Vintage Found Photo Stories

Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. 1910.

2012-02-13T15:53:00.000Z

I visited a friend's house yesterday and by chance her mother was staying with her over the weekend, and had brought with her a box of old family photographs. Amongst them was this fantastic image taken inside a textile mill in Lancashire, decorated with paper chains to celebrate the 1910 coronation. The girl on the right of the group, with the scissors in her belt, was her grandmother, Alice Brady. She started working in the mill at the age of 14. A search on the internet reveals that other photographs were taken inside the same mill during the coronation celebrations.

Kansas City, USA. 1909.

2012-01-23T21:34:00.000Z

Another fragment turned up of the fascinating 1909 USA set I found ages ages ago. Thanks to local history enthusiasts in Kansas City I was able to pin down the street today. It is North Indiana Avenue. The house on the left still exists but the one one the right was demolished. Our intrepid anonymous British photographer was most interested in the sort of 'house moving' that went on in America. On the back of this he wrote "two storey houses that have been moved over 300 yards in Kansas City, Missouri. Each house was lifted bodily onto rollers and then over a road and put onto foundations."

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Aberdeen, Scotland. Royal visit. 1906.

2012-01-14T12:13:00.002Z

Decorated with flags probably taken during the king's visit on 27th September 1906. Compare it with this photo of the same corner taken on that day, looking down in the opposite direction from one of the buildings in my photo.

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Liverpool.

2012-01-06T18:30:00.001Z

This girl on the right is beautiful. I scanned this faded CDV last year but she only really came to life when I enlarged her today. Probably 1870s judging by the dress.

New Year. 1951.

2011-12-31T15:33:00.001Z

Christmas 1948. Tea and cake.

2011-12-27T10:11:00.001Z

Two cakes! That was a luxury in England during those rationing years. I find this image quite endearing. Maybe it's those rose-tinted retrospective spectacles. I showed this one to my parents and it had quite the opposite effect on them. It reminded them of hard times in the 1940s when they were children growing up in bombed-out industrial cities. No romance in it for them!

England. 1940.

2011-12-13T08:05:00.006Z

An RAF fighter pilot at rest. 1940.

One of my work colleagues lent me these old WW2 press photographs he picked up at a sale a few years ago.

"Thrusting into sand bags with bayonets are Dutch naval cadets, dressed in British battle dress for Home Guard duty. The men are continuing their training here after escaping from the famous naval college of Den Helder after Holland was overrun by Nazis. They will later join Dutch warships fighting with Britain. The college is run entirely by Dutch personnel." 1940.

The Duke of Gloucester meets New Zealand Maori soldiers. 1940.

Older couple

2011-11-21T16:16:00.001Z

French Navy. 1930s

2011-11-20T12:36:00.001Z

Carpenters on French training ship 'Armorique'. 1932. The Armorique was used as a base by the kriegsmarine during WW2 and scuttled in 1944.

France, 1920s.

2011-11-20T12:16:00.001Z

A street wedding in the 1920s. The man in the bowler hat appears in the photo below too.

Boat race on the Swan River. Perth, Australia, 1923.

2011-10-27T18:50:00.001+01:00

Lounging. 1920s

2011-10-25T10:58:00.002+01:00

Hard to make out but appears to be women in 1920s dress lounging on the deck. They are dwarfed by the funnels and vents. This is evidently a cargo ship. Pre-war it was more common for cargo ships to have cabins for paying passengers.

British soldiers posing with a cow. Palestine. First World War.

2011-10-25T10:53:00.002+01:00

Another part of the set previously posted. Two sergeants and a corporal posing with a cow. The man in the centre has injured, bandaged hands.

2011-10-25T10:48:00.001+01:00

A cheerful triptych of an unidentified British army captain. Looks like he enjoyed himself and saw a bit of the world too. 1920s or 30s.

Women with a pram. 1890s.

2011-10-25T10:45:00.001+01:00

Two ladies with a child in a very plush wicker pram. They look like they could be sisters. Unidentified location.

