This looks to be one image of a set, all titled ‘St. Monday, the People’s Holiday’. Saint Monday refers to an old tradition of absenteeism on Mondays, at a time when the working week ran from Monday to Saturday, with only Sundays off. Monday absenteeism was common enough that there was usually a crowd to join, and it was a tradition seen on the continent as well as in the UK.

This is the earliest photograph if have of people enjoying the fairs on the Heath. Unfortunately it’s also the year of the 1892 stampede disaster, so hopefully none of these women were among those who died..

Imagine if we still reported the news like this..!

I’m not sure whether we’re looking at stands, or buses? I think probably stands of some kind. If you have more information, let me know!

I didn’t know, until now, that carousels are called Gallopers in fairground speak. Did you?

This photograph is captioned 'a busy spot on Hampstead Heath’.

The caption for this just says Hampstead Heath, and the year. I think these boys in the middle are shooting at the board. Do you think the ‘Tee to Tum’ stall in the background is golf related?

I can’t tell what they’re gathering around, in this one. Can you?

Gertler lived near the Heath from the winter of 1914-15. On 15th September 1915, the writer D.H. Lawrence described a special fair on the Heath: 'There is a fair on behalf of the wounded soldiers today, and myriads of the wounded, in their bright blue uniforms and red scarves, and bands, and swing boats, and a whole rowdy enjoyment. It is queer.' The roundabout at the fair is thought to have been the inspiration for this painting.

The painting was begun by May 1916, and finished by the following autumn. It is understood today as an expression of horror at the war, but at the time it was seen as a provocative example of modernity in art, and no more than a description of a fun fair. D.H. Lawrence was deeply affected by it. In a letter to Gertler on 9th October 1916, Lawrence wrote:

“Your terrible and dreadful picture has just come. This is the first picture you have ever painted: it is the best modern picture I have seen ... I believe there was something in Pompeian art, of this terrible and soul-tearing obscenity ... I could sit down and howl beneath it like Kot's dog, in soul-lacerating despair. I realise how superficial your human relationships must be, what a violent maelstrom of destruction and horror your inner soul must be ... it would take a Jew to paint this picture. It would need your national history to get you here, without disintegrating you first ... You are twenty-five, and have painted this picture - I tell you, it takes three thousand years to get where this picture is - and we Christians haven't got two thousand years behind us yet.”

Gertler had written to his patron Edward Marsh in the preceding summer: 'I am I believe what you call a "passivist". I don't know exactly what that means, but I just hate the war'.

This is an extract from the Tate. Read the full details here.

Louis Sargent lived from 1881 - 1965. If you know when this painting dates from, or have more details about it, please get in touch.

Newspaper clipping from The Sphere.

Alberto Pisa (1864 - 1936) was an Italian artist. This painting of a fair on Hampstead Heath is one of only two he painted in the UK. It’s not clear when this was painted, but at the latest it was the 1920s, as the painting was gifted to Museums Sheffield in 1929.

I love how much joy shows on this lady’s face!

This looks incredible, doesn’t it?! I wonder if the cars swing out when it spins?

This looks to be dated 24th May, and in the bottom left corner there you can just about make out that it says Vale of Health

Wolfgang Suschitzky (August 1912 – October 2016) was a documentary photographer, as well as a cinematographer perhaps best known for his collaboration with Paul Rotha in the 1940s and his work on Mike Hodges' 1971 film Get Carter.

Andrew Pulver described Suschitzky in 2007 as "a living link to the prewar glory days of the British documentary movement." Steve Chibnall writes that Suschitzky "[developed] a reputation as an expert location photographer with a documentarist's ability to extract atmosphere from naturalistic settings." His photographs have been exhibited at the National Gallery, the Austrian Cultural Forum in London and The Photographer's Gallery, and appear in many international photography collections. He was the father of cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (born 1941), classical musician and writer Misha Donat, and Julia Donat.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Read the full Wikipedia entry here.

Image source: the Tate.

Wolfgang Suschitzky (August 1912 – October 2016) was a documentary photographer, as well as a cinematographer perhaps best known for his collaboration with Paul Rotha in the 1940s and his work on Mike Hodges' 1971 film Get Carter.

Andrew Pulver described Suschitzky in 2007 as "a living link to the prewar glory days of the British documentary movement." Steve Chibnall writes that Suschitzky "[developed] a reputation as an expert location photographer with a documentarist's ability to extract atmosphere from naturalistic settings." His photographs have been exhibited at the National Gallery, the Austrian Cultural Forum in London and The Photographer's Gallery, and appear in many international photography collections. He was the father of cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (born 1941), classical musician and writer Misha Donat, and Julia Donat.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Read the full Wikipedia entry here.

Image source: the Tate.

Wolfgang Suschitzky (August 1912 – October 2016) was a documentary photographer, as well as a cinematographer perhaps best known for his collaboration with Paul Rotha in the 1940s and his work on Mike Hodges' 1971 film Get Carter.

Andrew Pulver described Suschitzky in 2007 as "a living link to the prewar glory days of the British documentary movement." Steve Chibnall writes that Suschitzky "[developed] a reputation as an expert location photographer with a documentarist's ability to extract atmosphere from naturalistic settings." His photographs have been exhibited at the National Gallery, the Austrian Cultural Forum in London and The Photographer's Gallery, and appear in many international photography collections. He was the father of cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (born 1941), classical musician and writer Misha Donat, and Julia Donat.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Read the full Wikipedia entry here.

Image source: the Tate.

If you can work out exactly where this was taken, based on those buildings in the back, please do get in touch

Wolfgang Suschitzky (August 1912 – October 2016) was a documentary photographer, as well as a cinematographer perhaps best known for his collaboration with Paul Rotha in the 1940s and his work on Mike Hodges' 1971 film Get Carter.

Andrew Pulver described Suschitzky in 2007 as "a living link to the prewar glory days of the British documentary movement." Steve Chibnall writes that Suschitzky "[developed] a reputation as an expert location photographer with a documentarist's ability to extract atmosphere from naturalistic settings." His photographs have been exhibited at the National Gallery, the Austrian Cultural Forum in London and The Photographer's Gallery, and appear in many international photography collections. He was the father of cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (born 1941), classical musician and writer Misha Donat, and Julia Donat.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Read the full Wikipedia entry here.

Image source: the Tate.

Taken by John Gay