Collection: Matthew T Shaw and Company Limited

Description

This collection of photographs, taken by various photographers mainly during the 1930s, is a record of Matthew T Shaw and Company, manufacturers of structural steelwork for the construction industry. It documents the construction of new forms of building developed in the late nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century, including cinemas, garages, commercial dairies and aviation sites. All are constructed using a steel frame, and many of the views provide an insight into the techniques used in this relatively new technology as well as depicting the men employed in the construction process.

Of the identified sites, most are located within the central and southern counties of England, stretching from the West Midlands to Kent, with particular emphasis (55% of the total) on Greater London where the firm was based. Indeed, there are a number of images believed to show the company's factory in Millwall.

The photographs were taken by a number of photographers, including Herbert Felton, Sidney W Newbury and W Whiffin. Almost all were taken during the inter War years, most in the 1930s. The exceptions are a series of shots of the construction of the Eton Memorial (between 1905 and 1908), a group of eight views of water tank barges on the Thames in 1916, and five images of construction in London during the 1950s.

Archival History

The collection is a record of major construction projects in which this company was involed bewteen 1905 and the 1950s. It was purchased via David Koos by the National Monuments Record (NMR) in July 1993 and catalogued between February and March 2000.

Content

Rights

Source: Historic England Archive