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Man and woman in doorway

Original photograph taken by Charles Barker Howdill (1863–1941)

Howdill used the problematic term ‘gipsy’ in a number of photo titles, in line with common parlance a century ago. This sequence of photographs features a group of ‘Circassian gypsies’ who took up temporary residence in two houses in Cobourg Street, Leeds - later demolished to make way for the Merrion Centre. They were the subject of an article possibly written by Howdill and illustrated by one of his photographs: ‘A Circassian Colony’, Yorkshire Evening Post, 9 December 1911.

Man and woman in doorway LEEDM.F.1993.0005.0110. Black and white photograph of standing man and woman in doorway. Man in hat is pointing a finger at the woman who is smoking, another person, perhaps a child, peering through the glass in the door behind. Man and woman resemble the subjects of other photographs in the series. Style of doorway and house number suggests taken in Leeds.