Denby Brothers (Spinners) Ltd. Keighley 1978 - Kathryn Bethel

Denby Brothers (Spinners) Ltd. Keighley 1978 - Kathryn Bethel / 36 pages, 5.5 x 8 inches, staple-bound, published by Cafe Royal Books

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The photographer says:

These photographs were taken while studying photography at Harrogate College of Art at my father’s spinning mill in Keighley, West Yorkshire, using upgraded black and white film without the use of flash.The firm was established just before the First World War by my grandfather, Joseph Denby (who was also mayor of Keighley 1940-41), and employed some 200 people in its heyday.

Sadly, cheap imports of ready-made garments meant people were no longer buying wool to knit their own. The mills were closed in 1989. Three generations of workers lost their livelihood, the companionship of mill life and, in some cases, their workers’ houses.