Victorian & Edwardian Photographic Studios in Derbyshire

[Brett]

I would like to draw your attention to an online family history resource that I have been compiling for about three years.  My site devoted to Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios is aimed at providing a comprehensive guide to the dating of family history photographs in Derbyshire.

It covers all studio photographers who worked in Derbyshire, but concentrates mainly on Victorian & Edwardian artists i.e. pre-WW1.  I have put together an county-wide index to studio photographers, which may never be definitively complete but is now pretty comprehensive, with over 450 separate entries.  I have also compiled a series of Photographers' Profiles; at present there are 114 of them, representing a quarter of all photographers who worked in Derbyshire.  These profiles have a short biography of each photographer and one or more examples of his/her work.  The latter would not have been possible without the contributions of images from over 90 different people and organizations, for which I am very grateful.

I am always looking for further images of studio photographs to add to the collection on the web site.  If you have any old family photos from Derbyshire, please consider contributing scanned images of them to the collection, which will benefit greatly.  I would be VERY grateful for any images, even if there are plenty of examples from that photographer already on the web site!  Instructions on how to contribute photos may be found here.  Alternatively, please feel free to post a reply to this thread or contact me by email/pm.

In addition, if you have old Derbyshire family photos and would like them dated or have other queries, please feel free to send scanned images to me, and I'll do my best to provide some answers for you.  It is usually possible to date old photos, with a fair degree of confidence, to within 3 or 4 years, and often even more accurately, particularly if the full mount and reverse of the photo are still visible.



Regards and best wishes,

Brett

[Jane Eden]

Brett

What a fantastic resource and offer. I will have a look through my photos to see if there are any of use to you. Most of mine are Nottm but there may be some Derbys.

Jane

[Brett]

Thank you, Jane, for your kind words and your offer.  I look forward to hearing from you in due course if you find any.

Regards and best wishes, Brett

[flame]

Hi Brett,
A great site! It will keep me busy for the school Holidays.
Flame

[maidmarianoops]

great photo's and site
sylvia

[ayresa1]

Hi Brett
You have a really interesting website and I intend to spend some time studying it in detail.   I have a copy of a photograph of my greatgreatgrandmother (not the original unfortunately) which was taken by L.B. Hawkes, Flashlight Worker, Castleton, Derbyshire.  I don't know what the difference is between a photographer and a flashlight worker - but would this give any indication as to the date of the photograph?
Best wishes, ayresa1

[Brett]

Thank you sylvia & ayresa1, for your kid comments.

Ayresa1 - I haven't come across this term before in a Derbyshire context, but if you would care to scan the photo (even a scan of a copy is better than nowt) and either post it here in this thread or send it to me by email, I would be very happy to make some estimates as to the date it was taken.  Please supply as much information about the subject as you can, including dates and places of birth, marriage and death.  If you would permit me to include an image of the photo on my web site, that would be even better.

Regards and best wishes,

Brett

[Brett]

After a break of almost a year, I've recently completed a major update of my website devoted to the Victorian & Edwardian Photographers and Photographic Studios of Derbyshire.

The site includes a comprehensive index of Derbyshire photographers and studios from the 1850s right through to the First World War, as well as profiles of and portfolios of some 130 of these several hundred photographers.  The index and profiles have been designed for the use of family historians in dating their own old family photos, and I'm always happy to help out with estimating dates or assessing old photos if I am able.  As always, contributions of images of photos are very welcome, whether they are by photographers already featured on the site, or by new artists, and will be fully acknowledged.

