Description:J.R.B Masefield was born in Stone in 1850. His family lived at Old Hall, now the offices of Stone Town Council. He trained in the legal profession, and joined Cheadle solicitors Blagg & Son in the 1870s. He was a keen and highly regarded naturalist, joining the North Staffordshire Field Club in 1883 and lecturing for the Royal Society for the protection of Birds. He was President of the N.S.F.C. on four occasions. His greatest legacy is probably Hawksmoor Nature Reserve, near Cheadle, opened in 1933. He died at his home at Rosehill, Cheadle in 1932.
This photograph was taken in 1921 and published with his obituary in the North Staffs Field Club Journal, Vol. LXVI, 1931-32, Plate VI.
Photographer: William Blake of Longton.