The Easton Photographs: St Monans at the Turn of the 20th Century

William Easton (1860, Pittenweem – 1929, St Monans) was was a pharmacist, shop owner, newsagent, bookseller, stationer, and entrepreneur.

However, Easton is best remembered today as the photographer who documented St Monans village life at the dawn of the 20th century.

His treasured photographs offer a glimpse of life in a thriving fishing village at the height of the Scottish herring industry. They show us St Monans – now a quiet and picturesque holiday destination – as it once was: a bustling port where life was dictated by devout religious observance, unremitting work, and the demands of the sea.

Many of Easton’s photographs were intended as postcards and souvenir prints, which he sold in his drugstore on Coal Wynd, now known as Broad Wynd, in St Monans. He also had a dedicated photography studio attached to his home at 1 George Terrace, where customers sat for formal portraits.

Photographs from the Eastons, father (William Sr.) and son (Ivie, 1896-1979), displayed at the Heritage Collection have been made by the National Museums of Scotland, using Easton’s original glass plate negatives.

The Eastons sold many of their finest photographs to Valentine & Sons of Dundee, Scotland’s leading postcard publishers. We cannot therefore be sure that all the photographs on display in the St Monans Heritage Collection are from negatives that the Eastons themselves would have used.