Directory of Early Photographers in Suffolk, Studio Notes - The Photographic Artists of Lowestoft Sands by Paul Godfrey

The Photographic Artists of Lowestoft Sands

Researching beach photographers is a difficult task because so many of them were itinerants, but some were locals. The following is a short list of beach photographers who were known to have traded on Lowestoft’s South Beach from the 1890s until 1916, the upper date limit of this website.

ABRAHAMS, Woolf (1879-1947)

Woolf Abrahams was born in London around 1879, the son of Isaac and Bertha Abrahams. We know Woolf was trading as a itinerant photographer on Lowestoft’s South beach in 1898 because of two newspaper articles. The Norfolk Chronicle of Saturday 16th July 1898 reported that: - “A fracas occurred on the South-beach the other day. Thomas Smith, a Punch and Judy showman, had given an exhibition, and then quarrelled with Woolf Abrahams, a photographer, whom he struck several times, and then finished up by smashing his photographic apparatus. For this Smith was summoned at the Police-court on Thursday but did not appear. He was fined 10 shillings for the assault, ordered to pay £2 10 shillings for the damage.” Later that same year the Norfolk Chronicle of Saturday 10th September 1898 reported that:- “Wolf {sic} Abrahams, an itinerant camera artist, had just photographed a lady when up came Alfred Goldsmith, who is described as a phonograph attendant. The latter started swearing at the photographer, who, in his turn, got out a summons, with result that at the Police-court on Monday Goldsmith was sent to gaol for 10 days. The magistrates are determined to put down rowdyism and foul language on the South beach.”

He was still working as a photographer when the 1911 Census was taken and living at 12 Richard Street, Commercial Road, East London, with his wife Rose and daughter Millie. The Photographers section of the London edition of the Post Office Directory of 1915 records him trading as a photographer from this same address. He appears to have given up photography and become a “General Hawker” according to the 1939 Register and was still living at 12 Richard Street. He died in 1947 at Lewisham Hospital.

BLIZARD, W & Son

Walter Eli Blizard (1887- 1960) was the son of William and Annie Blizard and was born at Margate in 1887. His father William (1861-) was recorded on the 1901 Census as a “photographer” living and working at Peterborough. William’s son Walter Blizard was a photographer on Lowestoft South Beach in 1902. It is known that he was using the Ferrotype process at Lowestoft because of a surviving example of his work. The Ferrotype (sometimes known as a Tintype) was a cheap photographic process invented in France during 1853. A thin sheet of iron would be painted or enamelled black. It would then be coated with collodion solution (a mixture of Gun Cotton and Ether) and sensitised using Silver Nitrate. The light sensitive plate would then be transferred into the back of the camera, the customer would then be suitably posed and the plate exposed. The plate would then be developed and fixed in the photographer’s hand cart where it had previously been coated and sensitised. The plate would then be rinsed in clean water, dried, varnished and placed into a oval window card mount. All these operations took place in a matter of minutes while the customer waited for their souvenir of their day-out at the seaside.

The Music Hall and Theatre Review that also incorporated a publication called The Showman of Friday 15 August 1902 announced that:- The Lowestoft Parks and Pleasure Grounds Committee met on, the 8th inst. to consider tenders for stall spaces on the beach. W. Blizard and W. Foreman applied for spaces for photographic carts. Each applicant was granted permission for one barrow only, at a charge of £4 15 shillings. and £6 10 shillings respectively for the season. Two Punch and Judy showmen were also allowed to perform on the beach. W. Vann offered to pay 12 shillings a week for a pitch to accommodate a tent for palmistry, thought reading, and phrenology. This was refused.

Walter Blizard age 20 a “photographer” of 129 Wollaston Road, Lowestoft, married, after the reading of Banns, Florence Maude Mary Absolom also of 129 Wollaston Road, at St Margaret’s Church, Lowestoft on the 21st June 1905. Walter’s father’s occupation was stated to be “a plumber” on the marriage record.

