Life of the Working Class in Manchester in the 1960s and 1970s

Manchester went through enormous and difficult changes in the sixties and seventies. After WWII cities such as Manchester lost power over local gas and electrical supply – thus much of their income. The city also had to struggle with high unemployment rates, as heavy industry, cotton processing and trading all suffered a severe downturn. Between 1961 and 1983, Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing. During the 1970s, the City Council lost most of its remaining vital responsibilities. The city’s population also suffered a decline during that time. In 1961, Manchester’s population was 662,000, and by 1971 it was 544,000.

These photographs, taken by Shirley Baker, showed people's lives in a rapidly changing area around them. “There was so much destruction: a street would be half pulled down and the remnants set on fire while people were still living in the area. As soon as any houses were cleared, children would move in and break all the windows, starting the demolition process themselves.” Baker told the Guardian. “There was no health and safety in those days; they could do as they liked. I never posed my pictures. I shot scenes as I found them.

“People were turfed out of their homes. Some squatted in old buildings, trying to hang on to the life they knew. They didn’t have much and things were decided for them. A lot of people had dropped through the net and didn’t even know they were entitled to benefits. Some needed help but no one had even heard of a psychiatrist.” Recalled the photographer. “I would go out on to the streets capturing this upheaval, photographing people I came across… around every corner there was someone different. It became an obsession.”

Take a look back at the life on the streets of the working class in Manchester in the 1960s and 1970s through 19 vintage photographs taken by Shirley Baker:

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40 Vintage Photographs Capture Street Scenes of London’s East End in the Early Post-War Years

Nigel Henderson (1917-1985) was a British artist and founding member of the Independent Group, but he was also a photographer whose work has been compared to that of Cartier-Bresson and Brassai.

Introduced to the art world by his mother Wyn Henderson who managed the famous Guggenheim Jeune gallery, he became acquainted with leading figures in modern art, including Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp.

In 1943, recovering from the trauma of his experiences as a pilot in the Second World War, Henderson began experimenting with photography. While living in Bethnal Green, east London, he created an extraordinary archive of photography documenting life in the area between 1949 and 1953.

These photographs capture the heart of working-class life; Henderson’s unique view of the streets evokes the wit, resilience and character of the local people as well as documenting a way of life that would soon disappear, as Britain moved into the 1960s.

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Gorgeous Vintage Color Slides of York in 1968

York is a cathedral city and unitary authority area, at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss, in England. It is the head city of historic Yorkshire and was a county corporate, outside of the county's council and the ridings. The city has long-standing buildings and structures, such as a minster, castle and ancient city walls.

The city was founded by the Romans as Eboracum in 71 AD. It became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and later of the kingdoms of Deira, Northumbria and Jórvík. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a major wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England, a role it has retained. In the 19th century, York became a major hub of the railway network and a confectionery manufacturing centre, a status it maintained well into the 20th century. During the Second World War, York was bombed as part of the Baedeker Blitz. Although less affected by bombing than other northern cities, several historic buildings were gutted and restoration efforts continued into the 1960s.

These gorgeous color slides were taken in 1968 and later collected by Martin Snelling, an owner of a brilliant archive of vintage photographs. Take a look:

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Edwardian London as Seen Through the Eyes of a Russian Tourist

London entered the 20th century at the height of its influence as the capital of the largest empire in history, but the new century was to bring many challenges. London was the largest city in the world from about 1825 until it was overtaken by New York City in 1925.

The years between Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 and the start of the First World War in 1914 were years of growth and general prosperity, though the extreme inequalities which had characterized Victorian London continued. By 1900 one out of five Britons lived in London, with the population of roughly 5 million in 1900 rising to over 7 million by 1911.

These 20 amazing photographs below show street scenes of London at the turn of the 20th century. They were taken by an unknown Russian tourist in 1909.

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“The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink”: The Earliest Known Advertisement for Making and Selling Coffee, circa 1652

Apparently, around 1652, an English merchant, Daniel Edwards, brought Pasqua (as he was probably known) from Smyrna (now Izmir) in Turkey to London as a servant to prepare the coffee to which Edwards had become accustomed on his travels abroad. Edwards himself is noted in The Little London Directory of 1677, a compilation of well-known merchants and bankers of the time. The Directory lists a “Dan. Edwards [of] Walbrook” as one of the “most eminent merchants of the period.” Every day in Edwards’ home Pasqua expertly prepared coffee for Edwards and his business associates, who ritually, and perhaps habitually, appeared early every morning. Edwards thought that sharing his coffee would foster goodwill and more business. Instead, with the daily intrusions, Edwards discovered that he could not escape his home early enough to conduct his business.

