Delving into the Edwin Seward collection

One man who was responsible for many of them is Edwin Seward (pictured here).

We have featured many of Edwin's photos, which were used as postcards, over the years and many of them have come to us courtesy of keen Weymouth historians Andy Hutchings and Geoffrey Pritchard.

A lot of the photos and information come from the pair's book Weymouth and Portland, part of the Images of England series.

Edwin opened his own photographic studio in Weymouth in 1907 at 13 Turton Street, renting the first floor of the property owned by the Weymouth Soda Water company.

Concentrating on scenes of historic interest in the town, his early work established him as a photographer of some note.

In 1911 he married Ellen Humphries in St Michael's Parish Church, Bath.

Over the following 30 years Edwin's photographic business continued to flourish and his Melcombe series of postcards racked up huge sales.

He took many photos of warships in Portland Harbour which proved really popular.

He was a keen hunter, regularly following the foxhounds on foot, going hare coursing and badger and otter hunting, and his camera was never far from him.

In April 1929 Edwin and Ellen moved to No. 5 York Buildings on the Esplanade, where they lived until Edwin's death on June 16 1954 after a brief illness.

Perhaps this extraordinary photographer with a real eye for detail can be best summed up by Andy and Geoffrey's words: "Edwin Henry Seward's legacy is a pictorial history of Weymouth and rural Dorset in the first half of the twentieth century, which survives through his postcards and photographs for us all to enjoy."

One view we can particularly enjoy is this one of the old Weymouth Fire Station site, now the site of retirement apartments Harbour Lights.

Geoffrey tells us that this interesting enclave of Jockeys Row and Silver Street ran parallel with High West Street in an area known as 'West Plains.'

He said: "Jockeys Row was said to have been named after a man known as “Jockey” Bartlett."

The area hit the local news in April 1932 when a fire gutted 1 Silver Street in the early hours.

An Echo report says 'fire was prevented from extending to adjoining property by the work of the Weymouth Fire Brigade.

"The majority of members of the family made their escape by jumping from the first floor window.”

When the Fire Brigade arrived the fire had a firm hold on the house so firefighters concentrated their efforts in saving the adjoining properties. Geoffrey said: "They worked for three hours and were assisted by a number of policemen. The brigade had to return to the street later that morning as it was found that the ceiling of the adjoining house was smouldering. The matter was soon dealt with.

"The houses were deemed by the council as unfit for human habitation and were demolished under a slum clearance order in the mid 1930s. "They were by then 300 years old.

"In 1939 the new Weymouth Fire Station was built on the site and was part of the landscape until its demolition in 2012."

A little of the old street scene has been captured with the Harbour Lights development, Geoffrey adds.

Other images from the past for us to enjoy are this 1915 picture of Mr Legge, the head postmaster of Weymouth with his son. You will probably recognise the distinctive St Mary Street building, which is now the Nautico lounge bar.

Some of you might also recognise this lovely image of a very leafy-looking Avenue Road in Weymouth, the White Hart in Dorchester taken in the early 19th century, Weymouth beach and Weymouth Railway Station in 1908.

We'll be taking plenty more Edwin Seward-inspired trips down memory lane in future weeks.

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