces in 1899. Click on the image to enlarge.
Read more Commercial Street unveiled in centuries-old sepia See post European Women In Bullock Cart British India, 1900 PC.
Did you know- Americans would use the word Bangalored frequently. This refers to when a person loses his job to an outsourcing company because of cheaper labour.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph of c1894., Bombay Municipal Building & Vintage Car – Old Photograph., George Bernard Shaw Famous Author In Mumbai – Old Photo., WWI German Cruiser Emden’s Sea Route Map 1914., Our Journey Around The World – 1894 Book
