Barlow’s Photos

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Summer 2025

Knowing my long interest in canal history, I have had handed to me a scrapbook of various canal photos and cuttings, assembled by an enthusiast named Edward Beeches. Some of the cuttings are lovely colour images, which, on receiving my Autumn and Winter 2021 issues of NB, I discovered were originally featured in a 1939 issue of Picture Post magazine, thanks to the articles on this subject by Chris M. Jones. However, also in my collection, alongside the Picture Post images, are these two shots of Samuel Barlow boats. Now, I’ve cross-referenced these with the photos in Mr Jones’ articles, and these pics were not reproduced in NB. They’re interesting photos so this makes me pretty convinced they weren’t included in Picture Post magazine either, but some other kind of publication of the time. Besides, unlike the images in the Picture Post series, which are either black and white or colour, these images are a mixture of both – being coloured by hand. I must…