When was this parade?

Mystery photo
From the private collection of Michael Clark
Mystery photo
From the private collection of Michael Clark
Mystery photo
From the private collection of Michael Clark

I found these photographs in my collection  and would welcome any information that would date them and also identify the ‘Parade’.

I am thinking maybe they were taken in the late 1940s or very early 1950s.

It looks like the start of a parade on Marine Drive Brighton; could it have been Brighton Carnival?

The van has a telephone number on the side;I believe a fifth digit was added to Hove telephone numbers around 1950/51.

The message on the front of the E.Scarlett van refers to 1947-48.

The policeman’s tunic is fully buttoned to the neck which I think may date it around late 1940s.

Can you suggest a date and the event? If you can help, please leave a comment below.

Click on each of the photographs to open a larger version in a new window.

Comments about this page

  • Labour’s Harold Wilson began relaxing food rationing in 1950 in his famous ‘bonfires’ of restrictions after the war, so the meat rationing comment on the top of the van gives some clue to the period. The Conservatives got back into power in 1951.

    By Stefan Bremner-Morris (25/08/2014)
  • I should say that this photo was taken about 1954 or 1955. I remember the Fordson 7V lorry, it had a V8 engine. They were made also with Ford badges and Thames badges. If I remember rightly Stevens the coal merchants from around the Elm Grove area had a green flatbed version for delivering coal and coke. The 7V did a lot of sterling work during the 2nd WW. The butchers van is a Bedford PC model. Both the vehicles were a bit long in the tooth and production had finished by the early 50s.

    By Mick Peirson (26/08/2014)
  • A little about the vehicles illustrated: E Scarlett’s Bedford van in the top photo, OML292, was registered about August 1947. This is a Middlesex registration which was used exclusively for commercial vehicles between January 1947 and January 1949. Pity about the broken headlamp lens, I think I’ve got some of those in stock! A builder friend of ours at Saltdean was still running one of these in the early ’60s. Basically a 12hp Vauxhall chassis with a locally built van body. McKellar & Westerman’s Fordson lorry, HCD220, was registered in Brighton in September 1946. They were still in business in the late 1980s with 73 in front of the ‘phone number but aren’t listed now. H J Paris Ltd’s Seddon Atkinson, EPM247, with it’s East Sussex registration dating from May 1949 looks quite shiny and new. I remember their lorries about, they were also still in business in the 1980s. The Seddon Atkinson was very popular as a ‘municipal vehicle’ and these chassis’ were used for a multitude of duties like gulley emptiers, dustcarts etc. The car just showing beside the dragon’s head in the bottom photo is a Jaguar, probably a 1&1/2 litre model and could be just pre or post War. Due to the newness of the Seddon I would put the photos at 1949. None of these vehicles are registered today. It would be interesting if anyone knows what the show was in aid of, the RAFA and Royal Artillery display would suggest a military connection. I remember our four figure Brighton ‘phone number having firstly a 2 in front of it about that time and then later a 6 was added. Meat rationing didn’t officially end until 1954.

    By Tim Sargeant (27/08/2014)
  • The sign on the roof of the van in the 1st. shot is proclaiming that rationing has ceased elsewhere, notably in France and Italy; although I was under impression that Italy never introduced rationing in the first place. The implication being, I think, that it hadn’t yet been relaxed over here. If someone knows when rationing ceased in France; that would narrow it down a bit.

    By Jester (27/08/2014)

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