Another Chance to See Tyler Photographs of Edwardian Shaftesbury

By popular request, Claire Ryley and Ann Symons are repeating their presentation of black and white photographs of Edwardian Shaftesbury from the Tyler Collection at Gold Hill Museum at 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 14 February. A number of people were not able to make the first showing in December 2022 and this is another opportunity to view a series of remarkable images captured by Albert Edward Tyler between about 1899 and 1916. As ever, Claire and Ann will welcome observations from the audience about exactly what is visible on screen. This show is free and open to members of the public as well as of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society.

Even better news is that Claire and Ann are checking through many hundreds of Tyler glass negatives in the process of compiling a presentation of photographs of the surrounding villages (e.g. Ashmore, above, in 1907) in time for Shaftesbury Library’s Local History Month in May 2023. S&DHS volunteers like this Ashmore image so much that it is planned to use it in a new Gold Hill Museum Guide, currently in preparation. The Museum has lacked a Souvenir Guide ever since it re-opened in 2011.

As Ann points out, many of Tyler’s photographs show evidence of careful planning and artful arrangement. There are at least 30 children on the ice, well spaced out so that they are safer but also all clearly in view. Presumably that guarantees more sales of the final print. On the far side of the pond, there are men attending three horse-drawn carts, one with an enormous load of timber requiring three horses to draw it. This is a recognisable view of a well-known Dorset landmark, but it is showing a different world.