Collier, Walter Percy

Walter Percy Collier 1875-1937

Walter Percy Collier seems to have developed his interest in photography some time after Harry Ord Thompson (1871-1950), who was an established photographer on Tyneside, married his eldest sister, Beatrice, on 24th December 1898. By 1910, he could call himself a master photographer and worked with his brother-in-law for a couple of years.

After a short time with his brother-in-law, W. P. Collier came to Bellingham and set up his business in the old butcher’s shop in Lock-Up Lane. Between 1917 and 1919, he was an aerial photographer in the Royal Flying Corps. In this portrait, he is proudly wearing his “maternity jacket” designed to keep out the draughts in flimsy aeroplanes.

The Business of W. P. Collier

Walter Percy Collier set up his business in Bellingham after gaining experience as a photographer and postcard publisher in Great Crosby and Formby in Lancashire and then working with Harry Ord Thompson, his brother-in-law, in Newcastle-upon Tyne. A postcard and a stamp each cost a halfpenny. People used the cards of Walter Collier not only for communication but also to record their travels in private cars or charabancs. Many of the surviving cards of W. P. Collier are unused and marks in the corners show that they were carefully inserted into postcard albums to be shown around to family and friends. Photography, whether for family portraits or postcards, was a real novelty.

The Early Life of W. P. Collier

Details about the early life of W. P. Collier are patchy. He was born on 20th July 1875, the third child of Walter and Isabella Collier. In 1898, his eldest sister Beatrice married Harry Ord Thompson, a Tyneside industrial photographer. Walter married Catherine Poynor in 1905. They had three children Muriel, Edith and Jack but Catherine died on 20th December 1910, aged just 28. He came to Bellingham a couple of years later, served as a photographer in the Royal Flying Corps between 1917 and 1919, and died on 7th September 1937, aged 62. From 1912-1937, he was the main postcard publisher for a 40-mile radius of Bellingham.

The Shop of W. P. Collier

Edie Lyons, Edie Collier and Norman Armstrong worked in the shop and all remember the Valor paraffin stove that stood by the door. The shop was rather cold and dark with dark red shelves. The developing and printing done in the corridor that led to the washing area at the back. Walter Collier sold sweets and tobacco to tide him over the winter. Much to the annoyance of her father, his daughter Edie became a keen motorcyclist but she could help to deliver postcards to outlying areas and bring picture framing materials from Newcastle. Edie Collier would ride the motorcycle and Edie Lyons would ride pillion, hanging on to the materials.

The Words of Norman Armstrong (1923 - 2003)

Norman Armstrong worked for W. P. Collier for a few months after he left school in 1937. “Mr. Collier took his photography very seriously but the shop was not very big and there was not much room for display. He kept most of the postcards in cardboard boxes, though there were a few postcards on display in the shop window. People would come in for sweets and tobacco rather than postcards but his postcards went all over Northumberland. His daughter Edith ran the business for a few months after her father died but she eventually decided to close the shop. She could not get out and about to take new pictures as her father had done.”