Wilson Laidlaw's Page

"I would suggest contacting Alan Starkie at Cameraworks-UK.com. Although he is mainly a Leica repairer, he will take on other cameras. He rebuilt a Combat Graflex giant 70mm film motor drive rangefinder camera for me, with its three lenses, where he…"

"It is sad that much of the silver based photo industry has disappeared but behind that, there must have been a huge infrastructure of research and production, to develop and make all the precision machinery, needed for film and paper production. The…"

"Clive, I would have thought an organisation such as the Science Museum or maybe better one of the smaller industrial museums such as The Black Country Museum or The Beamish Collection, would be delighted to be offered and provide a home for such a…"

"Once lockdown is over, I will have to go with my wife, who is a member of the RHS, to look at this collection. I love Autochromes, so it is very sad that the Musée Albert Kahn in Paris never seems to be open. I have tried three times to visit…"

"It might be Branksome Hilders School in Haslemere Surrey. The school closed in around 1965 and became an Olivetti conference centre. "

"The program is well worth watching.  Wilson"

"I think he may be a member of the Boys Brigade.  Wilson"

"I have a Rollex 620 roll film back for my 1908 Wirgin 6 x 9 cm plate folder. If I can find it in my UK house (it may be at my French house as that is where the camera is), I will measure its mounting flanges and post them here. From memory the…"

"William,  A friend of my parents had gone to the World's Fair at Chicago in 1933. He had visited the Ripley's Believe it or Not exhibit, where he had watched someone write the Lord's prayer on a grain of rice, which he purchased.…"

"Probably every stately home built or occupied in the UK, between 1600 and 1850 has some slavery link if one delved deep enough. "

"I will have to check when I get back to the UK in October but I am fairly sure that a number of postcards in an album belonging originally to my great aunt, who lived in Keith, Banffshire, were from G.W.Wilson's company. She lived from around…"

"I regret that the proposed moves are symptomatic of the views of many museums and cultural heritage organisations, that they are very inward looking and over-protective of any outsider viewing or researching any of their stored items. They seem to…"

"There is an interesting article on Nuro here http://www.artdecocameras.com/cameras/nuro/nuro-box/ . I recognise the car, which is a Rover 14 or 16 from around 1937/38. Maybe the boss' car as these were regarded as bank manager's or…"

"The Chavonnes Battery museum on the Victoria and Alfred waterfront in Cape Town, has a very good collection of period photographs and engravings of Cape Town. https://www.chavonnesbattery.co.za ; Wilson"

"I have found museums very resistant to suggestions that there might be any error on any of their descriptions. I was in a museum in New Orleans and I noticed that some Leica cameras were incorrectly labelled (I am a keen amateur Leica historian,…"

"I have a receipt from Wallace Heaton of New Bond Street for my Leica IIIa and f2 Summar (I am only the second owner) and a whole lot of other bits and pieces. Amongst these is a Cresco Enlarger for the sum of £3 5/-. No enlarging lens is in…"