Cleaning Collection

A Complete Wash-out, by William Heath Robinson
The trials of spring-cleaning as endured on the ark. Please note: Credit must appear as Courtesy of the Estate of Mrs J.C.Robinson/Pollinger Ltd/ILN/Mary Evans

Mrs Alice Huntley who has lived at 51 Wimborne Sreet, Splott, Cardiff, for 48 years cleans outside her home this morning watched by her granddaughter Ann aged 8 years

DOLLY TUB
A laundry worker using a dolly stock and tub to clean clothes, prior to the invention of the washing machine

Quaker / Monk Parakeet - Preening South America
CLA-440 Monk Parakeet / Quaker Parrot - preening Myiopsitta monachus Mary Clay Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Jesus Washing the Feet of his Disciples, 1898 (oil and grisaille on paper)
3086711 Jesus Washing the Feet of his Disciples, 1898 (oil and grisaille on paper) by Edelfelt, Albert Gustaf Aristides (1854-1905); 58x47 cm; National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden; Finnish

Wringer, wet clothes dryer
Antique illustration of a wringer, wet clothes dryer

Picture No. 10900188
European Beaver (Castor fiber) Date:

AMERICAN GOTHIC, 1942. Ella Watson, a US Government Chairwoman. Photograph by Gordon Parks, 1942

Upright Hoover
A mustard yellow Hoover upright vacuum cleaner

Poster advertising Acel chamois leather for cleaning cars, showing a chauffeur in green uniform holding a miniature red car. early 20th century

Mute Swan - adult bird preening - Cleveland - UK
ROY-650 Mute Swan - adult bird preening Cleveland - UK Cygnus olor Roy Glen Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Brown Bear With cubs
LA-363 European BROWN BEAR - with cubs by water Ursus arctos Jean Michel Labat Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Sun Conures - preening South America
CLA-690 Sun CONURES - two preening South America Aratinga solstitialis Mary Clay Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Sea Otter - grooming. (Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Tacoma, WA) B2A4593
TOM-1425 Sea Otter - grooming. Enhydra lutris (Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Tacoma, WA) Tom & Pat Leeson Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

Horses - 2 x Norwegian Fjord Pony, grooming each other
USH-471 HORSE - Norwegian Fjord pony, two grooming Equus caballus sp. Duncan Usher Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Loco staff cleaning No 6014 King Henry VII, c1930
4-6-0 King class locomotive. Built 1928.

No 6010 King Charles I at Swindon Engine Shed, 1951
4-6-0 King class locomotive. Built 1928. Seen here at Swindon Shed being tube cleaned with a steam lance.

Multicoloured beach huts on the long sweeping beach of Llanbedrog, Llyn Peninsula, Gwynedd, North Wales, Wales, United Kingdom, Europe

Municipal laundry, Mahalaxmi dhobi ghat, Mumbai (Bombay), India, Asia

Advert, Pullars Dye Works, Perth, Scotland. 1905

Cleaning out roadside drainage ditches which had become overgrown using JCB digger, England, February

Ariel low temperature washing powder gel - Close up of plastic bottle UK
MAB-1220 Ariel low temperature washing powder gel - Close up of plastic bottle UK Mark Boulton contact details: prints@ardea.com tel: +44 (0) 20 8318 1401

Contact lenses inside a storage pot of saline solution

Lion - 5-6 week old cub with mother in den - Masai Mara Reserve - Kenya
SE-399 Lion - 5-6 week old cub with mother in den Maasai Mara Reserve - Kenya Panthera leo Suzi Eszterhas Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

Double-crested Cormorant - West Coast nonbreeeding adult with wings spread open - Range: coasts, inland lakes
FG-ED-034 Double-crested Cormorant - West Coast nonbreeeding adult with wings spread open Range: coasts, inland lakes, rivers of North America Phalacrocorax auritus Francois Gohier Please note that

Rose-breasted Cockatoo / Galah - preening itself. Dortmund, Germany
USH-2600 Rose-breasted Cockatoo / Galah - preening itself. Dortmund, Germany Eolopus roseicapilla Duncan Usher Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

Jersey calves On a Waikato dairy farm, New Zealand
DH-3145 Jersey calves On a Waikato dairy farm, New Zealand Don Hadden Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Vacuuming a Wireless
Frequent cleaning of a wireless set (radio) can easily be done with use of the spare parts of a Hoover vacuum cleaner

Travelling Charlady
A travelling charlady, up a ladder, cleaning a front door, her motorcycle with its Stop Me For Cleaning, No Job Too Small sign, parked behind her!

