Ron McCormick’s Whitechapel
December 13, 2020
Ron McCormick photographed Whitechapel & Spitalfields in the early seventies and these pictures were exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1973.
Hessel St
Royal Oak, Whitechapel Rd
Old Montague St
Blooms, Whitechapel High St
Old Montague St
Old Montague St
Princelet St
Black Lion Yard
Fournier St
Brick Lane
Club Row
Brick Lane
Settle St, Whitechapel
Great Eastern Buildings, Quaker St
Woodseer St
Great Eastern Buildings, Quaker St
Sandys Row
Brick Lane Market
Christ Church School
Settle St, Whitechapel
Photographs copyright © Ron McCormick
You may also like to take a look at
Philip Marriage’s Spitalfields
16 Responses
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Utterly fantastic! What a great photographer. Thank you so much, Gentle Author for sharing this fabulous insight into times gone by.
In the image above captioned “Black Lion Yard” – the gentleman shown appears to be a jeweller but in the background there are some military badges. J R Gaunt and Jennens had been in the area making military insignia and “Sweat Heart” badges from precious metal. Do we know the business shown in this photo?
Each and every single one of these photographs is utterly captivating. I could stare at them for hours!
How good to see these wonderful photos of the Spitalfields and Whitechapel that I knew then, showing that it was indeed as desolate, and as characterful, as I remember it. Peter, Ron McCormick is very much still alive and you might be able to contact him if you look him up. He might or might not remember about the business in Black Lion Yard.
Impressive Photographs again!
Love & Peace
ACHIM
So many great photos. Thanks GA.
The third photo from the top — “Old Montague Street” — is so compelling. The lady. Notice her ill-fitting coat, her hair wrapped in a strange scarf, socks drooping and doubtlessly bunched up in her shoes-that-are-not-her-shoes. She seems to be riffling her own pockets, half in confusion, partly in frustration. The bags beside her. Are they simply sacks of stuff, left at the sidewalk? Or are they her meager belongings? Or some goods she is intent on selling or swapping? The sad doorway she has selected. Just look. Scaly, crusty, worn. An ominous hole in the siding — was someone/something trying to get in, or get out? She doesn’t notice. I’m distracted by the dark shape on the sidewalk — surely not an effort to “clean up”. More likely something spilled — adding to the forlorn narrative here. Think how the photographer felt, looking through the lens at her. And now she is here.
Thank you, GA for bringing us such wonders.
At the gate to heaven, there will be a man from Brick Lane wearing a flat cap to let you in, or not.
Great stuff Ron, some wonderful photographs.
Fantastic pictures. And I’ve seen our old family doctor (Mellins) tending to a patient in Great Eastern Buildings.
Life looks so very hard, and I sense that the people are trapped. My heart goes out to them.
These are great pictures. Funny how the market crowd was mainly older people then. In recent years it’s all the young. Maybe because all old tatty but more interesting stuff wasn’t there any more. Thanks
Absolutely brilliant
I find these images so very moving. Every one of them tells a story. Life was hard, and people so stoic.
In the photo of Brick Lane Market, there are more men than women. Wonder why.
These are wonderful images. Thanks for publishing them. I bet drag night at the Bird Cage was interesting …..