Photo album captures lifeof rich from a century ago

AN old photo album is giving a rare glimpse into the home lives of a wealthy Yorkshire family a century ago.

The Robsons were owners of a large malting business and one of the richest families in Pontefract at the end of the 1800s.

Taken between 1890 and 1905, the photos are believed to have been shot by Susannah Robson, who spent time taking pictures of life at the family home, Northumberland House on Salter Row, Pontefract.

One of the photos is a self-portrait showing Susannah sitting in front of a mirror in a bedroom, a shot which led museums staff to conclude that she was responsible for putting together the album.

Whereas many photos from the era are studio portraits, these are less formal and show inside the family home.

The 40-photo album, acquired by Wakefield Council last year, has formed the basis of a new exhibition, The Robsons at Home, which has opened at Pontefract Museum.

Maya Harrison, cultural development officer with the council, said: “The pictures are beautiful and recall a world which has all but disappeared.

“Photography was not something that everybody did, it was expensive. Obviously she was really taken by it; some of the pictures are wonderful and artistically composed.”

The photographs show a house filled with sumptuous furniture and expensive ornaments, and a garden which stretched all the way back to the other side of where Morrison’s car park is today. There were trellis walks, tennis lawns, sweeping lawns and ornamental fountains.

The Robsons used some of their money to help local people, building two almshouses for those who were too old or too ill to work. They also funded an operating theatre at Pontefract Hospital.

The Robsons at Home is at Pontefract Museum until May 8.