On the 10 April 1955, the Magdala pub in South End Park, Hampstead, was the scene of a shooting that sent Ruth Ellis to the gallows. The last woman to be hanged in Britain, the outcry that followed Ruth’s execution was instrumental in bringing about significant changes to the law. Ruth was born in North Wales in 1926, when her father Arthur Hornby changed the family name to ‘Neilson’, which appears on Ruth’s birth certificate. Unable to get regular employment as a musician, Arthur became increasingly violent and abused Ruth and her sister Muriel. The family moved to war-time London in 1941 where 15 year old Ruth got waitressing and factory work. She moved on to acting lessons and singing in a band. But when she became pregnant by a French-Canadian soldier, Ruth discovered her lover had a wife back home, so they couldn’t marry. The baby, Clare Andre (Andy) McCallum, was born in 1944 and brought up by sister Muriel and Ruth’s mother. Ruth started working for Morris Conley, described as ‘...
Research by Dick Weindling (2023) Introduction The Linked Ring was formed in May 1892 after a disagreement within the Photographic Society of Great Britain (the PSGB became the Royal Photographic Society in 1894). The issue arose about differing views of photography as an art or a science. ‘The Onion Field Mersea Island Essex’, originally entitled ‘An old farmstead’, by George Davison (1890) Several impressionistic, soft-focus photographs taken with a pinhole camera by George Davison, were removed by the hanging committee of the annual exhibition in 1891. Following a row during the stormy PSGB council meeting in October 1891, Henry Peach Robinson and George Davison walked out. A total of 12 members resigned, and after meeting for a dinner at a London restaurant, they decided to set up The Linked Ring to promote the artistic potential of photography. Membership was by invitation only and included professionals and amateurs. They held an annual ‘Photographic Salon’ from 1893 to 1...