Description

Summary: copy photograph, black and white, men and women in overalls or dungarees, with row of Tilley lamps, VJ Day 1945

Identification note: Arthur T Lloyd has written 'Bradbeers near Old Milton Road; factory; war' on back. After a appeal in the Lymington Times (2008) we now know that the photo was taken on VJ Day 1945. It shows people working for New Milton Sheet Metal Works in Old Milton Road, run by Henry Harvey. Originally the New Milton Joinery Works, it changed to sheet metal as timber was rationed during the war. It made parts for Bristol Hercules Aero Engines for fighter planes and later hurricane lamps, as shown in the photo, for the use of troops in Bruma and Hong Kong and after 1945 for Africa. The lamps were begun in a factory in Totton and sent to New Milton to be finished and boxed for export. In 1947 the site was sold to Bradbeers.