The photographs of William Blake of Longton.

Our guest speaker was local historian and researcher John Heal, who has catalogued and promoted the historic Edwardian glass-plate negatives and photographs of William Blake (1874–1957). Blake was a stationer and photographer based in a shop in Longton (Stafford Street – later named the Strand). The negatives are now held by The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. John showed the audience many of these negatives in their developed form.  

John also has a personal postcard collection of Blake’s postcard series and he highlighted a number from the "Smokies" set, titled “Fresh Air for The Potteries.” These cards captured both the visuals of heavy industrial smoke and a concern for the social conditions of local working people.

John encouraged the audience to comment on the images, which they did with some enthusiasm. We thank John very much for his presentation which was enjoyed by all.

As an aside, to mark 150 years since the birth of William Blake, Ray Johnson produced a video entitled “William Blake - Edwardian photographer of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire.” The video is narrated by John Heal and covers many of Blake’s photos. The free video is located in the Staffordshire Film Archive page on YouTube.