MINISTERIAL visits to Warrington are nothing new.
But documenting them is, as this remarkable picture shows.
Taken from the new book by Warrington Museum manager Janice Hayes, Warrington’s Photographers, it shows the arrival of former Prime Minister William Gladstone in the town.
At about 9.30am on a November morning in 1885, photographer JE Birtles captured this image of the Liberal leader stopping off at the town’s Bank Quay station.
Gladstone can be seen making a speech to enthusiastic supporters from his railway carriage.
His Midlothian campaign set the precedent for a new style of barn-storming election tactics and Birtles’ photograph was a pioneering documentary image.
You can see the original for yourself in Warrington Museum.
And more of the more unusual pictures from the book, which is on sale now across Warrington, are featured in a new exhibition at Warrington Museum called Shadow Catchers.
It runs until the middle of March and entry is free.
The books is on sale now in Waterstones and WH Smith in Warrington town centre as well as selected other outlets in Stockton Heath and Culcheth.
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