Life in Richmond was recorded by a photographer in 1945 to be sent to the “Dominions and Colonial Empire” to show the rest of the world what it was like in a quintessential English market town.
“Richmond was chosen not only for the scenic beauty of its setting, its castle, streets and houses, but because the life centred on Richmond was typical and with a unique character of its own, deep-rooted in history,” explained the British Council, which had been set up by the British government to do soft PR for the nation.
Richmond Market Place from the top of the castle keep in 1945
“Richmond represents the market town which, while the traditional capital of the surrounding countryside, is neither a cathedral city nor the administrative county town.”
More than 100 pictures were taken by a distinguished photographer, James Allan Cash, of all aspects of Richmond life: it’s scenery and street scapes, farming and markets, schools and pubs, racehorse training and social clubs.
The National School in Lobard's Wynd, with flowers on the teacher's desk and the overhead gas pipes
And its people, who present a fabulous slice of life as it was: the men so smart in their three-piece suits and shiny shoes, pipes in hands; the women at work beneath flitches of bacon in their country kitchens or shopping at the market for fabulous fresh produce with wickerwork baskets over their arms; and the children at school in neat rows of desks with flowers on the teacher’s table and algebra on the blackboard.
The Lily Laundry employed 20 women in 1945 in the Market Place. The Lily was based in Darlington and was a south Durham and North Yorkshire institution
The pictures have become iconic, and in 1985, BBC2 made a programme fronted by Eric Robson to mark their 40th anniversary. He spoke to people who were in the photos, and to Peter Wenham, of the Richmondshire Museum, where the pictures were on display. Bill Feaver, art critic of The Observer newspaper, commented on the photographs as reflections of the immediate post-War period.
Saturday market outside the town hall in Richmond in 1945, with people queuing at the egg stall with their wicker baskets
As the start of a fund-raising series of talks for the museum, the BBC has granted Richmond historian Jane Hatcher special permission to show the 1985 documentary in Richmond Town Hall on Wednesday, July 5, at 7pm. All are welcome, and admission is by donation, but booking is recommended as space is limited – email admin@richmondshiremuseum.org.uk or phone 01748 825611.
A Richmond Chess Club meeting in the Fleece Hotel in 1945
The second talk in the series will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, July 11, in the museum when Bob Woodings will talk about the overlooked medieval treasures that make up Richmond’s Easby Choir Stalls.
There will also be talks on July 25 and August 1.
Messrs Robson, Wood & Co, of Finkle Street, were in business for more than 150 years until they closed in 1983. In 1945, proprietor William Robinson was captured in coversation with customer William Morley
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