It is suprising the picture that can be painted of someone from a collection of jumbled and diverse glass negatives. J B Willans, who photographed from ca.1895 – ca.1910 is a case in point. A landowner from Montgomeryshire, he meticulously recorded farms and buildings on his estate in Kerry near Newtown. In 1905, aged 24, he wrote ‘The Byways of Montgomeryshire’, lovingly illustrating the book with 79 of his own photographs, taken using the three cameras he took with him on his travels by train or sometimes, horse and trap.
Penrhos Hall, Montgomeryshire, demolished c. 1904.
Willans was a great fan of religious architecture and carefully documented the interior and exterior of Montgomeryshire’s churches. This spiritual element of his personality is also displayed in his decision to visit Transylvania, the cradle of Unitarianism where he photographed sites and personalities connected with the denomination. Such a journey undertaken a century ago required a great deal of planning, and probably patience. He himself was a keen Unitarian as well as being known as a generous donor to educational and cultural institutions across Wales, even down to schools in his local area.
The collection seems to contain one other small surprise. Box 28 of his negatives contains negatives of maps, paintings and book illustrations connected with the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. It seems strange that a peace-loving, philanthropic intellectual should have such an interest in one of the most notorious, plundering and murderous tyrants to have lived up to that time.
See our website for further information about The National Collection of Welsh Photographs