Arthur Berry (7 February 1925 – 4 July 1994) was an English playwright, poet, teacher and artist, who was born in Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent. His individual creative work became deeply rooted in the culture, people and landscape of the industrial pottery town of Burslem.

Life

thumbnail|Burslem School of Art

Berry was the son of a publican and grew up in the potteries city of Stoke-on-Trent during the Depression. He was born with a crippled arm; as he could not work as a miner or manual labourer, Berry was enrolled at the Burslem School of Art in the city. During his time at the Royal College the institution was evacuated from Kensington to Ambleside in the Lake District, to escape the German bombing of London during the Second World War.

thumbnail|Ambleside, where Berry studied during the War

Berry, who suffered from agoraphobia,

Teaching career

After the war, Berry became an art teacher. He worked in London and Manchester, but as a teacher, he is best known for his long association with Burslem School of Art, where he had studied. Burslem School of Art was absorbed within Stoke-on-Trent College of Art, which in turn became part of North Staffordshire Polytechnic in 1971. Berry was a lecturer in painting at the Polytechnic until 1985. Berry's second wife, Cynthia, was one of his students. They married in 1966 and lived at Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

:The Arthur Berry exhibition of work at Ford Green Hall...is compact but conveys the flavour of what the local writer and poet was all about. There is an earthiness and a vitality about much of his work and though abstract painting is not everyone's cup of tea, there is a power about Berry's that is probably best conveyed if you look at the pieces collectively. The Sentinel's article called him the Lowry of the Potteries, though in my opinion, the paintings of Biddulph Moor-born C W Brown, sometimes known as "The Potteries' Primitive", stand comparison. Berry was a fan of Brown, incidentally.

From July 2015 to January 2016 a major show titled Lowry and Berry: Observers of Urban Life, displaying works dating from the 1960s to 1994, was held at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.

From October 16 2025 to January 19 2026 there was an exhibition at Keele University called "Canals, Kilns and Characters" featuring the work of Arthur Berry and, fellow Burslem resident, Maurice Wade.

Stoke-on-Trent life

Berry recalls the artistic inspiration he obtained from... "the streets of my early childhood, the moorland landscape, pit villages, public houses, chip shops, night town and later avenue life." Lamenting change, he bemoans that, "the old wooden mangle rollers were replaced by rubber wringers, the iron range grate by little fancy tiled affairs, the elegant, slim paper packets of five Woodbines disappeared..." He said of his childhood "every house seemed to have an old woman, a drunken man, a gang of kids and a snarling dog." And indeed "propping up the bar at his local public house...is where he felt most comfortable." Yet it was during the 1950s that the, "crushing black agoraphobia descended on him, virtually imprisoning him in North Staffordshire for the rest of his life." But as a man, poet, playwright and artist he came into his own. Peter Cheeseman (Director, for thirty-five years, of the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent and, latterly, the New Victoria Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme), recalls the many animated conversations they had enjoyed, and "the swift gestures of his good left arm, banging at the elbow of his useless right...and the rich talk that pours out of him." "and the publican had got a clean collar and tie on, and all the world was ship-shape--this was happiness."

A year-long programme of events to mark the centenary of Berry's birth is underway in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme throughout 2025, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Events include exhibitions at The New Vic Theatre, Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, film screenings, talks, art, poetry and theatre workshops, school events, the reissue of his poem collection "Dandelions", new publication of a children's book adapted from one of his recorded monologues, "The Tin Chapel", release of an "Arthur Berry Colouring Gallery", the release of an animation, "A Bunch of Flowers", which combines his paintings and an audio story, and the production of his play "Whatever Happened to Phoebe Salt", opening May 2025: arthurberry100.co.uk.

Bibliography of Berry's works

Plays

Mainly performed at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent. In 1986 the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, opened and premiered "St George of Scotia Road".

  • Olive Goes to Town, a comedy in one act for women [with Deane Baker], 1958
  • The Spanish Dancer from Pinnox Street, 1976
  • Wizards All [co-author], 1977
  • Dr Fergo's Last Passion, 1979
  • Quiet please, 1981
  • Dr Fergo Rides Again, 1982
  • The Sweet Bird of Card Street, 1984
  • St George of Scotia Road, 1986
  • Miss Cardell's School Days, nd
  • The Dance of Aberkariu's, nd
  • Whatever Happened to Phoebe Salt, opens May 2025

Audio

Recordings of Berry's monologues were made privately between Arthur Berry and Arthur Wood in Arthur Berry's home. Copyright remains with the estate of Arthur Berry and the estate of Arthur Wood.

