Now if you wanted proof that St Ann’s Square has always been a busy and fussy place, the evidence is here in this picture postcard.
I don’t have a date, but I am guessing we are sometime in the early 20th century, and a bit of detective work using the names of the shops and street directories will get close to when the picture was taken.
Everyone will pick up on some different bit of the picture, from the line of taxis and the cabby’s hut, to the throng of people parading through the square and that female cyclist.
And then there is another story around the company who published the picture postcard.
I had causally thought that Rotary Photo, EC were a Manchester firm, but not so.
According to that excellent site, Graces Guide to British Industrial History, they were a London business with offices at 23 Moorfields London, with works at West Drayton.
They were established in 1901, as The Rotary Photographic Co and “was a huge publisher of real photo postcards.
One of their unique novelty postcards was a 1¾ inch x 5½ inch (4.4cm x 13.9cm) photo series of bookmark cards. Most seem to have been posted in the 1903-04 period".
Later in the century they amalgamated with other photographic companies and were still in business in 1947.
Location; St Ann’s Square
Picture; St Ann’s Square, date unknown, courtesy of Steve
*Graces Guide to British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Rotary_Photographic_Co
Everyone will pick up on some different bit of the picture, from the line of taxis and the cabby’s hut, to the throng of people parading through the square and that female cyclist.
And then there is another story around the company who published the picture postcard.
According to that excellent site, Graces Guide to British Industrial History, they were a London business with offices at 23 Moorfields London, with works at West Drayton.
They were established in 1901, as The Rotary Photographic Co and “was a huge publisher of real photo postcards.
One of their unique novelty postcards was a 1¾ inch x 5½ inch (4.4cm x 13.9cm) photo series of bookmark cards. Most seem to have been posted in the 1903-04 period".
Later in the century they amalgamated with other photographic companies and were still in business in 1947.
Location; St Ann’s Square
Picture; St Ann’s Square, date unknown, courtesy of Steve
*Graces Guide to British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Rotary_Photographic_Co
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