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Directory of Early Photographers in Huntingdonshire, Studio Notes, Maddison & Hinde

[The following notes are based mainly on the biography of Frederick Hinde in "Huntingdonshire in the Twentieth Century: Contemporary Biographies" by W T Pike (1912). They are augmented by reference to trade directory details and by information from "A Faithful Likeness – the first Photographic Studios in the British Isles, 1841 to 1855" by Bernard & Pauline Heathcote (2002).]

Arthur Maddison ran one of the county’s earliest studios, first opening for business in Huntingdon in 1855. He also, during his career, established branches in St Ives and Bedford and built up a business as photographic supplier. He had been established in Huntingdon for nearly twenty years when he married Julia Hinde in 1874.

Julia Hinde was the widow of Michael Hinde of Bedford. Their son, Frederick Michael Hinde, was born in Bedford on 1st October 1868. He was educated at Biggleswade Grammar School, and he began his photographic career in the 1880s, working in his stepfather’s Huntingdon studio.

Maddison died in 1887. Until his death the business appears to have operated solely under his name. The latest directory entry found for him, so far, is at North End, Huntingdon, in Kelly’s directory for 1885. There is no photographer entry under either name in Kelly’s 1890 directory, but in 1894 the firm of Maddison & Hinde makes its first appearance, trading at Ermine Street, Huntingdon, and Sheep Market, St Ives. The implication in Pike’s biography is that the firm continued in business between 1887 and 1894, but that Frederick Hinde didn’t take sole charge until 1892 (at the age of 23 or 24).

It seems likely from all this that Maddison and Hinde was a business that never actually existed as a partnership. It seems rather that that, when Hinde put his name over the door in 1892, he also kept the name of his late stepfather there. This may have been an act of stepfilial piety, or it may be that Julia Maddison (or some other member of the Maddison family) retained a practical or financial interest in the business. Certainly, Julia Maddison was recorded as a photographer in the 1891 census. Whatever the reason, Frederick continued to operate as Maddison & Hinde for more than three decades. (Directories after 1924 have not been checked.)

In 1912, at the time of Pike’s biography, Hinde lived at 75 Ermine Street, Huntingdon (which was presumably next to the studio, rather than on the opposite side of the road), and still had a branch at St Ives. He had married Maud Leila Violet Bayntum in 1896. He was secretary of Trinity Union Church and had been a town councillor since 1905. His varied sporting interests were demonstrated by membership of the town’s lawn tennis, rowing and cricket clubs. At one stage he had also played for the town’s football team, but a serious accident had forced him to give up that activity. He remained, however, the club’s representative at the County Football Association and served it for some years as committee member and assistant secretary. He was also an assistant scoutmaster, and he sat on the committees of the Huntingdon Chamber of Commerce and the Huntingdon Aid Association.

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www.earlyphotostudios.uk is a non-commercial web site for local and family historians, listing photographers operating 1840-1916, in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Rutland and Suffolk. The original site was researched and written in 2011 by the late Robert Pols, photo historian and author, and this re-constructed site is dedicated to his memory.


This page was last modified: 13 September 2022, 11:44

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