Sepia Saturday 288: The Changing Face of a Market Town

This week's Sepia Saturday theme image of a buther's shopfront is a reminder, if we ever needed one, of now much our townscapes have changed in the last century, and by that I'm referring not just to the buildings themselves but also the nature of the window displays and manner of presenting wares to the public. Attractive as they are to the modern tourist, most of the quaint old historic villages that one sees regularly in guide books and on the television bear little resemblance to how they looked in Victorian times. There are some exceptions, however, and some time fellow Sepian Nigel Aspdin has kindly dropped whatever he was doing, hopped on the bus at a moments notice, and spent a rainy morning in Ashbourne (Derbyshire) taking some "now" photos for me.


Green Man Hotel. Ashbourne. W.4286
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by Louis B. Twells, Ashbourne, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Consider this image of the Green Man and Black's Head Royal Hotel in the medieval market town of Ashbourne in the Derbyshire Dales, which was published by photographer Louis B. Twells, probably in the mid-1880s to early 1890s. A crowd of onlookers has assembled in the archway of the inn's carriage entrance, either to provide a send off for the distinguished looking family departing in the horse-drawn carriage, or at the photographer's bidding to provide some life in his scene. Plenty of human interest there certainly is in this well constructed and executed view, with a gaggle of children lurking on the street corner, a couple of erstwhile shoppers walking down the pavment at far left, perhaps having just visited Henry Hood & Son's tailors and gentleman's outfitters shop next door to the Green Man.


Green Man Hotel, St John Street, Ashbourne, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Mrs. Fanny Wallis was proprietress of the Green Man and Black's Head Commercial and Family Hotel, Posting House & Inland Revenue Office (to quote its full title as given in trade directories of the time) in St John Street, Ashbourne from the death of her husband Robert Wallis in 1871 until her own death in 1898. Little appears to have been done to the exterior since then, and the outfitter's next door is somewhat surprisingly still selling clothing. They have, however, cleaned up the horse droppings on the road.


Market Square. Ashbourne. W.4285
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by Louis B. Twells, Ashbourne, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Nigel's great-grandfather William Barnes had an ironmonger's shop fronting onto Market Place, and used the full extent of the open area to display his wares, presumably by arrangement with the authorities to avoid a fine for obstructing the pavement. His sign in the middle of the square is just visible near the right hand edge of this scene, partly obscuring the shop front of George Hill & Company, boot and shoe manufacturers. The building to the left of this was occupied by the Conservative Club (John Rowland, secretary). The only other sign clearly legible, and reading only "Bradley," is affixed to a building at middle left, actually situated on St John Street. This was, according to the 1891 edition of Kelly's Trade Directory, Edwin Sylvester Bradley, chemist and druggist. The directory also provides the following:

A handsome monument and fountain was erected in the market place in 1873, by public subscription, in memory of the late Francis Wright esq. of Osmaston Manor, for his valuable services to the town and neighbourhood.

Market Square, Ashbourne, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The monument is still there, although by now somewhat darker than the surroundings, and William Barnes' agricultural implements have been replaced, inveitably, by motor vehicles. Otherwise, the general outline of buildings and skyline remain almost completely unchanged, although I did notice that the top spike is missing from a finial on a building facade at the far left, perhaps knocked off by an over-exuberant spectator or player during one of Ashbourne's annual Royal Shrovetide Tuesday Football games. The then Prince of Wales (future Kind Edward VIII) received a bloody nose during the 1928 match.


Market Square, Ashbourne, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
William Barnes' shop front is not visible in the lithographic view, but can be seen in Nigel's recent photo, now occupied by the Lighthouse charity shop and Spar and looking rather sad, in my view.


Church Street. Ashbourne. W.2669
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by Louis B. Twells, Ashbourne, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
In this view of Church Street, which becomes St John Street further down in the vicinity of The Green Man, the streetscape is full of people standing chatting outside shops and, in the case of several blurred figures, walking along the pavement. I've been unable to decipher the name of the shop outside which the three young men are loitering at left, but the shop window looks to be full of bottles. On the right hand side of the street, the wrought iron sign for the White Hart Hotel (Mrs Elizabeth Burton, proprietor) is just visible, although the writing not legible.