Leopard and cub, Singita Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa

Naked woman showering, rear view

Advert / Calverts Carboli
CALVERTs CARBOLIC SOAP for floors

Washing baby
MODEL RELEASED. Washing baby. 9-month-old baby girl covered in soap suds while having a bath

Dog - Yorkshire Terrier
LA-1341 Dog - Yorkshire Terrier Jean Michel Labat Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Advertisement for the Western Electric vacuum cleaner with a women patiently cleaning the carpet around her snoozing husband. Lets hope that cigarette falls into his lap and wakes him up. Date: c.1924

Unusual Picture of Czech model Dana Mala having her hot pants polished by a bootblack named Charlie in Piccadilly Circus. April 1971

Advert for Follows & Bates winding machines 1900s
Various machines from the late 19th Century early 20th century, advertised in The Ironmonger Diary and Text Book, for Follows & Bates in Manchester. Circa 1900

Advert for Daisy vacuum cleaner 1912
Daisy vacuum cleaner, manual vacuum cleaner using suction to remove dirt. 1912

Early Washing Machine
circa 1860: An early labour-saving machine for clothes washing, comprising a water barrel, water boiler, agitator and mangle. (Photo by Chaloner Woods/Getty Images)

An Alvarezsaurid bird cleans the mouth of a Giganotosaurus carolinii dinosaur

WW2 - Laundry - It ll soon be hanging on the Siegfried Line
WW2 humour - " Two British soldiers doing their laundry comment that " It ll soon be hanging on the Siegfried Line!". Date: circa 1944

Housing slums in the Dalmarnock district of Glasgow the deralict tenament housing with its windows broken a load of washing is hung out to dry October 1963

Advert for Pears Soap - A Chemist Recommends... 1912
Advertisement for Pears Soap - A Chemist Recommends the product for its pure, genuine, good value and effective properties! Date: 1912

Victorian London boys begging and sweeping street, 1870
Vintage engraving of Victorian London boys begging and sweeping street. Mothers Last Words, Mrs Sewell, c.1870

CHIMNEY SWEEP, 1890. American advertisement for Pears Soap, 1890

Cub Scouts cleaning fire engine

Big Ben with scaffolding, Palace of Westminster, London, and the musical notes of the chimes given below (in E Major). The scaffolding was erected in 1933 to enable renovation work to the clock

Sea Otter - grooming in water (Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Tacoma, WA) B2A5726
TOM-1438 Sea Otter - grooming in water Enhydra lutris (Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Tacoma, WA) Tom & Pat Leeson Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

Japanese Macaque Monkeys / Snow Monkeys Relaxing and grooming each other amidst the steam of a hot spring Japan
WAT-8296 Japanese Macaque / Snow Monkeys Relaxing and grooming each other in hot spring. Japan Macaca fuscata M. Watson Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

1960S Lady & Vacuum
A British housewife poses with Hoover and rag in the centre of her sitting room

Advert / Reckitts Blue
Reckitts Blue - for a sparkling white wash

Red necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis) with joey peering from pouch, in scrubland at edges of rainforest, small macropod found in eastern Australia, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia

Queen Mary Ocean Liner, at Southampton
Reaching Southampton the Queen Mary docked in an enormous King George V graving drydock, ready for its maiden voyage to New York in May 1936

Railway Cleaner
26th October 1907: A man sweeping a Great Central Railway carriage, at Marylebone. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

A Woman Vacuuming
New York, New York: 1929. Marie Bard, 22, who is the model for the 1930 Red Cross poster and US postage stamp illustrated by artist Lawrence Wilbur

Rinso Advert
RINSO washes while you sleep (snore !) - soak the clothes, thats all. (Made by Hudson s)

Advert, Surbiton and Kingston Laundry, Surrey
Advert, Surbiton and Kingston Laundry, Alfred Road, Spring Grove, Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey Date: 1897

The Little Miss Pussy Cats helping in the kitchen (colour litho)
7157455 The Little Miss Pussy Cats helping in the kitchen (colour litho) by Wain, Louis (1860-1939) (after); Private Collection; (add.info.: The Little Miss Pussy Cats helping in the kitchen)

Jesus Christ anointed by a sinful woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee (engraving)
7172445 Jesus Christ anointed by a sinful woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee (engraving) by European School, (17th century); Private Collection; (add.info)

Advertisement for Babbitts Best Soap, c. 1880 (colour litho)
HGL396881 Advertisement for Babbitts Best Soap, c.1880 (colour litho) by American School, (19th century); Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, Delaware, USA; eHagley Museum and Library; American

Spring cleaning in Highgate woods (litho)
1090681 Spring cleaning in Highgate woods (litho) by Robinson, William Heath (1872-1944); Private Collection; (add.info.: Spring cleaning in Highgate woods)

Vim advertising insert -- A Child Can Use It. circa 1900

Imperial Vacuum Cleaner advertisement, 1914
Advertisement for the Imperial Vacuum Cleaner from The Electric Appliances Company Ltd, claiming it would last a lifetime and offering the chance for a home demonstration of the machine in action

Blue and Yellow MACAWS / Blue and Gold macaws - X2 preening (Ara ararauna). Taman Burning Bali Bird Park, Bali Island, Indonesia

