Jim Jarvis (1920s - 2012)

Childhood at Gorselands

By Rosemary Ross

Gorselands, 1935

LHS archives - JJ 043

Among the slides given to the Society from Jim Jarvis's estate in 2013, are some photos from his childhood at Gorselands, Queen's Road, which he had evidently copied to transparencies. These were digitised by Peter Boden.

Marked "JMJ in full dress uniform, aged about 6". copied by JMJ from a 1920s photo in 1998

LHS archives - JJ 174

JMJ on bicycle - 1999 copy made by JMJ from 1920s photo

LHS archives - JJ -175

E C Jarvis in his car on Harpenden Common in December 1927 - is he towing Jim?

LHS archives - JJ 173

Kodak Retina 1 camera, used regularly by Jim Jarvis from 1950-1964, and still in use in 2009

LHS archives - JJ 178

Jim was a life-long keen photographer and member of Harpenden Photographic Society, of which he was President for many years. He also left a large number of black and white glass negatives, which John Marlow converted into digital images. Some are of houses being built by E C Jarvis during the 1930s, and we are trying to identify where they were and which are still in existence.

Also among the glass negatives are a number of views of Gorselands, and its gardens, which are in a gallery at the bottom of this page.

This is just the start of a biographical note on Jim Jarvis, yet to be written. Can you help? If so, please contact us.

Photo:JMJ on bicycle in Gorselands garden - 1999 from 1920s photo

Photo:Jim Jarvis - "sartorial ragamuffin" - aged 8-10, 1999 copy of photo

Photo: Illustrative image for the 'Jim Jarvis (1920s - 2012)' page

Photo:Unidentified - was this at the back of Gorselands? 1999 copy of a photo

Photo:Winter view from Gorselands, 1934/5

This gallery was added by Rosemary Ross on 01/03/2016.

Comments about this page

Gorselands was for many years later occupied by Mr and Mrs William Blackden and their three daughters. Jean Blackden ran a junior school there that was originally part of St Georges.

Being close to St. John's Church, Gorselands became a base and rehearsal room for many of the drama productions that the Revd Michael Mayne and others produced in the 1950s.

Jean Blackden afterwards lived in Harpenden for many years and remained a close friend of my mother, Freda Wyborn, until their deaths in 1990/91.

By John Wyborn
On 22/03/2016

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