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We really want Our Town Story to be an album for your old photos, to fill in the gaps in the history books of our villages, towns and cities. We would also love for those pictures to be able to help others - for instance by using reminiscence therapy in treating dementia .

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Gallery: Dorset Miscellaneous

iamtimbo » Gallery » Dorset Miscellaneous » JJ Allen's Employees Social, Bournemouth, 14th March 1919

JJ Allen's Employees Social, Bournemouth, 14th March 1919

@iamtimbo / 8 years ago / 1557 views / 1 comments

Image Details

This photo would be viewed as astonishingly politically incorrect today; the fancy dress demonstrating some fairly broad-brush racial stereotyping!

JJ Allen's was the brand name of a number of stores (so this may not be a Bournemouth picture) in the Bournemouth area, and was eventually subsumed by Dingles and then House of Fraser, as it still is today. The photograph is labelled on the back as follows:

Back Row, left to right: Miss Sparshott (Red + nurse), Lee (golly wog), Miss Hanham (Quaker), Rose (Cowboy), Smith (Gondolier), Miss Singleton (Belgian ?), Wardell (Scout)

Second Row, left to right: Nickle (Bovril), Miss Bark (?) (Elf), Miss Fisher (Spanish Lady), Mr Hutchins (Minstrel), Miss Fry (Early Victorian), Gray (Flapper ?), Miss Ford (French Artist),

Front Row: Medley (Red Indian), Whereat ('Flu), Miss Davis (Turkish Lady)

Coming as 'Flu' is a topical (and perhaps also not very tasteful!) reference to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 - 1920, in which between 50 and 100 million people died globally.