Wm. Whitlamsmith & Son and Guy & Smith, Victoria Street West, Grimsby, c.1910

Colourised detail from an original photograph by William Harold Topham, showing the adjoining shops of Wm. Whitlamsmith & Son, furnishing ironmongers, gasfitters, hardware merchants and factors, and Guy & Smith, drapers and silk mercers, carpet warehousemen &c., in Victoria Street West, Grimsby.

The Whitlamsmith & Son window prominently advertises Welsbach Incandescents, an incandescent gas mantle used to produce a much brighter light than an ordinary gas flame. The Guy & Smith window is filled with an extensive display of clothing and other drapery goods.

The photograph also captures the ornate shopfronts, upper-storey architecture and street furniture of the period, including the “CARS STOP HERE IF REQUIRED” sign. Several children and shoppers can be seen outside the shops.

Photographer: William Harold Topham, 19 Tasburgh Street, Grimsby. Colourised from the original c.1910 photograph. From the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum Collection.