Tuesday 31 October 2017

The Police Station with the hole in it at Ramsgate Harbour

Clicking on this picture to expand it doesn’t help as much as I would like, I think the printing technique of the original owed much to the potato, but as you see it’s a bit of an unusual one. It says Harbour Police Station on the back.



This is part of the group of buildings that used to be on Pier Yard car park, this is a better quality photo.   

Here is a bit of the map, easier to come into the bookshop and look at the paper map

This one is too late as the buildings have changed
After 1914 because of the postmark
This is postmarked 1905 and very conclusive

This one shows something of a gap in the area of The Queen's Head 


For anyone not following this, have alook at yesterday’s post http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/looking-out-of-upstairs-window-of.html    

I have the bit between my teeth as they say.

Monday 30 October 2017

Looking out of the upstairs window of Albion house around 1905

If you click on this one and expand it you will see it dates from before the current Queens Head was built which was apparently built in 1908. It must be after 1901 because that was when we first got the trams,
It looks like this today

I have put arrows on this detail crop. Green fish market. Blue ice house. Red perhaps Queen's Head or more likely Shipwrights, these both had previous buildings and I think the rebuild may have meant everything moved along a bit. 

The red arrow on this crop from the contemporary photo is pointing at the lion on top of The Queen's Head. 

 This is the front of the old Queen's Head
This is supposed to be in the 1890s

This the 1905 tram accident, not the arches under the road, if you talk to someone in their 90s you will probably find the climbed over the top and played in these

Looking on the back of the postcard right at the top of this post you will see the postmark is 1913, and by 1913 the view had changed really quite a lot, the New Queens Head had been built for a start and I would think the detail looked much more like it does now. I guess the moral here is don't trust the date of the postmark on postcards as this one was obviously old stock hopefully bought at a sale price.


This is the link to the books we put out in the bookshop on Saturday 

Saturday 28 October 2017

Looking down on old Ramsgate

While this picture should expand when you click on it, I am endeavouring to force the rest a bit size wise, so they probably won’t.
 These are parts of the bigger picture at the top
 one thing about old photos is that some of them are contact prints.
To those of you who have never played about in the darkroom, this means that the negative film from the camera was the same size as the photo and instead of using an enlarger the film was just put on top of the photographic paper and exposed to light.

  This is from a different picture, but this means you can blow up little bits of the picture like an early crime investigator. 

With the pre digital photography you don’t have pixels to contend with but stuff called emulsion, which is a bit like little light sensitive particles in jelly, so when you enlarge pictures you get fuzzy edges.    

Friday 27 October 2017

Teenage crime in Thanet and what constitutes a criminal joyride

I think it is at around the age of fourteen that some of us first started thinking about making money, some of by working others by resorting to crime and some to solutions worse than crime.

My grandfather lied about his age and joined up and landed at Gallipoli, I had problems of my own being disabled, but somehow managed to find ways to make money.


The pictures in this post all feature charabancs which is one of the things our teenage criminal spent the proceeds of crime on.

Another article from from the 1916 East Kent Times

"A Ramsgate shop boy aged 14, who admitted the theft of £2 from his employer, told the local Justices on Friday morning that he spent the money on the purchase of a telescope, for which he paid a guinea, char-a-banc rides into the country, a visit to a tea shop and the purchase of a cigarette holder. 

The lad, Ernest WOOD, of Salisbury Avenue, was employed at Messrs Curry's, cycle dealers, and the offence was committed between July 22nd and 31st. Bertram DAWKINS, manager at the cycle stores, 29 Queen Street, said he resided on the premises, and that the lad had been in his employment for some months. 

Witness placed a sum amounting to over £9 in a cash box in a cabinet in the wall in his private apartments upstairs at the store on July 22nd. Money from the till was put into the cash box each day, which was locked in the cabinet at night and left open during the daytime. On July 31st he noticed that the window catch of the room in which the box was kept was broken and he examined the box and discovered a shortage of £2 in the contents. 

He informed the police and during the afternoon, defendant and his mother called on him and commenced to talk about the money in a disconnected manner. The latter said to the lad in witness' presence, "Why don't you tell the truth?" and after some persuasion the lad accompanied him upstairs, where he told him that he went into the room on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and took a 10s treasury note out of the cash box and on Friday or Saturday he "crept up" and took a second while the witness was busy in the shop. 

