Face to Face: Victorian and Edwardian Portraits of Working People in Bath

In our current exhibition you can meet people ‘face to face’ from 130 years ago.  The photographs were taken of people in Bath in the 1890s and 1900s in the studio of Tom Carlyle Leaman at number 7, The Corridor off Union Street.

These amazing pictures give us a real window on the past, especially the clothes that were then in fashion, accessories, and the way people styled their hair.

The photographs are glass plate negatives and have been digitised.  Many of the plates have a surname written on the back, and volunteers at the Museum spent a year researching some of them.  In the exhibition you can meet Mr David Press who ran a confectioners and bakery in Broad Street; the girls of the Candy family whose parents were farmers at Bathampton; Mr Charles Moutrie the General Manager at Bath Racecourse; and Miss Daisy Fentiman who worked stitching corsets.

Museum Director Stuart Burroughs says:

“Face to Face: Victorian and Edwardian Portraits of Working People in Bath shows us the faces of ordinary people, and gives a snapshot of the kind of jobs they did and where they lived.  There are many portraits where the person’s identity remains a mystery – come and see if you recognise anyone from your own family album!”

The exhibition is in the Hudson Gallery and is included in your admission ticket.