Letchworth Garden City at Work: People and Industries Through the Years

Founded in 1903, Letchworth Garden City is one of the world’s first new towns. It was the realisation of the principles of social reformer, Ebenezer Howard, who sought to combine the best of town and country living. One of the first industries to arrive in the town in the early years was the manufacture of corsets by the Spirella Company, from 1920 till the 1980s when corsets fell out of fashion and the factory closed. During the Second World War, the factory was also involved in producing parachutes and decoding machinery. The biggest employer in town was British Tabulating Machine Company, later merging with Powers-Samas to become International Computers and Tabulators (ICT) and finally part of International Computers Limited (ICL). At one time the ‘Tab’ as it was known occupied over 30 factories in Icknield Way.

In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, Letchworth Garden City At Work explores the life of this unique Hertfordshire town and its people, from its beginnings when people would come to marvel at this strange social experiment, through the trauma of German bombing in the Second World War and into the technologically advanced world of today.