John Bickerdike (1895-1973) woodcarver/sculptor and puppet maker, was born at Windhill, near Shipley. He was apprenticed, aged 14, to a woodcarver and attended evening classes at Bradford School of Art. During World War One he enlisted in the army, fighting at Mesopatamia. After the war he returned to Bradford and…
Tony Bevan, figurative painter, was born in Bradford in 1951. He studied at Bradford School of Art between 1968-71, then in London at Goldsmiths’ College, 1971-74, and the Slade, 1974-76. Since 1976 he has exhibited his work in London, Cardiff, West Germany, Poland, Sydney and New York. Bevan’s work…
Bobbie Beswick (1933 -2015) painter, was born in Bradford, and lived at Clayton. He attended Bradford grammar School and studied at Bradford Art College, where he won the Henry Brown prize for work of special merit. He then won a place to study at the Royal College of Art, obtaining…
Joseph Clayton Bentley (1809 – 1851) was born in Bradford. He started his career locally as a landscape painter, but in 1832 went to London to develop his talents as a line engraver, under the tutelage of the English landscape engraver, Robert Brandard. Line engraving gave him skills that were…
Ernest Alfred Sallis Benney (1894-1966), painter and designer, was born in Bradford. He initially studied art locally and then later at the Royal College of Art in London. He became a well-regarded art teacher and later became Principal of art schools, including Cheltenham School of Art, Norwich School of Art, Hull…
Ian Beesley was born in Bradford, 1954. After leaving school in 1972 he worked as a labourer in a textile mill, then in an engineering foundry, before working at the local sewage works, Esholt, as the ‘roadrunner’ in the railway gang. At the sewage works in 1973, he bought his first camera…
