Jimmy Forsyth (15 August 1913 – 11 July 2009) was a British amateur photographer, who in his later life became celebrated for his portrayal of the working class communities of

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

and received wide recognition for this achievement prior to his death aged 95. He was equally accomplished in showcasing both the people and the environment of his chosen locality.

Biography

Forsyth was born on 15 August 1913 at 24 Trinity Street

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the son of John and Bertha Forsyth. The family had originally hailed from

Garmouth Garmouth ( gd, Geàrr Magh narrow plain" spurious gd, Gairmeach, A' Ghairmich; sco, Gairmou', Garmo), is a village in Moray, north east Scotland. It is situated close to the mouth of the River Spey and the coast of the Moray Firth at nearby ...

in Morayshire. Forsyth was educated at High Street School

Career

He left school at 14 without any formal qualifications and became an apprentice fitter. After completing his apprenticeship in 1934 he found it hard to find regular work. Through 1936–37 he was in the Merchant Navy. During World War Two fitters were valued tradesmen and Forsyth came to Newcastle aged 30 in 1943. He found digs in Elswick off Scotswood Road, near the great Elswick Ordnance Factory. His war work however took him to a new ICI factory a few miles up the Tyne Valley at

Prudhoe Prudhoe ( ) is a town in south Northumberland, England, about west of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and just south of the River Tyne. Situated on a steep, north-facing hill in the Tyne valley, Prudhoe had a population of 11,675 at the 201 ...

. The next few years proved complicated. Only a few days into the job at Prudhoe an industrial accident blinded him for life in one eye. He was able to work at the ICI factory until he was dismissed in 1946. His subsequent attempts at gaining paid employment proved frustrating and included a further industrial accident.

Photography

Forsyth's photographic career started a while before 1954. As an unemployed man he started to photograph the city surrounding him, and when he could, sold the results. That he combined an unusual ability coupled with overcoming financial and physical impairment was remarkable, although recognition of this took time. His presence in the west end of Newcastle also coincided with major social change, as terraced housing and heavy industry gave way to high-rise flats and green space. Although he had no formal training Forsyth developed a systematic approach, indexing his images and carefully identifying their subjects. Recognition started with a first exhibition in 1979 and then the Side Gallery mounting an exhibition in 1981.The Independent
/ref> It accelerated with a combination of a TV documentary and a

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

volume ''Scotswood Road'' in 1986. Thereafter an Open University Honorary Degree and two more books prepared in his lifetime followed. As time passed Forsyth worked in both monochrome and colour. His collection was safeguarded at his death and is now in public ownership in Newcastle. The work towards this end had started with Jimmy's full co-operation and a grant from

Northern Arts The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain History As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in the 1950s, regional offices ...

in the early 1990s. A fourth book of his work ''An Innocent Eye'' was published in May 2013. For camera equipment he started with a Coronet Camera Company 127 "box" camera. This was followed with a

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bought secondhand for the relatively immense sum of £20.

Personal life

Forsyth never married. Having moved to Tyneside he lived in a succession of digs and apartments. An early abode he called " a half brothel". From 1952 he was in a

Tyneside flat Tyneside flats are a form of UK domestic housing found primarily on Tyneside, including in Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside and North Tyneside. The first known example of this type was constructed in the 1860s. They are pairs of s ...

at 353 Scotswood Road and this was home until the bulldozers called in 1963. The conclusion to his life from 1983 was spent in the development known as The Cedars.Jimmy Forsyth Photographs from the 1950s and 1960s, Tyne Bridge Publishing, 2009 p20 By the very end his last months were spent in Elswick Hall care home. Forsyth appeared in the 1988 film ''

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'' which was set in Newcastle.

Honours, awards and medals

* Halina Award for photography in 1987. *

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

Honorary Degree as Master of the University (11 May 2002).

Work

Photographs

* '' Scotswood Road''
Amber Online

Exhibitions

Exhibitions have been held firstly with ''Scotswood Road with a Box Camera'' in January 1979 and then at the Side Gallery Newcastle in 1981. There were other exhibitions in the West End of Newcastle. He participated in the 2001

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curated exhibition ''The Sleep of Reason''.

Bibliography

* ''Scotswood Road'', (with Derek Smith),

Ltd, Newcastle, 1986, . * ''Jimmy Forsyth: Photographs from the 1950s and 1960s'', edited by Anthony Flowers, Tyne Bridge Publishing, Newcastle, 2009, .

Books

* *Anthony Flowers ''An Innocent Eye: Jimmy Forsyth Tyneside Photographer'',

Tyne Bridge Publishing Tyne may refer to: __NOTOC__ Geography *River Tyne, England * Port of Tyne, the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England * River Tyne, Scotland *River Tyne, a tributary of the South Esk River, Tasmania, Australia Peo ...

, Newcastle, 2013,

References

External links

*Entry portal to the Jimmy Forsyth collection in Tyne & Wear Archive