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Directory of Early Photographers in Norfolk, B

BAILEY, Albert

Watton
KN1900, KN1904, KN1908, KN1912, KN1916

BALDRY, George William

In 'The Norfolk Chronicle', 26th December 1863, Baldry announced the opening of his newly-built studio at 6 London Street, Norwich. His bankruptcy was reported in 'The Norfolk News', 28th January 1865. Cory describes him as being ‘from London’, but no Baldry is to be found in Pritchard.

BANGER, Edgar H

2a Exchange Street, Norwich
KN1896, TC1901

114 St Benedict's Street, Norwich
KN1900, KN1904, KN1908, JN1911, KN1912, JN1914, KN1916

Listed as Banger & Co in KN1912, KN1916. Cartes and cabinet prints, probably from the 1890s, have ‘2 Exchange Street, Market Place, Norwich’. Cory gives this form of the address for c1894. TC1901 misreports him as 'F H Banger'.

BANGER, Gavin &

White Lion Street, Norwich
KN1888

Back of the Inns, Norwich
WN1890

85 Upper St Giles Street, Norwich
KN1892

BANTOCK, Roger James

7 Castle Street, Thetford
KN1904, KN1908, KN1912

38 King Street, Thetford
KN1916, AN1916

BANYARD, C

Theatre Street, Dereham
KN1883

BARBER Charles

Dereham Road, Norwich
MN1867, KN1875

See note after the entry for Charles J Barber.

BARBER Charles J

St Benedict's Road, Norwich
HN1863, HN1868, HN1872, HN1877

The series of Barber/Barker entries is confusing. Since the two surnames are similar, since St Benedict’s Road is the Dereham Road, since the initials ‘I’ and ‘J’ look much alike, and since no two of these entries ever appear in the same source, some errors in the original directory listings seem possible. The four entries in this A to Z may represent just two photographers – or even one. Charles J Barber, aged 40, is the only one of this group of alleged photographers to have been found in the 1871 census.

BARKER Charles Ives

Dereham Road, Norwich
KN1869

The provision of a full middle name, Ives, adds an air of authenticity. But see note after the entry for Charles J Barber.

BARKER, C J

Dereham Road, Norwich
WN1864

See note after the entry for Charles J Barber.

BARNS, Frank and Bertha

Paul Godfrey has found evidence of this husband-and-wife studio that has yet to be discovered in any trade directory. The 1911 census shows Frank and Bertha Barns, aged 46 and 43 respectively, living at 186 Northgate Street, Great Yarmouth. He is described as ‘photographer’ and ‘employer’. No occupation is given for her, but it seems that the business was run in her name, since postcards exist with ‘B E Barns, Hippodrome Studio, Great Yarmouth’ or ‘B E Barns, The Lady Photographer, Hippodrome Studio, Great Yarmouth’ printed on the back. It is possible that the studio was on the south side of the Hippodrome Circus forecourt on Marine Parade, for an Edwardian postcard shows an unidentified studio on this site. The shop front has signs advertising ‘Perfect Portraits, 12 for 1/-, including frames. Day or Night, Wet or Fine.’ The implication is that artificial lighting was in use, which would have given the studio a competitive edge over the nearby beach and promenade photographers, whose business was at the mercy of light and weather conditions.

The couple came from Kent, and in the 1870s Frank’s father, Thomas, had set up a photographic studio in Faversham in addition to his cabinet making business. Other members of the family also became photographers. By 1881 Frank was assisting his father in the studio, and in 18891 he was working as a photographer in Nottingham, though not, apparently, running his own business. Frank and Bertha Elizabeth Histed married in Faversham, also in 1891, and were still there in 1901. There is no indication of how long their Hippodrome Studio lasted, but competition in Yarmouth was strong, and a business on the seafront may have struggled for custom during the winter months.

