W. Benton: My unknown inspiration
If there's one person who inspired me to start this website, it would have to be someone I know very little about. His (or her) name was W. Benton, the photographer who make the amazing series of postcard photographs from the 1913 explosion. Without my appreciation of those images, I don't think that I would have had the foundation to base an entire website on the photographic history of a such a small, Welsh village. In documenting the tragedy, this unsung hero of photographic history has made some of the finest examples of early 20th century photojournalism. I would love to know more about the person, about the photographs (where are the original negatives?), and about other photographs he may have made. The Senghenydd series are the only photographs of his that I've come across. All we know is what is handwrittten on the negative of each of the postcards: "W. Benton, 138 George Street, Glasgow." Does anyone have any knowledge or thoughts to solve the mystery of the man?