Glimpse of Wirral family’s idyllic life ... in pictures

Oct 28 2009 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

Glimpse of Wirral family’s idyllic life ... in pictures

“You think of that era as one in which children were seen and not heard but they were obviously doing a lot of things together.”

A photograph of a draughtsman’s office is a fascinating study of the Edwardian workplace, while other images of leisure give real insight into those living on this cusp of modernity.

Beach trips involve huge volumes of kit; a tent, model sailing boat, kites, crockery, flags, a kettle.

A 1908 shot on Wallasey sandhills brings this into sharp relief, as the idealised family mingle in front of the abstract shapes of boxkites, resting behind them against the dunes.

Jack Urton died in 1940, his wife, Biddy in 1958, while the girls, Lois and Mary, remained in their Mill Brow family home until their deaths in 1968 and 1979 respectively.

l An Edwardian Family Album is on show at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight from October 23 to May 3, 2010.

l Wirral Arts – Page 24