Three more photographs showing the devastation caused by the 1886 fire - including the damage to the homes that surrounded the factory building.







Click to see the previous page of photographs of the fire

Thanks to Val Bird of the Bramcote History Group for providing these photographs.

The originals are contained in an album of family and other photographs from the Smith family of Bramcote Hall, many of which were taken by Ruthven Frederic Smith, the son of Frederick C Smith (the banker) and Harriet, his wife. The family had a home in Eaton Square, Belgravia as well as Bramcote, where they lived with the assistance of 17 or more servants. Ruthven was born at Bramcote in 1864 and, after Eton, he spent part of his time at home in Bramcote, visiting family friends and taking part in sporting contests. It was during that time that he developed an interest in photography; he would have been aged about 22 in 1886 when he took the above photographs. In 1894, he married Laura Olivia Colomb and settled in Windlesham, Surrey where he practised as a stockbroker. He died in 1955. aged 91