Drinking in The Crooked Billet at Stoke Row, Oxfordshire

P DX323 PH1/E174/15

between 1905-1935

Phillip Osborne Collier (1881-1979) was born in Windsor in 1881, moving to Reading with his parents in the late 1890s. He began work as a trainee electrician at the Royal County Theatre in Friar Street, but his business instinct soon attracted him to the booming market for real photographic picture postcards. The years from the turn of the century to the First World War were the heyday of this cheap, undemanding and high collectable form of personal communication, and by 1905 Collier had begun to publish his own postcards and greetings cards. From about 1906, he was able to supplement an income from his postcard business by work for the local newspapers, which be this time were using an increasing number of photographs to illustrate their pages. Ill health prevented Collier from being conscripted for service in the Great War until late 1916, when he joined the Royal Flying Corps where he spent two years in service as a cook. After demobilisation, Collier returned to his photographic business. This soon outgrew the cramped darkroom at his Thames Side home, and in partnership with Eric Guy, a photographer based at Basingstoke, Collier moved into premises in Waylen Street, Reading. Later the partners moved again to Oxford Road in the town. Their work still appeared regularly in the local press, and also began to feature in magazines such as Picture Post and Farmers Weekly. The partnership broke up before the Second World War, but Collier continued to produce postcards and a range of other products until his death in 1979. Source: Cooper, M. [1984]. 'Collier's Berkshire, 1905-1935'. Reading : University of Reading, Institute of Agricultural History and Museum of English Rural Life Cooper, M. (1984). 'The Collier Collection'. Reading : University of Reading, Institute of Agricultural History and Museum of English Rural Life

1 photographic negative: half plate glass; b&w

type: PNEG, dimensions: 12 x 16 cm

English

Item

Inns, Public houses, Drinking of alcoholic beverages- Great Britain- Social aspects- History, Stoke Row, leisure, Graphic Materials

<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>2. &lt;B&gt;The village inn&lt;/B&gt;&lt;P&gt;Public houses have been part of village life in Britain for many hundreds of years with even the smallest communities often having several such establishments. During the evenings the inns were filled with many of the village's menfolk; only rarely would a man be accompanied to an inn by his wife. Within the friendly atmosphere of the inn farmers, tradesmen, craftsmen and labourers would meet with their friends and fellow workers, spending their time in conversation, singing or playing games. News from further afield could also be gained from passing travellers or from one of the newspapers or journals that some landlords bought for their customers.&lt;P&gt;The mix of employers and employees was not to everyone's liking however. Many labourers felt uncomfortable in the presence of the farmers for whom they worked during the day and as a result many preferred the smaller beer shops that were established during the nineteenth century. Within these shops they felt more at ease and free to talk about whatever they like, often, perhaps, their employers. Beer shops allowed labourers to feel more relaxed for they were owned by similar people, a fellow labourer or the village blacksmith for example, and were usually held in a room in the owner's cottage.&lt;P&gt;These two countrymen are pictured seated beside the fire in The Crooked Billett public house, Stoke Row, Oxfordshire.&lt;P&gt;P DX323 E174/15</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV><DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>2. &lt;B&gt;The village inn&lt;/B&gt;&lt;P&gt;Public houses have been part of village life in Britain for many hundreds of years with even the smallest communities often having several such establishments. During the evenings the inns were filled with many of the village's menfolk; only rarely would a man be accompanied to an inn by his wife. Within the friendly atmosphere of the inn farmers, tradesmen, craftsmen and labourers would meet with their friends and fellow workers, spending their time in conversation, singing or playing games. News from further afield could also be gained from passing travellers or from one of the newspapers or journals that some landlords bought for their customers.&lt;P&gt;P DX323 E174/15</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>

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Scanned image