Church Street, Ashbourne, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The modern day bunting-bedecked view shows the bottle shop at left to be occupied by Fidler Taylor, estate agents, valuers, surveyors and auctioneers; the bottles have gone. There is no longer and parking for vehicles at the kerb, whether horse-drawn or motorised, but there are roughly the same number of pedestrians and the White Hart Hotel now offers Sky Sports Live - I shan't be going in there any time soon.


Grammar School. Ashbourne. W.4284
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by Louis B. Twells, Ashbourne, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Ashbourne's Queen Elizabeth Grammar School looked somewhat dilapidated, perhaps even slightly ghostly, in the late nineteenth century. It was already three hundred years old, and within a couple of decades the teaching programme had moved to a new location on Green Road.


Old Grammar School, Church Street, Ashbourne, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The Old Grammar School building has been patched up a little in the ensuing 125 years or so, currently being used as private dwellings, and I notice that it has a "For Sale" sign hanging outside.


Ashbourne Church & Grammar School. 9892. G.W.W.
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by George Washington Wilson, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Diagonally opposite the Old Grammar School on Church Street is the gateway to the Parish Church of St Oswald:

The church of St. Oswald, King and Martyr ... dedicated in 1241 ... is a cruciform building, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, south aisle, transept, north and south porches and a central tower, with lofty octagonal spire, 212 feet in height, ribbed with ball flower ornaments and pierced with twenty dormer lights in five tiers of four each; this spire, a work of great beauty and remarkable lightness, is called the "Pride of the Peak," and was restored in 1873.

Ashbourne Church. 3918. G.W.W.
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by George Washington Wilson, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
A slightly less obstructed and more rural view of the same church but from over the fields to the south was published by the Scottish publisher G.W. Wilson.


Ashbourne Church from the South, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin

Ashbourne Hall. 20,907. G.W.W.
Lithographic print of photograph by unknown photographer
Published by George Washington Wilson, probably c.1885-1895
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Ashbourne Hall was originally built "somewhat in the style of a French chateau and has still some traces of antiquity."


Ashbourne Hall, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The outlying buildings of Ashbourne have not fared so well, this one appearing to have suffered from partial decapitation.


A.R. Bentley, Groceries & Provisions, Ashbourne shop front, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Unfortunately I don't have any old photographs of Ashbourne's shopfronts to share with you, but I will include a couple that Nigel took the other day to give you an idea of how it feels to shop in Ashbourne today. Bentley's corner shop probably retains much of the flavour, and perhaps little of the charm, that it had when it first opened in 1973.


Vacant premises, Ashbourne shop front, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
We have few clues as to what this tenant offered for sale. All I can say now is that they've moved on, hopefully to greener pastures.


Ashbourne shop front, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
This purveyor of "Home Cooked Meats" and "English & Continental Cheeses" advertising in the windows of perhaps mostly an authentic shop front caters to a boutique market which doesn't appear to be in abundance on this overcast, showery day,


Nigel's, Top Quality Butcher, Ashbourne shop front, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Nigel (not my friend Nigel, but another one) may have top quality meat for sale, but I think he needs to brush up on his window dressing skills. A couple of plastic models of a beef and a dairy cow aren't enough to replace the lavish display that his predecessors might have had a century earlier.


J. Morgan's butcher's shop, Broad St, Waterford, Ireland, 25 Feb 1916
Image courtesy of National Library of Ireland's Flickr Commons Collection

Road distance marker, Ashbourne, 13 July 2015
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
And if you're interested in where Ashbourne is, I can tell you exactly: 139 miles from London, 45 miles from Manchester, and 13 miles from Derby. Whether you're headed to London, Manchester or Timbuktu, please take a moment to stop off and visit the other Saturday Sepians on the way.

