Collection: A.H. Verstage photographic collection

Description

This material has not yet been fully catalogued. Copyright, date, and quantity information for this record may be incomplete or inaccurate.

The collection contains 9 glass plate negatives and 156 lantern slides compiled by architect, A.H. Verstage. The images were captured at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries and depict subjects mainly in London, Godalming in Surrey, Chartres and Rouen in France, and Brussels and Ypres in Belgium.

The negatives comprise 7 images of Verstage's book and art filled study in Godalming or London and 2 picturesque portraits of boys with horses standing in a stream beside an early stone bridge.

The lantern slides are primarily architectural and archaeological in subject. The first 66 slides depict mainly Belgian and French cathedrals, landscapes of Welsh scenery, street scenes in Godalming, and Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts style commercial, civic and domestic architecture in London.

The remaining 89 slides were part of a lantern slide lecture entitled 'Glimpses of Old London'. They include mainly images of interiors and exteriors of buildings in central London. Notable exceptions include: artefacts and excavations associated with archaeology of London Bridge, Bermondsey Abbey and a Roman boat; spinning machinery in Alma Terrace, and interior views of cells in the prison on Wellclose Square.

A handlist is available.

Archival History

Arthur Halcrow Verstage (1875-1969) was an Architect who conducted much of his career in the public sector working for London County Council and then as District Surveyor for Lewisham. He oversaw the design of the LCC's Central School of Arts and Crafts in Southampton Row (1905-8). He was an enthusiast of Arts and Crafts and designed a house in that style for himself in Forest Hill in 1934. He was a devotee of William Morris and with May Morris was active in founding the Kelmscott Fellowship (later the William Morris Society).

The collection was acquired by the NMR in 2005 from Janette Ray as 3 lots in the sale of the Verstage archive including negatives of F. Howard-Mercer (NMR collection reference FHM01).

Content

Rights

Source: Historic England Archive