(1855-1880) London became a city in 1855. It was then undergoing a "boom and bust" period spurred by incredible economic growth and land speculation. This was originally stimulated by the local arrival of the railway and the use of the city as a terminal for the spread of a vast subsidiary network. Soon massive immigration was pouring into the newly accessible farm and forest lands and London rapidly developed as an administration, education, financial, manufacturing, mercantile and military centre to service an enormous hinterland. The expansive activity attracted a number of key artists to the area who were soon playing a formidable role in the cultural evolution of London's artistic community. Like the itinerants, the new artists still needed to supplement their artistic careers in order to survive. Banking, book binding, monument making, photography and teaching were some of their career choices. Therefore, the growing community permitted them a more secure and settled living environment. The era also saw the careful nurturing of the artistic seeds planted by this group which produced a tremendous flowering in the next period. The seven principals of the era were: James Hamilton who arrived in the late 1840s; Charles Chapman, James and John Griffiths and John Robert Peel who came circa 1855 and lastly William Lees Judson who appeared at the close of the American Civil War.