Sepia Saturday 282: Derbyshire Photographers: John Mellor Hampson

Instead of going with the Sepia Saturday image theme this week, I'm continuing my intermittent series of posts featuring Derbyshire photographers. Since 2002 I've been compiling a historical database of studio and portrait photographers operating in the English county of Derbyshire, with much of the accumulated data, research material and images presented online: Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios.

The information about photographers and studios comes largely from trade directories, census records, historical newspapers, genealogical databases and a variety of other sources. Examples of portriats by these photographers come partly from my own collection, but mostly by kind contribution from several hundred contributers around the world who have been in touch with me since the web site was launched in 2002. The database now includes over 500 separate photographers, with detailed profiles on over a third of them, but due to other projects competing for my time and interest - such as Photo-Sleuth - updates to the web site have stalled in recent years. My research, database compilation and collection of relevant images continues, however, and I still welcome further contributions.


Portrait of unidentified child, taken c.1880-1885
Carte de visite by John M. Hampson of No. 9 Birch View, Birch Vale
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Although most of the documentary and archival sources where records of photographers might be found hve now been extensively scoured, I still come across the occasional name that is completely new to me, mostly from the discovery of portraits. This, a typical example, is a carte de visite portrait that I came across on eBay recently and purchased for my collection. Like most photos that are sold on eBay, it is not annotated, and has no documentation of provenance, so I have no idea who the subject was. It appears to be a child - possibly a girl, although the short hair makes me wonder a little - in a velvet dress with abundant ornamentation in the form of knotted braid. The chair on which she is sitting is covered with a plaid blanket, while another chair to her right has a floral cloth covering.


Reverse of card mount
by photographer John M. Hampson of Birch Vale
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
The reverse of the card mount has a design which Roger Vaughan calls the Early Large Letter design, used in the late 1870s and early 1880s. I suggest this particular example is from the early to mid-1880s.

John Mellor Hampson was born on 3 February 1846 at New Mills, Derbyshire, son of a wheelwright James Hampson and his wife Martha. By the age of 15, he had already left school and was working as a millwright in nearby Hayfield. He married Maria Bates Randle at Hayfield on 11 May 1870; she had been working as a cotton doubler in one of the local mills. The following year, John was a foreman/millwright at a print works in Hayfield, presumably associated with the cotton mill industry. The censuses of 3 April 1881 and 5 April 1891 both found him living at number 9, Birch View in the small village of Birch Vale, near Hayfield, describing himself as a millwright. By 1901 he and his wife had moved to Hayfield Road, Hayfield, and then by 1911 to Macclesfield Road, Staley Bridge (across the border in Cheshire), but he was still working as a millwright. He died at Whaley Bridge on 13 March 1913, aged 67, and was buried at Hayfield two days later.

I've found no evidence in the usual documentary records for John M. Hampson working as a photographic artist, although the Bulmer trade directory for 1895 lists him as a coal merchant. However censuses were only taken every ten years, while trade directories provide a fragmentary record at best, and it appears that he must have briefly tried his hand as a photographer during the late 1870s or early 1880s.

Sepia Saturday 275: Summer holidays in Derbyshire, an early Kodak album

My contribution for Sepia Saturday this week has nothing whatsoever to do with the image prompt, I'm afraid. It does, however, follow on from my article last week, which featured an album of nitrocellulose negatives taken during a grand tour of Europe in 1904. Regular readers will recall that series of images as having been taken by an experienced and skilled photographer using a fairly sophisticated modern folding camera, possibly with a view to eventual commercial exploitation.


Cloth-covered Kodak photograph album, dated August 1903
Collection of Brett Payne
Today I'm featuring an album from my own collection which, although superficially similar in that it contains a series of 3¼" x 4¼" 118- or 119-format prints taken during a summer holiday in Derbyshire, England, is actually quite a different set in many ways. The album has 12 white card leaves bound in a light brown cloth-covered stiff card cover, now slightly grubby and showing slight wear on the edges, with "Kodak" printed in large black decorative writing on the front. Each of the leaves has paper sleeves on each side, designed to hold 3¼" x 4¼" paper prints.


