Figure 1.-- This well known photo by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe who titled it for some reason, 'Stern Reality'. A group of boys looking over a wall watching boats in the Whitby harbour during 1892. We see ordinary boys and their clothing conventions at the time. The boys are often descibed as poor, but they are probably the children of ordinary working-class families. Certainly by modern standards they were poor, I am not sue this is an accurate description by the standards of the day or by comparions with previous genertions. Not all these poor boys are wearing shoes which is probbly why they are referred to as poor, but all the boys have headwear--various types of caps and one hat. This suggests that at the time, headwear was more important than footwear.

Francis Meadow Sutcliffe know as Frank was an eary English photographer who was notable for not only taking portraits, but for compiling a artistic and social record of life in the seaside town of Whitby where he lived and also area around Whitby. Whitby is a North Sea pot town near Scarborough in the county of North Yorkshire. Few early photographers did this, for the most part limiting their activities to studio photograophy as ausiness. Most of his genre photographs were talem in the late-19th century and early-20th century (1870-1910). His body of work is of interest to HBC because it included some children, commonly the ordinary street children from working-class families who are often noy captured by the predominarely studio photography of the day. Frank was born in Headingley, Leeds (1853). His parents were Thomas Sutcliffe and Sarah Lorentia Button (1853). His education was limited to a dame school, meaning not even a complete primary education. It is unclear why an established artist like his father did not provide his son a better education. Sutcliffe was fascinated by the new medium of photography and he pursued a career as a portrait photographer, the way to earn money as a photographer in the 19th century. He first worked in Tunbridge Wells, Kent then for the rest of his life in Whitby. Here in addition to his photographic studio, he attempted to capture some of hs fathers landscape images concentrating more on town images with his camera, but added an interest in creating a record of ordinary life and ordinary people. We notice another photophraph, posiibly also taken at Whitby. It shows an unidentified working-class boy with his sail boat. His father was a great asset to his carrerhad brought him into contact with prominent because of his personal relationship to important individuals in the British artistic community such as John Ruskin. Sutcliffe saw himseld as an artist with a new medium and rather resented having to earn money by taking photographs of tourists. He deligently pursued his art and his body of work in Whitby and the Eskdale valley is tody the most complete record of ordinary life in a late-Victorian Edwardian town. His most famous photograph was probanly 'Water Rats' because of the controversy it caused (1888). It depicted naked children playing in a boat along the shore (1888). He was just using photography to create a scene a genre artist might have created. The local clergy was outraged even though they would not have objected to a comarable painted image. They excommunicated him for displaying it, believing it would 'corrupt' the opposite sex. He also had his defenders. The the Prince of Wales future Edward VII) would purchased a copy of the photograph. The well-known here was titled for some reason, 'Stern Reality'. A group of boys looking over a wall watching boats in the Whitby harbor during 1892. We see ordinary boys and their clothing conventions at the time. The boys in Sutcliffe's photographs are often descibed as poor, but they are probably the children of ordinary working-class families. Certainly by modern standards they were poor, I am not sue this is an accurate description by the standards of the day or by comparions with previous genertions.

Created: 2:58 PM 12/12/2012
Last updated: 2:46 AM 4/21/2022