Thessaloniki, Greece - Bootblack Date: circa 1916

Picture No. 10783466
European Badger - resting (Meles meles) Date:

Boy Scouts cleaning street sign, London
Two Boy Scouts cleaning a street sign in Downshire Hill, Hampstead, north-west London during Scout Job Week. In their spare time

Proboscis Monkey JPF 10496 Adult male crossing Kinabatangan River, Riverine forest
JPF-10496 Proboscis / Long-nosed MONKEY - Adult male crossing Kinabatangan River, Riverine forest Borneo (Malaysia - Sabah)

Olive Thrush - bathing in birdbath - East and southern Africa, especially highland areas
ASW-4850 Olive Thrush - bathing in birdbath Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Turdus olivaceus East and southern Africa, especially highland areas. Alan J. S

Landlady discovers the lodger in the bath
The Lodger was in the bath. A landlady receives a nasty surprise as she comes across the lodger taking a bath

Cleaning Day, by Ethel Parkinson. A little Dutch girl wields a mop, while a little boy kneels down and scrubs the floor

Canada - Ojibwa Girl cleaning the catch
The Ojibwa is the largest group of Native American peoples north of Mexico. They are equally divided between the United States and Canada

Suricate / Meerkat - adult grooming young Kalahari South Africa
CH-4438 Suricate / Meerkat - adult grooming young Kalahari South Africa Suricata suricatta Clem Haagner Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

Maasai Giraffe - mother sucking young's ear, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya JFL01224
FL-3088 Maasai Giraffe - mother sucking youngs ear Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Giraffa camelopardalis tippelski Ferrero Labat Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only

Wandering Albatross - Pair preening (part of courtship behaviour), Albatross Island, South Georgia, Antarctica
JPF-14280 Wandering Albatross - Pair preening (part of courtship behaviour) Albatross Island, South Georgia, Antarctica, Islands in the southern ocean

Weasel Male in moss, licking lips Close up of head West Wales, UK
BB-638 Weasel - Close-up of male in moss, licking lips West Wales, UK Mustela nivalis Brian Bevan Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Horse - new born thoroughbred foal
JD-734 Horse - new born thoroughbred foal John Daniels Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Lesser Kestrel - Female preening male. Extremadura, Spain BI002698
COS-1199 Lesser Kestrel - Female preening male Extremadura, Spain Falco naumanni Bill Coster Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

Blue & Yellow Macaws x2 preening. Taman Burning Bali Bird Park, Bali Island, Indonesia
ANZ-618 Blue and Yellow MACAWS / Blue and Gold macaws - X2 preening Taman Burning Bali Bird Park, Bali Island, Indonesia. Ara ararauna Andrey Zvoznikov Please note that prints are for personal

Women Window Cleaners
A group of newly trained Georginas set off for their first job, carrying their ladders and buckets. Date: 1940s

Advert / Enameline Polish
ENAMELINE STOVE POLISH for polishing stoves, grates, ranges, etc

Carpet Sweeper
A young housewife using a carpet sweeper

Model Maid-Of-All-Work
The model maid of all work is kept busy in the scullery cleaning boots, boiling kettles and pans, and responding to the bells that are constantly rung for her

Girl Leaning Over Sink Little Mischief (chromolitho)
733486 Girl Leaning Over Sink Little Mischief (chromolitho) by American School, (19th century); Private Collection; (add.info)

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"A Complete Wash-out: Exploring the Art of Cleaning" In this captivating collection, William Heath Robinson takes us on a whimsical journey through the world of cleaning. From the iconic DOLLY TUB to the meticulous preening of a Quaker/Monk Parakeet in South America, these hints remind us of the beauty and importance of cleanliness. Step into Pullars Dye Works in Perth, Scotland with their enticing advert that promises vibrant colors and spotless garments. Meanwhile, in England's countryside, witness the transformation as roadside drainage ditches are cleared using a powerful JCB digger - nature reclaiming its purity. Marvel at the tender moment captured by Jesus Washing the Feet of his Disciples; an act symbolizing humility and servitude. The wringer and wet clothes dryer stand as timeless reminders of simpler times when hard work was required for pristine laundry. Ella Watson's stern gaze in Gordon Parks' photograph AMERICAN GOTHIC tells a tale of determination amidst adversity - her role as US Government Chairwoman demanding impeccable standards. Witnessing an adult Mute Swan preening itself gracefully along Cleveland's shores or Sun Conures indulging in self-care rituals brings forth a sense of tranquility from South America. And let us not forget our furry friends. Observe a Sea Otter meticulously grooming itself at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, WA - reminding us that even amidst chaos, there is solace to be found through personal care. Join us on this visual expedition where cleaning becomes an art form. Discover how these diverse moments encapsulate both simplicity and complexity while celebrating cleanliness as an essential aspect of life's harmony.