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When Everyone Wore A Hat...

If nothing else this photo shows the need for the laws which were brought in for safety at sports grounds particularly in view of Bradford and Hillsborough tragedies.

Just me being pedantic but the term KOP for the home supporters terrace was first used in 1904 at Woolwich Arsenal
 
They are all wearing hats but this looks like a 'men only' Corporation Street where are the ladies ?
When I look closely I can probably see two but one might have been stopped by a policeman !
It is not the first time I have seen an unusual scene in that part of Corporation Street ... from the Shoothill collection
CorporationStmodpic.jpg

Ref: Ivor's comment in post#265, I've moved the watermark to a less obtrusive position ...:)
 
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Just a guess but I would say that this was a working daytime photo when this part of Corporation Street was only offices and law courts. The photo can be dated to the steam tram era about the turn of the century as there are tracks in the street but no overhead wires.
 
Just a guess but I would say that this was a working daytime photo when this part of Corporation Street was only offices and law courts. The photo can be dated to the steam tram era about the turn of the century as there are tracks in the street but no overhead wires.
I think you're right David. That man in the centre of the right hand pavement wears a suit in which he could walk through today's city centre without attracting too much attention although he probably would not wear a hat these days. He looks quite a 'man-about-town' type.
 
Is 1900 the definite year ? I notice there's at least two soldiers in the photo wearing what looks like WW1 uniform.
Those two kids peeping through the fence were living dangerously !
Hi All,
The post at 262 suggests that this was after 1904. I think that there are far too many men of military age in the crowd for it to have been during the war. I suggest that it was just before the war and possibly many of that crowd did not return to watch a match after the war.
Old Boy
 
To what is this meant to refer?
The only photo I can see on that link is a mass of football supporters and nothing to do wth birmingham
 
To what is this meant to refer?
The only photo I can see on that link is a mass of football supporters and nothing to do wth birmingham
There was a photo inserted by me in post#261 showing people in the early 1900s when everyone all wore hats and the photo is a good example of everyone wearing hats. There has been some discussion about the date of the photo and the origin of the term 'kop'. I therefore showed the source of the photo.
 
They are all wearing hats but this looks like a 'men only' Corporation Street where are the ladies ?
When I look closely I can probably see two but one might have been stopped by a policeman !
It is not the first time I have seen an unusual scene in that part of Corporation Street ...
CorporationStmodpic.jpg

Ref: Ivor's comment in post#265, I've moved the watermark to a less obtrusive position ...:)
 
Hi All,
This photograph has fascinated me. Firstly the absence of traffic in what was and is the busiest street in the city. Allowing for the fact that it is the business end of the street there would still have been passing traffic on the way to and from the city centre. If the pedestrians had been office workers going to lunch there would have been several females among them. In my mind these are men on the home from an all male function. In view of the fact that women did not have a vote in those days I believe the men might have been to a political meeting possibly outdoors at the bottom of Corporation Street. I believe that it must have been a Sunday or perhaps a bank holiday
Old Boy
 
I think the traffic is consistent with the date of the photo which I think is early 20th century. There is a horse bus going down the hill just past the Law Courts and I think there is a steam tram coming up the hill just about to pass Central Hall. I am inclined to agree with Eddie (Norfolk Brummie) that this could be lunch time. Just how many women were there working in offices before WWI. A 'typewriter' in those days was a man who worked a typewriting machine.
 
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