A paddle steamer and mixed bathing

 A superb collection of high quality old photographs of Brighton Beach and the seafront - from the James Gray Collection - are currently on display on the Lower Promenade near the i360. The 36 images have been chosen and reproduced by the Regency Society and will remain on show until 27 April 2025. All the panels carry their own captions and can be previewed at the Regency Society website.

In promoting the open exhibition, the Society says: ‘We continually look for ways to share the RS James Gray Collection of historical photographs with the public. This is one of the most adventurous yet. [. . .] We hope many residents and visitors will have a chance to experience these fascinating glimpses of bygone life on Brighton seafront close to their historical settings.’

Here are two of the photos from the exhibition. The caption for the one above reads: ‘The paddle-steamer The Brighton Queen at the eastern landing stage of the Palace Pier, probably in the 1930s. She was built in 1905 and was not just a pleasure steamer. She served as a minesweeper in WWI and in 1940 she was bombed and sunk at Dunkirk on her second trip to rescue British troops.’

And the caption for the one below reads: ‘A Mixed Bathing beach in Hove in 1919. Hove was slower than Brighton to allow men and women to go swimming from the same stretch of beach but by 1919 it had several Mixed Bathing areas, all strictly signposted and enormously popular.’

The Regency Society of Brighton and Hove was founded in December 1945 by a group of local historians, preservationists, and civic leaders with the aim of protecting the city’s distinctive Regency-era architecture from post-war redevelopment threats. Over the years, the Society has played a vital role in campaigning for the conservation and sensitive restoration of Brighton’s architectural heritage, becoming the city’s oldest conservation group and a key advocate for preserving its unique Regency character. 

In 1998, after the death of James Gray, an insurance broker with a passion for local history, the society acquired his extensive collection of historic black-and-white photographs, known as The James Gray Collection. The full collection comprises 7,530 annotated photographs, arranged in 39 volumes by areas of the city - all available to view online.