WHEN it comes to children of the poor in Victorian times, the image is usually one of barefoot little ragamuffins in hand-me-down clothes playing in city slum backstreets.

But there was plenty of rural deprivation too and a rather desperate photograph has come to light which shows that Worcestershire had its share. It’s featured in a new book showcasing the work of John James Cam, a remarkable Worcester inventor who had a second career as an equally remarkable photographer.

Cam took his camera along wherever he went, often on a ride with Worcester Tricycle Club, and the scene he caught one day while passing through a county village is almost haunting. OK so it features a Constable-esque thatched cottage with the trusty farmworker father, breeches held up by braces, but just look at the children: ragged clothes, no shoes, dirty faces and suspicious looks. Whatever did the future hold for them?

Unfortunately (or maybe just as well, because almost certainly it was a tied cottage, which could be embarrassing today) Cam did not note the location, but you can bet your bottom dollar this scene was not unique in the Worcestershire countryside.

Agricultural wages were a pittance and involved long hours and hard work with minimal access to machinery. No wonder the description was “farm labourer”. The rural idyll came at a cost for many.

Another agricultural photograph among Cam’s collection is rather more lighthearted. It shows a scene of horse-drawn traffic carnage in Worcester in 1881 as a flock of sheep are driven along Foregate Street, past the Star Hotel and under the railway bridge.

This would have been no isolated event in Victorian times when livestock had to be driven to and from market. But it needed an alert eye to prevent an errant sheep – and there would always have been one – disappearing into a shop or even through the Star’s revolving doors, which would have caused chaos and colourful language in reception.

Another time warp scene captured by Cam’s camera was at the opposite end of the social scale to barefoot children. It shows Worcester rolling out the red carpet and all the rest in 1865 to welcome home the Earl of Dudley, who was 48, and his teenage bride Georgina Moncreiffe from honeymoon. She was Dudley’s second wife, his first Selina having died within a year of being married.

The couple took up residence at palatial Witley Court, where real jewels hung from the tree at Christmas. For little girls with no shoes it was an impossible dream.

*Author Elizabeth A Hill will be at a book signing of John James Cam, the man behind the camera (price £18) at the Tourist Information Centre in Worcester Guildhall on Saturday, May 27 between 11am and 1pm.