Photographic Proof

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however, we are south of the Thames in the London suburb of Battersea. It is Wednesday, and it is Edith’s half day off. Usually, she spends it with her best friend and fellow maid-of-all-work, Hilda, who lives just around the corner from Cavendish Mews in Hill Street, where she works for Lettice’s married friends, Margot and Dickie Channon. Edith and Hilda frequently spend Wednesday afternoons together, pleasurably buying haberdashery, window shopping or taking tea. Yet today Frank Leadbetter, Edith’s fiancée, who works as the delivery boy for Mr. Willison’s Grocer’s in Binney Street Mayfair, has managed to get the Wednesday afternoon off, and has asked Edith to join him at the same place where not so long ago, he proposed marriage to her. Frank had arranged a special surprise for Edith, and it is here in Clapham Junction where Frank has joined Edith after meeting her Clapham Junction Railway Station*. Frank lives not too far from busy Clapham Junction in a boarding house run by his grim landlady, Mrs. Chapman. Frank shares Mrs. Chapman’s boarding house with a number of other single young men, including one of his best chums, John Simpkin, who is the assistant to Mr. Bristol who runs a photography studio in Clapham Junction. John has recently finished his apprenticeship to Mr. Bristol, and is now a photographer in his own right, and thus allowed to run the studio on his own on some days. So it was that he and Frank hatched a plan together to surprise Edith with a portrait photography session of she and Frank, managed by John, during which Frank finally proposed to Edith, slipping a fine silver band bought from a jewellers along Lavender Hill** onto her ring finger as a sign of promise.

 

It is at Mr. Bristol’s photographic studio that we find Edith and Frank, in the waiting area in the shop front of the studio. They have come to collect the photographs taken on the day of the momentous occasion of Frank’s proposal, developed by John. Edith glances around her at the fusty studio, which is still decorated in the more formal and overstuffed Edwardian style that was fashionable before the war. The white venetian blinds and heavy moss green curtains with their round bobbles help to muffle the constant sound of passing shoppers and motorcar traffic from outside. The walls are papered with green hangings featuring bunches of flowers divided by garlands of ribbons. Framed portraits of imperious middle-class matrons, proud shopkeepers and their families hang around the walls in gold and silver frames: some oval, others square, many plain, but a few quite ornate. The room’s floor is dominated by a large glass fronted display cabinet full of formal portrait carte de visites*** and displays of Kodak Box Brownies**** on top of which stands a gleaming glass cash register. It is before the counter that Edith and Frank stand.

 

“I’d never have believed it, Frank.” Edith muses as she rolls on the balls of her feet inside her smart black leather low louis heeled shoes.

 

“Believed that you’d one day be Mrs. Frank Leadbetter?” Frank asks with a good-natured chuckle.

 

“Well, I did have my doubts about that for a little while too.” Edith admits, remembering her bolstered feelings of optimism after she visited Madame Fortuna, a “discreet clairvoyant”- really Mrs. Fenchurch, an old widow who lives in Strathray Gardens in Swiss Cottage***** - with whom she corresponded with via Box Z 1245, The Times, E.C.4. “But no, I meant, I’d never have believed that I’d have my portrait taken. Although,” she adds, pointing to a sepia photo of a rather dour looking young woman with her hair pinned into a chignon****** like Edith, wearing a dainty white lace collar. “I hope I don’t look as sad as her.

 

Frank peers at the portrait behind the counter she points to. “Oh no, Edith!” Frank scoffs. “That’s an old photo, taken by Mr, Bristol the owner, I’m sure. John says he’s a nice chap, and lovely and friendly, but he’s very Victorian. He wouldn’t have had you and I so relaxed and comfortable for our photos as John did.”

 

A smile teases up the corners of Edith’s lips as she remembers how Frank’s friend harnessed the young couple’s happiness and energy, encouraging them as they stood and sat in various poses to smile and feel at ease with one another, as though he weren’t even there taking their photograph. Whilst Edith couldn’t ignore that fact, she hopes that some of the happiness and delight that she felt that day after Frank’s sudden and unexpected proposal right before John took their first photograph shines through in the resulting images they are now waiting on.

 

“It was rather jolly fun, I have to say.” Edith admits with a coy smile. “Like I said, I never imagined I’d have a proper professional photograph taken of me when I’m still so young. Mum and Dad saved for ages to have our portrait as a family taken at the photographic studio in Harlesden. I imagined it would be just the same for us.”

 

“Never!” Frank beams, wrapping his arm familiarly around his fiancée, and pulling her closer to him. “You’re my best girl!”

