Messrs Lumb and Co Leaving the Works, Huddersfield (1900)

This film is part of the Mitchell and Kenyon collection - an amazing visual record of everyday life in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
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All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit www.bfi.org.uk/...

[@andrewbattyeartist]

Wonderful piece of film, especially to me, the building in the background was where I lived! The lean-to section was the cafe that my Mum owned, the window top left of the building was my bedroom!

[@nickweston5182]

Jesse Lumbs at Folly Hall, bottom of Chapel Hill in Huddersfield.........50-odd years later my dad would have followed the same route (he worked for Lumbs/ATC Dyers for 39 years)

[@theprophet20]

That's a striking feature of fashion then, it seems as if people regarded it as almost indecent to appear in public without having a hat, cap or shawl, a covering of some kind on their heads? There's a short story by James Joyce where this is indicated. A man wants to skive off work from the office and he has left his hat on a rack in view of his supervisor, but Joyce notes that the man has taken care to have a cap in his pocket - it is as if it is unthinkable that he would go out bareheaded.

[@richardhelliwell1210]

87 years later in 1987 I used to walk up that same hill (on the other side of the road) to get to the then Polytechnic or town centre when I was a student. A look at google maps shows all of the buildings have gone now. Only the contour of the hill is unchanged. I wonder how many of the kids in this shot were still alive in 1987? Not many I wonder as life was so hard then. A brief 2 minute look into the past but so fascinating.

[@bobbysamra9588]

God bless Huddersfield 🌹

[@kennethj1956]

Kids are really hamming it up.

[@marts500]

Not one person staring down at a mobile....

[@thehuman-ee2cy]

Yes, that's because they didn't have phones back then. Logic!

[@benc640]

Absolutely fascinating to see how much our country has changed this last century. It is truly an unrecognisable world. Thanks very much for posting this, very interesting. Have you any idea which street this was filmed on?

[@josephshaw5225]

The street's called Chapel Hill.

[@iamxb70]

it is interesting as well to see people playfully pushing others along as they walk. one man raises his fist at a passing kid in a jocular manner. today they would be charged with assault. the world was a more easy going place in some ways then.

[@geoforn]

Interesting commentary. There is actually more work behind the scenes than just installing a camera, even for a simple scene as this one.

[@davecapan4878]

Love watching this stuff. Interesting to me that there seems to always be lots of shoving and hitting. Even look in the backround and you will notice it to. An English thing of the time? No offense.

[@zzzed55]

i wonder how many of those lads went down in the mud of the Somme wearing The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Uniform ?

[@benc640]

An interesting thought.

[@rgwholt]

@jimmyjmv ..if you look closely at the film you will see that everyone (except for one young boy) have their heads covered. The head covering on the women is a shawl, which would rest on their shoulders indoors and be pulled up over the head outside, practical as well as warm. Nothing religious in it at all.

[@charlykittykat]

Where abouts in Hudds was this mill??

[@snooepijeleeuwenkamp9365]

all those young kids working and smoking as they come out of work, not one fat person there or people glued to a phone, they wore their work clothes and had a sunday best for their only day off of the week

[@jimmyjmv]

I wander why English ladies used to cover their heads in such times, as shown in this film.

[@ruthmccabe3527]

It's the North of England, son, it's bloody freezing!!!

[@klarissaclairiton9010]

People's behaviour was more or less the same. They wore different clothes and being gay was not spoken about. I wonder were you had to hide if you did not like the your next bloke.