Betty Martin and her husband, David, founded North Staffordshire Heritage to research the history of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire.
David, who was a heritage lawyer, is North Staffordshire Heritage’s chief executive. 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. 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, who died in 2023, went to Brownhills High School in Tunstall. She studied historical geography at the University of Manchester and wrote her thesis on the pottery industry.
Because she went to school in Tunstall, the town always had a special place in her heart. Betty did extensive research into its history and architectural heritage. She wrote an historical analysis of Tunstall’s heritage buildings that 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, 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.
North Staffordshire Heritage plans to publish a series of books based on its research.
The first books in the series are being written by Lee Wanger and David. The titles include The History of Tunstall’s Jubilee Buildings and The Life of Sir Smith Child.
News Desk
Posts tracing Tunstall’s history and architectural heritage will start on this site in the spring.
Our research into the growth of Further and Higher Education in the Potteries will continue this year.
To learn more about this series and our other projects, please email northstaffordshireheritage@outlook.com
(Revised: January 2026)
North Staffordshire Heritage 