Port Sunlight in Focus

Special exhibition showcases rare and unpublished photographs

Media release
Date of Issue: 11th July 2016

Port Sunlight Museum’s new, photography-themed, special exhibition Port Sunlight in Focus, 1896 – 1916, showcases the work of three local photographers, Edward Jenkins, George Cotton and J. George Davies who captured the early years of village life. The exhibition, which runs until March 2017, brings to light rare and unpublished images of Port Sunlight, as well as some of the iconic images which made Port Sunlight a household name.

As part of this exhibition we are delighted to be hosting an evening lecture by Roy Wainwright on Thursday 21st July, A Brief Insight into the Life and Works of E. Chambre Hardman (A Liverpool Society Photographer).  E. Chambre Hardman was a society photographer working in Liverpool from 1923 until he retired in the mid-1960s.  He photographed many of the celebrities of the time.  He set up a business, Burrell & Hardman Photographic Studios, in Bold Street, Liverpool, with his friend Kenneth Burrell, who he met while serving in the 8th Gurkha Rifles in India.  Hardman’s passion and photographic skill sought out and brought to life with dramatic effect some of the most iconic images of the era including the ‘Birth of the Ark Royal’ in 1950.  Roy Wainwright is a National Trust volunteer at Mr Hardman’s photographic studios in Liverpool and this evening presentation will take you through the life and works of E.Chambre Hardman, including some of his photographs. 

A Brief Insight into the Life and Works of E. Chambre Hardman will be held at 7pm in the Old School Room at the Lyceum, tickets are £6 and available from Port  Sunlight Museum. Please call 0151 644 6466 to reserve your place.

For the month of August we will also be hosting the annual Bebington Photographic Society exhibition at Bridge Cottage, once the home of village founder William Hesketh Lever. The society has its origins in early village history and their exhibition will run from Monday 8th August – Wednesday 31st August from 11am-3pm. The photographs will be on a wide range of subjects from all the society’s members. 

Notes to editors

About Port Sunlight Village Trust
Port Sunlight Village Trust is a an independent charitable trust responsible for preserving and promoting the Conservation Area of Port Sunlight, which was founded by William Hesketh Lever in 1888 for the employees of Lever Brothers Port Sunlight.

The Trust fulfils its mission through:
• Port Sunlight Museum and its associated public programmes
• Conserving and maintaining all of the village’s parks, gardens, monuments and memorials,
• Conserving, maintaining and operating the majority of the listed public buildings in the village and nearly one-third of the houses.

Media contact
Carol Darlington
T: 0151 644 4815
E: c.darlington@portsunlightvillage.com