He interposed the remark that his mother should not be told and added on Saturday he took a £1 note. While giving evidence P C STANNER produced a brass bound telescope, which he said he discovered the lad had purchased for £1 1s. at a shop ion Addington Street. 

When he interrogated him the lad assured him that he got the money from his patent money box, which when containing forty sixpences, opened automatically. He said he changed the coins, partially at a bank and at a coffee tavern, but as banks closed at the time indicated by the lad, witness accompanied him to the tavern in question. There he learned that the lad had a tea which he had paid for with a £1 note. 

Outside the shop he asked witness not to lock him up or tell his mother if he told the truth, and he then admitted the theft. 

To the Justices the lad said he had spent the remainder of the money on char-a-banc rides and in the purchase of a cigar holder, but confessed to the Clerk that he did not smoke cigars. 

The Chief Constable said the boy had not been before the Court before and bore a good character from previous employers. His father was in Salonika with HM Forces. 

The lads mother, down whose cheeks tears flowed during the time she was in Court, told the Bench that her son would take no notice of her. After he had taken the money he wanted to get into the Army. 

She felt that she would like someone to look after him in order to protect him for his future life until her husband came home, but after the Mayor had given the lad a good talking to and secured from him a promise for his future good behaviour, the mother consented to him being bound over when she was informed that the Police Court Missionary would look after him. 

That course was adopted in the sureties of the mother and the boy each of £5 for twelve months. 

This is the only one that says anything on the back: "Driver C Crow nigger mistral A Kirby 1920" which says something about the past that just doesn't decode now. 

It makes me wonder if any of the things that I write will one day be seen as completely unacceptable. 

Back to today, work in the bookshop secondhand bookshops to get eclectic acquisitions and here is the link to the pictures of ours today http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/philip-pullman-in-bookshop.html

I did skive off for a walk during the afternoon and apart from the exhibition in York Street Gallery which is the subject of the previous post I did snap some out and about pictures, here is the link http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/1017l/id5.htm 

John Hughes at York Street Gallery in Ramsgate

The current exhibition is by  John Hughes 25th Oct - 1st Nov 





Thursday 26 October 2017

Some thoughts on child neglect and drunkenness in Ramsgate, a bit of a ramble, a few old photos

My day off today, which often means in practice that instead of selling people books in the bookshop, I go out buying them, so today I went to Deal and bought some books.

I was going to go out for a walk in Ramsgate this evening but it is drizzling and not very inviting outside, so I have just sat down at my desk and shuffled through some old local pictures, trying to find some for today’s blog post.



The first one was this one of Ramsgate Marina Lift, this is the lift that we used to use to go down in for a swim.

I think it’s pretty obvious that the lift was built in 1908 and as the swimming pool didn’t open until 1935, the lift obviously wasn’t built so we could get to the pool.

I think the lift closed in the late 60s and the swimming pool in 1975, realistically victims of changing times here in Ramsgate that were brought on by entirely different holiday expectations.   

Here in the bookshop we sell Terry Wheeler’s excellent book about the Ramsgate Lifts, but I’m not in the bookshop at the moment and while I remember that there is was something about the opening of one of the Ramsgate lifts and an argument at the council about how some aspect of the lift had all gone wrong I just can’t remember the details or even which lift it related to.

I went on line to try and find out but found a very different article from the 1916 East Kent Times. Having published Cockburn’sDiary, which is an account of daily life in Ramsgate, this is is a period that particularly interests me.  

"A sordid story of a woman's neglect of her children was revealed at the Ramsgate Police Court on Thursday morning, when Annie Elizabeth FAIRES, the wife of a quarter-master sergeant serving at the Front was sent to prison for three months with hard labour. 

The defendant, aged 29, whose address was given as 22 Broad Street, was charged with having neglected her six children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering and injury to their health on August 9th. 

The ages of the children are May Lily Emily, 11 years; Irene Alice, 10 years; Dorothy Elsie, 9 years; Annie Ivy, 8 years; Mary Louisa, 5 years; and George, 3 years. 

Mr J H ROBINSON, solicitor who appeared to prosecute on behalf of the N.S.P.C.C., briefly outlined the career of the defendant prior to calling Inspector G L SUMMERFIELD, of the N.S.P.C.C. 

The Inspector told the Bench that he had had the defendant under observation for a considerable period. She formerly lived in Alexandra Road. 

