The Sunbeam Collection

For much of the twentieth century, the Sunbeam Photographic Company represented and reflected British seaside culture. As a photographic company it documented on a vast scale, life on the UK’s south east coast and specifically that of the Isle of Thanet. Sunbeam was one of the largest commercial photographic companies in the country, and whilst perhaps best known for their Walkies pictures, this was far from their sole genre. Sunbeam captured civic, ceremonial and political events; numerous idealised promotional tourist images; landscapes and townscapes; broad commercial work; school photography and even eccentric animal portraiture.

(To read more on the Sunbeam Photographic Company, please see Shepherdson, K and Ball, R (2014) Beyond The View: New Perspectives on Seaside Photography, Burton Press)