Victor Childs was born on 28 May 1907 at Factory Place, Rushden. He attended South End School, and left in July 1920. During his life he worked in several of the boot and shoe factories in the town including Denton’s, The Tecnic Shoe Company, Benjamin Ladds and D.B. Shoes.
Factory Place
He lived at 47 Glassbrook Road – one of the houses in this row
He was a keen photographer and won several prizes in club competitions. He was a member of the Rushden Camera Club, which he helped to form, and in the 1960s he opened a photographic shop at 15 Church Street with Mr. C. Mallet.
Vic Childs at the front of the photo with the members of Rushden Photographic Club outside the Co-op Chemist shop in High Street
We have quite a large collection of his cameras in Rushden Museum, some of which are pictured below.
Plate Camera
· Sanderson Regular 1902 Model
· Made by George Houghton & Son, London
Kodak Folding Camera Six-20
· From the Kodak Vigilant series made between 1939 and 1949
Brownie Six-20 Model E camera
· Introduced in 1947
· Discontinued in 1957
· Film size: 620
· Made in UK
Coronet D20 camera
· Made by Coronet in England circa 1950-1959
· The company was formed in 1926 by F. W. Pettifer
· They made cheap and folding cameras until c1967
Kodak Brownie Reflex 20 camera
· Introduced in April 1959
· Discontinued January 1966
· Film size: 620
Kodak Brownie 8mm Movie Camera 2
· Made in 1958
· Fitted with fixed focus Cine-Ektanon F1.9 lens
We also have a collection of Vic’s photos. Below are just a few of them.
22 High Street South – Rushden’s last thatched building
Rushden Hall Park under snow
Rag and Bone man in Windmill Road
Boys fishing
Vic died in 2001 aged 94.