 

“Your only girl, I should hope!” Edith retorts with a cheeky smile.

 

Ignoring her teasing, Frank goes on. “I want to be able to look back in years to come and remember the beautiful young girl I proposed to, before she became the beautiful bride I married.”

 

“Oh Frank!” Edith gasps. “You are sweet.”

 

Her blue eyes sparkle as she stares into Frank’s face. He lowers his face to hers and kisses her softly on the lips, the moment gentle and intimate for them both.

 

Breaking their romantic kiss, Frank goes on, “Besides, I want photographic proof of the best day of my life so far!”

 

Edith giggles girlishly, giddy with joy. “Well so do I, Frank. So let’s hope that at least some of the shots Mr. Simpkin took are ones we like.”

 

“Trust me Edith.” Frank replies, tapping his nose knowingly. “John learned so much under the apprenticeship of Mr. Bristol, and he has an eye for capturing the beauty and emotion in people.”

 

“How do you know, Frank?”

 

“Well, sometimes John brings home photographs he has developed here that he took either at the studio, or candid shots he took out on the street with his Box Brownie.” Frank sighs with admiration. “Those are his best. The old flower sellers******* at the top of Tottenham Court Road, young couples out for a picnic or a stroll on Hampstead Heath******** or Primrose Hill********* housewives traipsing the terrace house lined streets around here, Elsie the barmaid, pulling pints at The Windsor Castle**********, just down the road.” He shakes his head in awe. “Now those are photographs that capture the essence of people, much more than a studio like this ever could, but that’s because they are candid shots of people just going about their everyday lives.”

 

“They sound amazing, Frank, and beautiful.”

 

“John is ever so talented! One of the most moving photographs of his I have ever seen was of a n old woman in full mourning by a grave in Highgate Cemetery***********. There she was, in full Victorian mourning clothes, with a look on her face that I really can’t describe. Melancholic, wistful, pained – all those things and more.”

 

“And she let Mr. Simpkin take the photograph of her?”

 

“Well, I don’t think so, Edith. John likes to capture candid moments with his own photographs, rather than staged ones, and he’s very discreet, so I doubt she would have even have been aware of his presence nearby.”

 

Edith gasps. “That’s a bit brazen of him, Frank! Mourning is a deeply personal thing.” She shakes her head in disapproval. “I don’t think I’d much like someone taking my photograph when I visit my Grandpop’s************ grave at Paddington Cemetery*************.”

 

“Well, you might change your mind if you see John’s photo, Edith. It’s not ghoulish or macabre. It is simply an observation of human grief.”

 

“Well, there is plenty of evidence of human misery around us, Frank.” Edith retorts. “Just visit Stepney or Poplar, where Mrs. Boothby lives, and you’d see the poor families crowded into one room, living in filth and squalor, children with rickets************** and hungry eyes. Miss Lettice is decorating the house of the MP for Mrs. Boothby’s constituency***************. I like Mrs. Hatchett because she isn’t snooty, and toffee nosed**************** like some of Miss Lettice’s clients when I am forced to answer that infernal telephone contraption of hers and take messages for her. However, I don’t understand how she can spend goodness knows how much money on having Miss Lettice redecorate her new London home, when Mr. Hatchett is supposed to be taking care of some of the poorest people in London. That money could buy a great many boots for the poor.”

 

“I admire your spirit and interest in the poor working man, Edith.” Frank says proudly. “It seems some of my ideas are rubbing off on you.”

 

“Well for goodness sake, don’t tell Mum, or she’ll have me break off our engagement.”

 

“But,” Frank goes on. “Politics isn’t quite that simple, and I doubt very much whether all of the money Mr. Charlie Hatchett, self-proclaimed ‘man of the people’ earned through banking and finance, would fix the inequality in Stepney.”

 

“Well, it might help a bit if he donated some.” Edith replies defiantly, folding her arms akimbo.

 

“Perhaps.” Frank says with a gentle smile, his eye sparkling. “Anyway, my friends at the London Trades Council***************** say, that with workers being forced to do longer hours for less pay than they are entitled to, the politicians may have to sit up and take notice of the working man and his rights soon.”

 

“What are you talking about Frank?” Edith exclaims. Looking earnestly at her fiancée she goes on, “You aren’t going to get into any kind of trouble, are you?”

 

“Now you’re starting to sound like your mum, Edith.”

 

“Well, are you, Frank?”

 

“Of course not, Edith!” Frank assures her.

 

“Good!” Edith breathes a sigh of relief. “Because now that we are affianced, I should hate for anything to happen to you.”

