Maurice Broomfield was one of Britain’s greatest industrial photographers. His work captured the beauty and might of British industry in the decades following World War 2.

Born in 1916 in Draycott, Derby, Broomfield left school at 15 to work in a factory and spent his evenings as a student in the Derby College of Art. Inspired by the drama of industry, he endeavoured to convey this atmosphere with photographs and sketches, bringing an insight to those who would never experience such things.

His pictures were meticulously composed, dramatically lit and taken with the love and care of someone who had grown up around industry. He made an innovative use of light, and would often go to great lengths to photograph his subjects - hauling huge lighting rigs to the factory or painting worker’s shoes a different colour to fit an aesthetic.

Despite his talent for portraying the power of industry, Broomfield’s photographs centre not on the machinery or mechanics, but on the people. He used his work to illustrate the importance of the worker, and the great dedication required to master a craft.

He was admired throughout his career, but it was towards the end of Broomfield’s life that his work found new meaning. As British industry collapsed and the communities that supported it disappeared, his work came to serve as a unique and comprehensive record of a Britain that has long since slipped away.

In 2005, the V&A acquired 60,000 of his negatives to incorporate into the national collection. They now serve as a public record - a testament to the many thousands of factory workers, mechanics and lacemakers whose skill and craft helped define many generations of British workers.

Maurice Broomfield died in 2010, at the age of 94.