Philip Bradley (1920-1999) of Ewell was a passionate fairground enthusiast for over 65 years, compiling a written and photographic record of every fair he visited and the rides he saw from 1936 until four months before his death in September 1999. The resulting collection is of national importance, providing an invaluable history of twentieth century fairgrounds.
Bradley's interest in fairground rides and equipment developed in his early teens, and in 1936 when he was 16 years of age, he decided he would systematically record his observations about fairgrounds. He started a notebook in which he wrote about the fairs he visited, or passed by, and also inserted newscuttings about fairs from newspapers. This first notebook, also records retrospectively fairs Bradley visited from 1932 (see -/1/1).
Most of the fairgrounds Bradley visited were in the Greater London area. During his summer holidays he also visited fairs further afield, including in Wales, Somerset, Yorkshire and the Isle of Man. His total of 44 fair notebooks are full of fascinating technical and social detail: in 1941 he comments that many showmen's engines were being put to work in demolition in blitzed cities, and in 1942 records that the 'blackout fair' idea had not caught on. Bradley's fairground notebooks were maintained until May 1999.
Bradley was also a keen photographer, developing all his own photographic prints. He took photographs of the fairs he visited, concentrating on fairground machinery, equipment, and transport. His collection of 30,000 photographs, dating from 1936 to 1999, were carefully arranged by type of machine/ride, subject or vehicle. They are meticulously numbered, cross referenced and dated in various notebooks. Bradley even recorded what cameras he was using over the decades.
The photographic collection also includes photographic prints taken by friends and other fairground enthusiasts (many of whom had pseudonyms including 'Cyclist' [Jack Wilkinson], PR 'Priest Reader' [Fr Philip R Greville], AJ [Jewsons, professional photographers in Kings Lynn (who published their photographs as postcards)], ET 'Cestrian' [Edward Taylor], AD [AC Durrant], TW [TL Wright], CQ [C Quick], WKVL [Barry Norman], KTS [Kevin Scrivens], SRS [Stephen Smith], amongst others. Bradley's abbreviations of many of these names are recorded in his first notebook listing 'fair photos' (see -/3/3).
Bradley was aware of the importance of his photographic collection and rubber stamped each of his photographs 'copyright Philip Bradley'. He also carefully recorded the names of everyone who received a print of one of his photographs. Bradley, an engineer by profession, was also one of the first fairground enthusiasts to sketch and make detailed notes on the specifications of fairground machines, engines and vehicles. His four data notebooks record the development and changes in many fairground machines between 1943 and 1998 (see -/2/1-4).
Bradley wrote many articles for various journals, including a series of articles entitled 'Some notes on the development of fairground machinery' in The Engineer in 1954. These were republished in book form in 1997. Some of Bradley's articles are included in this collection including several for London Electricity, the magazine of the London Electricity Board, where Bradley worked as an engineer (see -/6/7-9).
Although Bradley's interest in engineering began with steam fairground machines, he was also interested in developments in railways, cranes and the high-tech engineering of the latest machinery. In 1991 in a letter to the Surrey County Librarian to arrange the bequest of his collection to the county, he wrote that having pursued his hobby for 55 years continually, 'nostalgia' did not appeal to him. For his photographs of cranes, tramways, railways, bridges etc see -/5/9/box 1-2.
Bradley's photographic collection also reflects his other interests including all forms of transport, model railways, meccano and making models of fairground and railway prototypes (see -/5/8/1-617). He started making models of fairground machinery in the 1930s. Norman Bryant in his obituary of Bradley (The Fairground Mercury, vol 22, no 3) said that he believed Bradley was one of the first people to make drawings and take measurements of fairground machines, engines and vehicles to produce accurate information for model making, and the resultant models were famous for their accuracy and workmanship. He did not publicly display his models until the 1970s, with the encouragement of Vic King. King produced a range of model plans which were sold by his company MFD [Model Fair Designs]. A copy of each design was sent to Philip Bradley for comment and advice before publication (see -/8/1-2). Vic King also produced the MFD newsletter (see -/6/32).
