Maurice William Broomfield (2 February 1916 – 4 October 2010) was an English

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

whose images of post-war British industry were credited with capturing the optimistic spirit of the time.

Life and work

Born in Draycott,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England, Broomfield was the son of a lace designer. On leaving school at 15, he worked as a lathe operator on the assembly lines of the engineering company

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. In the evenings he studied at Derby College of Art. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

, working in the Friends Ambulance Unit as an ambulance driver in the London

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

, and after the war for

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

in Germany. Broomfield's archive has been acquired by the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

The British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

conducted an oral history interview (C459/194) with Maurice Broomfield in 2007 for its An Oral History of British Photography collection.Broomfield, Maurice (1 of 5) Oral History of British Photography, The British Library Board, 2007
Sounds.bl.uk, Retrieved 1 February 2018

Personal life

Broomfield married twice, firstly to Anita Sonja Lagusova, in 1947, with whom he had two children, Ann, and documentary film-maker

Nick Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Place ...

. Lagusova died in 1982, aged 60, from cancer. In 1987, he married Suzy Thompson-Coon.Jon Lev
Obituary: Maurice Broomfield
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 13 October 2010

References

External links

Personal website, including slideshow of images

in ''The Independent'' by

Marcus Williamson Marcus Williamson is a British writer, journalist and campaigner. As an obituarist for ''The Independent'' he has written obituaries of more than 300 subjects, including artists, poets, actors and inventors. Campaigns Phorm In 2009 the AIM-l ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broomfield, Maurice 1916 births 2010 deaths Photographers from Derbyshire English photojournalists English conscientious objectors People associated with the Friends' Ambulance Unit Industrial photographers People from the Borough of Erewash