Cloth-covered Kodak photograph album, dated August 1903
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
The inside front cover has "Kodak, Ltd. London" printed on the lower right, as well as the following inscription handwritten in black ink:

Summer holidays -
August 1903
Derbyshire (Matlock & Buxton)

I've been unable to find this specific album design advertised in Eastman Kodak Co.'s (U.S.) catalogues for the late 1890s and early 1900s. During this period they appear to have changed from albums with thick card leaves and standard-sized paper slots for different print formats, to loose-leaved albums with a higher number of pages constructed of thinner grey or black card, onto which the prints were intended to be glued with Eastman's Photo Paste ($0.25 per 5 ounce tube). Presumably this was in response to the rapidly increasing variety of print formats being introduced, and the large proportion of amateur prints perhaps not being mounted on card.

However, this particular paper slot-style album with 12 pages, designed to hold two 12-exposure films' worth of prints, was sold (and perhaps manufactured) by Kodak Ltd. at one of their six branch outlets in London, and may have been of a design not offered in the United States.



Each of the 24 sleeves in the album contains a print, some of which are trimmed rather roughly. Although the average size is around 3¼" x 4¼" (82 x 108mm) they range in size from 67 x 98mm to 97 x 113mm. The prints can be separated into three groups, based on size, printing characteristics and subject matter.


Locations photographed in Derbyshire, August 1903
The first ten prints (pages 1-10) have been roughly trimmed and are slightly smaller (78 x 102mm) but more varied in size. The black and white prints were taken at Buxton, Tideswell, Monsal Dale, Dovedale and Haddon Hall.


"The Crescent, Buxton," August 1903
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 98 x 67mm
(Page 6, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
This image shows a group boarding a horse-drawn carriage at The Crescent in Buxton, perhaps for a day excursion to Tideswell and Monsal Dale. Baedeker's 1901 guide to Great Britain describes it thus:

The Crescent, the most prominent building in the town, has the Tepid Baths (1s.-2s. 6d.) and the Chalybeate Wells at the W. end and the Hot Baths (1s. 6d.-3s. 6d.) at the E. end. In front is the Pump Room.

"The Cathedral of the Peak, Tideswell Church," August 1903
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 77 x 103mm
(Page 4, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
Kelly's 1899 Directory of Derbyshire gives the following:

The church of St John the Baptist is a cruciform building of stone, belong almost exclusively to the Decorated style of the latter half of the 14th century, consisting of an unusually large chancel, clerestoried nave ... a lofty embattled tower at the west end, with battlemented turret-like pinnacles at the angles, terminating in crocketed spirelets ... the old chancel screen ... has been successfully restored.

"Nab's Dale," Dovedale, August 1903
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 80 x 95mm
(Page 7, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
Baedeker's guide gives details of the new railway from Buxton to Ashbourne, opened in 1899, which allowed the holidaymaker to travel the 23 miles in under an hour:

... afford[ing] the most convenient approach to the beauties of Dovedale. Passengers should alight at Alsop-en-le-Dale, walk down the valley, and rejoin the railway at Thorpe Cloud ... Alsop-en-le-Dale is the station for the head of Dovedale, a picturesque and narrow limestone valley, hemmed in by fantastic rocks, freely interspersed with woods ... The prettiest part of the valley begins at the Dove Holes ...

Nab's Dale, shown in the photo above, is close to Hanson Grange and Alsop-en-le-Dale and appears to be the point at which our photographer and party alighted from the train and entered Dovedale.


"Below Reynard's Cave," Dovedale, August 1903
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 79 x 104mm
(Page 2, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
This very much overexposed shot is taken from Reynard's Cave, further down the valley and overlooking the path next to the River Dove, along which several members of the party can just be seen, and down which I myself enjoyed a fine walk with friend and fellow Sepian Nigel Aspdin about 18 months ago.


