Jimmy Forsyth was born in Barry, South Wales on 15 August 1913, the son of John and Bertha Forsyth. On leaving school at 14 he became an apprentice fitter in a cement works repair shop, but later joined the merchant navy. He returned to Wales in 1938 to work for ICI at Hirwaun. He moved to Newcastle as a munitions volunteer in 1943 and found a room in Elswick, just off the Scotswood Road, working for ICI at Prudhoe. Just four days after starting work a metal splinter blinded him in one eye, but he continued to work at ICI in other capacities until 1946, when he was sacked. Following this he took various odd jobs, including running a general store for a while. Some time in the 1950s he acquired a camera and began recording the area he lived in. He continued to take photographs until only a short while before his death. In the late 1970s his black and white negatives were acquired for preservation by Benwell Library, and in 1979 the first exhibition of Jimmy's work was held at the Side Gallery in Newcastle. The publication of Scotswood Road by Bloodaxe Books in 1986, accompanied by another exhibition at the Side, and followed by a Tyne Tees Television documentary No Fancy Shades brought his work to a wider audience. He was awarded the Halina Award for photography in 1987 and an Open University Master's degree in 2002.

Reference: TWAS: DF.JF.4651(Jimmy Forsyth 2)
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