Donation to Epping Forest District Museum

On Tuesday 22nd July the Epping Society formally handed over their donation of an extensive collection of original monochrome photographs taken in Epping in the early 1970s by Stuart Turner.

Jill Holmen (Museum’s Collections Manager) and Andrew Smith (The Epping Society Chairman)

Stuart Browning Turner was born in London in 1904. He attended Ardingly College in West Sussex and started his working life as a filing clerk with an insurance firm in the City of London. In 1929 he joined the British Xylonite Company, the first British firm to successfully manufacture plastic material in commercial quantities. During World War Two the firm worked on Bexois, a material that replaced scarce alloy that was normally used for fittings in wartime planes. By 1950, he was a director of the company. Between the 1960s and the 1980s Stuart compiled an extensive collection of photographic prints and postcards showing harbours, mills, viaducts, quays, an oast house and a tin mine. This material is to be found in the English Heritage Industrial Collections.

Most of his married life was spent living in Beulah Road, Epping. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society in 1977. He was also a founding member of the Epping Society and used his photographic skills to make an extensive record of Epping and the surrounding area.

This fantastic collection of photographs show Epping as it was only 40 years ago showing the changes, losses and preservations of some of the historical buildings within the town. This is a fantastic collection which the Museum is really pleased to have acquired. The photographs will be stored safely during the Museum’s redevelopment project until they can be used on reopening.

33 High Street Epping, Blue Star Garage Petrol and water tower now Gates Ford