Thanks to photography, we have a window into the world of Shropshire’s Victorians - how they lived, what they looked like, and the towns they inhabited.
It was the first era to be documented by photography. And you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words.
So let’s take a trip back in time and take a look through the lens at the life of our Salopian forebears who were immortalised for posterity by something which still feels a bit special even today - the simple act of having our picture taken.
- Shrewsbury in 1979: 25 pictures of football glory and life around town - see them here
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5. Scruffy schoolboy became a radio star
The lad on the far left of the front row is said to be the Rev Samuel Parkes Cadman, who would later emigrate to America where he became a famous preacher who pioneered the use of the then new medium of radio. He was born in 1864, which from his apparent age points to the photo being in the 1870s. Dave Barnett, who loaned this photo, thought this was the old school at Dawley Bank or Lawley Bank. But now look at the next photo... | Dave Barnett
6. Same location, different children
...which, as you can see, shows the girls at the same school - in those days boys and girls were educated separately in the same school building. Ken Lewis, archivist at Ketley History Group, pointed out that the brick background was identical to that in the previous picture featuring young Cadman. Ken told us that as in 1871 the Cadmans were living in Forge Row, Malinslee, he thought he would have gone to Malinslee School which was only a few yards away. If that theory is correct, then this photo and the previous one show children at Malinslee School. | Dave Barnett
7. Bricks and pipes
Steve Bourne in New Zealand emailed this to us. It shows an ancestor, Benjamin Bourne, born in 1850 – as he looks maybe roughly 30 in the picture it would date it roughly to 1880. Steve believed it was taken at the brickworks he owned in Pains Lane, which was the old name for St Georges. However he also sent information about the Donnington Wood brick and tile works which opened in 1876 near the old Pains Lane works - and as Benjamin, who is the big bearded man in the centre, could easily be 26 in the picture, it is conceivable the picture was taken around 1876 to record the advent of the new Donnington Wood works. Steve says Benjamin lived at either Lodge Bank or New Lodge, or both. | Steve Bourne
8. Doorstep chat for famous novelist
Noted Wellington authoress Hesba Stretton chats to her friend Mary York. This picture was carried as a nostalgia photo in the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of April 26, 1930, with the caption: ''The above illustration is of an old shop which many years ago occupied the space in New Street on which the business premises of Mr F Onions now stand. The shop when the photograph was taken was in the occupation of Miss York (a great aunt of Mr Harold York). Miss York, who figures in the doorway, is in conversation with Hesba Stretton, the Shropshire novelist, whose family name was Smith, her father at one time conducting a printing and stationery business in New Street. He was also in charge of Wellington Post Office, which in those days adjoined his premises." Written at the bottom is "A bit of old Wellington, 78 New Street, 1850," but that date is seriously in doubt as Sarah Smith - that is, Hesba - is wearing a dress which was not in fashion until significantly later. | Shropshire Star archive