Pre-war honeymoon in colour

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In August 1939, newly-married Margaret and Denys Gardiner set out on a 900 mile trip up and down the east coast of England on their honeymoon. They took Mr Gardiner’s cousin Eldred along as photographer and the result is this charming record of tranquil scenes from a country just weeks away from the outbreak of war. Their car is a 1939 Morris 8 Series ll with 918cc side valve engine and 3 speed gear box. It would do 60mph and return 45 miles per gallon but Denys is pictured regularly fetching water to replenish the radiator during this hot summer journey.

These colour slides were only recently discovered by professional photographer Barney Britton whilst clearing out his grandmother’s attic who died aged 100. He is the grandson of our newly-weds. The images were captured on Agfacolor – a relatively new emulsion in 1939 and a novelty in pre-war England. Barney’s mother remembered seeing the colour slidesas a child but had thought they were lost after so many decades and multiple house moves. The Gardiners were a practical couple, spending their nights under canvas and in this picture can be seen their cat ‘Edgar’ which joined them on their honeymoon and only narrowly survived the war after losing one of his nine lives to a stray bomb during the London blitz. Margaret (26) was a trained nurse and spent the war serving in hospitals whilst Denys (23) served in the Home Guard – his tuberculosis preventing him fighting at the front. He lived to age 79 but cousin Eldred was not so lucky and died of tuberculosis the year after this trip. Barney Britton’s website is http://www.dpreview.com/and the slide collection can be found here.

(Text by Robin Batchelor, pictures © Barney Britton)

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