Stewart Bale

Riverside Station Circa 1945

The evocative images from the Stewart Bale archive are amongst my favourite photographs of Liverpool.

Stewart Bale Ltd. were commercial photographers operating out of Liverpool from 1911 to the early 1980s and specialising in architectural and technical photography. The name of the firm derives from its founder’s surname, Herbert Stewart Bale (1859 - 1929), a printer who immigrated to England from Australia in the early 1900s and established an advertising agency, initially in Seacombe in 1899 and then in Liverpool.

A high standard of photographic illustrative work was required by the business but the difficulty in finding photographers to meet this standard eventually led them to fulfil this role themselves, beginning with the introduction of Edward Stewart Bale (1889 - 1944), Herbert’s son, into the firm as a photographer.

The range of subject areas are great but are particularly well represented in shipping (including major shipping and shipbuilding companies), dock activity; industry and construction (including the Queensway Mersey tunnel); architecture (including construction of Liverpool’s Anglican and Metropolitan cathedrals); transport, social history and World War II (including bomb damage). Further, the geographical range of commissions was extensive within the North West of England and beyond.

We are fortunate that Liverpool Museums have a large archive of the company's work some of which has been published by the Bluecoat Press in "A Liverpool Album" in 1997.

Liverpool Lime Street Station 2006

I was inspired by the classic Stewart Bale shot of Riverside Station to recently take the above photo of Lime Street Station but I am way short of the mark being unable to capture the shadows of the 1945 photo!

Liverpool Museums recently ran a competition challenging people to capture images of Merseyside based on Stewart Bale originals. You can see the results here. If you visit the on-line exhibition you will see the work of Pete Carr who produces outstanding digital images of Liverpool and other subjects. Pete Carr's work was new to me and the Flickr site also contains many interesting images of Merseyside from other photographers as well.

Stewart Bales's former home (dark door) at 158 Rake Lane Liscard

I was re-reading one of Noel E Smith's books recently and discovered that one of the Bales lived at 158 Rake Lane Liscard for a number of years but I am not sure whether it was the father or the son? It is house that I have passed thousands of times over the years and never realised the connection!