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Caption:

Navvies using a brickmaking machine, manufactured by Henry Clayton & Co, during the construction of the Midland Railway's extension to St Pancras station, London, 29 August 1865. Navvies were the men who built the railways. Most navvies were young and single men. They had a reputation for being drunk and violent, but this was not always justified. Their work was hard, and their living conditions were often appalling.