HAROLD BRYCE THOMSON: Photographing Wensleydale
The Garden Rooms at Tennants is delighted to be holding an exhibition of images taken from the extraordinary archive of Harold Bryce Thomson (1896-1981), a passionate and talented photographer from Leeds.
The majority of the images in the exhibition were taken in the 1940s in and around Wensleydale. Thomson came to know and love the area after three of his children were evacuated to Redmire during the Second World War. Both during and after the war, he and his family were regular visitors to the area and became great friends with Fred Lawson and the Castle Bolton artists.
For Thomson, a trichologist by trade, photography was much more than a hobby. It connected many different strands of his life – his interest in history, his friendships with artists and fellow photographers, his love of Yorkshire and the Dales, and his desire to document the people and places around him. Images in the exhibition illustrate life in the Dales during this era, and include portraits, pictures of his children, village and farming life and local landmarks.
Thomson was President of Leeds Camera Club, exhibited and lectured on photography, and became a member of the Royal Photographic Society.
The photographs have been reproduced from a larger archive of approximately 480 of Thomson's glass slides, which will be sold in the Books, Maps & Manuscripts Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 25th November with an estimate of £300-500 plus buyer’s premium.
The exhibition is free to enter and will be open daily. For further details please visit www.tennantsgardenrooms.com.
October 6, 2026 – November 1, 2026