Stephen Raffield contacted us a while ago as he had managed to obtain a wonderful intact photograph album put together by John Kempster complete with not only his holiday photographs but also some historic and unique images of the Titanic.

Here is the story of the album as told by Stephen:

“John Kempster joined Harland and Wolff, Belfast in 1900 and was appointed a managing director in 1906 in charge of the electrical plant. Kempster became involved in the construction and launch of both Olympic and Titanic. He was also a very keen photographer and in 2012 an album of photographs taken and developed by him came to light.

A lady walked into a Wiltshire auction house and asked if the album she was holding was worth anything. As well as a number of photographs of the Kempster’s family holiday in America in 1911 the album contained stunning, never seen before, photos of Olympic leaving Belfast for her maiden voyage and also the launch of Titanic and her own departure from Belfast for the first and last time. The photographs are of exquisite quality and finely detailed. The initial plan of the auctioneers was to break up the album and sell off the photographs singly or in small batches. Steve and Jane Raffield, collectors of Titanic memorabilia, were able to negotiate the purchase of the whole album so that this unique record of both Olympic and Titanic at Belfast would be preserved for the future. Photographs Forever digitalised the photos earlier this year in preparation for the album and selected photos to go into exhibition.

The original Kempster album

The album, photos and the rest of the Raffield Collection are currently on display in Brisbane, Australia.”

This is an article written by Stephen’s son Tom for the  Atlantic Daily Bulletin – Autumn 2024, explaining the story  in greater detail. Many of these historic photographs can be seen in the article.