Children with union jacks.

2011-10-25T10:42:00.002+01:00

Patriotic children. What are they celebrating? Possibly the 1910 coronation.

Post-mortem baby

2011-10-24T09:52:00.002+01:00

This is the first time I've found a post-mortem photograph in a flea market. This sad scene is from Kent.

Elfindale Road, London.

2011-10-24T09:49:00.000+01:00

An atmospheric snowy night on Elfindale Road in London. 1920s or 30s, I think.

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"Me with my servant Ramazan" 20th Oct 1943.

2011-10-17T09:07:00.000+01:00

India during the war.

Royal Navy officers in China. 1900s or 1910s

2011-10-14T20:51:00.001+01:00

Quite a mystery, this one! Written on the back: "Paying a special call on the Hsien of Luchou". Also the name "Lieutenant Shepherd". Men dressed in Qing dynasty style. The device in the middle appears to be an Edison wax cylinder player / recorder. 'Hsien' means an administrative district or seat of government of such a district.

Difficult to figure out the location because of variable spellings when Latinising Chinese. Probably Luzhou, upriver from Chongqing (Chungking) in Sichuan province. Chongqing was the first inland port to be opened to foreigners in 1891. Could these officers be off a river gunboat?

They appear to be in the central inner-hall of a traditional Chinese house, in front of the folding screen of the house shrine.

Royal Navy officers

2011-10-14T20:34:00.002+01:00

With the ship's cat

Tropical uniform. Unidentified port.

The officers' mess. 1956.

Box Hill, Surrey.

2011-10-09T10:11:00.000+01:00

Box Hill was, and still is, a popular destination for day-trippers travelling out of London by train. A note on the back of this says it was a 'picnic', but the flowers maybe indicate a special ocassion. A wedding perhaps?

Spooky kids

2011-10-08T09:57:00.000+01:00

Several commenters have remarked that this pair give them the creeps. I think their style of dress and their expressions may indicate mourning. Possibly they had been recently orphaned. A sad story behind this one, I'm sure.

German House

2011-10-04T09:16:00.000+01:00

An unidentified house with the occupants posing in the windows. I think this may be the same family depicted a few years previously in this photo. Two of the men are appear to be wearing German WW1 era army uniform.

Elderly couple with a masonic door knocker.

2011-10-03T07:23:00.002+01:00

A grand old couple on their doorstep. The Masonic door knocker caught my attention. I found this almost identical example on Flickr.

The curious incident of the Tate & Lyle lorry. 1940s.

2011-09-28T08:11:00.000+01:00

The flea market trader thought this was a scene of bomb disposal during WW2. Looking closer I don't think that is the case. This Tate & Lyle Foden lorry appears to have lost its trailer and a curious crowd has assembled to watch the attempt to reconnect the two halves. The location is not identified, but it looks like suburban London.

Corner of Beaconsfield and Springfield Road, Brighton. 1940s.

2011-09-27T21:26:00.000+01:00

I find many of my photos in Brighton, yet very few that were actually taken there, so this one makes a pleasant change. An unusually snowy Brighton, maybe during the infamous hard winter of 1946-7.

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Typing School. 1946.

2011-09-27T20:46:00.000+01:00

A Southern Railways official photograph of the typing school at "Room 44, London Bridge" on 14th November 1946.

East Berlin. 1952.

2011-09-27T16:28:00.000+01:00

A parade celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the founding of the GDR. The damaged dome of Berlin cathedral in the background.

Allies! British, American and Soviet officers walking together. Weimar, Germany.

2011-09-27T09:47:00.002+01:00

A nice illustration of that short period of optimism before the Cold War began. I identified the city by googling clock towers all over Bohemia, Germany and Austria until I found this one. See a modern view here.

Palestine. First World War.

