The Lost Photographs of Mary Alice Young are explored in a new Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund documentary on BBC Two NI
Date Posted: January 23, 2023
A new 30-minute factual documentary, The Lost Photographs Of Mary Alice Young, features an incredible photographic collection of a family and community which has been unseen for over a century. Once believed lost, the images were taken by Mary Alice Young, a pioneering Ulster-Scot’s photographer, and now her family is delving into her past to examine her extraordinary legacy. Produced by Imagine Media Production with support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund, the film airs on Sunday 29th January at 7:30pm on BBC Two Northern Ireland.
Galgorm Castle in Ballymena was a much-loved home to Mary Alice Young. Born in 1867, she was a member of a well-known, wealthy Co. Antrim family. Mary Alice’s interest in photography started in her early 20’s. She had the resources to fund what started as a fashionable hobby – but she quickly developed a flair for taking compelling images.
Alongside the quality of her photographs, Mary Alice’s work has also attracted the attention of historians interested in culture and identity in Ulster. Her photographic collection is an intriguing record of everyday life, with intimate family photographs and artistically inspired images, but her camera also caught a glimpse of a period of turmoil.
Photographs taken during the Home Rule crisis shows members of her family training with the Ulster Volunteer Force. Mary Alice’s husband Willy was involved in the dramatic smuggling of arms and ammunitions into Larne to equip a Unionist force determined to resist Home Rule.
The unique collection of over 1000 photographic images were rediscovered in the Public Record Office in Belfast, among other items bequeathed there for safe keeping years ago by Mary Alice’s family.
Now her great grandson Christopher Brooke is building a fuller picture of his great grandmother’s life. The lost photos were captured on delicate glass plates and time has taken its toll on much of the collection, bringing many challenges as a specialist team attempts to preserve the images for future generations.
Working in collaboration with PRONI, Christopher witnesses how Mary Alice’s collection is being carefully restored and brought back to life. A selection of Mary Alice’s photographs is being chosen by Christopher’s family and members of the Public Records team to be revealed to the public for the first time in over 100 years.
Viewers will follow this unique and intricate process through to the final exhibition at the Braid Centre, where the community will be able to witness the lives of this important Ulster Scots family and the remarkable work of Mary Alice Young.
Producer Stephen Watson says: “The Lost Photographs of Mary Alice Young is not just a family photo album. It is a rich and textured piece of visual and social history of an important Ulster Scots family, as captured through the eyes of a remarkable and pioneering woman.”
