David Sekers was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria, where his interest in industrial archaeology was first stimulated. After ten years in the family textile firm, he changed careers to become Director of the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent and, later, Director of the Quarry Bank Mill Working Textile Museum at Styal, Cheshire. Before retirement he held senior positions at the National Trust. He is now an independent heritage and museum consultant. He is the author ofPopular Staffordshire Pottery(1977).