Victorian Britain: Fascinating photographs show lives of people over 150 years ago

Images are from the vast Francis Frith Collection that is slowly being made digital

Two men play golf in Criccieth, Wales, in 1913 (The Francis Frith Collection/Cover Images)

Fascinating newly-released images reveal what life was like in Britain more than 150 years ago.

The pictures, which have not been displayed digitally before, depict scenes in cities, towns and villages around the UK in Victorian times.

They are part of a collection put together by 19th Century photographer Francis Frith, who wanted to create the first photographic record of life in the UK.

There are a total of 330,000 photos in the collection, which is now being digitised.

Bolton Abbey, Couple by the Abbey c1886 (The Francis Frith Collection/Cover Images)

The images show a wide range of scenes, from intimate photos of people's day-to-day lives to sweeping landscapes of British landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament and Crystal Palace in surroundings that are barely recognisable today.

Princetown, Dartmoor Prison Gates and Convicts 1890 (The Francis Frith Collection/Cover Images)

The collection covers almost every city, town and village in the country. Photographers employed by the Frith company often returned to the same location decades apart, so many of the images show the changes in Britain over time as new technologies emerged and society changed.

Fishermen, Sheringham, Norfolk 1893 (The Francis Frith Collection/Cover Images)

The images depict all parts of Victorian Britain, from farmers and fisherman to work house inmates, golfers and businessmen.

"We are hugely excited about the newly digitised images going online and the Frith archive being shown on our website in its entirety," said John Buck, managing director of the Francis Frith Collection.

View more of the images in the gallery below.