Henry Cyril Casserleyfull name established from entries in (12 June 1903 – 16 December 1991) was a British railway photographer. His prolific work in the 1920s and 1930s, the result of travelling to remote corners of the railway network in the United Kingdom and Ireland, has provided subsequent generations with a comprehensive source of illustrations for books and magazines.

Life

Henry Cyril Casserley was born in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

, the son of Edward Casserley, a minor

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

official, and his wife Sarah (). Edward Casserley loved mechanical objects and constructed from scratch a

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

in the loft, which may have inspired his son's enthusiasm for trains. Henry spent his working life in the head offices of the

Prudential Assurance Company Prudential plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people. Prudential has dual primary listings on the London Stock E ...

in London, but was evacuated to

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He married Kathleen Goose on 16 July 1931. Their son Richard (31 December 1936 – 18 October 2017) also took up photography and later acted as custodian of his father's collection. The family lived beside the railway line just east of

Bromley South railway station Bromley South railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town centre and high street of Bromley, south-east London. It is down the line from and is situated between and . The station and most trains that serve the st ...

from 1931 to 1939 but moved to a house on a new estate at

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

, Hertfordshire, because the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the Southern Railway greatly reduced the number of steam trains passing Bromley. Casserley acquired his first

motor car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

in 1934, which aided his reaching obscure small railway lines and investigating

windmills A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some par ...

, in which he had also developed an interest. He was in military service from 1942 to 1944, mostly based in the Army stores section at

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...

, but was invalided out and returned to his job at the Prudential. He retired in 1964 and devoted himself to his 'second career' as photographer and writer. His wife died in 1986 and his interest and memory then declined until his death, aged 88 in Berkhamsted.

Photography

Casserley's first camera was a

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

no.2 folding Brownie with f/8 Rapid rectilinear lens acquired in 1919, but this was soon replaced by a professional standard Butcher's 'Popular Pressman' quarter-plate

reflex camera {{Unreferenced, date=July 2021 A reflex camera is a camera that permits the photographer to view the image that will be seen through the lens, and therefore to see exactly what will be captured, contrary to viewfinder cameras where the image coul ...

(using 4¼" x 3¼" glass plates). In 1937, he replaced it with one of the new Leica 35 mm cameras, which was much more convenient and served him until the end of his career, being replaced with an identical model when the original was stolen in 1963. Despite a few experiments with early commercial

colour film Color photography is photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray- monochrome photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only of ...

, he remained committed to the

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

medium to the end and always did his own processing and printing. He was meticulous in keeping records of his negatives, using a numbering system he later shared with his son, and estimated that he had personally taken 60,000 railway subjects by 1972, in some fifty-two years of work. He started by recording

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

, usually "on shed" because of the bulk of his camera and the slow film speeds, but he expanded his range to cover scenes in and around stations as his desire to travel over all lines of railway in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

took him to obscure corners of the railway system. There are many characteristic broadside shots of Southern Railway locomotives "at the bottom of the garden" in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

in the 1930s, but generally he had little time for the scenic movement in railway photography, being strictly a "photographer of record". He largely stopped photographing railways with the end of steam traction on British Railways and Córas Iompair Éireann.

Publication

Casserley began contributing articles on railway and travel subjects from 1919, but was soon better known for supplying photographs to ''

The Railway Magazine ''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in ...

'' and enthusiast society journals. An early success was to obtain the first photograph of

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

0-10-0 banker locomotive 2290 in steam, at

in January 1920. Before retirement, he wrote or compiled only a few books, including the self-published ''Locomotive cavalcade'' (1952), and editions of ''The Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain'' for

Frederick Warne & Co Frederick Warne & Co. is a British publisher founded in 1865. It is known for children's books, particularly those of Beatrix Potter, and for its Observer's Books. Warne is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

. From 1964 to 1979 he put together more than 20 titles, mostly collections of photographs – usually his own – for specialist transport publishers

David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...

, Ian Allan and D. Bradford Barton.

Bibliography of major book publications

* ''Veterans of the track'', Ian Allan, 1946 * ''Locomotive cavalcade'', H. C. Casserley, 1952 * (ed.) ''Service suspended'', Ian Allan,

951 Year 951 ( CMLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Berengar II of Italy seizes Liguria, with help from the feudal lord Oberto I. He re ...

* (with Leslie Lewis Asher) ''Locomotives of British Railways'', 4 vols, Dakers, 1955 * ''The Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain'', 5 editions, F. Warne, 1955–1966 (and subsequent 'historic' reprints) * ''The historic locomotive pocketbook: from the ’Rocket’ to the end of steam'', Batsford, 1960 * ''Steam locomotives of British Railways'', 3 editions, Hamlyn, 1961–1973 (with assistance from Leslie Lewis Asher, based on the 1955 Dakers publication) * (with S. W. Johnston) ''Locomotives at the Grouping'', 4 vols, Ian Allan, 1966 ** 1: Southern Railway 974 paperback edition ** 2: London & North Eastern Railway 974 paperback edition ** 3: London Midland & Scottish Railway 974 paperback edition ** 4: Great Western Railway 974 paperback edition * ''British locomotive names of the twentieth century'', Rev. ed., Ian Allan, 1967 * ''Midland album'', Ian Allan, 1967 * ''Britain's joint lines'', Ian Allan, 1968 * ''Preserved locomotives'', 5 editions, Ian Allan, 1968–1980 * (with C. C. Dorman) ''The Midlands'', (Railway history in pictures series), David and Charles, 1969, * ''London and South Western locomotives'' (incorporating F. Burtt: ''LSWR Locomotives: a survey 1873–1922'', published 1949) Ian Allan, 1971 * ''Railways between the wars'', David and Charles, 1971, * ''H. C. Casserley'' (Famous railway photographers series), David and Charles, 1972, * ''Railways since 1939'', David and Charles, 1972, * ''Outline of Irish railway history'', David and Charles, 1974, * ''LMSR steam, 1923–1948'', D. Bradford Barton, 1975, * ''Wessex'' (Railway history in pictures series), David and Charles, 1975, * ''The Lickey Incline'' (Locomotion papers, 91), Oakwood Press, 1976 * ''LMSR locomotives, 1923–1948'' (three vols), D. Bradford Barton, 1976 * ''Recollections of the Southern between the wars'', D. Bradford Barton, 1976, * ''LNER locomotives, 1923–1948'', D. Bradford Barton, 1977, * ''LNER steam, 1923–1948'', D. Bradford Barton, 1977, * ''Irish railways in the heyday of steam'', D. Bradford Barton, 1979, * (ed.) ''The later years of Metropolitan steam'', D. Bradford Barton, 979? * ''Light railways of Britain : standard gauge and narrow gauge'', D. Bradford Barton, 1979, * ''Scottish railways in the heyday of steam'', D. Bradford Barton, 1979, * ''Welsh railways in the heyday of steam'', D. Bradford Barton, 1979,

References

* *

External links

H. C. Casserley at SteamIndex.com

br />– Article about a journey on the

Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (The L&LSR, the Swilly) was an Irish public transport and freight company that operated in parts of County Londonderry and County Donegal between 1853 and 2014. Incorporated in June 1853, it on ...

from ''

'', May 1938, with photos taken on the trip. {{DEFAULTSORT:Casserley, Henry C. 1903 births 1991 deaths People from Clapham Photographers from London Rail transport photographers British railway artists Rail transport writers