HISTORIC FINDS AT THE FOUNDRY

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry premises being as old as they are (and some nooks and crannies remaining as untouched for as long as they sometimes do) it's not unusual to turn up old and interesting items during office clean-outs or reorganizations. In the past these have included WWII-era board games and a Victorian vibrator (complete with box and instructions!), but the most recent finds were some Victorian magic lantern slides and several boxes of glass photographs. These appear to run from the late-Victorian period to the mid-1950s but, unfortunately, are mostly neither dated nor labelled. A couple of these, chosen at random, have been scanned as an experiment and are shown below. As and when we figure out how to improve this process, we will put up other selections.

WW1-era uniform, perhaps?

Inscription on bell reads: "The gift of Sophia Augusta Brown In memory of her dear son Harold Brown" It's dated 1903, and a bit of detective work in our records reveals it to be the largest (5'-11" dia. and 57.25cwt) of three bells for Newport, Rhode Island.

News Archive:
Open Day 2000 (with photos)
Masham and the Millennium

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