Pictures from the Past
The power of photography is exceptional and farreaching. It can capture a moment in time, evoke an emotional response and provide a factual record. You only need to turn the pages of an old family photograph album to experience that sense of magic and wonder as you revisit past decades — the events, the people and the places. Looking at each snapshot prompts memories, perhaps tinged with joy and laughter, or sorrow and reflection.
This fascination and curiosity persists even if we don’t have a personal or family connection to the images we see. Many of us have a compulsion to explore the lives of earlier generations and to discover how our predecessors lived. From our 21stcentury perspective, we eagerly embrace any opportunity to engage with past centuries as if satisfying our childhood dreams of travelling through time. We enjoy seeking out places of historical interest and gaining precious insights from an array of first-hand sources. Nowhere is the value and importance of visual testimony better illustrated than in a magnificent new book entitled Lost England 1870-1930 by Philip Davies.
Turning the pages of this incredible and extensive volume is akin to opening the door to another world. An unrivalled collection of 1,200 images has been drawn from the archives of Historic England to provide a remarkable portrait of bygone times.
Glimpsing each photograph takes you back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and what strikes you most is the immense transformation that occurred throughout these six decades. It was the era of industrialisation and development, with great changes to
transport, housing, education, employment, commerce and the way people conducted their everyday lives — whether they were blessed with wealth or struggled against poverty. There were also tremendous challenges as the cruel shadows of conflict fell across England with the outbreak of the First World War.
The beauty of these photographs is that they record many diverse locations from the countryside and villages, to towns and cities. There is an excellent contrast too, between the stately homes, slums, suburbs, city streets and seaside resorts.
By dividing the book into regions and counties, readers can satisfy their curiosity about their hometown, or a place with which they have a special affinity. But to fully appreciate this spectacular panorama of English history — and the changes between then and now — you will want to linger over all 560 pages. Every photograph reveals so much depth and detail, and the immediacy, impact and astonishing honesty of black-and-white images becomes startlingly apparent. Just as history is about facts, so too is it about feelings and perceptions and these pictures evoke a mixture of emotions. There is relief at how living conditions have improved, but you also think about what has been lost.
In providing a mesmerising visual chronicle of the Victorian and Edwardian age, the pictures subtly document altering social attitudes. These were the years that witnessed women’s suffrage; child labour and statutory requirements for education; the workhouse; innovation and enterprise; the mobilisation of troops on a vast scale; the building of canals, roads and railways, and the advent of motor vehicles. England and her people were transformed for ever as the foundations for the future — and our lives today — were laid. The nation was initiating and responding to a rapidly altering world.
But as well as change and contrast, there is a welcome continuity in those images depicting crowds gathering at fairs, markets or celebrations; children playing; families at the seaside; city traffic queues (both horse-drawn and motorised!) and seasonal farming activities. Although machinery, methods and fashions have altered, the pattern of life and its traditions remains and is reassuringly familiar.
Equally as revealing as the locations and events featured are the faces of the men, women and children who gaze out at you from the pages. Some have expressions that seem to convey so much, while others are more enigmatic. With all of them you
wonder about their personalities, their families and their lives. As you look at them a stream of questions flows in your mind. What happened to them in the years after the photographs were taken? Where are their descendants today, or is it possible that one of your ancestors could be in that picture?
Clearly some of these subjects were unaware of the photographer’s presence, while others were all prepared as they stood lined up in their Sunday best. For these more composed pictures this might have been the first time that they had seen a camera, or posed for a photograph. Alas, in today’s “selfie-obsessed” generation that innocence is one thing that has been lost for ever.
Lost England 1870 - 1930 is a masterpiece of visual history. It also serves as a testament to the vital contribution that photography has made to the recording and understanding of England’s eternally engrossing heritage.