Albert Wainwright was born in Castleford in 1898. He was the youngest of the three children of Ada and William Wainwright. William was an engineer for John Lumb and Company, the glass making company and when Albert was very young the family lived
in the glasshouse yard at number 27 Pottery Street (see page 40 of the notebook). When Albert was nine his father paid for him to go to Castleford Secondary School and later he went to Leeds College of Art. From his school days he was a friend of Henry Moore, who became world famous as a sculptor. Albert’s life was not a long one
(he was only 45 when he died) and he never became famous like his friend, but it is easy to see from his work that he was a talented artist with a colourful imagination and a strong personal style. Throughout his life he designed programmes, stage sets and costumes for the theatre and an impressive range of this work is now in the collection at Wakefield Art Gallery.

Over 30 years Albert created a number of sketchbooks which record his travels abroad and parts of his life, such as his time with the Flying Corps in the First World War.

The Castleford Notebook of 1928 is a colourful mixture of street scenes, factories and industry, plus drawings of pupils and classrooms at Castleford Grammar School. The school drawings were done when he worked as an art teacher at the school for two terms to cover for Alice Gostick who was ill. Alice Gostick had taught both Albert Wainwright and Henry Moore, and had played an important role in encouraging their artistic talents. When the notebook was created, Albert was no longer living in Castleford but many of the places he painted would have been important to him when he was growing up.

Some of the pages in the notebook do not have a title and we do
not know which factory or area of Castleford is in the picture. If you do know where the places are, we would be very happy to hear
from you.

contact Mary Matthews on 01924 305899 or
e-mail: mmatthews@wakefield.gov.uk