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Page updated 18 February 2009
Around the city in the 1920s
High Street
A very busy High Street looking
east in the
late 1920s. Note the private car and cyclist, with a tram in the
background. The tram lines were removed in 1932. Photo -
authors collection
Ice Cream salesman
Angelo Forte in his pony drawn icecream cart during 1926. The Forte
family owned an icecream factory in Preston Street and
several
businesses in South Street. Photo
Ed
Forte
Fore
Street
Looking east from a point opposite Mint
Lane. St Olaves' Church
is on the left while the Franklin Palace Cinema
was
almost opposite the church. There are a couple of cars, but there is
still room for a horse and cart. It's a decade when women wear hats. Photo
- authors collection
Cathedral Yard and
the Royal
Clarence garage - 1927 New
By
the 1920's, the Royal Clarence Hotel in Cathedral Yard
had
its own garage, left, thought to be opposite the Royal Devon and Exeter
Hospital. In the photo, right, taken in Cathedral Yard, the cars are
parked outside the Clarence. The larger car, has the chauffeur standing
by. On the left is a luggage trolley of the type often used by porters
from the railway to deliver goods nad luggage.
Photo
right, courtesy Aubone Braddon
Exeter
War Memorial
The Exeter War Memorial
in Northernhay
Park was unveiled on 24th July 1923, by the Right Honourable
Admiral David Beatty. Beatty fought at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
He remarked after the battle "there
appears to be something wrong with our bloody ships today."
Bampfylde
House
This photograph of Bampfylde
House was in the City Council guidebook c 1925. The house was
situated just off the High Street, in Bampfylde Street, in
what is now
Princesshay. It was still privately owned, but was recognised as a
potential historic building and tourist attraction. The City Council
purchased it in 1934, for it to be destroyed in 1942.
The University College of the South West of England was established in 1922. This was the precursor of Exeter University.
The population of Exeter in the late 1920s was approximately 61,000.
The comedian Tommy Cooper moved to Exeter with his parents at the age of 3, in 1925. He lived in Ford Road, St Thomas.
The University College of the South West of England charged students an annual tuition fee of £20 to £30. There were three female and three male halls of residence which charged £55 for females and £60 for males.
The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Southernhay had 200 beds in the 1920s. In 1925 they treated 2,692 in-patients and 7,476 out-patients.
The Devon War Memorial in Cathedral Yard was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 16th May 1920.
Motoring and Transport in the 1920s
Sidwell
Street tram New
The left
photo shows a tram outside the headquarters of the AA, in Sidwell
Street,
in 1927 or 1929. The newspaper photo on the right was in the Exeter
Gazette in 1929. A conductor takes fairs from four lady passengers
wearing 'cloche' hats, which are typical of the period. See History of
transport in Exeter
for
more on the trams. Photo left Paul Freebairn
Charabanc outing
A behatted, charabanc trip waiting outside the Tudor Street Mission.
The women would pay weekly into a fund, for a trip - probably in this
case, Exmouth - c 1925. Photo Sylvia Hart
In June 1927, Queens Street station dating from the 1860s was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1933 as the Central Station.
Maudes Motors of Paris Street offered a selection of Clyno cars for between £162 10s and £245 in 1920.
Shire Horses
We tend to think of horses as part of our leisure life - during the
1920s they were an important part of the transport system for hauling
goods short distances.
Here council
shire horses
parade at the Council Yard, Exe Island, before pulling carnival floats
through the city. Each handler would 'trace
the horse up' for best horse rosette. The left hand horse
is 'Prince'
with his handler, Arthur
Burrows - c 1925. Photo Sylvia Hart
Colson's vans
Dating from about 1928, these Colsons vans are taking part in a parade
heading towards Queens Street. The previous photograph shows horses
towards the end of the horse drawn age, while the Colson's vans
represent the future. Other vehicles taking part in the parade that day
included fire engines and Devon General buses.
Leisure in the 1920s
Exeter
Golf Club
Probably the earliest aerial photograph of the Golf and Country Club
in
existence. The club moved from the top of Pennsylvania
to the
Wear House estate at Countess Wear
during May 1929.
The Olde
Chevalier Inn
An advert for the Olde Chevalier Inn in 1929/30 - this historic inn was
situated at the top of Fore Street,
approximately opposite
the present British Home Stores. It was destroyed in the raid of May
1942 and was one of the many historic buildings lost that night.
Wireless
Set advert
This is the earliest advert I have found so far for a wireless in an
Exeter shop. The two models shown were crystal sets and had a range and
price of 25 miles and £5-10-0, and 30 miles and
£9-15-0
respectively. Circa 1924.
The
Bullers Arms
Hubert Wellaway was the publican of the Bullers Arms in Alphington
Street between 1914 and 1927. The Bullers Arms became Exeter's first
public house to put up a sign welcoming motorists in 1905, although it
had always been noted for having good stabling. There was a boxing ring
at the rear of the premises. See Boy
Wellaway the boxer. Hubert Wellaway went on to run a
fruiterers in
Cowick Street during the 1930s. Photo courtesy of Simon Wellaway.
There was an exhibition boxing match at the County Ground between the current British heavyweight champion and Jack Cox, the west country champion in 1923.
New The Head Weir Swimming Club 1927
The
Head Weir Bathing Ground had been used by Exonians for possibly,
hundreds of years. In 1864, the Council first provided basic
facilities, with Frank Shooter the
most famous of the superintendents. This photo taken, after Shooter's
time, in 1927 shows the swimming club members on a pontoon. The King's
Alley pool off the High Street was the only public pool in the
city and it was not until 1940 that the City Swimming baths were
opened. Use of the Head Weir bathing ground ceased by the time the
second war started.
The tram was an important way of getting around. In the 1920s, Worth's published a guide for visitors that included three tram rides. They gave instructions on which tram to catch, and what to see.
NEW The
first Exeter
Speedway
meeting took place on Saturday 9th March 1929 at the County
Rugby Ground
in St Thomas. It started at 7.45 in the evening and featured, Freddie
More and from Australia, Bert Spencer. Seats were priced at 1/-, 1/6,
2/- and 3/- (5p to 15p). The photo shows an early start in 1929. Photo
left Tony Lethbridge and program right courtesy Speedway
Swap Shop
Ladysmith School won the Football Express Elementary Schools Challenge Cup in 1925. In the side was Cliff Bastin who went on to play for Exeter, Arsenal and England. He was transferred from Exeter City to Herbert Chapman's Arsenal for £2,000 on 27 April 1929.
Shops in the 1920s
J & G
Ross advert
This very well known men's clothing shop was next
to the
Express & Echo office. The rather elaborate advert from about
1925,
plays on the Lord Carnarthon and Howard Carter excavation of the
Tutankhamun tomb in Egypt in 1922. Mr C Ross, had a private
landing stage close to Exe Bridge, where his guests, suitably attired
for a trip in boaters and blazers, would embark for an excursion to the
Double Locks in his launch "Otranto".
Cathedral Dairy advert
This was the well known Cathedral
Dairy at Eastgate, opposite the London Inn Square. They
were one
of the first dairies to sell clotted cream for tourists, which they
would send by post to their friends as a holiday gift. c 1925