In August 2019, I found a lot at a local auction house, which was described only as ‘200 glass plate negatives’. Of course, as a photographer, I was naturally interested and won the bidding.
After counting the whole collection, I found 529 glass plate negatives mixed in medium and large format and 56 medium-format film negatives.
Harold Kenneth Hartley, courtesy of the University of Gloucestershire Special Collections and Archives.
One of the chemistry labs at the school.
View from the rear of the assembly hall. The hall had other uses, too, such as the music and art room. The centre piece is the organ and there’s a grand and baby piano. The Dying Gladiator can be seen at the front of the hall.
View the rear of the assembly hall; the time is 10:48. Centaurs and other Greek figures adorn the area. The portrait of Hugh Oldham (the founder of MGS) can be seen to the right of the frame.
One of the many libraries at the school.
Woodwork classroom with belt-driven lathes may have once been powered by steam.
The courtyard shared between Chethams boys school and MGS. To the left and right you can just see MGS with the footbridge that joined both the new and old buildings.
A further photo of a chemistry lab at the school.
A view of the very uninviting pool which was quite a new addition. The school was originally built without a pool.
A further image of the boys from Chethams school, a very rare photo, one that has not been seen before by the school.
It took two years to identify the photographer, and the breakthrough came on September 19, 2021, with information from Louise at the University of Gloucestershire Special Collections and Archives.
Harold’s colleagues at the teaching college.
Louise told me that several images in one of their year books, 1937-1938, were identical to some that I have. The name ‘ H.K. Hartley ‘ was written at the bottom of their photos. Also included was a photo of Harold with his then-current home address, 32 Shirley Road, Cheetham Hill, and in the collection, I have a photo captioned with the same address. This was a milestone in the project.