2011-09-27T09:22:00.000+01:00

A pair of photos I found in a flea market a few days ago. They appear to have been taken during the British offensive against the Turks in 1917. In the first photo grinning British soldiers are posing with a wrecked German-built AEG C.IV fighter plane. The bottom photo of troops resting in trench has a pencilled note on the back which I still haven't fully deciphered (perhaps you can help) which includes the words "second day of the Battle of Gaza".

On the Road. 1935.

2011-09-26T07:29:00.000+01:00

A fortunate find from a house clearance shop, this album of 36 photographs (see the complete set here) charts a motoring holiday taken by a family and their dog in 1935. Their car numberplate indicates that they probably lived in London. They toured around the western Scottish highlands, and also visited beauty spots in Yorkshire and Cumbria.

Mirfield, Yorkshire. 1890s.

2011-09-13T07:12:00.000+01:00

People wearing their Sunday Best in the industrial town of Mirfield, Yorkshire.

German family. 1900s.

2011-09-12T14:15:00.000+01:00

Many of the German photos I've found come from the same flea market in Brighton, apparently part of the same family collection. This is one of the oldest, and probably depicts members of that family. They look well-to-do; parents, a grandmother, younger children and one older son in army uniform.

Carnival parade. Germany. 1950s.

2011-09-12T09:15:00.000+01:00

A parade in an unidentified town. The police uniforms and hats place this in 1950s Germany.

Montague House

2011-09-08T16:56:00.001+01:00

I'm hopeful that, eventually, I'll be able to locate this building 'Montague House'. The elevated porch is unusual for Britain. Maybe it is a seaside guest house.

Back yards.

2011-09-08T16:41:00.000+01:00

I think these men are peeling potatoes. It looks like a hot summer day in the back yard of a terraced house. See the cat? The bottom photo appears to have been taken outside a similar dwelling, though with far idler menfolk.

Bern, Switzerland. Circa 1940.

2011-09-03T08:41:00.000+01:00

Engehaldenstrasse, Bern, Switzerland. Lorraineviadukt under construction. Circa 1940.

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Family. Ulverston.

2011-09-01T21:08:00.001+01:00

A nice pair of photos featuring the same family in Ulverston, Cumbria. I think the bottom photograph was taken outdoors in a yard decorated with blinds to make it look like an interior.

Australian

2011-08-24T20:43:00.000+01:00

The Sepia Saturday theme this week is based around Sydney and Australia. I found these two fellows in flea markets in England. A merchant officer (above) photographed in Sydney. Below, a dapper chap from a studio which gives its address only as 'North Queensland'. It has been pointed out to me that this covers an area larger than the whole of England, indicating that this was probably a travelling photographer.

Twin sisters

2011-08-22T08:47:00.001+01:00

Continuing the 'double' theme from yesterday's post. This pair of sisters were photographed in Merano (Italy, formerly Austria) in royal icing dresses. Sometimes I find twins where I didn't expect them, such as this group of old ladies in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent. It's maybe my own family history which makes me search for twin sisters. The defiant stare of these two leap out of our archive. I'm told they were a fabulous pair of old ladies too.

Seeing double

2011-08-21T18:23:00.000+01:00

Not twins (above) but the same girl photographed twice with her basket. When I found the Birmingham pair below I thought the same, but no. They are different girls in the same chair, in identical dresses. Probably sisters.

Loch Lomond, Scotland.

2011-08-18T17:22:00.002+01:00

The Sepia Saturday theme this week is trees. These were both taken on Loch Lomond, I think in the 1880s. The Inversnaid Hotel (above) is still there and so is the prominent tree, as you can see in this modern view. It is taller now. The village of Luss (below) is virtually unchanged.

Germany, 1950s.

2011-08-18T08:19:00.000+01:00

Arnulf-Klett-Platz, Stuttgart and (below) a parade in an unidentified town.

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Woman and children. Leven, Scotland.

2011-08-16T15:54:00.002+01:00

Here we see the inverse of the photographs in my previous post. A mother surrounded by her children, but with no father in evidence. Perhaps he was dead, or just at work.