"Peveril of the Peak Hotel & Thorpe Cloud," Thorpe, August 1903
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 105 x 80mm
(Page 5, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
Upon reaching the southern end of Dovedale, marked by the characteristic peak of Thorpe Cloud, they arrived at "... the stepping-stones ... where donkeys and refreshments are in waiting ... and, a little farther on, a foot bridge leading to the Izaak Walton Hotel, a favourite angling resort," frequented by my great-grandfather and which I wrote about in The Compleat Angler. Rather than crossing the footbridge, however, our party appear to have chosen the course which Nigel and I took "... a path to the left ascend[ing] from the stepping stones to the (½ M.) Peveril Hotel, not far from the village of Thorpe and railway station Thorpe Cloud." Embarking at the station, they either returned to Buxton or proceeded to Matlock.


"Haddon Hall," August 1903 (digitally enhanced)
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 108 x 82mm
(Page 11, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
The next nine prints in the album (pages 11-19) have been trimmed somewhat more accurately, and all are within a couple of millimetres of the standard 82.5 x 108mm. They were also processed slightly differently from the first batch, and are all slightly to moderately overexposed, also show a distinct sepia tone. The borders of the negative are partly visible in 7 of the prints; none were in the first set.

They were taken at Haddon Hall (above), Chatsworth House and at several locations in the vicinity of Matlock and Matlock Bath, all of which were popular destinations for Edwardian tourists.

Haddon Hall, picturesquely situated on a slope rising from the Wye, is an almost ideal specimen of an old English baronial mansion, and, though unoccupied, is still in fair preservation (adm. 4d.)

"Haddon Hall Terrace," August 1903
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 75 x 101mm
(Page 3, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne

... the S[outh] facade and the terraced gardens [date] from the end of the 16th century.

"In the Model Village - Chatsworth," Edensor, August 1903 (digitally enhanced)
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 83 x 83mm
(Page 13, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
Baedeker again gives a detailed description of the route and the sights to look out for:

... To reach Chatsworth from Haddon by carriage ... we follow the road from the bridge [over the River Wye] to Bakewell [where] we turn to the right and proceed by a circuitous route to Edensor, a model village, on the outskirts of Chatsworth Park. The church contains a memorial window to Lord Frederick Cavendish (assassinated in 1882), who is buried in the churchyard.

"Chatsworth House," August 1903 (digitally enhanced)
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 108 x 82mm
(Page 12, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
This is one of the better known views of Chatsworth House, captured by local photographer William Potter for his commercial carte de visite landscapes as early as the 1870s. In this shot, an open horse-drawn brougham carrying four passengers is driven down the road, presumably on their way to visit the grand house in the middle distance. I wondered at first if they were waiting for the photographer, but since the carriage is slightly blurred, and the nearby tree sharp, I think they were moving at the time of the exposure.

Chatsworth, the magnificent seat of the Duke of Devonshire, is a striking contrast to Haddon, the one being as redolent of modern, as the other of medieval state ... the Gardens (small fee, to the gardener), which are fine but formal, with artificial cascades, fountains, surprise waterworks, etc. The Emperor Fountain throws a jet 265 ft. high.

"High Tor, Matlock," August 1903 (digitally enhanced)
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 83 x 107mm
(Page 19, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
Six of the remaining photographs were taken in and around the towns of Matlock and Matlock Bath, including this well known view of High Tor, Matlock Dale and the River Derwent. The postcard publishers James Valentine & Sons registered a very similar photograph in 1892, which I featured in an article on Photo-Sleuth two years ago (Before the humble postcard).

Kelly's 1899 Directory informs us:

Matlock Bath ... is a modern inland and fashionable watering place, with a station on the Midland railway, and is situated in a deep and lovely valley ... The place is celebrated for the romantic character of its scenery and the purity of its medicinal springs, and in the summer season this beautiful locality is frequented by visitors from all parts of the kingdom.

"High Tor from Lovers' Walk," Matlock, August 1903 (digitally enhanced)
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 108 x 83mm
(Page 17, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne

Among the attractions of Matlock ... Immediately opposite the High Tor is Masson Hill, nearly 800 feet high, from which and from the Heights of Abraham, about 650 feet high (to which a winding ascent has been made), an extensive view is afforded of the scenery of the surrounding country ... The Lovers' Walk, on the opposite side of the river, is another favourite place of resort; paths leading to different points from which the dale may be advantageously seen have also been cut through the wood in various directions.