 

“I promise, Edith,” Frank says, pulling her close to him again. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I won’t put myself in harm’s way, when I have you to come home to.”

 

“Oh Frank!”

 

There moment is broken by as Frank’s friend, John the photographer, walks in from the photography studio behind and into the shop front where Edith and Frank wait. “Frank, Miss Watsford,” he says, bowing towards Edith slightly . “I have your photographs here.” He pushes a buff coloured Kodak Film Wallet across the glass counter towards the young pair.

 

“I’ve just been hearing from my fiancée, what a fine photographer you are Mr. Simpkin.” Edith says.

 

“Well, I hope you will like your photographs, Miss Watsford,” John says. “And if Frank will allow me, I’d like to offer this set complimentary to you both as a form of engagement gift.”

 

“Oh, John!” Frank exclaims. “I say, that’s awfully generous of you!”

 

“Oh Mr. Simpkin!” Edith adds. “That’s far too generous.”

 

“Nonsense Miss Watsford.” John assures her. “Look around you! I work in a photography studio.”

 

“Won’t Mr. Bristol, the owner, mind?” Edith persists.

 

“He won’t miss a few sheets of photographic paper and some chemicals for processing that we will already use for other projects. He lats me process my own Box Brownie photographs without charge after all.”

 

“Well then, thank you, Mr. Simpkin.” Edith acquiesces. “That really is most generous of you.”

 

“I say Miss Watsford,” John goes on as Edith slips her hand into the wallet to retrieve the photographs.

 

“Yes, Mr. Simpkin?” Edith pauses and looks up at him with querying eyes.

 

“If I’m to be Frank’s best man, as he has asked me to be, I really think we can probably go on less formal terms. I’d appreciate you calling me John.”

 

“Well then, you Must call me Edith, Mr. Simp… err, I mean… John.” Edith laughs.

 

The couple return their attention to the photographs, admiring how much of their happiness the young photographer has caught of them, and their comfort with one another, in spite of the formality. Edith points to her face in one shot as she looks lovingly into Frank’s eyes. Frank indicates to another where the pair have their heads together and arms about one another in a loving embrace as they look at the camera.

 

“But I hope you’ll pardon me for saying this, Frank and Edith, but my favourite photograph I took of the two of you isn’t included.”

 

“Really Mr. err… John?” Edith queries.

 

“Why ever not, John? I’ve been telling Edith what a good eye you have, especially for candid photographs.”

 

“Well, it’s because it is so candid. I’m not sure you will like it.” John begins. “But, I have it here, and if you like it enough, you are welcome to it as well.”

 

The young man withdraws one final photograph from where it lay hidden behind the gleaming cash register. Edith and Frank look down upon the picture taken of them, just as Frank slipped the thin silver band onto Edith’s ring finger, with both of them looking at it like it were a newborn baby, a look of blissful happiness and extreme pleasure on both their faces.

 

“Oh John!” Edith exclaims, raising her hand to her mouth. “This is beautiful! I love it!” She considers the image a little longer. “In fact, I’d say that it’s my favourite photograph of all!”

 

“It’s mine too, John old chap!” Frank agrees. “I said I wanted photographic proof of the moment I asked you to marry me, didn’t I Edith?”

 

“You did, Frank.”

 

“And here it is,” Frank says with a sweeping gesture and a beaming smile. “The very shot I shall one day have pleasure showing our children and grandchildren as I tell them how I proposed to you in Mr. Bristol’s Photography Studio before my best man, who took the photograph as I did.”

 

*Clapham Junction is a major railway station near St John's Hill in south-west Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Despite its name, Clapham Junction is not in Clapham, a district one mile to the south-east. A major transport hub, Clapham Junction station is on both the South West Main Line and Brighton Main Line, as well as numerous other routes and branch lines which pass through or diverge from the main lines at this station. It serves as a southern terminus of both the Mildmay and Windrush lines of the London Overground.

 

**Lavender Hill is a bustling high street serving residents of Clapham Junction, Battersea and beyond. Until the mid Nineteenth Century, Battersea was predominantly a rural area with lavender and asparagus crops cultivated in local market gardens. Hence, it’s widely thought that Lavender Hill was named after Lavender Hall, built in the late Eighteenth Century, where lavender grew on the north side of the hill.

 

***The carte de visite (which translates from the French as 'visiting card') was a format of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero in 1851.