Men and children

2011-08-16T15:15:00.005+01:00


A soldier and his boy.

Men with children. Where are the mothers? In some cases they may have been dead. It seems to have been more common in the past for studio family portraits to have been taken with only one parent (or grandparent) present.

Yorkshire


From a photographer based in Burnley and Padiham in Lancashire

Schoolgirls

2011-08-16T11:51:00.000+01:00

There's always one that moves isn't there? Forever immortalised as a 'ghost' in this school photo.

"Went away"

2011-08-15T07:31:00.001+01:00

A beautifully composed mother and child I found in Surrey. I'm not sure what to make of the inscription on the back. It says "Date went away Dec 16th 1901"

Does it mean that this photo was taken on the day they departed on a journey, or is it a euphemistic reference to a date of death?

Drag act. 1940s.

2011-08-14T15:42:00.000+01:00

I found this fun one inside a sideboard in a second-hand furniture shop. This message is on the back:

Eddie, I told you one day I would become a 'pin-up' girl. Look at this and tell me, am I in the running?!!! Richard (Richard Gilbert)

I was wondering if this could be an early photo of Dick Emery, whose middle name was Gilbert.

Mother and sullen child "Rachel".

2011-08-14T09:29:00.002+01:00

The 'Rachel' label has been placed deliberately under the child, not the mother, so I think we can assume Rachel is the child. I wonder what the rest of her life was like. I bet she was a beautiful adult.

Mother and shy child. 1890s.

2011-08-14T09:22:00.005+01:00

Men and their cars. 1920s

2011-08-12T20:45:00.000+01:00

A Model T (above) with Buckinghamshire numberplates and a bored dog, and (below) enjoying a beer in a London registered car. I'd like to think the driver didn't have one, but I doubt it.

Baby in the garden sequence

2011-08-12T20:27:00.002+01:00

Wedding fragment. 1900s

2011-08-10T23:24:00.000+01:00

The bridge and groom are beheaded. The woman on the right has been carefully preserved.

Cheers! 1940s Britain and France compared.

2011-08-08T23:17:00.001+01:00

Not such a great difference between us.

Champagne party. June 1942. France.

Men. 1870s

2011-08-08T22:59:00.002+01:00

An unidentified group of men, including one surprising Leonardo DiCaprio lookalike. Who were they?

Nurses

2011-08-08T22:43:00.000+01:00

I struggle to understand how they did anything practical dressed like this.

Great snow! Toboganning on 27th January 1945.

2011-08-08T22:28:00.001+01:00

Repeated on the back of all three of these is the date and the words "great snow". Somebody has pointed out that this was the day the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz. There was snow there too, but not so much jollity.

Maid with a cat and two dogs

2011-08-08T22:03:00.000+01:00

I found this one today in Lewes. I'm surprised she managed to make them sit still long enough.

Big hats

2011-08-08T10:14:00.003+01:00

This is the choral society from the Lancashire village of Sabden. The building has now been identified as Sabden Baptist church, though it appears oddly smaller in this modern view. A very good example of cartwheel hats.

An example of the Merry Widow.

Frilly children

2011-08-07T15:06:00.004+01:00

How much lace and ribbon can you pile onto one child? Quite a lot.

Mother and child.

2011-08-07T14:58:00.003+01:00

This one remains my favourite out of all the hundreds I've collected. I love everything about it, including the hat. The subjects and photographer are unidentified. Bought off an ebay vendor in Scotland.

Hat

Mystery marktplatz. Third Reich.

2011-08-07T13:43:00.003+01:00

Totally flummoxed by this one. A busy marketplace in a large town or city with 19th century buildings. German shop names and swastika banners. Any ideas?

I found it in the same collection as this one of Rothenburg, along with photos of Berlin and Potsdam, but this town does not appear to be any of those places.

Lausanne, Switzerland. May 1936.

