Betty Martin and her husband David founded North Staffordshire Heritage to research the history of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire and use that research to support regeneration by giving local people pride in the past, confidence in the present and hope for the future.
David is a heritage lawyer, historian and writer. He enjoys listening to traditional English folk songs, exploring heritage towns and watching 1940s movies. His favourite films are The First of the Few, First Comes Courage and North West Passage.
He took A levels at Stoke-on-Trent College of Commerce and studied law and history at the London School of Economics.
Betty and David met in Tunstall. Betty was researching the history of Forster Street School, where her brother, Neil, was headteacher. David was photographing the site of Tunstall Court Leet, which was near the school. The court was an Anglo-Saxon Territorial Court. It tried criminal offences committed in Kidsgrove, Mow Cop, Harriseahead, Brindley Ford, Newchapel, Chell, Goldenhill, Tunstall, Burslem and Cobridge.
Betty died in 2023. She was born in The Rookery, a village near Kidsgrove. She went to Brownhills High School in Tunstall. After leaving school, Betty studied historical geography at the University of Manchester and wrote her thesis on the pottery industry.
Because she went to school in Tunstall, it always held a special place in her heart. She did extensive research into the town’s history and architectural heritage. Her comprehensive historical analysis of Tunstall’s heritage buildings was praised by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Betty was a prolific writer. She wrote about North Staffordshire’s industrial heritage and Coventry’s aviation industry.
Her articles about John Lloyd, who is Stoke-on-Trent’s forgotten aircraft designer, were syndicated throughout Canada, Australia and the United States. Three of these articles have been posted on our website.
Before she passed away, Betty and David planned to publish a series of books based on their research. David and Lee Wanger are writing the first books in the series. Their first book will be about the History of Tunstall Town Hall and Market. Other books in the series include “The History of the Jubilee Buildings” and “The Life of Sir Smith Child.
News Desk
A new series of posts tracing Tunstall’s history and architectural heritage will start on this site in the autumn. The series is based on images in the film strip The Township of Tunstall, made by Highgate School in 1960.
Posts in the series will cover Tunstall’s history from Anglo-Saxon times to the 21st century. They will introduce you to Tunstall’s heritage buildings and its unique Victorian Civic Centre, including the former Town Hall, the Market Hall, the Jubilee Buildings and Tunstall Pool.
To learn more about this series and our other projects, please email northstaffordshireheritage@outlook.com
(Revised: September 2025)
North Staffordshire Heritage 