Pictures of times past: Forgotten photographs give a rare and fascinating insight into 19th Century city life in Britain




A curious photo archivist from Newcastle stumbled on an amazing treasure trove of street photographs which capture the city's Victorian residents going about their daily lives.



Aaron Guy, who works at Newcastle's Mining Institute, discovered the 300-image collection of early glass negatives after peering into a long-forgotten box.



He was moving some old furniture for the Society of Antiquaries when the innocuous container caught his eye.

Children gathered outside of the station hotel, Neville street watching a performance.

Women's work: Two Newcastle matrons pass the time over some knitting by the city's Quayside, while children loiter nearby

Mr Guy explained: 'The society were moving to a smaller building and were passing some of their belongings to other organisations.



'I was just being nosy really, peering into boxes, when I happened to spot that one contained some really old glass negatives. I thought they seemed interesting so we asked for permission to bring the plate boxes back to our office to have a proper look.'



Further inspection revealed a whole raft of lively, high-quality images of everyday street life, dating from at least 1880.

The shots feature a ragtag collection of ordinary North Easterners, and were taken at locations such as meat markets, fairs, and tiny corner shops.



Experts believe at least a third of the pictures were created by the same photographer, and while many of them depict life in Newcastle, the cache also includes scenes from nearby Tynemouth and Lindisfarne.



Scouting the wares: A young girl examines the window display of a city shop selling fresh veg, sunlight soap and sweets

Making their own fun: Children skip and play around a lamp post

Maritime legacy: Onlookers wait for the launch of a ship in Tyneside

While early photography was largely the preserve of the rich, this unknown photographer went out of his or her way t o document the lives of the working classes.

The decision is all the more interesting because Newcastle was a thriving industrial centre by the 1880s, with no shortage of prominent people to photograph.



The city was also home to industrialist Joseph Swan, who in 1871 devised a method of producing dry photographic plates which removed the need for a dark room and made photography more commercially viable.

Up it goes! A doughty competitor tests his strength at the Temperance festival on the Town Moor, Newcastle

A little girl looses her hat, while men in bowlers listen to a speech at the Temperance Festival on the Town Moor, Newcastle

Starting young: A little girl selling cordial with meat sellers at either Paddy's Market or Bigg Market, Newcastle

Pondering the collection's origins, Mr Guy said: 'We know very little about where these negatives have come from.



'They were never catalogued and the society doesn't recall how or when it came by them.



'We aren't even completely sure whether they are one photographer's archive, or if they were produced by several individuals.



'Photography would have been a very expensive hobby at that time, but this person was shooting in a very contemporary way.



'Despite the cumbersome equipment he would have been using – a large plate camera, probably on a tripod – I would describe this as observational documentary, almost photojournalistic in style.



'The work doesn't look staged, but if it was then the photographer was doing things very differently from his contemporaries. This work feels less distant and more engaged than other series I have seen.



'It may have been someone with means, or a commercial photographer with quite a distinctive viewpoint, who decided that Joe Bloggs on the street was more interesting to photograph in his spare time than the high society of Newcastle.



'He was really quite ahead of his time in that respect.'

Earning a crust: A young peanut seller captured at work

Catching 40 winks: A man makes time for a nap in what was then the centre of Newcastle

The Society of Antiquaries is now carrying out research work in connection with the pictures, in the hope of figuring out where they were shot, and by whom.



It is also keen to trace another 15 boxes of plates which the Society sent elsewhere.



Mr Guy hopes the city of Newcastle will soon be able to share this insight into its history.



'I was really quite lucky to find this box,' he said. 'I don't know if someone forgot it or planned to pick it up later. The aim now is to date and catalogue the work, and then to put it out to other organisations in the city and hopefully get it seen, because it really belongs to the people of Newcastle.'