2011-08-06T17:33:00.001+01:00

There's a story behind this one. The boy has a stick and his legs are in irons. Probably a polio victim. There is a message on the back:

"Jacque, Mama, Wendy. Look at the blossom trees and flowers in the background. Jacque's legs are in irons under his trousers but he is always cheerful and is very strong. Doesn't W look tall?"

HALT! Border crossing. India?

2011-08-06T10:38:00.004+01:00

A mysterious tiny photo of a border crossing or some sort of checkpoint. Looks like India in the 1910s. No indication of where exactly.

Found Album

2011-08-05T17:17:00.004+01:00

A £20 bargain I found in a house clearance shop in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. It contained 21 cabinet portraits and two photographs of buildings, dating from the 1870s to 1910, taken in different parts of England and Scotland, and one from San Francisco. Several individuals appear more than once. I assume it was a family album, though the content doesn't pin it down to any one locality. See them all here.

Festival of Britain. 1951.

2011-08-05T03:04:00.007+01:00

I thought I'd get in early for this week's Sepia Saturday theme, which is expositions. This is the 1951 Festival of Britain, held in London on the South Bank of the Thames and still fondly remembered as the symbolic end of post-war economic austerity. The 'Dome of Discovery' on the left and the 'Skylon' tower, both demolished after the festival. Looking closer you can see a group of school boys watched over by a stern teacher and two policemen.

A bit of trivia: one of the consulting engineers on the Dome was Oleg Kerensky, son of former revolutionary Russian Prime Minister, Alexander Kerensky.

For another photo on the theme of expositions see this one I posted a while back.

Africa

2011-08-04T19:34:00.000+01:00

A slightly disturbing picture of colonial servitude in the form of this head-borne sedan chair. Possibly a planter on his estate. Unidentified location but looks like West Africa.

After much puzzling I'm 99% certain this is Lagos, Nigeria, in the 1920s or 30s. Possibly an aerial photograph. Looking south from over or around the Catholic mission.

Ha! Smiling Victorians.

2011-08-04T01:32:00.007+01:00

19th century Britain was a very serious place. Nobody smiled in photographs, ever. Well, almost nobody.

London.


Thetford, Norfolk

Family in their garden with their dog. 1900s

2011-08-04T01:26:00.000+01:00

This gentleman is surely proof than people come to ressemble their pets.

Border crossing. 1950s.

2011-08-02T16:57:00.000+01:00

A cheerful border crossing scene. I think this is the French-German border.

Ocean liners. 1930s.

2011-08-02T12:22:00.000+01:00

RMS Queen Mary approaching Southampton

Dinner aboard RMS Aquitania. August 1939.

'Pyjama parade' aboard RMS Strathaird. August 1932.

Lounging. Unidentified ship.

Old Singapore

2011-08-02T08:13:00.002+01:00

Two views of the Boat Quay, Singapore. See a modern view here and enlarged details below. I also found this photo of cheerful expats on the verandah of their house on Pasir Panjang Road.

London: Peace Day, 1919.

2011-08-01T15:44:00.004+01:00

On the back of this portrait I found pasted two small photographs of London. Trafalgar Square (top) and Carlton House Terrace on The Mall. Union flags everywhere and Nelson's column is wrapped in a garland. Several Flickr detectives have been poring over these for me trying to establish a date and identify the occasion. The vantage point for both appears to be Admiralty Arch (completed 1912). A sign for the Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Co Ltd can be seen. They moved to that address in 1919.

Finally, someone came up with this postcard. The obelisks visible on The Mall were erected specially for Peace Day in 1919. I think that nails it. Thank you, everybody!

See some colour photos of the event here.

Minnesota, USA. 1940s.

2011-08-01T14:51:00.002+01:00

A set of three flea market photos of Minneapolis (Foshay Tower, above) and St Paul. Two men appear in Royal Air Force uniforms. They could be British or Canadians. Notations on the backs of the photos draw attention to the tall buildings. I think they were sent to someone in England to show them American skyscraper architecture.

1st National Bank building, St Paul. Jimmy Reed and Ken Bright, photographed by Mike Durrant.

