Who remembers this man?

Richard Wyatt

Elsewhere on this page you’ll see a story about recent damage to the fountain in Laura Place. One person has already suggested it is maybe time to do away with what’s left altogether.

Now – in a different spin on the same story – Sally Helvey from the Cleveland Pools Trust has sent me in a picture.

“What a strange co-incidence that you should post this story.
.
I ran a workshop yesterday for our volunteers to help me pack Xmas cards and a lady called Sue Moffet gave me this photo to use for my ‘secrets’.  
It’s of her grandfather Abraham Jacobs who was a Bath cabbie.  This photo of him in his work coat was taken at the Laura Place fountain in about 1962 she thinks.
(There is a mini in the background so it won’t have been earlier than 1959 for sure). 
image1
© Sue Moffet.
Notice how black all the buildings are…..long before the massive Bathstone clean-up in the 70s. 
Anyway, I’m putting it on my Facebook page later today with a link to this post of yours, so do use the photo after that if you wish, with ‘copyright Sue Moffet’.
You never know, someone might come forward if they recognise Abraham’s name…..”
Thank you Sally – and Sue – for letting us run the image. Is there anyone out there who knew Abraham Jacobs – or maybe even worked with him?
The link to the Cleveland Pools Trust to find out more about the planned restoration of this amazing Georgian-built lido is https://www.clevelandpools.org.uk

Published by Richard Wyatt

Freelance Journalist, broadcaster, columnist and local historian. Director of Bath Newseum. Married and lives in Bath. Interested in local history, architecture and visual display in museums and urban spaces.

2 Comments

  1. Did cabbies wear white jackets in those days? The fountain itself looks rather different from the old design shown in your other article – or is it the lower part of it?

  2. I love this photo…Abraham looks incredibly dapper! I would be incredibly sad to see the fountain in Laura Place go, it’s a real focal point. A couple of years ago we had our fountain re-instated – the Boyle Cross – on the Market Place in Frome (I wrote a blog about it for Discover Frome which is on the Frome Town Council website). I was just thinking last night as I walked back from my choir practice how beautiful it looks all lit up and what an asset it is to the town. The same can be said of the Laura Place fountain, it may not be the grandest thing that Bath has to offer but fountains are beautiful – any water feature is – and it would be a shame to see it go!

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