3 minute read
The Keep
Lindsey Tydeman from The Keep in Falmer has been looking back at the career of Edwin Lulham and his documentation of travellers’ lives which offers a fascinating glimpse of bygone days
Lore Society. In his time away from Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he worked as ‘dresser’ for the Senior Surgeon Dr Blaker, he travelled the south east, taking hundreds of photographs. Many of these he made into glass lantern slides and used them to accompany talks on rural life and customs.
Although many of the pictures are posed to show the more attractive side of the travellers’ lives, they are, nonetheless, an authentic resource. Families are shown gathered around the cooking pot, on blankets outside makeshift shelters, making music with accordions around the camp fire, cuddling puppies and watching a boxing match. In the collection are at least two images showing Dr Lulham himself, stylishly dressed in a three-piece suit and trilby hat. In the first, he is examining a baby (R/L/39/2/1); in the second, he is bandaging the arm of a traveller woman (R/L/39/2/2).
Lulham was a man who responded passionately to natural beauty. He wrote poetry inspired by the Sussex countryside, including
The Doctor & the Travellers
Pipe in hand and half-smiling, a female traveller pauses to look at the camera. She wears an apron of sacking and her skin and tanned face tell us that she has spent much of her life outside. The rolled-up sleeves suggest that she has only sat down at the insistence of the photographer.
Archivists at The Keep think this superb colour photograph (ref R/L/39/1/11) was taken during the 1920s, possibly by a doctor called Edwin Lulham. Born in 1865, he was fascinated by travellers and their distinct culture and became an honorary member of the Gypsy
Songs from the Downs and Dunes (1908). Like many people before and since, he feared that local traditions were dying away and helped to ensure they were celebrated and recorded. Lulham also collected the work of at least two other photographers, Francis Hinkins and Joseph Gale, who were taking pictures of travellers at around the same time. He kept all the negatives and plates in wooden boxes. Somehow – and we don’t really know how – they ended up being used in East Sussex’s Schools Library and Museum Service for several years before coming to The Keep in 2016.
In July 1940, Lulham, in increasing discomfort from prostate disease and unwilling to undergo an operation, decided to take an overdose of morphine. He was found in bed by his housekeeper at his home, The Haven, in Hurstpierpoint, with an envelope addressed in pencil to ‘The Coroner.’ The letter explained the motives behind his decision and how hard it was to die, ‘at this most lovely time of the year’ – ‘The birds are singing their matins – bless them! – and I hope I may go with a prayer to them and my maker.’ l For more information visit www.thekeep/info
Care you can depend on
Now Recruiting Friendly, reliable, professional home care
that’s designed around YOU
• Personal care • Domestic help • Respite care
We offer Home Care• Companionship , not Care Home We offer Home Care, not Care Home in Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and surrounding areas in Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and surrounding areas All our services are supervised by our We offer Home Care, not Care Home in Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and surrounding areas We offer Home Care, not Care Home in Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and surrounding areas Call Everycare to arrange a free, no obligation, consultation. All our services are supervised by our experienced team, call now to discuss your needs 01444 244770 experienced team, call now to discuss your needs 01444 244770 All our services are supervised by our experienced team, call now to discuss your needs 01444 244770 All our services are supervised by our experienced team, call now to discuss your needs
