Edwardian Gallery

The Bridge, Penryn, Cornwall. 1900s

A crowd of people on the Commercial Road junction with Quay Hill, Penryn, looking west. The bridge is behind the crowd. The harbour office building is on the left, sporting a number of notices. The notice to the left of the harbour office window behind the gas lamp reads 'Borough of Penryn. Penryn Harbour ordinances. 1900' The large advertising notice on the road side of the office reads 'UGLOW. PIANOS 2/- (Two shillings) and 1/- (One shilling) ORGANS. FALMOUTH & ST AUSTELL'. The diagonal wording across the middle reads 'WHY BE WITHOUT ONE'. There are fifty three people posing for the camera. The majority are men and boys but four girls have managed to join the crowd. A top sail schooner is alongside the Quay. Photographer: Arthur William Jordan.

© From the collection of the RIC

Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd. Around 1907

Studio portrait photograph of Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd as a young boy playing with building blocks on a chair. Born on 18th November 1904, Alan was the son of Alan Walter Lennox-Boyd and Florence Annie Begbie. Educated at Sherborne School, Dorset, and Christ Church, Oxford, he married Lady Patricia Florence Susan Guinness on 29th December 1938 and died on 8th March 1983. He held the office of Member of Parliament (Conservative) for Mid-Bedfordshire between 1931 and 1960, holding the positions of Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour in 1938, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production in 1943, Minister of State for Colonial Affairs 1951-1952, Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, 1952-1954 and Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, 1954-1959. He served as Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War, was admitted to Inner Temple in 1941 and entitled to practise as a Barrister at Law. Appointed Privy Counsellor in 1951, he held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire between 1954 and 1960, was managing director of Arthur Guinness & Sons between 1959 and 1967 and appointed Companion of Honour in 1960. He was created 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton in September 1960 and that same year, his wife, Patricia, Viscountess Boyd, purchased Ince Castle in St Stephens by Saltash, Cornwall. In 1965, Viscount Boyd held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall. The Boyd family lived at Ince Castle until 2018. Photographer: Owen & Son, Boscombe.

© From the collection of the RIC

Gwennap Pit, Busveal, Cornwall. Around 1900s

A service at Gwennap Pit. The photograph captures an excellent display of fashionable clothing worn for Sunday best. An open air amphitheatre near Redruth made famous by John Wesley the founder of Methodism, John Wesley first visited Gwennap Pit on 5th September 1762. At this time it was described as a relic of mining activities in the area, with a rock face covered in vegetation by the 1760s. In 1766 Wesley described it as "a round green hollow gently shelving down" and as "a natural amphitheatre". In November 1806 a mining engineer Richard Michell of Gwennap and four mine Captains: John Martin, John Dennis, W. Davey and T. Trestrail met at Busveal and agreed to repair Gwennap Pit or rather reconstruct the amphitheatre in respect to and in memory of John Wesley who had died in 1791. Between 1762 and 1789 John Wesley preached at Gwennap Pit eighteen times. The amphitheatre has twelve staged rings top to bottom. It is claimed that walking around all twelve levels top to bottom is equal to one mile and that it can hold 1,500 people. Photographer: Arthur Philp.

© From the collection of the RIC