William Bradshaw: Leicester Railway Cameraman, 1909-1923

For a short period in his life before and just after the First World War, William Bradshaw concentrated his considerable photographic talents in recording the railway scene in and around his home city of Leicester. Several of his photographs were submitted to contemporary railway journals and were published under his name. However, even then a few failed to be credited to him, a trend which accelerated rapidly over the years, and nowadays it is very rare that his photographs receive acknowledgement: they are almost invariably attributed to author's or publisher's collections and one purpose of this book is to remedy this omission.

He was always a generous man and many of his original negatives have disappeared having, it is believed, been gifted to various friends and acquaintances. The remains of his collection appear to have been split between family and friend with the owners of each part quite unaware of the existence of the other. By remarkable coincidence the authors became aware of the existence of the two parts in 1998 and this volume is the result of their co-operation, along with that of the owners, in bringing them briefly back together.

Many of the photographs have never been seen in print before and together with well-researched captions by John Hurst and Mike Kinder they paint a fascinating picture of the railways around Leicester before the Grouping.