NO-ONE wants to spend Christmas in hospital - especially if you’re a child.

But at least the children’s ward staff at York County Hospital in 1928 pulled out all the stops to make it a special day for the children in their care. That Christmas tree in our main picture today is magnificent.

The photograph was taken by commercial photographer Thomas Hanstock, who was active in York for many years in the early 1900s.

Hanstock had a keen eye for what made a good picture. He photographed everything - from the early electrical illuminations put up to celebrate the coronation of King George V on June 22, 1911, to the restoration of the York Minster bells in 1924 and the city council’s early attempts at recycling in the 1930s.

Many of Hanstock’s extraordinary original photographs are now in the keeping of the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society (YAYAS).

As we reported on these pages a couple of weeks ago, YAYAS members Paul Chrystal and Ian Drake have now brought out new book - Life in York 100 Years Ago - based on Hanstock’s collection. All our photos today come from that book.

York Press:
The bells of York Minster, after they had been restored by John Warner & Sons in 1914

As well as a first class photographer, Hanstock was also a tech wizard  - and a bit of a philanthropist to boot.

He was a frequent visitor to York County Hospital, where he would help staff take X-rays. He also gave a demonstration to the hospital’s matron about the potential for ‘wireless broadcasting’ and how it could help patients.

In 1925/26, he actually installed a wireless system in the hospital - one of the first such hospital systems anywhere in the country, according to Chrystal and Drake. And naturally, being the man he was, he was on hand to photograph an elderly patient listening to the new-fangled wireless from the comfort of his hospital bed...

York Press:

Hospital radio, 1920s-style. Photographer Thomas Hanstock installed a wireless system in York County Hospital - one of the first in the country.

  • Life in York one hundred years ago by by Paul Chrystal and Ian Drake is published by Palatine Books, priced £12. It is available from York’s main high street bookshops and most online book retailers, or can be ordered directly from YAYAS by emailing collections@yayas.org.uk.