THESE pictures are from a collection of glass plates originally discovered in the cellar under the WH Smiths store in the Market Place, Devizes.
This was the former premises of C W Clark, a local photographer, stationer and book seller, who sold pictures of local scenes around Wiltshire.
His photographic images were also published by Dotesio and Todd in photo albums under the title of The Market Library and were available to the public to buy.
The crate of negative plates were given to the Wiltshire Gazette for safe storage, as our office was opposite the WH Smith shop in the Market Place.
Our photographer, the late Colin Kearley, discovered the plates in the cellar of the newspaper office and approached local historian John Girvan to help with the historical find.
Together they looked through the plates, selecting local scenes of Devizes, and working together in the darkroom they were able to produce a set of contact sheets from the old and dusty plates.
John Girvan displayed the images in 1975 in a derelict shop window that the trust for Devizes was using for local historical interest.
The photographs were then published in 1982 under the title of Devizes Camera, which was edited by John Girvan and David Buxton.
Colin was able to safeguard the longevity of the collection with the arrival of digital technology by copying the photographic archive onto CDs, which were then deposited in the Wiltshire County records office.
As a fitting tribute to Colin’s hard work and dedication as a press photographer, the museum refers to the collection of the glass photographic plates as The Kearley Collection.
Colin Kearley, above and below
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