(Q68189)

Martin J. Ridley (1861-1936) was a Bournemouth based photographer who specialised in photographing views in south Wales, Southern England and Australia. He was most active as a photographer during the 1890s-1920s. Most of his photographs of south Wales date from 1900-1910. The majority have been annotated in ink on the plate margin by Ridley. Some were used in the publication 'Sixty One Views of the Rhondda Valley'. Many others were published as picture postcards. Most of those published as postcards can be identified by the use of a four digit number inked on the negative. In May 1964 some 6000 or so Ridley glass plates were to be destoyed. They were however rescued at the last minute and placed in storage. It was not until 2007 that work on cataloguing and sorting the collection began. The 800 or so Welsh views were acquired by the National Library of Wales shortly afterwards.