Thus, Edwards set up Pasqua in a shed in a churchyard in St. Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, where Pasqua could sell coffee. However, fearing competition, the nearby ale-sellers petitioned the mayor to remove Pasqua, who was not a freeman, from his shed. Pasqua’s business was saved by the intervention of Christofer Bowman, the free coachman of Daniel Edwards’ father-in-law, a Walbrook alderman named Hodge. Pasqua and Bowman became partners, but because of some unknown misdemeanor, Pasqua was forced to flee England at an unknown time, almost certainly before 1662. Parish records of 1662-1663 list a Christofer Bowman but no Pasqua Rosee (Lillywhite 1963, 438). Bowman moved the business from the shed, possibly to a tent, and ultimately to a building, which Bowman called “Pasqua Rosee’s Coffee House.”

The fate of Pasqua is unknown, although Robinson posits that he may have fled to Holland. However, his fortunes may have been profitable, at least if one can speculate on two 400 year old advertisements. The British Museum in London holds the “earliest known advertisement for making and selling coffee.” The advertisement originated between 1652 and 1666 and has been attributed to Pasqua. It reads in part: “The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink. First publiquely made and sold in England by Pasqua Rosee ... Made and Sold in St. Michael’s Alley in Cornhill, by Pasqua Rosee at the Signe of his own Head.” Unfortunately, the buildings in St. Michael’s Alley, including the coffee house, perished in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

A 1652 handbill advertising coffee for sale in St. Michael’s Alley, London. It is held in the British Museum.

Pasqua Rosee’s Coffee House was followed, also in 1652, by the Grecian Coffee House, which remained open until 1843, when the age of the coffee house largely expired. With coffee being advertised as curing “dropsy, gout, and scurvy”, coffee houses exploded in the 1700s, at one point numbering 3000 in London alone. They continued to prosper through 1809-1810, when a growing alcohol sobriety and a reduction of coffee taxes made coffee rather than old porter  or purl and gin the breakfast beverage choice. Business was so good that each coffee house even issued its own token, which could be used as currency at the issuing coffee house.

Coffee houses opened at 5 or 6 A.M. and closed at 10 P.M. or later. Customers might be charged a penny for admission and twopence for coffee or tea. The coffee house consisted of a large room that contained several tables for reading and writing. The room was similar in appearance to beer drinking rooms at some college student unions, or to “oak” or “cedar” rooms in bars that long for a wood motif. A customer might be charged half a crown (thirty pence) extra for the use of pen, ink, and paper for the season. Boys would rush about serving favorite dishes and chocolate, coffee, and tea, all of which were warmed on a large fire. The long bar near the fire held the pots that contained whatever bubbling brew had just been heated to a boil. History saw its first “barmaids” when coffee house owners hired the most attractive females available to take the particular brew from the bar to customers who were sitting throughout the coffee house.

30 Stunning Color Photographs That Capture Swinging London Scene in the 1960s

The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasizing modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its center.

It saw a flourishing in art, music and fashion, and was symbolized by the city’s “pop and fashion exports.” Among its key elements were the Beatles, as leaders of the British Invasion of musical acts; Mary Quant’s miniskirt; popular fashion models such as Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton; the mod subculture; the iconic status of popular shopping areas such as London's King’s Road, Kensington and Carnaby Street; the political activism of the anti-nuclear movement; and sexual liberation.

Music was a big part of the scene, with “the London sound” including the Who, the Kinks, the Small Faces and the Rolling Stones, bands that were the mainstay of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline and Swinging Radio England. Swinging London also reached British cinema, which, according to the British Film Institute, “saw a surge in formal experimentation, freedom of expression, color, and comedy.”

During this period, creative types of all kinds gravitated to the capital, from artists and writers to magazine publishers, photographers, advertisers, film-makers and product designers.

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Extraordinary Vintage Photos of 1930s Female Racing Drivers in Brooklands

The Brooklands Automobile Racing Club was formed in December 1906 and held its last ever meeting in August 1939 with the outbreak of World War Two. When peace returned, despite people’s high hopes, the anticipated recovery costs were too high and due to the demise of Brooklands at the time, the club was amalgamated with the Junior Car Club. Come 1949 the Club changed its name to the British Automobile Racing Club and took up residence at Goodwood Circuit.

