Description:A rainy day at the junction of Tipping Street and Eastgate Street in the early 1950s, featuring a double-decker bus and the William Salt Library.
William Salt was a banker and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, born in 1808.
For much of William Salt's childhood, the family had a second home in Weeping Cross, but his main home was in London. Later his brother Thomas lived at the Weeping Cross house. William never had a home of his own anywhere in Staffordshire.
In 1868 Mrs Helen Salt, William’s widow, planned to sell the collection, and Sotheby's catalogued it. However, she was persuaded to withdraw it from sale and in 1872 she gave it to the county. Old Bank House, in Market Square, Stafford, belonged to William's nephew Thomas Salt, and he offered it to the county to house the collection, but Mrs Salt did not approve of his scheme, so she bought it from him, and she gave it as a home for the Library. However, Thomas did give the whole of the purchase price towards the endowment for the Library, which Mrs Salt insisted must be raised.
Reproduced by Kind Permission of the Staffordshire Newsletter who retain copyright.