A snap of history – lost and found.

Photographs can be a fascinating or interesting capture of a moment in time and the older they are the more awe-inspiring or magical they can be. Add in a local aspect to an important period of time and you can have an amazing collection of images to be preserved for all time.

Imagine then the dawning excitement of finding boxes of glass plate images on a rubbish dump and then discovering the find is a unique lost collection dating from between 1930 and 1960 - and all the images are of Kent. This collection of over 4,000 pictures was originally part of the county publisher Kent Messenger Group’s press archives and was discarded, only to be discovered by Geologist Alistair Bruce.

Several years ago Alistair decided he wanted to sell the collection and approached Rex Cadman, organiser of the old The War and Peace Show, who is well-known for his interest in local history. Rex understandably jumped at the chance of owning this wonderful piece of Kentish history. He then approached Roger Smoothy for help in restoring the glass plates – Roger is responsible for digitising the glass negatives held by The Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre Strood and who also works on the Maidstone Museum. Over a considerable period of time Roger has incredibly managed to produce viewable images from 99% of the negatives and the resulting collection has revealed some fascinating photographs.

The images are incredible: a Canadian Artillery anti-tank unit moving through a Kent village, land girls at work throughout the county, ATS and WAAF girls on parade and being inspected by the Duke of Kent, tanks thundering through the Kent countryside, gun batteries, barrage balloons and tea in underground shelters. Other images show PLUTO (pipeline under the ocean) and a conundrum with the text reading: “A Conundrum aground at Greatstone c1945. Following successful trials with a large prototype in early 1944 five conundrums were commissioned to a modified design. The new drums of 30 feet diameter were fabricated in Scunthorpe, erected in Tilbury Docks and launched into the Thames. Each weighed in at 250 tons and had a combined capacity to carry up to 60 nautical miles of HAMEL pipes.” Many of the images show VIPS visiting Kent – including Field Marshall Montgomery during the Freedom Ceremony at Dover in early 1946, Winston Churchill visiting Maidstone, Deal and Dover throughout the war and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at The Royal Marines depot Deal. The collection is an amazing record of life in Kent during WW2.

With such a large collection of images, collating the information about the subject and locations of each is an enormous and ongoing task. While on display at The War and Peace Show in 2010, a visitor saw the photos of the Womens’ Land Army and was delighted to discover that one of the ladies featured was his mother!

The beautiful images have been digitised and are available to view on the War & Peace section of the website: www.kentphotoarchive.org.uk. Any information is welcomed – simply email Roger using the link in the information box under the picture or drop into the dedicated marquee during the War and Peace Revival from 17-21 July and see if you can find a part of your family history in this fascinating collection.