Great Art Jigsaw

Charles Rossiter 1827 - 1897
Other than the dates of when he was born and when he died, we can find absolutely no information about Charles Rossiter, either on the web or in our local library. If anyone has any information we would be glad to put it here. Please

To Brighton and Back for Three and Sixpence, 1859
In the mid 1800s, cheap Sunday excursions by railway became very popular. This painting shows passengers on a cheap day excursion to Brighton - notice the open windows and the passengers huddling together towards the middle of the carriage in oder to avoid the dust and the smoke from the engine. One man has even put a hankerchief over his hat to keep it clean! There is a book entitled Stories from a Screen by Dudley Costello, published in 1855, (see this Google books link) in which one of the characters reads an advertisment in The Times: "To Brighton and back for Three Shillings and Sixpence!" We do not know if Charles Rossiter himself read this advertisiment but we like to think he did!

This painting is in the Victorian Room at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. A detailed audio description is available there.