Soldiers & Suffragettes: the photography of Christina Broom

Delightful exhibition at the Museum of Docklands of photographs by Christina Broom who has been described as the first female press photographer.

Christina set up as a photographer when her husband was badly injured in a cricket accident. They had run a stationary shop and realised that postcards sold well so she set out to produce her own.

The show was split into sections on different themes of her work. The first I looked at was on suffragettes. She had worked at many of the big rallies taking pictures in the crowd and doing portrait shots. This built into a wonderful insight into the types of women involved and was a lovely reminder of some of the more peaceful aspects of the campaign such a cake stalls!

The next section looked at his work with the army and in particular of life on the home front for soldiers during the First World War. Again there were lots of portraits and you couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to all the men shown. She never had a studio so all the portraits are taken out of doors in barracks.

The final room was on London and Royalty. Christina had sold postcards at the gates of the Royal Mews for years and there were not only pictures of the royal family but also pictures from within the Mews of the men who worked there. She was one of two photographers allowed to take pictures of Edward VII lying in state before the crowds were let in.

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