In passing: John Anthony Benjafield (-2023)

[Michael Pritchard]

BPH has been advised that John Benjafield, the former dealer in photography and photohistorian has recently died. Based in Norwich, John had a successful career as a dealer in vintage and collectible photography, photographic illustrated books, and was a regular at auctions and fairs from the 1980s to 2000s. He was a regular exhibitor at the former London Photograph Fair, held at the Bonnington Hotel. 

More recently, John had turned his attention to sharing his extensive photographic knowledge, especially that of East Anglia and contributed text to A Victorian Gentleman's North Norfolk about the Norfolk photographer W J J Bolding (1815-1899), and in 2016 he set up a website Early Norfolk Photographs 1840-1860  

Please share your own memories of John. 

[Hugh Ashley Rayner]

Very saddened to hear of John's passing. I knew him for well over 30 years, as a fellow exhibitor at the London Photograph Fairs. A great character, and immensely knowledgable. 

[Nicholas John Burnett]

Very sorry that we have lost Ben.  Always interesting and interested.

[Paul Hill]

So sad to hear of Ben’s death. He came to our workshops at The Photographers Place in Derbyshire as a keen photographer and later turned his energies to creating a photographic dealership. He was most helpful, as was his close friend, Mike Ware, when my archive was put up for sale in the early years of this century. He was a great raconteur and lots of fun. What a loss….

[Alex Novak]

Ben was a dear friend, whom I had the pleasure of working with in photography for nearly 25 years. As others have noted, he was a true gentleman with extensive photography knowledge that he was always willing to share readily with others. So sad to hear of his passing. A great loss to the field and to his friends and family.

[Mike Ware]

My friendship with "Ben" -as I always knew him- goes back to our teenage years, when we shared many adventures - rockclimbing, and later hot-air ballooning, etc. Subsequently, his bibliographic expertise and dealership in vintage books and photographs provided invaluable sources for my research into the history and chemistry of 'alternative' photographic processes. His generosity of spirit knew no bounds.

https://www.mikeware.co.uk/mikeware/main.html

[Clare Everitt]

I was sad to hear about John Benjafield, he was was very generous with his time and expertise in helping develop the early photographic collections at the Norfolk Heritage Centre. I learnt a lot from him in the many hours spent cataloguing along side him. 

[michael g. jacob]

Very sorry to hear about John Benjafield, whom I have known, I reckon, for forty years. He was always the perfect gentleman, bright and welcoming whenever we met at a fair or market on my occasional visits to England. He will be missed!