A young boy- perhaps a canal attendant- stands in front of a horse. His job would be to pull boats and barges in the waterway behind him for a modest fee. To our modern sensibilities- a historical tragedy of the lack of child labor laws in the Edwardian era. With the poor state of the clothes worn by this child- not to mention the protruding ribs of the horse- a way however to most certainly earn needed money to feed himself and a family.

In a surviving letterpress document that accompanied this mounted photograph for The Circulating Portfolio of the London County Council Camera Club, Gipsies Both is recorded in Portfolio B: Print No. 65. Date Inserted for the portfolio by Verstage is 17 July 1911. The Printing process is listed as self toning and the print is on Paget paper. A separate letterpress criticism sheet from the Wimbledon and District Camera Club also in this archive lists the work. Club members of both camera clubs are diplomatic in their written comments for Gipsies Both but the work is not universally liked. A typical observation: “The boy is too camera conscious- which is a pity as otherwise this would have been excellent.” FCEW (?) (LCCCC)

Besides being an important British architect and founder of the Kelmscott Fellowship, A.H. Verstage was an amateur photographer active from the early 1900’s to at least 1921 according to references in the British photographic press. Verstage was the president of the London County Council Camera Club from 1908-10 and active as a member of the Wimbledon and District Camera Club from 1911-13 and perhaps later. ( 1913 dated correspondence from former club held by this archive)

Arthur Halcrow Verstage: 1875-1969

Arthur Halcrow Verstage (1875-1969) was an Architect who conducted much of his career in the public sector working for London County Council and then as District Surveyor for Lewisham. He oversaw the design of the LCC’s Central School of Arts and Crafts in Southampton Row (1905-8). He was an enthusiast of Arts and Crafts and designed a house in that style for himself in Forest Hill in 1934. He was a devotee of William Morris and with May Morris was active in founding the Kelmscott Fellowship (later the William Morris Society). – Historic England –A.H. Verstage photographic collection