Some of the recordings were broadcast on BBC Radio Stoke, across the BBC local radio network, and some items were featured on Radio 4's "Pick of The Week". Arthur Wood accepted a PYE radio award for Best Scripted Radio Talk in 1979 for Berry's monologue "Lament for the Lost Pubs of Burslem".

Berry privately released a collection of eight of his monologues on audio-cassette in 1980, entitled "Lullaby of Queen Street". The album was re-released on CD to coincide with the Lowry and Berry exhibition in July 2015.

Track listing for "Lullaby of Queen Street":

  • Homage to the Chip
  • Lament for the Lost Pubs of Burslem
  • Sweet Mystery of life
  • In Praise of Backs
  • Just a Steady Six
  • Happy Family
  • Homage to the Oatcake
  • The Meatmarket

A further audio collection, "Some Cinders, Some Dockweed" (2019), was released posthumously on CD by Barewall.

Track listing for "Some Cinders, Some Dockweed":

  • Once Upon a Sunday Afternoon
  • The Tin Chapel
  • The Fever Van
  • Bodge
  • Hot Ears (Bodies in Motion)
  • Wasteground
  • A Visit to Cornelius
  • The Lesson

For television

  • Half a Smile from Stoke BBC Omnibus production
  • A Three and Sevenpence Halfpenny Man Central TV Contact Series
  • Arthur Berry of Hanley ATV 1978

Others

  • Street Corner Ballads ~Arthur Berry, Ironmarket, Paperback, 30 July 1977
  • A Three and Sevenpence Halfpenny Man, Kermase Editions, Paperback, 1984
  • The Little Gold-Mine, stories, 1991
  • Dandelions, poems, 1993, reissued, Barewall Books, 2025
  • Arthur Berry: An Observer of Urban Life, Art Catalogue 2015
  • On The Street: Poems by Arthur Berry Barewall Books, Paperback, 2018
  • The Tin Chapel and Other Bits of Daft, by Arthur Berry, Barewall Books, Hardback, 2025
  • An Arthur Berry Colouring Gallery, Barewall Books, Paperback, 2025

Retrospectives

  • Arthur Berry retrospective exhibition: Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, 17 September-27 October 1984, catalogue, Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery (1984).
  • Arthur Berry. The Gallery, Manchester, 1995.
  • Arthur Berry: twenty-five paintings, School of Art, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, 29 April - 20 May 2005.
  • Arthur Berry – the Lowry of the Potteries, Ford Green Hall, Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent, 2007:

"Local artist, poet and writer Arthur Berry had strong links with Smallthorne and this small display focuses on his paintings, writing and unique sense of humour. It includes a video with footage of the artist speaking about his work".

  • Arthur Berry poetry recital, Ford Green Hall 29 April 2007.
  • Arthur Berry: private, School of Art, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, 16 July 2010 – 24 August 2010.
  • The Boys, Keele University, Staffordshire; May 2012. Exhibition alongside work of Jack Simcock and Enos Lovatt.
  • The Burslem Boys, Barewall Art Gallery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, 19 October 2012 – 3 November 2012; exhibited alongside work of fellow Burslem School of Art students John Shelton and Norman Cope.
  • Lowry and Berry - Observers of Urban Life, the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, City Centre, Stoke-on-Trent, 25 July 2015 – 10 January 2016; a major exhibition where Arthur Berry is exhibited for the first time alongside the work of L. S. Lowry.
  • Unseen Works from The Estate of Arthur Berry, The Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek, Staffordshire Moorlands, 1 October 2016 – 12 November 2016.
  • Arthur Berry's Old Timers, Barewall Art Gallery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, 21 Jul 2018 - 16 Sept 2018.
  • BERRY RAW, at New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, curated by Barewall Art Gallery, 30 January - 1 March 2025.
  • Theatre Maker, at New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, curated by Vic Theatre Archive and Barewall Art Gallery, 7 May - 28 June 2025.

References

  • Barewall is a Stoke-on-Trent based art gallery in Burslem and is the official outlet for Arthur Berry paintings, prints, books and CDS: Official dealers in Arthur Berry's paintings including those direct from the Estate of Arthur Berry
  • Another two paintings: Autumn Portrait
  • Arthur Berry and his connections with Brown Edge
  • Arthur Berry reading his poems The Scrapyard, Pleasure Meter & They Are Gone. Copyright ITV. Archived at Media Archive for Central England.
  • Recording of Arthur Berry reading his: "Lament for the Lost pubs of Burslem"