This is the third gallery of Brian Latus’ photographs this time of the River Hull in the 1960s after Brian’s story below.
We recently came across these fantastically evocative photographs of the River Hull and Docks taken by Brian Latus in the 1960s. Brian’s son, Martin, tells his story:
“My father was born in Lime Street near North Bridge in Hull in 1931, the middle of three children. During the war the family returned from the public air raid shelter one morning to find their house leaning backwards as a result of a nearby bomb crater (!), following which they were rehoused to Moorhouse Road, off Wymersley Road, where my father’s younger sister Alice – known to all as Peggy – lived for the rest of her life until the early 2000s.
My father left school aged 14 and took a job as an apprentice mechanic at a taxi company in Hull City centre (Taxi Luxi).
In 1951 he was called up for National Service, joining the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) who taught him to drive – he figured if he was a driver he was less likely to get shot at!
Following demob in 1953 he took a job driving a bread van for the Cooperative; his regular round was from the bakery in Hull to shops in the Malton and Pickering areas. Whilst at the Co-op he met and married my mother, Jean, who worked in the office. Brian left the Co-op in 1963 to drive buses for East Yorkshire Motor Services where he remained until retirement.
His main hobbies were trains and model railways, but for many years he was also a keen amateur photographer, even possessing his own dark room equipment for a time. Perhaps inevitably he photographed trains on a regular basis. He also photographed family members, and as seen here, various scenes around Hull and the East Riding, particularly the docks. Hull at this time retained a workaday atmosphere which has largely been lost to redevelopment and gentrification.
My father passed away in April 2020 at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. His photographs and his beloved Miranda camera survive.”
The photographs capture one person’s view of the river and docks at that time, providing a unique perspective whilst documenting many long lost vessels, docks and buildings in a series of stunning images.
Vessels in the Docks Galleries include: City of Newcastle; Elke; Dauntless Star (Lowestoft); H.367 Kirkella; City of Glasgow; Silvio; Catttaro; Rappalo; Benmhor (Leith); Jean Schneider; Giannis; Kenrix; United Towing Welshman; Huda (?); City of Liverpool; Glanton (?); Pegasus (Monrovia); Onitsha (Liverpool); GY.34 Ross Rodney; H.397 Lady Parkes; Cyprian Coast and barges and lighters including Trent and Tees. The River Gallery includes the barges: Sykehouse; Swinefleet; Brayford; Weaver; Martindale and Selby Argo along with lighter no’s. 34, 40 and 57, Queens Gardens and a great shot of the chimney at Sculcoates power station.
Thanks very much to Martin for Brian’s story and photographs.
Rich and Lou Duffy-Howard