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Harold Burleigh Thompson

Over the coming days and weeks, we will be adding a number of fantastic Peterborough images taken by Harold Thompson. Harold’s grandson Marcus has kindly offered the images for inclusion on the site and we are very grateful for his support.

Marcus has added …………

The Photographs were taken by the late Harold Burleigh Thompson. Harold ( my Grandfather ) was a keen photographer who aquired a Kodak No.2-A Folding Autographic Brownie camera in the early 1920’s. He was born in December 1897 in Harrogate but oved to Peterborough as a young boy.
Leaving school at 14, he worked in Boots the chemist in Peterborough as an errand boy. He was married to my Grandmother in September 1928 aged 31 and, by this time, ‘Charlie’ as he was known to his friends, had worked his way up to become a warehouseman at Boots. He lived in a couple of different rented properties along Lincoln Road in Walton during this time, just up the road from the terminus of the trams, and a short distance from Walton railway station …… these were the choices of transport into Peterborough city centre at the time although ‘Charlie’ was a keen cyclist and used this method of transport the most !
He passed away in 1960 and was buried in Paston Church’s graveyard.
His photographs were kept in an album which belonged to my Gran. We used to look at them as kids and eventually, when my Gran passed away aged 96, I inherited the album. I though it would be a fitting tribute to be able to share the few suviving pictures for all to see. I’m also in possesion of the actual camera he used (see below) although I doubt film would be availible for it now ! The camera, as mentioned above, is a Kodak No. 2-A Folding Autographic Brownie. This model was produced from 1915 to 1926. In 1917 the ends were changed from a squared end to a rounded end, so this is a post 1917 model. It cost around £10 when new I believe, so a very expensive item when at the time. I have no idea if it was purchased new or second hand but my Great Grandfather was a horse racing correspondent who travelled all over the World so maybe he had contacts !!!