Directory of Early Photographers in Leicestershire - Sources and Conventions

Coverage:

This directory covers the whole of the county of Leicestershire. But researchers should also be aware of Leicester Photographic Studios in Victorian and Edwardian Times by Bernard & Pauline Heathcote (Royal Photographic Society, PhotoHistorian Supplement, 1982). My online directory has been compiled independently of theirs, and no recourse has been made to their findings. So, though the Heathcotes’ work deals with only the town of Leicester, it may contain some information that I have failed to discover.

The following abbreviations are used for Leicestershire sources:

BAL Barker’s Leicestershire

BEL Bennett’s Leicestershire

BUL Buchanan’s Leicester & Midland Towns

CG Commercial & General Directory & Red Book of Leicester

DL Drake’s Leicestershire

HL Harrod’s Leicestershire

KL Kelly’s Leicestershire (including PO Leicestershire)

LTP Leicestershire Trade Protection Society’s Leicester

ML Melville’s Leicestershire

SL Slater’s Leicestershire

SIL Spencer’s Illustrated Leicester Almanac

WL White’s Leicestershire

WLO Wills’ Loughborough Almanac

WMD Wright’s Midland Directory

WRLE Weight’s Leicestershire

WRLR Wright’s Leicester (and, sometimes, a number of miles around)

Evidence has been drawn from:

BAL 1875

BEL 1888, 1902

BUL 1867

CG 1875

DL 1861

HL 1870

KL 1855, 1864, 1876, 1881, 1888, 1891, 1895, 1899, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1916

LTP 1870

ML 1854

SL 1862

SIL 1880

WL 1846, 1862, 1863, 1877

WLO 1878, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889,

1893, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1902, 1903

WMD 1864

WRLE 1880, 1887/8, 1892, 1899

WRLR 1878, 1883/4, 1889/90, 1894, 1903, 1906, 1909, 1911, 1914

Abbreviations

Abbreviations, as indicated, are also used for the following additional sources of information:

Adamson: Professional Photographers in Derbyshire, 1843-1914, Keith I P Adamson, (PhotoHistorian Supplement 118, Royal Photographic Society, 1997)

Adamson (2): More Early Studios, Keith I P Adamson, (The Photographic Journal, Royal Photographic Society, July 1988)

Aucott: Harborough in Camera, Pam Aucott & Steph Mastoris (Alan Sutton, 1992)

Frearson: The Speights of Rugby - Photographers, John P H Frearson (Frearson, 2009)

Heathcote: A Faithful Likeness – the first Photographic Studios in the British Isles, 1841 to 1855, Bernard & Pauline Heathcote, (Heathcote, 2002)

Osman: The Studios of A & G Taylor, Colin Osman, (PhotoHistorian Supplement 111, Royal Photographic Society, 1996)

Pike: Loughborough History, Manufactures, Trades, (Robinson, Son & Pike, 1892)

The following conventions have been adopted for the ordering and presentation of entries:

Individuals are listed before any non-family partnerships that include (or appear to include) them.

Partnerships appear under the names of both (or all) partners.

If a photographer embarked on more than one partnership, those partnerships are listed in alphabetical order of the partner who is not the focus of the entry.

Addresses are listed in order of their earliest appearance.

Imprecise addresses (those which name only the town/village, or those which give a street but no number) are recorded separately. They may, of course, refer to a studio listed more precisely elsewhere in that photographer’s entry.

Some street names have more than one form, and no attempt has been made to standardise them. Where names exist in a one-word and a two-word version (eg.Baxtergate and Baxter Gate, in Loughborough), the two-word version is possibly the more common later usage.

In the case of Leicester’s Galltree Gate and Gallowtree Gate, however, trade directory usage seems merely to reflect publisher preference and has no apparent dating implication.

Additional notes are set in italics.

Go to Leicestershire directory