Description:

The circular medallion showing Thomas Wedgwood's head in profile was taken from a contemporary chalk drawing by an unknown artist that had survived in the ownership of the Wedgwood family.

Background:

The Society of Staffordshire Photographers was formed in 1951. The plaque was made and presented to them by the directors of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd of Barlaston. It was unveiled by Bertram Sinkinson, the President of the Royal Photographic Society.
 

About the subject:

Thomas Wedgwood is best known as a pioneer of photography. He attended Edinburgh University from 1787 to 1789, but was forced to leave due to persistent ill health.
Although prevented from working in his father's potteries by constant headaches, he nevertheless conducted a series of scientific experiments, presenting two papers to the Royal Society in 1791 and 1792 on the equal temperature of red-hot objects.
In 1802, he presented a paper on his discovery of a method of copying objects by exposing paper soaked in silver nitrate to the sun. When the objects were removed, their silhouettes would appear on those parts of the paper which had not been exposed to the light.
However, he could not find a means to fix his pictures (known as photograms), which prevented his method from becoming popular.
Nevertheless, his photograms, if kept in the dark, would last easily for sixty years or more.