View from the State Building, St Paul. As chance would have it I came across another photo of this same building, taken in 1909, in a different flea market.

Two picnics

2011-08-01T10:34:00.001+01:00

The top one may have come from the same album as the two photos in my last entry. The bottom one is a beach party. Note the copper kettle. You often see kettles and tea cups in old picnic photos, but no sign of how they boiled the water.

Limpsfield, Surrey. August 1899.

2011-08-01T10:22:00.002+01:00

J.S., Doris & Marjorie. In the bottom photo they are in a field of hops. I like the way all their stuff is piled on the pram. Everybody who has ever owned a baby and pram or pushchair has done this.

Faded waterways

2011-07-30T23:36:00.001+01:00

The faded and flawed photographs are often the most tantalising. The top one is Bruges, Belgium. See a modern view here.

Women and cars

2011-07-29T06:44:00.002+01:00

The Sepia Saturday theme tomorrow is women and cars. Here are two I've found in flea markets. The car in the top picture is a Wolseley with Surrey registration. They've stopped for drinks.

Penguin Pool, London Zoo. 1930s.

2011-07-28T21:42:00.000+01:00

Found in a flea market today. The penguin pool at London zoo, designed in radical modernist style by the Tecton Group.

British soldiers in Baku, Azerbaijan. 16th June 1919.

2011-07-28T20:45:00.002+01:00

An intriguing old photo I found in a flea market today. It was taken after the end of WW1 in the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic when Baku was occupied by Commonwealth troops under the command of British General W.Thompson. These must be British soldiers posing with locals.

Written on the reverse "Taken at Baku. June 16 - 1919. Me and Old Tank" I assume 'Old Tank' is the cat.

The back of the photo then seems to have been reused as a piece of notepaper to convey this order: "Officer Inspection at 8.30. All Gun Gear to be laid out by 8.30 for inspection and handing over to Mr Thomas, Section Officer"

They appear to have machine gun corps cap badges, which would maybe explain the reference to 'gun gear'.

RMMV Capetown Castle

2011-07-28T10:45:00.000+01:00

An an unidentified flea-market find, I threw this one open to the ocean liner enthusiasts and they were eventually able to pin down this ship as the Capetown Castle. There's an atmosphere about this one which is hard to define; a sense of expectation and promise.

No. 10 Camels

2011-07-28T08:09:00.002+01:00

A bit of a mystery which I found crumpled up in a flea market bin. An incomplete pencilled note on the back reads "no. 10 camels carrying to Jamboal.....". It has been suggested that this last word might be a variant spelling of 'Yambo al Bahr' or 'Yanbu al Bahr', which is on the Red Sea in present-day Saudi Arabia, and that this is part of the 10th company of the Imperial Camel Corps during the first world war campaign against the Ottoman Empire.

I count 12 camels.

Jester

2011-07-28T07:57:00.000+01:00

Either a professional actor or music hall comedian, or an amateur dressed for a part in a tableau or pageant. He was evidently proud enough of his costume to commission multiple portraits.

Tea and cake

2011-07-26T16:53:00.000+01:00

This photo inspired me to create the vintage tea and cake group in Flickr, which currently contains 162 photographs on this sub-theme.

I love this interior. Those might be scones, rather than cakes.

New TV.

2011-07-24T22:04:00.000+01:00

The Sepia Saturday theme yesterday was the space race. Now, I don't have any space photos but I did find this one recently, which amused me. I don't know who this man is, but I feel he has just purchased this television and is very proud of it.

"Coffee roasted daily" Atkins & Turton coffee & tea merchants. 2 High Street, Coventry

2011-07-24T21:56:00.000+01:00

The shop window of Atkins & Turton coffee and tea merchants in Coventry. Have a look at the large version on Flickr. I love the cheerful chinoiserie. See the thoughfully provided match-striking plate? This building was erased by wartime bombing and post-war redevelopment. I was able to identify the location by the name plate of architect T.F. Tickner, to the left of the window, who had offices next door. He designed the Coventry war memorial. See here for another pre-war photo of the high street (Atkins & Turton is on the left) alongside a modern view. The same website also transcribes this tantalising childhood memory of the shop:

"They had a coffee roaster and grinder in a window specially made for it - polished metal and red paint - which smelt wonderful. I can still recall the smell to this day."

