Notable Gallery

Edward Heath Rodd, England. Around 1879

Upper body studio portrait photograph of Edward Hearle Rodd (1810-1880), seated and reading a book. Rodd was born in St Just in Roseland, and, after qualifying as a solicitor, settled in Penzance. He was a keen ornithologist and wrote a large number of papers for The Zoologist and the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. He is credited with rescuing many rare birds in Cornwall from oblivion and adding several bird species to the List of British Birds. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC

Newquay Old Cornwall Society / Federation of Old Cornwall Societies dinner, Newquay, Cornwall. 1978 or possibly 1977

Charles Woolf (1907-1984), photographer and President of Newquay Old Cornwall Society in 1977, is pictured (left) shaking hands with a gentleman wearing a chain of office. The gentleman is perhaps Newquay Old Cornwall Society's chairman, Stuart Beard. The identity of the lady in the centre is unknown. The photograph was taken on the occasion of a society dinner. This may have been the annual dinner in 1978 or a dinner held following the Annual General Meeting in April 1978. Although the negatives are dated 1978, it has been suggested that the occasion may have been the official opening of the Gallery of Old Cornwall on 6th April 1977. Photographer: Charles Woolf / Joyce Greenham

© RIC, photographer Charles Woolf

Bicycle (Velocipede or Boneshaker), Cornwall Works, Birmingham, England

In September 1870, this velocipede was ridden by Sir Richard Tangye from Truro to Newquay, bringing the news of the Battle of Sedan to the town. Tangye's Cornwall Works in Birmingham built large numbers of velocipedes, paying a royalty to the French Velocipede Company in order to make the bicycles. The five sons of Joseph Tangye senior, an Illogan miner, commenced their engineering and manufacturing business together in Birmingham in 1856. James (1825-1912), the eldest, was very skilled with the lathe; Joseph (1826-1902) was the creative engineer; Richard (1833-1906) dealt with public relations and sales; George (1835-1920) was the businessman; while Edward (1832-1909), a Quaker, soon left to found his own business. Velocipedes, also known as Boneshakers, due to their iron tyres, were one of the many things that were manufactured at the Cornwall Works. The business also provided the hydraulic rams required to launch the Great Eastern, Brunel's ill-fated steel ship in 1857-1858, and to raise Cleopatra's Needle to its present position on the London Embankment in 1878. The first direct-acting steam pumps in Europe were made at the Cornwall Works in 1867 and the firm produced James Tangye's horizontal steam engines from 1869. By 1876 the firm employed 1300 workers. The Tangyes were also philanthropists and from 1880 were founders and major benefactors of the Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum and the Birmingham School of Art. TRURI : 1937.34

© RIC, photographer Mike Searle