PHOTOGRAPHS made their first appearance in the County Press in the edition of September 27, 1924.

Prior to that, photographs were a rarity, expensive to produce and strictly reserved for important national events.

Scroll through our gallery of pictures above to see more...

With the appointment of a staff photographer, three or four photographs now began to appear every week featuring subjects ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Isle of Wight County Press: Skating In The Island. It is many years since Island people have had the opportunity of skating on ice and very many made full use of the flooded meadow at Sandown Reservoir last week." December 12, 1925

The original County Press caption read: Skating In The Island. It is many years since Island people have had the opportunity of skating on ice and very many made full use of  the flooded meadow at Sandown Reservoir last week."   December 12, 1925

With cars a rarity and a sketchy bus service, life was still lived at the speed of a horse and many Islanders had no need, nor opportunity, to leave their town or village.

Proving the point that Islanders rarely travelled far, a regular competition featured photographs of Island villages with the caption “Can you name this town or village?”

All the photographs here originally appeared in the County Press.

Just over 100 of the original glass negatives have survived, allowing new prints to be made from them using modern technology.

Nearly 100 years old, the glass negatives are as sharp and clear as the day they were taken.

Featured in this article are a handful of some of the first photographs to ever appear in the County Press, complete with their original captions.

Isle of Wight County Press: "Death of an Afghan and Egyptian Warrior. Henry Saunders, 82, of Cowes. June 10th, 1933

Henry Saunders' picture (above) appeared in the issue of June 10, 1933, and had a much longer caption than normal, which read as follows:

HENRY SAUNDERS:

“Death of an Afghan and Egyptian Warrior. Henry Saunders, 82, of Fellows-road, Cowes, formerly a private in the Seaforth Highlanders, passed away on Friday week.

A typical old soldier, it was remarkable, having regard to the hardships and privations he underwent in foreign campaigns, that he lived so long.

He took part in the Afghan War of 1878-80, and his Afghan medal bears the clasps Piewar-Kotal and Kabul.

The veteran’s other medals were the Egyptian of 1882, and the Khedive’s Star, 1882.

Saunders’s hobby was renewing the wicker seats of chairs at which he was a real craftsman.

He has left a widow and 11 children.”

  • Look through the County Press archive online. Visit: archive.iwcp.co.uk
  • Like reading stories about life on the Isle of Wight in bygone days? Click here to visit our Looking Back section.