Dracula's Whitby (Part Two)

Yesterday, I started sharing the pics I've been finding of Whitby in the 1890s, but ran out of time because there are so many great images out there. I'm looking at these pictures to get some sense of where Bram Stoker was, when he was researching and writing Dracula. Now, I want to pick up where I left off, but, as you know, this is a blog about my research tangents.

While searching for photos for the Whitby portion of my story, I discovered Frank Sutcliffe, a professional Whitby photographer, who was contemporary to Stoker. Sutcliffe might have dined with Stoker in Whitby, as they were both friends of John Ruskin.

I've chosen photos from Sutcliffe's collection to represent the time period that Stoker would have been visiting Whitby and also just because I think they are neat. Hope you enjoy!

"Stern Realities" 1890.

"Piggy Back" 1890s

Unknown (found by Tanya)

Fisherfolk

A Whitby Street

November (1890)

Robin Hood's Bay (1900)

Boat in Harbour (1890)

Through The Station Doorway

These last two are unknown.

Now that my head is full of wonderful new setting for Stoker in Whitby in the 1890s, I have some other writing to do!

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Dracula's Whitby (Part One)

A pictorial tour of Whitby in the 1890s.

  

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of "Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. - Dracula

Modern-day tourists to the town of Whitby frequently ask where they might find Dracula’s grave. There is no grave because there was no Dracula, but Whitby is one of the locations where Bram Stoker dreamed him up. Stoker was inspired by the town’s history, its red rooftops, and its ghostly Abbey.

Dracula is a source of tourism for Whitby today. Even the lawyer’s address, Number 7 The Crescent, has been turned into a bed and breakfast. Today, I’ve been hunting for images of what Whitby was like when Stoker stayed there in the 1890s. This is what I've found so far:

This elegant Victorian lady is walking past down Pier Road in Whitby away from the sea and the building she as just passed that you can see the corner of is the well know Magpie cafe today (1888).

This spa would have interested Florence Stoker.
I don't know the date, but am guessing 1880s-1900s.

St Michael's Church - Built 1847, demolished 1977.

Gibsons shop. Church street.

Victorian children captured on camera near the Scarborough and Whitby Breweries branch in Pickering.

Circa 1900 boy and dog in Whitby.
The Stokers likely brought their son to Whitby too.

1890s view of the East Cliff.

I found the above image on an interesting site that seeks to find "the authentic holiday lodgings of Mina and Lucy." I was also able to find another image of the spa that I found (above).

The Spa Pavilion just below North Terrace, as Mina and Lucy would have known it.

I seem to run out of space for pictures in this post and should really be writing my book. Be sure to check out my follow-up post for more of the pictures I found of Bram Stoker's Whitby.

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