Initially, women were banned from racing, this ruling, however, was loosened in 1908 and by 1920, female drivers were able to participate in both female and mixed races. In 1933, the Royal Automobile Club gave permission for women to drive at Open meetings on equal terms with men at Brooklands, which became the ultimate heyday for female racing drivers.

Take a look at these insanely cool women through 21 amazing photographs below:

Elsie Wisdom at Brooklands, 1930.

Kay Petre at Brooklands, March 1930.

Fay Taylour at Brooklands, 1930.

Violet Cordery, 1930.

Miss J Alwynne, a motor mechanic at Brooklands race course, July 1931.

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Amazing Views of Esso Northumbria Tanker Under Construction at Wallsend, UK in 1969

The Esso Northumbria was the first of a series of Very Large Crude Carrier ships, built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on Tyneside, in 1969. When launched on May 2, 1969 by Princess Anne it was the largest vessel to have been built in Britain at that time.

The ship was designed to carry crude oil from the Persian Gulf, and its large design was a result of the Suez Crisis, which had resulted in the closing of the Suez Canal. The ship was single-hulled and was designed with relatively limited knowledge of the behaviors of such large structures at sea, being generally a straightforward scaling-up of a smaller design. It was also built to a fixed-price contract at a time when rampant inflation was occurring in Britain. This led to many attempts to cut costs; Swan Hunter ultimately made a loss on the contract. Final cost of the ship was £6.5 million.

The ship was plagued with problems both with its fittings and more seriously, with cracking of the hull under stress. It needed many repairs in its short working lifetime and this, together with fears of a major spill, prompted its retirement in 1982 after only 12 years in service. The ship was broken up at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A similar fate befell its sister ship, the Esso Hibernia, also built on Tyneside and launched in 1970.

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Vintage Snapshots of Streets of London in the 1970s

These evocative snapshots of London were taken by Swedish tourist Mats Örn in 1971 and 1977. They reveal what the capital city looked like in this bygone era, which is well known for being a time of cultural and political change – especially due to high inflation levels, IRA bomb threats, widespread trade union strikes and feminism.

More fascinating photographs could be found at Örn’s brilliant Flickr site.

London, February 1971

Portobello Road, February 1971

Piccadilly with Green Park on the left, February 1971

Fleet Street, February 1971

Newspaper stand, February 1971

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Vintage Color Snapshots of Birmingham in the 1960s

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. In the last 200 years, from a market town of Warwickshire, Birmingham has risen into the fastest-growing city of the 19th century, spurred on by a combination of civic investment, scientific achievement, commercial innovation and by a steady influx of migrant workers into its suburbs. By the 20th century it had become the metropolitan hub of the United Kingdom's manufacturing and automotive industries, having earned itself a reputation first as a city of canals, then of cars, and most recently as a major European convention and shopping destination. Birmingham is commonly referred to as the Second city of the United Kingdom.

As one of the United Kingdom's major cities, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial, and commercial centre of the Midlands. In the years following the Second World War, the face of Birmingham was heavily changed by a major influx of immigrants from the Commonwealth of Nations, with large communities from Southern Asia and the Caribbean settling in the city, turning Birmingham into one of the UK's leading multicultural cities.

These color photographs was taken by Phyllis Nicklin, a geography teacher at the University of Birmingham. Take a look:

Corner of Vivian Road, Harborne, 1961

Harborne High Street, 1961

King’s Norton Mop Fair, 1963

King’s Norton Mop Fair, 1963

Opening ceremony at the King’s Norton Mop Fair, 1964

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45 Amazing Kodachrome Slides Capture Everyday Life of Suffolk in the 1950s

Suffolk is an East Anglian county of ancient origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, and Felixstowe, one of the largest container ports in Europe.

The county is low-lying but it has quite a few hills (especially more to the west), and has largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

These amazing Kodachrome slides were taken by London-born photographer Hardwicke Knight that documented everyday life of Suffolk in the 1950s.

East Street, Southwold, Suffolk

All Saints' and St Margaret's, Pakefield, Suffolk

Beach Road, Kessingland, Suffolk

Boys paddling, Suffolk Coast

Boys, Suffolk coast

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