A collection of pioneering aerial photographs of England in the 1930s is now free to go online.
The photographs were taken by Arthur William Hobart and are available on the website of Historic England.
Hobart was born in London in 1882. Little is known about his early life, but by the 1920s he was working in the new field of aerial photography, compiling a book for Surrey Flying Services called Flying Over Devon.
By the 1930s, he was living in Cornwall. He ran an aerial photography business under various names, including AW Hobart, Air Pictures Limited, ‘For Air Pictures Anywhere’, and Air Views Limited.
He sold his business in 1938, by which time he had a library of around 10,000 photographs. He died in 1940.
The collection Historic England owns is called Air Pictures Portleven, which is written on some of the negatives. This seems to be a misspelling of ‘Porthleven’, a Cornish village.
The collection contains 356 black and white 5 x 4 inch glass plate negatives. 242 of these, consisting of aerial photographs of urban, industrial, rural and coastal landscapes in England, have been added to a new online map on Historic England’s website.
They provide a fascinating snapshot of Britain 90 years ago.
Hobart flew all over Britain and took pictures for postcards as well as municipal authorities and the press.
There are many pictures in the collection of Cornwall, particularly Newquay. There are also pictures of London landmarks, including Tower Bridge, Crystal Palace and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
There are many pictures of industrial sites, including Trent and New Wharf Potteries in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, C Townsend Hook and Co Paper Mill in Snodland, Kent and Bamber Bridge Cotton Mill in Lancashire.
New buildings are photographed as they’re being built, including Battersea Power Station and Southampton Civic Centre.
There are also photographs of historic buildings, including Lancaster Castle, Salisbury Cathedral and Wilton House in Wiltshire.