Joshua Abraham Norton was a resident of San Francisco, California, who in 1859 proclaimed himself "Norton I., Emperor of the United States", commonly known as Emperor Norton. In 1863, after Napoleon III invaded Mexico, he took the secondary title of "Protector of Mexico".
Norton, c. 1871–72
Emperor Norton in full dress uniform and military regalia, his hand on the hilt of a ceremonial sabre, c. 1875
One of Norton's undated proclamations
A fanciful depiction of Norton dressed as the Pope at the funeral of the itinerant dog Lazarus
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards. This was a major shipbuilding dock and attracted Peter the Great to come and study shipbuilding. Deptford and the docks are associated with the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind, the legend of Sir Walter Raleigh laying down his cape for Elizabeth, Captain James Cook's third voyage aboard HMS Resolution, and the mysterious apparent murder of Christopher Marlowe in a house along Deptford Strand.
An anchor at the southern end of Deptford High Street links Deptford to its dockyard history
Surviving riverside building of the former Royal Victoria Victualling Yard
Former Deptford Town Hall, now part of Goldsmiths College
View of Pepys Park, Convoys Wharf, Sayes Court, and over Deptford towards Lewisham