"Mother & a piece of Monica!" August 1903 (digitally enhanced)
Unmounted silver gelatin print, 108 x 82mm
(Page 16, Kodak album, Summer Holidays)
Image © Copyright & collection of Brett Payne
A single photograph in this album is directed specifically at members of the holidaying party. Two female figures (Mother and Monica) are seated outdoors on a bench reading newspapers, umbrellas at the ready should the sun prove too hot or a shower present itself. Sadly, it is overexposed - the image above has been digitally enhanced, but even this is not sufficent to reveal Monica's features, obliterated by a careless flash of sunlight or perhaps by some light leakage into the body of the camera. The bench is situated in front of a tree, and what I think is the River Derwent through a gap in the branches immediately to the left of Mother.

In 1887 an iron bridge of 85 feet span was constructed ... connecting the Promenade with Lovers' Walk, and at the same time the Promenade was laid out ...

Detail of "Mother & a piece of Monica!"
There is, however, enough in the image to show three umbrellas leaning against the bench, and a valise or case which may be for the camera. The three umbrellas imply that there were only three in the party on this particular day: "Mother," Monica and the photographer, who could be the husband of either "Mother" or Monica, a son of "Mother" and brother of Monica, or indeed Monica's sister.


Composite of Derbyshire holidaymakers
Click image to enlarge
Fortunately we have a better image of Monica, taken on the Terrace at Haddon Hall (see lower left, above). The enlarged detail from several photos show several other people, and there may or may not have been more in the party at other stages of the holiday. It is even possible that one of the elderly men with luxurious white beards (at right) may have been "Father." Unfortunately, none of them appears carrying a leather case which would have held the camera, and I suspect that the photographer never appears in the photographs.

The last five prints (pages 20-24) were taken in Wiltshire the following year. While I have included them in the slideshow at the beginning of this article, they appear to have been inserted later to fill up empty slots in the album, and I'll leave discussion of them for another time.


Kodak Developing and Printing Outfits, from 1903 Kodak Catalogue
Image courtesy of the Digitized Kodak Catalog Project
The Derbyshire snapshots appear to have been taken in two sequences, the first of ten images, the second of nine. It is my belief that they were probably prints from two consecutive rolls of film, each containing 12 exposures, five of which were discarded as being of too poor quality to print or preserve in the album. The uneven trimming of the prints suggests to me that they were developed and printed by an amateur at home using one of Kodak's readily available kits, rather than taken into a chemist or other processing facility.


"Take a Kodak with you"
Eastman Kodak Co. advertisement featuring "The Kodak Girl"
From the Ladies' Home Journal, 1901
Courtesy Duke University Advertising Ephemera Collection, Item K0034
The Kodak folding cameras of the late 1890s and early 1900s were specifically marketed towards women, the design intended to mimic a purse or pocketbook, although one would be hard pressed to fit a No 3 Folding Pocket Kodak in any standard pocket.


No 3 Folding Pocket Kodak, from 1903 Kodak Catalogue
Image courtesy of the Digitized Kodak Catalog Project
Constructed of aluminium covered with black morocco leather, the No 3 Folding Pocket Kodak (like its smaller cousin, the No 1) was designed to be compact and simple to use. Costing only $17.50 (and an extra $1.25 for a black sole leather carrying case, with strap), it was the cheaper version of the No 3 Folding Pocket Kodak DeLuxe camera featured in last week's 1904 Grand Tour article, but it used the same 118-format film, and therefore produced a print of the same size, 3¼" x 4¼".


"All Out-Doors Invites Your Kodak"
Eastman Kodak Co. advertisement from Life magazine, 1911
Courtesy Duke University Advertising Ephemera Collection, Item K0443
With the standard Rapid Rectilinear lens and Eastman Automatic shutter, and in the unsteady hands of an amateur new to framing a photograph, assessing lighting conditions, etc., the quality of of the resulting pictures is likely to have been variable at best. Judging from these prints, I feel it most likely that the camera was hand-held, in stark contrast to the 1904 Grand Tour series, the majority of which are likely to have been taken using a tripod. An unfamiliarity with the equipment may also have meant that the film was loaded with enough care, perhaps even with some exposure to bright sunlight, resulting in what appear to be "light leaks" on many of the prints.


