Maurice Broomfield


Maurice W Broomfield was a photographer whose images of post-war British industry were credited with capturing the optimistic spirit of the time.

Life and work

Born in Draycott, Derbyshire, Broomfield was the son of a lacemaker. On leaving school at 15, he worked as a lathe operator on the assembly lines of the engineering company Rolls-Royce. In the evenings he studied at Derby College of Art. During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector, working in the Friends Ambulance Unit as an ambulance driver in the London Blitz, and after the war for Save the Children in Germany.
Broomfield's archive has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The British Library conducted an oral history interview with Maurice Broomfield in 2007 for its An Oral History of British Photography collection.

Personal life

Broomfield married twice, firstly to Sonja Lagusova in 1947 with whom he had two children, Ann, and documentary film-maker Nick. Lagusova died in
1982, and in 1987, he married Suzy Thompson-Coon