Tracing a photographer called Little Tich

[deejayEn]

My grandmother (b 1909) had a few photos of her and her siblings when she was a child. She showed them to me and my brother when we were young. She told me that her family often had their picture taken by a local photographe known as Little Tich. They lived in the area of London East of Regents Park between Albany Stret and Hempstead Road. When she told me this I didn't take much notice and vagely remembered hearing about a musc hall turn known as Litte Tich and thought that maybe it was him who was the photographer.

In more recent years I began to wonder who this Little Tich might be because having looked up the real Lttle Tich (born Harry Relph 1867-1928) he was an actor/dancer but never a photographer.
It is only recently that I took two of the photos from their frames and saw on the back that they have his name Little Tich stamped on them and his business address. The first photo is of my great-uncles (twins) taken in 1914 was taken at 1 Clarence Gardens, NW1. The second taken circa 1920 at 37 William Street, NW1. I checked various street directories and trade directories on line and found nothing against the first address but the second one showed the name Percival Matheson, Photographer.

There are some family trees on Ancestry but he is missed off of them due to when he was born and what happened to his parents. I managed to trace his life back and found that he was born in 1882 in Marylebone, his dad died soon after and his mum sadly was sent to an asylum and he was sent to an orphanege school. He had at least two brothers and two sisters. His grandfather was a successful farmer in Ruislip/Northwood. In 1901 he is woking as an errand boy, living in lodgings in London, ten years later a bakers assistant, still living in lodgings. But at least three years later he is married and working as a photgrapher and according to the later trade directories carried on as  a photogapher into the 1930s. He doesn't seem to have had any children. He died in Eton, Bucks.

I am only guessing but I expect he adopted the trade name Little Tich because like his namesake he was short of stature and it was a memorable name.

But what I think is odd is that I can find no mentions of him as Little Tich or Percy/Percival Matheson in any newspaper, not even in a small trade advert. Also I can find no other examples of his work on line, on ebay or any other source. I would have thought using that name he would be remembered by more people but I seem to be the only person has heard of him and has examples of his photographic work.

Please see photographs and stamps on reverse below.

So I am asking has anyone else heard of Little Tich AKA Percival Matheson or do you have other examples of his photographic work. Or any other information at all would be welcome.

[sparrett]

Just a friendly note here.
The spelling is actually TICH, not TITCH.

This is evident on the photo stamp and in the name of the performer 

Sue

[AlanBoyd]

I note that in 1921 his occupation is "Street Photographer", and also that no. 37 has two other households in occupancy: a family of four named Goodman; and a family of two (mother and son} named Parish. It seems unlikely that he was running a photographic studio of any size at this address. The use of a simple stamp on the back of the photographs is also telling.

My deduction is that his William Street is the street now called William Road which ran between Albany Road in the west and Hampstead Road in the east, although it now ends just beyond Stanhope Street in the west. Looking at the 1910 valuation records, no. 37 was the last house on the south side of William Street approaching the junction with Stanhope Street from the east. These houses are no longer there.

The description of no. 37 is a little difficult to read, but it definitely includes

St[?] shop and parlor

and also

Two storey workshop in rear

Turning to the 1914 address, no 1 Clarence Gardens was very close to 37 William Street, a walk of approximately 200 yds. (It has been completely redeveloped; no 1 was approximately where no. 97 is now.) 

In the 1910 valuation it has

St[?] shop and room

[wilcoxon]

1921. As above.
Susan E Matheson wife
Age28 Years 8 Months
Birth PlaceLondon, London, England

[rogerb]

Just as an aside, the performer "Little Tich" was NOT named because of his stature.  But the word "Tich" entered the vernacular as something small due to the fame of the performer.

[deejayEn]

AlanBoyd  - my brother told me that my grandmother said that she rememberd going up some narrow stairs to his studio that was quite small, so it is possible that he did run the business from his home. We don't think he had a shop.

My grandmother lived in the same area until her death so we all knew the streets quite well but the fact that a lot of it was redeveloped means that, as you say, th houses where he lived are no longer there.

I have just discoverd that he lived at another address in between these two in 1918, no 1 Netley Street but that has been rebuilt, although the houses opposite are still there.

The term Street Photographer means someone who takes photos of everyday life, literally in the street, but these are really formal portraits, so I guess it was likely a general term he used to describe his work.

rogerb - you're right Tich or Titch has come to mean small but Harry Relph was certainly called Little because of his height, so I'm assuming that Percy Matheson was small as well and he was cashing in on the name.

[AlanBoyd]

Yes, that’s what street photography is now, but I don’t think that that genre existed at that time, since cameras were large and lenses were slow. I was imagining that it meant someone who solicited for trade on the street, perhaps with some sort of mobile studio.

[AlanBoyd]

Can you deduce which address your grandmother was remembering? The Clarence Gardens property was on a very narrow site. It also occurred to me that at William Street there might have been a studio in the two storey workshop at the back.

[deejayEn]

You might be right, I need to do a bit of research into photography at that time.

I have corrected the name Tich on the post. Stupidly I have been looking for refs to Titch instead of Tich, so maybe other refs might show up.