One spring morning in 1912, Mr C. A. Matthews of Brightlingsea, who had taken up photography the year before, emerged from Liverpool Street railway station with camera and tripod. He took a series of haunting photographs in the streets and alleys of Spitalfields - children playing, people shopping, and in pubs, tailors and other craftsmen at work. He then returned to his studio in Brightlingsea and vanished from history. All that is known is that he died four years later, and that prints of his photographs (on mounts bearing his name and address) were found a few years ago in the Bishopsgate Institute. They have been there for at least 60 years and were in a poor condition. Recently restored, they have been exhibited at the Eleven Spitalfields gallery, 11 Princelet Street, London, E1 6QH.
The gallery would like to know more about Mr Matthews. Can anyone with local knowledge help?
Taken from the Newsletter of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History, Winter 2015.
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