The Second War Generation (1940-1950)

During the years of the Second World War (1939-1945), Harry Skitch was the main portrait photographer in Napanee. He had located to Napanee in 1925 after the death of Napanee Photographer, F.S. Richardson. The Skitch family had emigrated from Bude, Cornwall, England in 1893. Harry's older brother, John Frederick Skitch, had established a photographic studio in Cobourg in about 1910.

Portraits were of more interest to Harry Skitch then other forms of photography. It proved a good time to specialize in portraits since the Canadian Government had begun issuing the booklet type of passport in 1921. A photograph of the bearer was needed. Photographs were also required for other forms of identification including railway passes.

Families, servicemen and servicewomen, married couples, older people and babies were just some of the many sitters for Skitch. There was a great demand for portraits of children to be sent to their father serving overseas. A characteristic pose for Skitch portraits of children has the child sitting with one leg curled under them. Children are also often seen holding a ball. Skitch preferred to take full-figure images. Many of his sitters are wearing casual clothes and seem to be posed informally. His wedding photographs often use a painted backdrop and usually the wedding party was arranged in a formal row. Pets were also the subject of several Skitch photographs.

His portraits preserve a remarkable record of the Second War Generation in Lennox and Addington.

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