Godfrey Bingley

Godfrey Bingley (1842-1927) was an engineer, iron founder and photographer. 
He was born on 3 July 1842 in Leeds to Godfrey Martin Bingley and Mary Walker. His father was a newspaper reporter and shorthand writer. 
By 1854 the family was living with Bingley’s maternal grandfather Thomas Walker and Bingley’s father was in business with his father-in-law as a carpet yarn spinner. 
In 1858 Bingley became apprenticed as an engineer to his uncle John Bingley at Harper Street Foundry in Leeds. By the age of 42 he was able to retire and developed an interest in photography. He subsequently travelled around Yorkshire and more widely around Europe and to Mexico, taking photographs which reflected his interests in geology, history and travel. He also lectured on the technical aspects of photography. In 1895 he was elected to the Yorkshire Geological Society.
Failing eyesight forced him to give up photography and in 1913 he donated his archive of around 12000 photographic negatives to the University of Leeds. He died in 1927. 
In 1878 Bingley married Elizabeth Huckvale; the couple lived in Headingley, Leeds and had two daughters.