You can see the shop assistant here loading a cylinder into a chain-driven grinder in the window, exactly as described.

Jägerstraße, Potsdam, Germany. 1930s or 1940s.

2011-07-20T06:30:00.000+01:00

That's a 'Blitz' lorry and there appears to be a soldier in WW2 era uniform. This location took a quite a bit of educated guesswork to pin down. A fellow vintage photo enthusiast in Germany finally dispelled all doubt by visiting this street yesterday and taking this photo for me.

Girls with fans. Bingley, Yorkshire.

2011-07-18T10:03:00.000+01:00

A fabulous group of girls, all holding fans, and a stereotypical hatchet-faced school mistress. She looks terrifying! There's a name scratched on the wall behind them. I think it says "William Wallis".

School children. 1930s

2011-07-18T09:58:00.000+01:00

Compare with the last entry. There seems to have been a fashion for this type of school photo in the 1930s, the children posed in the classroom with various games.

School children. 1860s

2011-07-18T09:46:00.000+01:00

Unidentified school. Probably 1860s judging by the teachers' dresses. This one was very popular when I first put it on Flickr. I'm constantly amazed that old school photos sell for so little. They are far more interesting than soldiers or dogs.

"Bubba" 1894

2011-07-17T23:33:00.002+01:00

A child identified only as 'Bubba' in 1894.

Wedding, Dudley, West Midlands.

2011-07-17T23:31:00.000+01:00

A well-heeled wedding group in the industrial town of Dudley. This large print contains many fine details. See below. The young woman on the left is particularly striking and melancholy.

Storrington, West Sussex

2011-07-16T15:16:00.003+01:00

Storrington High Street, looking east towards Manley's Hill and the Anchor Inn. A scene much changed by demolitions and new buildings, but just about recognisable. Compare with this view from a higher angle.

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Mickleham, Surrey.

2011-07-16T11:54:00.003+01:00

Nothing much has changed here, except that the post office has closed and cars have invaded. One commenter pointed out that modern masonry paints and road surfaces have 'detextured' English villages. I think he has a point. The bloke who runs the village shop now has a copy of this picture and is convinced that the children have been pasted on by some 100 year old photo trickery.

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Victorian boys dressed as girls

2011-07-16T10:17:00.000+01:00

The Sepia Saturday theme today is 'what's going on?' and this is a question I've often asked of this photo. Taken in 'Jubilee year', which makes it either 1887 or 1897, it depicts a group of school or workhouse children. Many of them are clearly boys wearing dresses. They don't look very happy. Although I'm reliably informed that young Victorian boys did sometimes wear hand-me-down dresses until they got older, this is the only time I've found evidence of it.

Littlehampton, West Sussex

2011-07-15T12:23:00.002+01:00

An era when tall ships still visted Littlehampton. Can you see the two children leaning over the sea wall? See enlarged detail here.

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Muree, Punjab, British India (Pakistan) 13th August 1945.

2011-07-12T17:55:00.000+01:00

An atmospheric shot of Murree, a hill station, summer resort and popular place of residence for British administrators seeking relief from the heat.

Boer War veteran

2011-07-10T08:21:00.000+01:00

Unidentified but much can be deduced from his badges and medals. He was in the East Surrey regiment and served in the Boer War as mounted infantry.

BEA airliner "RMA James Cook"

2011-06-24T10:43:00.000+01:00

My contribution to this week's Sepia Saturday theme. Air travel in a more glamorous age. You can dimly make out the name of this aircraft. British European Airways G-AMNZ "RMA James Cook". A Vickers Viscount built in 1953. See other photos of the same plane here.