Workers at Berry's Blacking Works, Manchester (1901)

Operatives heading out of Berry's Blacking Works.

Hoards of male workers exit a blacking works in Manchester's Rochdale Road area. Like most Mitchell and Kenyon 'factory gate' films, this was shot from a single fixed viewpoint. The camera captures every nuance of expression on the workers faces, from curiosity to amusement to indifference. Berry's Diamond Oil Blacking, loaded on the passing carts, was the leading shoe polish brand at the time.