 

****The Brownie (or Box Brownie) was invented by Frank A. Brownell for the Eastman Kodak Company. Named after the Brownie characters popularised by the Canadian writer Palmer Cox, the camera was initially aimed at children. More than 150,000 Brownie cameras were shipped in the first year of production, and cost a mere five shillings in the United Kingdom. An improved model, called No. 2 Brownie, came in 1901, which produced larger photos, and was also a huge success. Initially marketed to children, with Kodak using them to popularise photography, it achieved broader appeal as people realised that, although very simple in design and operation, the Brownie could produce very good results under the right conditions. One of their most famous users at the time was the then Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, who was an avid amateur photographer and helped to make the Box Brownie even more popular with the British public from all walks of life. As they were ubiquitous, many iconic shots were taken on Brownies. Jesuit priest Father Frank Browne sailed aboard the RMS Titanic between Southampton and Queenstown, taking many photographs of the ship’s interiors, passengers and crew with his Box Brownie. On the 15th of April 1912, Bernice Palmer used a Kodak Brownie 2A, Model A to photograph the iceberg that sank RMS Titanic as well as survivors hauled aboard RMS Carpathia, the ship on which Palmer was travelling. They were also taken to war by soldiers but by World War I the more compact Vest Pocket Kodak Camera as well as Kodak's Autographic Camera were the most frequently used. Another group of people that became posthumously known for their huge photo archive is the Nicholas II of Russia family, especially its four daughters who all used Box Brownie cameras.

 

*****According to the Dictionary of London Place Names, the district of Swiss Cottage is named after an inn called The Swiss Tavern that was built in 1804 in the style of a Swiss chalet on the site of a former tollgate keeper's cottage, and later renamed Swiss Inn and in the early 20th century Swiss Cottage.

 

******A chignon is a classic, versatile hairstyle characterized by a low bun or knot of hair, typically worn at the nape of the neck, though it can also be a more general term for hair wrapped at the back of the head. The name "chignon" comes from the French phrase "chignon du cou," meaning "nape of the neck," where the hairstyle is traditionally positioned. This elegant and refined style has been around for centuries.

 

*******Women and children selling flowers at the top of Tottenham Court Road were a common sight in pre-Second World War London. Mostly women and children, they did it primarily to earn money due to extreme poverty, often selling small bunches of cut flowers or nosegays to passersby for small amounts like a few pennies or a farthing. These street flower sellers, many of whom were young, lived in isolation or worked to support their families. The term "flower girl" became a popular name for these sellers, though some night sellers developed a reputation for also working as prostitutes and were known as “night flower girls”.

 

********Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is a large, ancient London heath, covering 320 hectares (790 acres). This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, and it adjoins the former stately home of Kenwood House and its estate. The south-east part of the heath is Parliament Hill, from which the view over London is protected by law.

 

*********Like Regent's Park, the park area of Primrose Hill was once part of a great chase, appropriated by Henry VIII. Primrose Hill, with its clear rounded skyline, was purchased from Eton College in 1841 to extend the parkland available to the poor people of north London for open air recreation. At one time Primrose Hill was a place where duels were fought and prize-fights took place. The hill has always had a somewhat lively reputation, with Mother Shipton making threatening prophesies about what would happen if the city sprawl was allowed to encroach on its boundaries. At the top of the hill is one of the six protected viewpoints in London. The summit is almost sixty-three metres above sea level and the trees are kept low so as not to obscure the view. In winter, Hampstead can be seen to the north east. The summit features a York stone edging with a William Blake inscription, it reads: “I have conversed with the spiritual sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill.”

 

**********The Junction pub in Clapham Junction is a Green King-owned establishment that was formerly known as the Windsor Castle. It is a notable example of a "brewers' Tudor" pub built in the 1920s, with an interior of local historic interest. It has panelled walls and hefty, rustically treated timbers to the roof trusses - no doubt concealing very un-Tudor steel beams. Much use is made of imitation adzed tooling on the timbers to enhance the “ye olde world” effect. The pub recently closed for a refurbishment, which was completed in January 2024, resulting in a modernized space with updated furnishings and decor while retaining its classic 1920s pub feel.

 

***********Highgate Cemetery was established in 1839 as one of London's "Magnificent Seven" garden cemeteries to address overcrowding in churchyards. Highgate was built in response to a public health crisis caused by unsanitary churchyards in central London, a problem exacerbated by a rapidly growing population. The cemetery quickly became a popular and fashionable place for burials, reflecting the Victorian fascination with death and nature. Designed by Stephen Geary and landscape architect David Ramsay, it features a romantic, landscaped setting with winding paths, abundant trees, and impressive structures like the Egyptian Avenue, catacombs, and mausoleums. Elaborate monuments and tombs showcased the social status of wealthy families, creating what was known as a "Victorian Valhalla". Many famous and prominent Victorians are buried there.

