Coventry Digital

Nice one, Ben but the couple of 'Highgate Inn' - not sure I have heard of a pub of that name in Cov.

Looks like this pub in Stoke-on-Trent

I can't find a Kearton in the Coventry directories. Looking at BFA the Gosford Street photos were more likely taken from the telephone works. BFA. That also makes it closer to the 30s or later.

There is an entry in the 1957, 1960 & 1972 directories for Raymond John KEARTON (aka John Raymond) at 49 Ashington Grove, possibly born Bedwelty 1900 and died Coventry 1979. There is also a Christopher F KEARTON in the 1957 & 1960 directories at 34 Beechwood Avenue.

I suspect that the Kearton building is not Coventry - it's certainly not one that is easily recognisable. There was a joiner named John Kearton in Congleton, also in Wolstanton, but I'm not sure the buildings fit those locations either.

There is a John Kearton, builder in Tunstall, Stoke on Trent. I can't find the building from the address on Ancestry but in 1881 there is a surgeon next door and the window on the house next John Kearton's building says Surgery. Looking on Google maps many of the old houses in that area have similar headings over the windows. As the pictures of the pub in the collection were Stoke on Trent there is a good chance that Mr Kearton is too.

MR, Anne, inspired detective work. And thanks Heathite. I think as a few of the photos aren't Coventry that the other unidentified ones are suspect. The same with other collections, not all of them are local. There needs to be a 'Not Coventry?' collection.

I'll take them off - and send them to Stoke and various other places. Thank you everyone. As with Arthur Cooper, I'm thinking of collecting metadata for the City Architects negatives too. I have basic info, but you guys can tell me so much more. But I need to check with you all whether there's an appetite for this. Best, Ben

I don't know about anyone else but I'm nervous of editing the spreadsheet. I could do with some standard code words eg 'unknown person' or 'wedding' 'mayoral event', 'sport', 'show', etc. Not all the weddings or sports are Coventry, although most are in the area. I can't decide if I should do the ones I know for sure or just fill in any empty ones with something logical. Should I step through all the images or jump to those with blanks and potentially miss some I know more about? eg h_01574933 - Examining the building frame is John B Shelton (1875-1958) a Coventry archaeologist who pioneered rescue archaeology. But it's also the rear of number 16 Spon Street. h_01571771 is a Pantomime but it's another shot from Puss in Boots, 21st December 1957, Coventry Theatre. I can't seem to get the pictures in the same order as the spreadsheet, which makes it hard to be methodical. It's all a bit overwhelming.

For me, filling in with “something logical” should be avoided. First, they give the impression on a cursory look that they’ve been dealt with. Secondly, many I’ve seen are so far from the truth that they are totally misleading, yet could be taken as correct. Finally, a lot that I’ve come across are so amusingly bad - “man talking to a semi-circle of dogs”, or something along those lines, springs to mind! When one spends time trying to research the photographs and eventually comes up with chapter and verse, from various sources, to find that adjacent images have these “idiot captions” is somewhat soul destroying.

I agree with you MR but it would help to narrow the full list down if they were tagged with a group name eg wedding, scouts, sport, show, mayor, archaeology, meeting, accident, precinct, etc, so that similar things can be viewed together. I often find pictures fit together and once one is identified the others could be quickly added but not if it takes ages to find them.

Dear all Sharing this as a note to say that the Richard Sadler exhibition that I put on earlier this year is having a smaller reprise at CommonGround cafe this winter. We're showing 16 or so of Richard's wonderful post-war Coventry photographs and making limited editions available to buy on archival paper with archival inks, framed or unframed. Do if you get the chance pop along! Best Ben

Dear all Helen, MR - understood. I need to create a gallery for each category if it is to work that way, as I have done for Arthur Cooper - weddings. I'm planning an Arthur Cooper - culture and a cathedral gallery, but worry this may be too big. At least it would cut out the car crashes. I'm afraid that captions will still need to be on a single spreadsheet, so there's a need to use the spyglass in the top right to search for the h_number. This is how I update the assets as a set and cannot be changed.

Had to chuckle at the caption to the statue of Lady Godiva “by Dick-Reid”

Labelled as Hillfields but actually Gosford Street looking east with the Mermaid on the right. Also Gosford Street looking south west, I think? Suggesting that the Hillfields collection might have more non-Hillfields photos.