These remarkable pictures give rise to nostalgic feelings and it is easy to set them in the context of subsequent events. People's comments are naturally kind to the subjects but a few speculate on the standard of living endured by the masses. I am not sure though whether they were more 'backward' in 1910 there than in other countries. There was a photographic archivist commisioning similar pictures in colour of parts of western Europe, e.g. Wales, Cornwall, Ireland , Scandinavia, later than 1910 showing instances of abject poverty. In fact, a teacher in my family in the 1930s said that some pupils would come to school in bare feet. And that was in an English industrial city!