Never before seen Frank Sutcliffe pictures I've come to light!

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe is famous for his images of Whitby and surrounding areas and this week it has been revealed that there are some images are never been seen before.
Very close to the harbour you have The Sutcliffe Gallery which is on Flowergate. They have bestowed around 200 original and highly thought of pictures by this artist.
The gallery is owned by Mike Shaw, and he owns and the rights to Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's collection of around 1,600 photographs, and four years they have been restoring the images which have great historical value.


There are many shots of Whitby old fishing town with rural scenes and images of the surrounding area. In many of his shots it shows the old characters and fishermen of the town.

There are some wonderful pictures of the West Cliff showing the original Union Mill, cows grazing on Runswick Bay beach, Whitby Abbey before the First World War, coastguards firing pistols, Pannett Park and the opening ceremony of Whitby's swing bridge 100 years ago.

Until recently these photographs and never seen the light of day and have been kept in a dark storeroom partly due to the size of the collection and also it is very time consuming to work on each photograph which is on a glass plate.

Last Tuesday the Sutcliffe Gallery reopened after major refurbishments and will be showcasing the new pictures.

Unfortunately Sutcliffe did not name his photographs this has meant that Mr Shaw, with help from his wife Trish, have had to used old records started by his father Bill Eglon Shaw, who bought the collection 50 years ago, to help identify some of the pictures.

The following comment from Mike said it's an exciting time as not only has the gallery re-opened and celebrated 50 years, but he too celebrated his 50th birthday last month.

He said: "People may think they have seen all of Sutcliffe's pictures but they haven't, they have seen up to 400 of the entire collection of 1,600.

"Sutcliffe's photographs are part of Whitby's heritage and local people are proud of his amazing work.

"We are delighted to be able to now have extra display space to be able to show many more pictures so come and have a look."

By your copy of the Whitby desert on Tuesday for the eight-page supplement which will show the never before seen Frank Sutcliffe photographs.