 

************Whilst we tend to associate the term "grandpop" as being quite modern, it actually first appeared in the 1860s, with the earliest known usage recorded in 1860 by A. B. Street. It is an informal, compounded word, formed by combining the prefix "grand-" with "pop," a childish or familiar term for father.

 

*************Opened in 1855 to address the dire overpopulation of churchyards within London, which suffered from unsanitary conditions and scandalous practices, Paddington Cemetery (also known as Paddington Old Cemetery or Willesden Lane Cemetery), is a historic Victorian-era cemetery in Kilburn in North London. In 1855 Paddington Burial Board purchased 24 acres of rural land in Willesden. Cemetery designer Thomas Little created a horse-shoe tree-lined path layout. On each side of the entrance he built lodges and in the centre, two Gothic-style chapels, one Anglican and one Nonconformist. Its original formation was in a rural landscape which later became a green open space. There is a war memorial by the western entrance. There are over two hundred graves for casualties of World War I and World War II. The Goetze Memorial (c. 1911), erected by artist and philanthropist Sigismund Goetze in memory of his parents, and Michael Bond the British author best known for his Paddington Bear books is also appropriately buried there. By 1923 the cemetery was rapidly becoming filled, and the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington decided to acquire new land for a cemetery further out of London. This was opened as "Paddington New Cemetery" (now known as Mill Hill Cemetery) in 1936, leading to the site on Willesden Lane becoming known by its current name of "Paddington Old Cemetery". However in 1925, when this story is set, Paddington Old Cemetery was still the only cemetery with that name, thus Edith referring to it simply as “Paddington Cemetery”.

 

**************Rickets is a bone disease in children and teenagers that causes bones to become soft, weak, and deformed. It is primarily caused by a deficiency in vitamin D, which prevents the body from absorbing enough calcium and phosphate to form strong bones. Symptoms include bowed legs, muscle weakness, bone pain, delayed growth, and soft skull bones. Rickets is preventable with adequate vitamin D and calcium intake, plus some sun exposure, and can usually be treated with dietary supplements and lifestyle changes. These would not have been afforded to the poorest people of London’s East End back in the 1920s, although there were changes afoot to start to improve the living conditions of the poor.

 

***************The London constituency of Tower Hamlets includes such areas and historic towns as (roughly from west to east) Spitalfields, Whitechapel, Bethnal Green, Wapping, Shadwell, Mile End, Stepney, Limehouse, Old Ford, Bow, Bromley, Poplar, and the Isle of Dogs (with Millwall, the West India Docks, and Cubitt Town), making it a majority working class constituency in 1925 when this story is set. Tower Hamlets included some of the worst slums and societal issues of inequality and poverty in England at that time.

 

****************Toffee-nosed is a term used to people who are considered to be snobbish or pretentiously superior, going about with their noses stuck up in the air.

 

*****************The London Trades Council was an early labour organisation, uniting London's trade unionists. Its modern successor organisation is the Greater London Association of Trades (Union) Councils

 

 

This cluttered photography studio shop front, filled with photographic portraits, may look real to you, but it is not all it seems. It is in fact, made up entirely of pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

The photos seen on the counter in the foreground – the one of Edith and Frank, and the ones in frames are real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper, made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. There are more examples of their photographs affixed to the wall in the background. The only exceptions are the round ones in black or gold frames, which come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House Shop. The range or ornate square frames you can see in the background are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each.

 

The Art Deco picture frame in blue Bakelite on the right of the photo comes from Doreen Jeffries Small Wonders Miniatures store in the United Kingdom. The silver Art Nouveau frame containing the photo of the wedding party is a 1:12 artisan miniature made by Pat’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom. The frame is a very thin slice of steel that has been laser cut with the intricate Art Nouveau design.

 

The Kodak photograph wallets and advertising are 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Ken Blythe is known for his miniature books. Most of the books crated by him that I own may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection. What might amaze you even more is that all Ken Blythe’s opening books are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. Not only did Ken Blythe create books, he also created other 1:12 miniatures with paper and that includes photographs and photographic paraphernalia such as photograph wallets. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make these miniature artisan pieces. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.

 

Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel. The black umbrella came from an online stockist of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.

 

The shiny metal cash register comes from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in the United Kingdom.

 

The black umbrella came from an online stockist of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.

 

The wallpaper is late Victorian in design and was sourced and printed by me.

Done