Shanghai Bund Panorama, Early 1920s, WAB Leach

A panorama of the Shanghai Bund taken from Pudong (probably) by William Arthur Blackburn Leach, probably early 1920s and who usually used either a ‘3A Graflex’ or a ‘Thornton Pickard Special Ruby’ camera.

Leach was born in Norwich in 1872 where he attended a local grammar school, later becoming an apprentice carpenter and engineer. In 1902 after he had qualified, he went to China where he obtained a position in the Public Works Department of the Shanghai Municipal Council. He spent his working life in Shanghai until he left in 1926. More on Leach here courtesy of Lay’s Auctioneers.