Street Life, Instantaneous: Capturing 19th Century life in Newcastle
- Published
A set of photographs from life on the streets of Newcastle in the early 1890s is going on display at an art gallery in the city. Taken by Tyneside photographer Edgar G Lee, they focus on the streets around Sandgate, Milk Market and the Quayside.
Edgar Lee was a photographer and lantern slide maker, who had his own studio in old Eldon Square. He made his own hand-held cameras with fast exposure dry plates patented by Tyneside inventor Joseph Swan.
Fast exposure plates and hand-held cameras allowed photographers to capture the immediacy of the moment. This photo from 1892 shows children in Newcastle using a street lamp for a swing.
This photo shows a stall at Paddy’s Market in 1892 selling old clothes. The clothes would be laid out on straw or hung from the walls. People in Newcastle were often told to tidy their room because it looked like Paddy’s market.
A lot of the photographs have never been published or on display before. This photo captures a blind woman and her dog sitting on a Newcastle street.
The glass plate negatives were found by photographer Aaron Guy who was researching the archives at the North of England Institute of Mining. The images used in the exhibition are from the institute, Woodhorn Museum and The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
This photo shows a sermon being delivered at the Temperance festival at Newcastle Town Moor in 1892. The festival was founded in 1882 and attracted more than 160,000 people.
Street Life, Instantaneous, is on display at the Side Gallery in Newcastle from 10 August to 12 October.