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Caption: Bombardment of Lowestoft, April 25th 1916 Harvey Street Salvation Army Barracks

When the Germans shelled Lowestoft of April 25th, 1916, it was devastating to the town. Almost all Lowestoft photographers grabbed their cameras and ran to every damaged house to record the event even as the flames were being put out... all except for Edgar, who saw his own studio on London Road destroyed. All of the other Lowestoft photographers had their own studios just blocks away and you have to wonder what they thought when they set up in front of Edgar's. There but the Grace of God....

After the Bombardment many of the photographs showed up in a variety of media. The London newspapers and magazines had special issues and you'll recognize many of the more dramatic photos. I hope the photographers were paid for their trouble, but you can see from the moires on some pictues and the lack of attribution that the photos didn't come directly from the photographers, but from other screen printed media.

The photographers published their own post cards within days and they were eagerly bought up. Since most people didn't have their own cameras this was a good way to show their relatives and friends far and wide the devastation. I've also seen many cards that were never posted but kept in scrapbooks to remind the owners of what they had lived through and what could have happened if the bomb had landed just a few yards closer.

The cards were sold for many years after 1916. This image was from a "letter card" which was a long sheet of very thin paper with about 5 or 6 views printed on one side and then folded to post card size make a letter.

The other views on this letter card can be seen at K0107, K0108, K0109, K0110.