Saturday 31 March 2012

Postcards of Workers, c1915

Postcards of Workers, circa 1915

Over on the Sepia Saturday Blog, the theme this week is 'Workers'. Here are three postcards from my collection that show workers posing for photographs, all are from the UK and date approximately from the time of the first World War. None of these postcards are identified as to location, subjects or dates. Postcards like this can be picked up for next to nothing on eBay or at postcard fairs. If the factory or identity of one or more of the sitters can be established, values can go very high indeed.

The first postcard, my favourite of the three, shows a group of female workers in an industrial setting. Their uniforms are very clean which makes me think that they may be laundry workers, but that is pure conjecture on my part. I love the beaming smile on the girl second left.

The second postcard shows a group of male workers, possibly at a ship yard. The man in the middle with the spectacles and the check scarf is particualrly notable.

The final postcard shows a group of workers from a factory somewhere near Ealing in Middlesex. They are probably engaged in some kind of work for war production. That looks like railway tracks in front of them. Unfortunately the back is blank (as are all three postcards in this post) except for the word 'Ealing' pencilled on the back. The identity of the girl that has been cirlcled is unknown.

As always, click the postcards to enlarge. The first two postcards are at 300 dpi so you may want to save them to your computer to view them in detail. No 'now' pictures from Google Street View this week.



12 comments:

  1. They are fabulous even if you don't know where they are. So much wonderful detail in the clothing alone.

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  2. Girl nr 1 and 3 also have a nice smile. Girl nr 6 seems to be very young. The contrast in style between the dock workers in the second picture and the more sophisticated men in the third picture is interesting.

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  3. It looks like women in the last photo did all the real work. All but one of the women has a coverall, while the men have suits and ties.

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  4. A wonderful set, Howard. The 3 groups all have that look of close comradeship that comes from hard teamwork. The group of men might be at the bottom of an overpass bridge or tunnel project. The garb of construction workers has certainly evolved to become less formal.

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  5. Nice pictures of groups of working people. Interesting faces in all three.

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  6. I assume there were travelling photographers who would go around workplaces and take such photographs in the same way that they do it with schools these days. Such photos provided a unique look at the world of work.

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  7. Great set of pictures, Howard. The construction workers could be anywhere. There seems to be a bridge construction at the top left.

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  8. All interesting cards for the faces and clothes alone.

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  9. The 2nd and last girl in the first photo look so young.

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  10. In the photo of all the male workers - their tam type caps are all the same. Except for that one guy left of center. He's a real individualist with his very different type of headwear.
    Nancy

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  11. A silly theory, but perhaps you hold the card once owned by that girl, who circled herself... Makes me thin of my girl that always wrote on the back of her pictures "myself"... The Art of leaving us clueless, decades later.
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  12. Interesting postcards - I like the details of their outfits :-)

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