People Gallery

Oddicombe Beach, Devon, 1932

Bathers and divers are making the most of the water in this image of Oddicombe Beach from 1932. A group of ladies are enjoying diving from the platform into the sea. Beach huts can be seen in the background lining the shingles

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

1930s, 1930s Fashion, 1932, Bathers, Beach, Beach Huts, Devon, Divers, Diving, Oddicombe, Publicity, Swimmers, Swimming

George Jackson Churchward (1857 - 1933)

George Jackson Churchward, pictured here in 1918, was the GWR's Chief Mechanical Engineer between 1902 and 1921. He oversaw the Swindon Works modernisation and introduced the 4-6-0 locomotives, the blueprint for some the GWR's most iconic express engines. He died in Swindon in 1933 after being struck by a train as he was crossing the railway tracks between his home and the Works

© STEAM Museum of the GWR

Swindon Works Polishing Shop in 1914

A photograph taken on 7th August 1914 of the Polishing Shop in the Carriage and Wagon Works. French polishing was a skilled trade and from the 1870s women had proven themselves to be highly capable in this role. They were given their own women-only workshop and by the 1890s were officially termed French Polishers. This was equal to their male counterparts. In December 1916 a directive was sent out to convert part of the Polishing Shop for the manufacture of aeroplanes. Whether or not these women had a part to play in this we do not know, but they would have come in close proximity to this extraordinary sight

© STEAM Museum of the GWR