Anonymous images open door to the city's past

"Something like the name of a photographer on the back would be the holy grail, as it would give us some context, but many of the prints are copies of copies, so there's no trace. The 1930s photos of Limehouse were often images acquired by the old London County Council, but the 1970s ones from Soho were from its successor body, the Greater London Council, which had a photographic unit that employed people to go out to take shots, usually for council work purposes."

Despite the fragmented nature of the story that the older images in particular tell, the fact that they exist at all is a connection to a long-gone London past.

"There are very few physical traces left now of the old Limehouse where these communities used to live — I wouldn't say you won't find anything if you go there, but you won't find much", Tuff explains.

"The first Chinese people settled there because it was by the docks, which is how they arrived, but of course the area was bombed in the war, which forced them to move to Soho, and then again after that, when the docks shut down in the 1970s and 1980s, the whole area was redeveloped."

The photos may not depict many of the Limehouse residents, but they do, however, show its streets and some of the Chinese businesses in the neighborhood, as do residential records, underlining the importance of the area as the birthplace of what has gone on to become a thriving Chinese community in London, whose annual New Year celebrations are now a huge tourist attraction.