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AssetID: 31184669

Headline: Francis Frith Mother's Day

Caption: PICTURE SHOWS: .............. **THE COPYRIGHT WATERMARK MUST STAY ON THE IMAGE ONLINE** To celebrate Mother's Day, this charming gallery of images takes a historical look at mothers over the last 127 years. They show quality time together in parks, days at the beach or just running errands at the post office or on the High Street. The treasure trove of memories are the result of a painstaking recent digitisation project by The Francis Frith Collection archive, which has seen all 300,000 images in their archive catalogued and scanned. The historical images captured offer a fascinating snapshot of how we used to live. In 1860. the famous pioneering photographer Francis Frith set out to create a photographic record of Britain - every city, town and village, plus many of its better known landscapes. Highlights include: A beautiful image from 1890 shows a mother and children fetching the water, set against the stunning landscape of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. A 1907 photograph shows a mother and children visiting the old-fashioned sailing ships at Ramsgate harbour, while a picturesque 1910 scene shows a mother and child in a mill ferry boat on the River Avon. Changing styles range from the full dresses and hats of the Victorian age to the relaxed clothing of a 1960s East Wittering beach. Julie Skinner, Francis Frith Photo Library Manager, also points out the trend for huge preambulators in the early years. She explains: "Massive coach-built prams were engineering marvels of their age, and the pride and joy of every young mother in the 19th century and even in the first half of the 20th century. In these images we see a selection of various designs of prams and their regal occupants; in the streets, parks and on the beach, sometimes pushed by an elder sister. However, as time went by these heavy, cumbersome prams went out of fashion, to be replaced by lighter versions in the 1960s. Now even these have been superseded by the lighter and more practical 'buggies' or strollers that young mums prefer nowadays."

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