The children were well nourished, but were ion a verminous condition and the house was poorly furnished and dirty, particularly the bedrooms and the beds in which the children slept. At that time the husband, who was a quarter-master sergeant, was on the Western Front, and the defendant received £2 4s. 8d. per week as a War Office allowance. 

She began to drink very heavily leaving the children alone. She remained out until late hours at night and frequently had sailors and soldiers in the house. 

A single women of bad character who also took men in the house stayed with her. In a closet in the room where they slept were sixteen empty beer bottles and several whisky and port wine bottles. There were other beer bottles in the cellar, in all something like thirty. 

He severely cautioned the defendant pointing out to her that if she continued her conduct she would render herself liable to lose her War Office allowance and her children would be taken from her. 

He had paid many subsequent visits to her home, and on October 30th was accompanied by Detective - Sergeant DUFF, of the Ramsgate Police, who had warned her in consequence of the visits of the sailors to her house. Detective - Sergeant DUFF, served her with a notice from the Naval Authorities placing her house "out of bounds". 

On November 22nd Detective - Sergeant DUFF, and himself again visited her and found the children alone. Later in the evening they found the defendant in company with another bad character drinking at a public house. On the following day when the witness saw the defendant, she informed him she had drawn no war Office allowance for two weeks. Two days later she told him she had received some five franc notes from her husband. 

On December 28th, the inspector saw the two parents together, when the husband who was home on leave, appealed to him to give the woman another chance. The defendant promised to turn over a new leaf and her husband expressed the hope that she would get away from the other woman so that the children should not go without food. 

He added that if she "went all right" for three months he would try and get the War Office allowance restored. On January 8th this year the inspector found she was drawing 16s 6d. per week from the War Office allowance for the children alone. During the same month the husband informed him he had sent the defendant 21s. and on January 19th he learned that the woman was receiving £1 18s. 6d. per week as an allowance from the War Office. 

On paying several visits to her house subsequent to that date he found improvements, but on April 20th he had to warn her in regard to visits to public houses. Six days later Detective - Sergeant DUFF, accompanied him to the house when the former spoke to her in regard to night visits to certain steam vessels when she had left her children alone for a lengthy period. On May 20th witness found the children's heads were in a very bad condition on account of knits, and on a visit nine days afterwards at four o'clock in the afternoon he failed to get an answer to his knocks on the door. He heard a child in the front bedroom and saw one of the children lean out of the open window. 

Failing to get a reply on going to the back entrance, he went into the house, and on proceeding upstairs found the defendant fully dressed lying on the bed in a drunken condition. On a chair alongside were a quart jug and a bottle which had contained beer. 

A child on the bed required attention and he attended to it until the arrival of the elder children from school. In June the defendant removed to a house in Hillbrow Road, and witness saw her and another woman in the streets late at night, the children being left alone in her absence. 

On the 7th of the month Detective - Sergeant DUFF, served another notice on her from the Naval Authorities. She later appealed to witness to give her another chance, saying that if her husband became aware of her conduct he would not forgive her. 

When she removed to Broad Street in July she had another woman living with her, and during that month Detective - Sergeant DUFF, and himself found the pair drinking at a public house. On going to the house he found the children's heads in a dirty condition and becoming thick with knits. The defendant herself appeared to be suffering from scabies and after examination by a doctor the removal of the children to the workhouse was advised. 

The defendant expostulated against that being done, saying that no one would take her children away from her, adding that if they did she would "take her dying oath that she would do them in and herself too". The children were removed to the infirmary. 

Evidence was given by Dr DUNWOODY that when he was called to the home of the defendant he examined the children and found them fairly well nourished but their heads were in a verminous condition. The woman herself was suffering from scabies in a very morbid degree, and it was only a question of time for the children to catch the disease. 

He was of the opinion that the children ought to be taken away from the woman. The children in his opinion were very nice youngsters and if brought up in a different way might tread a good path in life. Detective - Sergeant DUFF, said that he first came into contact with the case in October last, when the woman was brought to his notice by the Naval Authorities on account of a certain matter. He added that the defendant appeared to be one of the most troublesome and worst characters in the town. 

Chief Constable S F BUTLER told the Bench that the defendant had been convicted by the Court in April this year. In passing sentence of three months' hard labour, the Chairman (Mr H H GREEN) remarked that the evidence had disclosed a very shocking and revolting condition of things in regard to the children. 

