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Whitby Harbour, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, c.1905.

he paid each of the young boys in

the photograph a penny to pose

in Whitby harbour.

S

utcliffe was a prolific

writer – not only for the

photographic press but

also for the York shire

Evening Post, for whom he wrote

a column for nearly 30 years.

Contemptuous of ‘labels’, he

didn’t feel bound by any rules or

restricted to use any particular

process or technique. He used

differential focussing and his

photographs were hazy or sharply

focussed depending on the effect

he wished to capture. His long

career spanned the era of wet

collodion glass plates to celluloid

roll film. At the beginning of the

20th century Sutcliffe discovered

the potential of ‘snapshot’

photography, using Kodak cameras

given to him by fellow member of

the Linked Ring, George Davison,

who was the managing director of

Kodak Limited.

In the early 1920s, when he

was nearly 70, Sutcliffe sold

his studio and gave up active

THE NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM

The National Media Museum is home to over 3.5 million items

of historical signifi cance. It looks after the National Photography,

National Cinematography, National Television and National

New Media collections.

National Media Museum, Bradford, West Yorkshire

0844 856 3797 nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

photography. He maintained

his links with the photographic

world, however. In 1931, he

wrote to John Dudley Johnston,

the curator of the Royal

Photographic Society Collection,

offering him some of his

photographs on a sale or return

basis, having borrowed them

from a local tobacconist who

Retired from the Sea, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, 1890. Portrait of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, 1928.

sold them to tourists. If Johnston

wanted to keep any for the

permanent collection: ‘perhaps

you will kindly send 7/6 each ...

which is what the tobacconist

charges for them.’ Sutcliffe also

enclosed a portrait of himself,

taken by his daughter, Irene.

Sutcliffe died in 1941, aged

87. During his long and prolific
    career he had photographed
    with imagination, confidence
    and sensitivity. He created an
    enduring record of Whitby
    and the surrounding areas in
    photographs that are still bought
    by tourists today. His lifetime’s
    work is an eloquent and touching
    portrait of not just a location but
    also a vibrant community.

This month we say goodbye

to Colin Harding after many

years as a loyal contributor to

Black+White Photography. We

know that our readers have

enjoyed his columns as much as

we have. A huge and heartfelt

thank you Colin for all your

hard work and for sharing your

amazing photographic knowledge.

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