Belching Collection

Fresh Air from the Potteries
" Fresh Air from the Potteries" A sarcastic caption accompanying a fine photograph of the skyline of dark satanic mills which characterised the Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent)

The Horrors of Home
A Captain, home on leave during World War I returns to his tranquil countryside village to discover it is now a hub of industry complete with belching chimneys, manufacturing armaments for the war

The Railway Dragon, pub. 1841 (engraving)
3025393 The Railway Dragon, pub. 1841 (engraving) by Cruikshank, George (1792-1878); Private Collection; (add.info.: alludes to the crash in value of railway stock in 1845/6)

Benxi cement plant in NE China
Benxi, China, April 1999; Cement plants anywhere in the world tend not to win beauty contests. And this one, in the bleak industrial city of Benxi

CRUIKSHANK, George (1792-1878). Cartoon called A Radical Reformer, i.e. A Neck or Nothing Man! Dedicated to the Heads of the Nation. It was published by Thomas Tegg of Cheapside on 17 September 1819

Didcot Power station
With the cooling towers pushing out lots of steam, the photographer captures a dramatic picture. Taken in the late 60s Date: late 1960s

Russo-Japanese War - Retvisan Russia - Ship sailing, funnels belching smoke. Part of Box 168 Boswell Collection - Russo-Japanese War. Date: 1904 - 1905

Black Country near Bilston, Staffordshire, England, at night, showing glowing furnaces and chimneys belching smoke. Engraving from Staffordshire and Warwickshire Past

St Helens / Lancs C1900
St Helens, Lancashire: factory chimneys belching out smoke

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Belching: A Universal Experience, from the Fresh Air of The Potteries to the Horrors of Home - an age-old phenomenon captured through time. From the engraving of 'The Railway Dragon' in The Railway Dragon pub. 1841, to the industrial revolution's smokestacks in Didcot Power Station and the Black Country near Bilston, Staffordshire, England. Even as far as Benxi cement plant in NE China, and the battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War in Retvisan, Russia, the sight and sound of a mighty belch has been a constant companion to humanity. George Cruikshank's cartoon 'A' humorously depicts this common occurrence, while the glowing furnaces of St Helens, Lancs, C1900, remind us of the power and might behind each eruption.