Nigel at the start of the walk down Dovedale, 13 September 2013
Image © 2013 Brett Payne
As amateurish as the photographs in this album are, I was delighted with the purchase since, as suggested earlier, the route taken by the party was very similar to the very enjoyable 15 kilometre walk that Nigel and I took from Hartington down Dovedale to Thorpe Cloud, and then to Tissington in September 2013. It's also an area which my great-grandfather Charles Vincent Payne, as a keen trout angler, must have known well. I hope you've enjoyed the journey of discovery too.

Sepia Saturday 273: The Automobile Association Road Patrol Service

I've been absent from both Sepia Saturday and this blog for almost a year, pursuing various other interests, but what better time than Easter Weekend (spring or autumn, depending on your location) to return to the fray.


Unidentified Automobile Association cycle scout, c. early to mid-1920s
Postcard format portrait by Morgan's Studio, Cavendish St, Chesterfield
Image © & courtesy of Simon Debell
This postcard portrait was kindly sent to me last year for use on my Derbyshire Photographers web site. It features an unidentified young man dressed in the uniform of an Automobile Association Cycle Scout with his bicycle. The donor wondered whether the uniform was a prop, but I doubt it. Morgan's Studio (Proprietor, Henry John Morgan) operated from premises at 7 Cavendish Street, Chesterfield (Derbyshire) from at least 1926 to 1932.


The Automobile Association came into existence in 1905, and my "Member's Copy" of The Road Book of England & Wales published c. 1936 (courtesy of Nigel Aspdin) has the following relating to the history of the organisation in its introductory pages:

The Road Patrol Service
... some motorists organized ... a few cyclists on the London-Brighton road whose task it was to warn all passing motorists of "police-traps" ... The week-end cyclists on the Brighton road were the first A.A. patrols. To-day more than 20,000 miles of road in the British Isles are regularly patrolled by an army in distinctive khaki uniform ... The majority of the men are mounted on motor-cycles with yellow side-cars which contain full equipment to enable the riders to deal with the minor troubles which may still beset the motorist.

Automobile Association Cycle Scout, undated
Image © Automobile Association & courtesy of Carlton Reid
The Online Bicycle Museum states that "motorcycle patrols, known as Road Service Outfits or RSOs" were introduced in 1919, and that "by 1923 there were 274 AA motorbike patrols but still 376 cyclists."


After a legal test case in 1910 involving an AA patrolman and a potentially speeding motorist, patrolmen were instructed by their superiors to salute the drivers of cars displaying the AA emblem, except when there was a speed trap nearby. The 1926 handbook stated:

It cannot be too strongly emphasised that when a patrol fails to salute, the member should stop and ask the reason why, as it is certain that the patrol has something of importance to communicate.

Arthur Wood in bus conductor's uniform, c. early to mid-1920s
Postcard format portrait by Morgan's Studio, Cavendish St, Chesterfield
Image © & courtesy of Margarey Thackray
A similar portrait by Morgan's Studio of a young man in a bus conductor's uniform, using the identical painted backdrop, has been dated to the early 1920s, and I believe the cyclist portrait to be from a similar time period.


Unidentified group in Salvation Army uniform, c. late 1920s to early 1930s
Postcard format portrait by Morgan's Studio, Cavendish St, Chesterfield
Image © & courtesy of Gill Taylor
A third "uniform" portrait from this studio shows a group from the Salvation Army, although judging from the slightly different text this photograph was probably taken a few years later. It seems unlikely that Morgan's Studio specialised in portraits of people wearing uniforms, and it's probably just chance that half of the six examples that I have from this studio are in this vein.

Now I suggest that you dust off your own cycling uniform, get your bike out of the shed, and join the rest of this week's Sepia Saturday participants for what promises to be a very pleasant excursion.