The nostalgia magazine, ‘Best of British,’ brought to my notice The Francis Frith Collection of photographs. The collection includes pictures of the towns and villages of the UK and Ireland dating from 1860. A massive and interesting record of the past. It is easy to search for your home town/ county and places of interest on their website www.francisfrith.com
Francis Frith (1822-1898), born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, became a successful businessman and photographer. Photography grew to be a passion leading him to travel abroad, particularly to Egypt and the Middle East to record the interesting and unusual.
Back home his interest turned to the towns and villages of the UK. His mission became to photograph every town and village. He set out to do this himself, but the immensity of the project led him to hire photographers to help. His collection interested visitors and tourists and led to the establishment a successful post card company.
After Frith’s death his family continued running the business until 1971 when a photography historian, Bill Jay, saved the collection by convincing Rothmans of Pall Mall of its importance. They purchased the collection, so we are able to look back today on the Francis Frith Collection.
The historical value is enhanced by the written memories of visitors to the website. Old photographs stir memories and prompt folk to post them. A picture of Liverpool’s long gone Overhead Railway-demolished when I was still at school- brought back a ride I had on it. See my post. A Sad Sight. – a nostalgic memory of Liverpool
If you can’t remember whether the empty store in your High Street was ‘Woolworths’ or ‘C&A’s’, there could be a photograph to help you.
