Henry Brain

Jim Brown is a Sotonian and former Southampton Police Sergeant and Chief Security & Safety Officer at the Southampton Container Terminal. Since his retirement in 1990 he has enthusiastically researched the town’s history and is the author of many books on its past. He is Vice-President of Bitterne Local History Society, a member of The Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery and the Hampshire Genealogical Society.

Two hitherto undiscovered albums of photographs that survived the wartime 'Blitz' on Southampton have been the basis of this appealing book. Henry Brain was a builder and amateur photographer who took an interest in everything around him. The 246 photographs, taken between c.1890 and 1910, have never before been published. They give fascinating glimpses of people enjoying themselves on the Southampton Common, at fairs, carnivals, sporting activities, and of circus and other processions. There are pictures of the town walls, monuments, churches, public houses, bridges, trams, railways and motor vehicles, and views of Southampton Docks and a wide variety of ships. He also snapped troops landing in Capetown during the Boer War and of areas around Southampton including Cowes on the Isle of Wight and the New Forest. The book is now out of print and only available as an Ebook.