For many centuries Billingsgate was the main wharf for the mooring of fishing vessels and landing their cargoes. Billingsgate was the site of a fish market on the north bank of the river between the London Bridge, seen in the background, and the Thames Tunnel. Corn, malt, salt and fish were landed as early as the 13th century. The local Billingsgate Market was especially famous for fish, as well as the bad language used by some fishmongers. Because the composition was not reversed on the copper plate, it appears the wrong way around in the printed etching.

This was one of the plates in 'A Series of Sixteen Etchings on the Thames', produced by Whistler and published in 1871. He etched the plates for these prints after he moved to Wapping in 1859. He worked directly with his subjects and, by doing so, succeeded in highlighting the existence of a working-class maritime community in London. The work is signed and dated ‘Whistler. 1859’, lower right.