By 1908 Walter and Florence had moved to Hastings. Walter is listed as a photographer in some Hastings trade directories between 1908 and 1910. By the time of the 1911 Census he had diversified into being a ”Fat, Bone and Skin Dealer,” this developed into him manufacturing tallow for the rest of his working life at Hastings. He died age 72 at Hastings in 1960.

Mounted tintype carte de visite of unknown father and child by W.Blizard and Son . Paul Godfrey Collection.

Above tintype removed from mount. The plate is very crudely cut, and viewing all of it shows a very basic studio set up comprising a slatted wooden seat with a bit of covering to keep out the weather and to diffuse the light.

Backstamp from the reverse of the mount of the carte de visite above. Faded design has been enhanced and reads "Blizard and Son beach photographers, Lowestof"t

FOREMAN, William Henry Mark (1874-1972)

William Foreman was born at Lowestoft in 1874. In 1899 he married Laura Gallant Copeman at St John’s Church Lowestoft. William is better known in Lowestoft as a hard boil sweet manufacturer and confectioner rather than being a photographer on Lowestoft’s South Beach. As already mentioned in the above regarding Walter Blizard, William Foreman was granted a photographer’s standing on the South Beach for one barrow at a cost of £6 10shillings for the 1902 season.

Seven years later the Eastern Evening News of Friday 12th March 1909 with the headline:- LOWESTOFT BEACH LETTING A SUCCESSFUL AUCTION, published a report:- “On Thursday evening at the Town Hall, Lowestoft, Mr. A. G. Notley let by public auction the stands: and spaces on the North and South Beach, and the rights of selling refreshments at the Sparrows Nest Park. Results:- South Beach. Photographic pitch nearest South Pier, Mr. Foreman, £8. Two photographic pitches.. Mr. Foreman, £3 10shillings”

The following year the Lowestoft Journal of Saturday 19th November 1910 reported with the headline:- Letting of Hoardings and Stall Spaces. “Let by auction (gratuitously) for the Corporation, hoardings on the Triangle, stall, bathing machine, and photographic sites on the beaches, and the rights of supplying refreshments at Sparrow's Nest and Belle Vue Park Pagoda, with the following results: Photographic pitch, No. 1, commencing at the South Pier, and extending for 150 yards south, £8. Mr. Foreman. Photographic pitch, No. 2, commencing at the southern boundary of lot 9, and extending for 150 yards south. £2 10s. Mr. Foreman. Photographic pitch, No. 3, commencing at the southern boundary of lot 10, and extending for 150 yards south, £3. Mr. Foreman. The hirer of each pitch will have sole right of photography on the pitch hired by him only. The portable dark room must be placed as directed by the Beach Officer”.

It is not known how many years William worked as a photographer on the South Beach but the 1939 Register records him age 65 living with his daughter Doris at Black Street, Gisleham, his occupation “photographer.” He died in 1952 at the West Norwich Hospital.

SMITH, Thomas (1860-)

The East Anglian Daily Times of Tuesday 6th September 1892 published this sad story with the headline;- A Brutal Parent Punished. “At the Court House on Monday, a beach photographer named Thomas Smith was summoned at the insistence of the R.S.P.C.C., for having ill-treated his son, a lad aged twelve years, on the beach on Saturday. Mr. E. A. Bracey supported the summons. In the course of his evidence, the lad told the Magistrates that on Saturday he took his father’s barrow down on to the beach. On the arrival of his parent, he was informed that he had damaged some of the contents, and without any further provocation, the defendant commenced to thrash him across the back with a whalebone whip. A visitor named Spiers, who was on the beach, remonstrated with the man on his brutality, but did not desist until he himself was threatened with a thrashing. The chastisement had been severe, for afterwards the boy’s back was found to be badly bruised, and blood was oozing from one of the wheals. The defendant said he was very sorry that he had assaulted his son but lost his temper. The Justices characterised the case as a very bad one, and inflicted a fine of 40 shillings with the alternative of 21 days’ imprisonment, and the defendant could not pay, he was removed in custody.”

It is believed that Thomas Smith was the brother-in-law of the Great Yarmouth beach photographer Harry Garrett.

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