{"id":962750,"date":"2026-05-16T01:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/962750\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T01:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:23:30","slug":"kensington-grandads-candid-photos-captured-realities-of-liverpool-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/962750\/","title":{"rendered":"Kensington grandad’s candid photos captured realities of Liverpool life"},"content":{"rendered":"

A grandad who built a makeshift darkroom inside the wardrobe of his Kensington home unknowingly created a remarkable photographic archive of post-war working-class life in Liverpool. When Robert Howells, known as Bob, died in 1999 he left two old cameras and a tin filled with film and glass plate negatives to his grandson, Steven Howells.<\/p>\n

These remained untouched until 2024 when Steven began developing the images, uncovering vivid scenes of everyday Liverpool life from the 1940s and 50s.<\/p>\n

Now those photographs form the centrepiece of the Reflections of Liverpool exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool, where visitors can see family holidays, trips to Goodison Park, factory workers in Bootle<\/a> and personal moments from inside working-class life in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Steven, 54, who grew up in Ormskirk<\/a> and now lives in Leeds, told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201cI got left the negatives when he died, because I did art photography at university, so the family knew I\u2019d be interested in them, and I just had them lying around for years untouched.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround two years ago, I started putting them all into a book to give to my family. When I was putting them together, I thought maybe someone else might be interested in them, so I emailed the museum to see if they wanted to look at them. They said they\u2019d be really interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

Bob with David, Steven and Phillip in 1974<\/p>\n

The photographs span the late 1940s and early 1950s, capturing a city still recovering from war. Bob grew up on Burnard Street in Anfield<\/a> with his brother William (Bill) and sisters Frances (Bubs), Margaret (Peggy), Charlotte (Lottie), and Ada, who died in infancy.<\/p>\n

He later lived on Sinclair Street in Kensington with his wife Gertrude, where they raised their three children, Fran, Bob, and Dave. But the keen amateur photographer used his camera to document everything from street scenes and family life to his working days at Campbell and Isherwood foundry in Bootle.<\/p>\n

Steven said: \u201cI think the photographs show a tough sort of time. Post-war Liverpool, when people were rebuilding. They were still on ration cards when some of the photographs were taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are shots from Butlin\u2019s holidays, and when they went away, they had to take their ration cards with them. It was a time when people were getting back to holidays and trips again, but it was still a tough place to grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers at Campbell and Isherwood foundry in Bootle<\/p>\n

Among the most striking images are photographs taken inside the foundry where Bob, who was 89 when he died, worked and was heavily involved in trade union activity.<\/p>\n

Steven said: \u201cA lot of these guys may have fought in the war, then were just thrust into a really tough life. You could tell it was hard labour and there is my grandad snaping away. It really gives you a look into that way of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandad fought for workers\u2019 rights and became actively involved in the trade union movement. He served as a Health and Safety Officer, later becoming President of the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers, Liverpool Branch.<\/p>\n

“The photographs from the factory are so clear and vivid of his friends working away.”<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

Bob documented everything from street scenes and family life to his working days at Campbell and Isherwood foundry in Bootle<\/p>\n

He described his granddad as \u201ckind, quiet, funny and really creative”, adding that his dad, aunties and uncles remembered him \u201cknocking about with his camera\u201d and going into his makeshift darkroom.<\/p>\n

Bob began experimenting with different cameras, gelatin dry plates, and medium-format 120 film. But despite producing what Steven described as “technically impressive images”, Bob\u2019s photography remained largely private during his lifetime. Steven said Bob\u2019s love of photography wasn\u2019t widely known, and few in the family realised the scale of the archive he had carefully packed away.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMy dad, uncles and aunties remembered him clearing out the wardrobe and going inside, shutting the door behind him and getting all these chemicals out and developing photographs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the ones he printed aren\u2019t the best, but the actual negatives are really good quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

Bob Howells took photographs between 1940s and 50s<\/p>\n

Football also features heavily throughout the collection, with several images showing Bob\u2019s beloved Everton, including trips to Goodison Park and photographs of the old Park End stand.<\/p>\n

Steven said: \u201cIt\u2019s quite funny really because all his children and eight grandchildren ended up supporting Liverpool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always chatted about football together. He loved the School of Science and Dixie Dean was his favourite player. He was quite a relaxed fan, but he knew his stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the most emotional images for Steven are those taken inside the family home and around the streets where his grandfather grew up.<\/p>\n

\"Taken<\/p>\n

Taken by Bob from the upper deck of the old Park End stand where he sat on his regular visits to Goodison Park to see Everton play<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThere are photographs from the street they lived on in Kensington, Sinclair Street, which was demolished in the 60s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lighting and composition are really good. They\u2019re genuinely beautiful photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven said seeing the exhibition displayed publicly for the first time had been overwhelming for the family.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIt blew my mind the first time I saw it. We think he\u2019d love it. I think he\u2019d be a bit surprised they\u2019re up in the museum.<\/p>\n

\"Fran,<\/p>\n

Fran, Dave and Bob<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s strange to think that my grandad\u2019s photographs will be seen by thousands of people from all over the world. I wonder what he would have made of it all.<\/p>\n

“Next weekend we\u2019re having a family get-together, and all the children in the photographs are going to see it together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does get forgotten, working-class history and everyday life back then. I hope people connect to it, enjoy it and learn something about what life was like back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reflections of Liverpool exhibition is on display at the Museum of Liverpool until September. You can find out more information here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A grandad who built a makeshift darkroom inside the wardrobe of his Kensington home unknowingly created a remarkable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,34033,8838,11653,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-962750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-museum-of-liverpool","13":"tag-nostalgia","14":"tag-premium","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116581644812158945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}