The update includes additional photos and information or completely new profiles for the following photographers:
F. & W.H. Barber of Sheffield & Matlock Bank
J.W. & Ernest Battey of Hadfield
Frederick Barber of Sheffield & Matlock Bath
James Beaumont of Derby
B.W. Bentley of Buxton
E. Bolton of Derby
F.J. Boyes of Derby
James Brennen of Derby
Britannia's Electric Portraits Ltd. of Chesterfield
R. & R. Bull of Ashbourne
J.H. Bunting of Glossop
John Burton & Sons of Leicester & Derby
William Davies of Ripley
Frank Day of Heanor & Derby
C.F. Dereské of Derby
Alfred T. Dillon of Chesterfield etc.
G.H. Eustace of Derby
Joshua Evans of Bradwell
Gertrude Fletcher of Ripley & Nottingham
Thomas Frost of Derby
G. Gibson & Sons of Derby & Nottingham
H.P. Hansen of Ashbourne
J.L. Hart of Ashbourne
Albert Heath of Clay Cross
Henry Hinge of Ashbourne
F. Holmes of Clay Cross
Richard Keene & Sons of Derby & Burton-upon-Trent
C.W. Lee of Eckington
E.R. Leonhardt of Eckington
William Leuchars of Chesterfield
H.J. Morgan's Studio of Chesterfield
William B. Pearson of Derby
Pollard Graham of Derby
J.W. Price of Derby & Ashby-de-la-Zouch
M. Reissert of Derby
John Roberts of Derby
Clement Rogers of Derby
Sankey Bros. of Eckington
J. Schmidt of Belper
A. Seaman & Sons of Chesterfield etc.
Herbert Sharpe & Sharpe Bros. of Ilkeston
W.N. Statham of Matlock Bath
T. Steward & Co. of Buxton
W.E. Swift of Derby
A. & G. Taylor of Derby
E.M. Treble of Derby
Valette Studios of Long Eaton
R. Wallis of Chesterfield
H.J. Watson of Derby
John T. Whitham of Glossop
W.W. Winter of Derby

I would like to publicly acknowledge the huge number of contributions that I have received, both from list members and from visitors to the site, which have made these profiles possible.

If there's anyone that I have left off this list, or anyone who has sent images that don't yet appear on the site, please don't hesitate to let me know, and I'll remedy the inadvertent ommission as soon as I can, hopefully within a few days.
------
Regards and best wishes,

Brett Payne
Tauranga, New Zealand
Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brett/photos/dbyphotos.html

[Brett]

Another six months, and I've just completed an huge update of my web site devoted to Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios.  There are additional photos and information, or completely new profiles for the following studios:

Herbert Batteson of Chesterfield
B.W. Bentley of Buxton
William Bentley of Buxton
E. Bolton of Derby
Erasmus F. Bostock of Derby & Nottingham
George H.E. Bower of Derby
Frederick J. Boyes of Derby
James Brennen of Derby
Harold Burkinshaw of Belper
John Burton & Sons of Derby & Leicester
J. Clayton of Staveley
Charles Carr of Derby
George H. Chell of Belper
Frank Day of Heanor & Derby
George Fenton of New Whittington
G. Gibson & Sons of Derby & Nottingham
Pollard Graham of Burton-on-Trent & Derby
Edward R. Gyde of Aberystwyth & Derby
Arthur H.J. Hall of Swadlincote
George Holdsworth of Glossop
George J. Jackson of Belper
Richard Keene of Derby
E.R. Leonhardt of Eckington, Nottingham & Leicester
William Leuchars of Chesterfield
John Mayle & Sons of Derby
New Studios Ltd. of Chesterfield
R.K. Peacock of Derby
William Pearson of Derby
J.N. Perks of Woodville & Swadlincote
Augustine Porri of Nottingham & Sandiacre
J.W. Price of Derby, John Roberts of Derby
Percy Rowbottom of Matlock Bath
George V. Sankey of Church Gresley
Jacob Schmidt of Belper
John Simnett of Burton-on-Trent
W.N. Statham of Matlock Bridge
Charles S. Swift of Derby
George H. Swift of Chapel-en-le-Frith
William E. Swift of Derby
A. & G. Taylor of Derby
Valray Ltd. of Chesterfield
Samuel Whiting of Chesterfield
Paul Turner of Chesterfield
George & James Watterson of Wirksworth
J.T. Whitham of Glossop
W.W. Winter of Derby
Herbert Worgan of Derby.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who have contributed images or information to the most recent series of updates - their generosity is what makes the project work so well, and I'm very grateful:
John Peacock, Stacy Taylor, Jane Steer, John Palmer, Robin Boyce, Tony Hall, Fran Powles, June Knowles, Robin Bishop, Lynne Tedder, Eileen Beech, Kevin Rhodes, Leonie Cousin, "Alex", Cynthia Maddock, Charlie Bentley, Mandy Whitham, Terry Smith, Richard Leveson, Beatrice Potter, Claire Casey, Bill Horne, Michael Greatorex, Liz Newbery, Liz Sparkes.

I always welcome further additions to the collection, so if you have any old family photographs taken by Derbyshire studios, and would like to contribute images of them, please get in touch with me.  Details for scanning and sending images may be found here.

Regards and best wishes,

Brett Payne
Tauranga, New Zealand