Francis Frith was a Pioneer Victorian photographer and business man who in 1850 explored the exciting possibilities of the new 'photography' by traveling to the desert regions of the Nile with his camera.
He started his main collection in 1860 after marrying Mary Ann Rosing; and together they set out on their travels with the intention of photographing every city, town and village in Britain.
For the next 30 years they traveled the country by train and by pony and trap, producing fine photographs of Seaside resorts and beauty spots that were keenly bought by millions of Victorians.
110 years later in 1970 the collection contained over one third of a million pictures of some 7,000 cities, towns and villages.
Computers have now made it possible for Frith’s many thousands of images to be accessed almost instantly on line by social historians, by researchers in to genealogy and ancestry, by architects, town planners and by teachers and schoolchildren involved in local history projects.
Over 60,000 of Frith photographs can be viewed and purchased on the internet.
There are 3 sites giving background information on the collections
www.francisfrith.comwww.francisfrith.co.ukwww.frithbook.co.ukThere are a number of sites, constanly expanding, each of which focuses on different products and services from the collections. - some of these are listed below.
www.townpages.co.ukwww.icollector.comwww.barclaysquare.co.ukwww.cornwall-online.co.ukThey are all well worth a look - pictures help to turn your ancestors from names and dates into real people with 'Flesh on their Bones'
Chris in 1066Land