I used to paint with five other painters, and I’m the only one of the five left – the others passed away quite some time ago. They called us the ...
Early years
James Speight was born on 25th February 1879, the youngest son of Edward Hall Speight and Louisa Gulliver (m.1861). Edward Hall Speight was originally from Ambleside in Cumbria; he ...
Edward Hall Speight, Photographer
The Speights were a family of talented photographers. Edward Hall Speight (originally a Wesleyan schoolmaster) set up his photography business in Rugby around 1872. All of his ...
James’ story continues with a series of letters he wrote to family and friends during his time on active service in the First World War. These letters were all returned ...
A general background
My great grandfather was a master photographer based in Rugby, he started the Redding studio in the town which lasted for 100 years. John Frearson writes1 how Redding ...
In April 1987, builders were working on 16 Augusta Place and broke through a bricked up wall to a cellar. It was highly unlikely that they expected to find what ...