The woman had a good husband and an excellent allowance in his absence, so that there was no excuse whatever for her disgraceful conduct. Inspector SUMMERFIELD told the Bench that the children would remain in the workhouse for the time being. He added that he was in communication with the husband to ascertain the location of relatives to whom the children would probably be sent. 

The Chairman expressed the opinion on behalf of the Bench that the case was a very proper one to be brought before them, adding that it was their opinion that the woman was not fit to have control of the children. The prisoner left the Court in tears."

The next picture is of Ramsgate Marina Swimming Pool and must have been taken around the time it opened in 1935 as the temporary dam and railway track laid for the construction is still there.
I think the photo was a contact print so it expands very well and I have cropped a bit out of it and marked the temporary dam to keep the sea from the construction with an arrow.

This dam would have been made from rolled steel that joins together and is put in with a pile driver, it is often used in roadworks to support the sides of deep holes.

 In this next picture, going from left to right you can see The Pav, then through the railway station that later became the main Pleasurama building and the on the right 1 Granville Marina.I would guess the date as being around the beginning of WW1 

Wednesday 25 October 2017

100 Ramsgate Harbour photos taken in the dark

These ones in the blog post are Ramsgate festival of light (click on them to expand them) and this link should take you to the photos I took on my evening walk just now http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/1017l/id4.htm


In my own defence I should point out that snapshots taken in the dark with a 7 year old digital camera while walking will not be up to much.










Tuesday 24 October 2017

Picture of Boots the Chemist in Harbour Street Ramsgate and a few others

Click on the picture to expand it and then click on it to expand it again. I think I remember this building as Timothy Whites, I have finished work in the bookshop for the day and am writing this at home, which is a nuisance when it comes to dating phots. If I were writing this in the bookshop I would just look it up in the directories, I did try using the internet to find out but have tired of websites trying to sell me cosmetics I don’t use. Does anyone know when Boots was in Harbour Street.   
I think this one is abut the same time but looking the other way.
The first two pictures are freshly scanned so here is the link to where you can download the high definition versions https://photos.app.goo.gl/UiipDUHhq8X1hVYt1

In the bookshop I am noticing a stronger demand for what I think of as dated modern fiction, this is the type of book that falls somewhere between the pulp fiction and the potential literary classic. A fair amount of these went out on the shelves today, here is the link to the pictures of them http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/wilt-in-bookshop.html

 

Monday 23 October 2017

Old Ramsgate Photos a bigger Turner Contemporary a bit about Manston


I don’t really know what will happen when you click on the pictures I am pretty sure they will get bigger, this was the lazy man’s approach is to put three postcards in the scanner at a time.

Ok I can see this is a bit mean on my readers as even Blogger which I pretty good with image sizes will probably downsize these a lot, so here is the link that you can download the size that came out of the scanner from https://photos.app.goo.gl/TlxGH5Mn46n5ATlx2

So, Turner Contemporary and a question about Tracey Emin’s bed Charles Saatchi paid for £150,000 this bed, “My Bed” and I wondered if any readers though this was a bad move?

Anyway it seems that Turner Contemporary expansion could be on the cards, see https://theisleofthanetnews.com/turner-contemporary-earmarked-for-6-million-expansion-project/ and do readers think that this would be £6m well spent?

I was in Margate on Saturday enjoying the new Exhibition and sketching in the gallery café, listening to the background conversation about My Bed, Jean Arp and JWM Turner.

I then went shopping in Margate where I know some of the people who have shops there and so sop talk ensued, it’s inevitable among shop workers like me.


For anyone who missed this I posted about it with links to the photos I took of the exhibition, here is the link to that post http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/photographs-of-tracey-emins-bed-and-arp.html perhaps 100 photos I haven’t counted.

Back to Turner getting into bed with Emin later in the post.

An interesting bit of FOIing re Manston on What Do They Know, here is the link https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/potential_cpo_partners#outgoing-672450

Manston keeps popping up on Facbook, but what does it all mean? Is the answer, follow the money?

Oh yes Charles Saatchi and the £150,000, well he did sell it at a profit for a little over £2.5m, so perhaps not a bad move.

The shop workers I spoke to are very pleased that the bed is drawing the people to Margate and that the people are spending their money in Margate.

As I expected the bookshop was busy today, I had to fill out two online forms inbetween customers, some of whom were fairly short due to half term.


Plenty of local history in the books that went out, here is the link to the pictures of today’s books http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/sophies-world-in-bookshop.html