BARROW, Edward Thomas Ebenezer

Market Street, Wymondham
KN1908

BATCHELDER, Stephen John

Opposite Pitt Street, St Augustine's, Norwich
KN1865

St Augustine’s Street, Norwich
MN1867

Ber Street, Norwich
HN1868, HN1872

Regent Road, Yarmouth
HN1872, KN1875, HN1877, KN1879

73 Regent Road, Yarmouth
GY 1874, SYcirca1878

2 Roman Place, Nelson Road, Yarmouth
KN1875, KN1879

Two identically named members of the Batchelder family practised photography, and, except in Kelly, it is not always clear which is referred to. KN1865 mentions Stephen John Batchelder & Son and MN1867 refers to S J Batchelder & Sons, while Stephen John Batchelder junior is listed in KN1875 and KN1879. Other directories simply have Stephen or S J Batchelder. (Regent Road studios)

BAUME, Mr

He set up a Photographic Gallery at Castle Meadow in Norwich in 1854, and a 'Norfolk Chronicle' advertisement on 30th September announced that he would soon be leaving the city to visit Oxford. He is presumably the John Baume mentioned by Heathcote as a former associate of Oliver Sarony, who travelled extensively throughout England during the years 1853-58.

BAXTER, John James

Referred to in 'The Norfolk News', 5th April 1856, where he is described in a Norwich court report as having formerly run a chemist's shop and as currently claiming to be a 'photographic artist'. He was living in St Benedict's, Norwich, at the time, though there's no clear evidence that he had a studio there.

BAYES, Charlotte

Tobacconist in St James’ Street, Kings Lynn, who in the early 1900s sold views with ‘Published by C. Bayes’ printed on the front. But the backs of these postcards reveal them to be part of ‘The Wykeham Collection’, a nationally published series for which she was evidently acting as the Lynn outlet.

BEALES, Anthony

Believed active in the early 1890s. A cabinet print of Clarke & Co, apparently dating from the mid 1890s, is marked ‘Studio Royal, Norwich, late Anthony Beales’.

BEATTIE, John

Known to have set up temporary studios in Regent Road, Yarmouth, in July 1852, and in Diss some time in 1855. A 'Norfolk News' advertisement of 21st June 1856 (when he was working in Lowestoft, Suffolk) refers to him visiting Yarmouth six years earlier. This appears to indicate a visit to the town in 1850, but Beattie's counting of the years may have been a little approximate.

Born in Scotland around 1820, Beattie was a daguerreotypist who took up wet plate photography in the early 1850s. His travels in Eastern England included both Norfolk and Suffolk, but he eventually settled in Bristol in 1858. He is referred to by both Linkman and Heathcote.

BELCHAMBERS, Henry

Chamberlain Buildings, Lynn* –
CN1856†

*i.e. Chamberlain Buildings, Railway Road. †Described as ‘photographic portrait painter’.

The son of Thomas Belchambers, a shoemaker, Henry Belchambers was born in Lynn in 1827/8. He married Sarah Cawston (daughter of William Robert Cawston, carpenter) at St Margaret’s church on 9th May 1852, and the couple went on to have three children. Belchambers started his career as a portrait painter but switched to photography in about 1855. His studio in Railway Road continued in business until at least 1857 (when a press advertisement referred to his having practised in the town for two years), but there are no later records of him as a photographer. By 1861 he was working away from home in March, Cambridgeshire, and described as an artist. In 1871, reunited with his family, he was in Reigate, Surrey, and working as a house decorator. He was still there in 1881, when he was described as a grainer and sign writer.

BENNETT, Mrs Charles (Sybilla)

Born in Donington, Lincolnshire, in 1820/21, she was the wife of Charles Bennett, builder and contractor. In August 1854 she advertised a photographic portrait studio at 7 London Road (the family home). She also offered lessons in making wax flowers. She contributed samples of her photographic work to the inaugural exhibition at the town’s Athenaeum (1854).

BERRY, William C

Church Street, Wells
KN1883

BERRYMAN, Mrs M

Castle Meadow, Norwich
KN1858

BIDWELL, Frederick

Lynn Road, Swaffham
KN1875

See also Frederick B Bidwell, below.

BIDWELL, Frederick B

London Road, Downham
K1879

See also Frederick Bidwell, above.

BILL, Little

Believed to be the trading name of William Martin. See entry under 'Little Bill.'

BIRD, Sawyer &

42 London Street, Norwich
HN1872

King Street, Yarmouth
HN1872, HN1877

London
HN1872, GY1874, HN1877

Norwich
GY1874

182 King Street, Yarmouth
GY1874, KN1875

32 London Street, Norwich
KN1875, KN1879, KN1883

36a Rathbone Place, London (offices)
KN1875

42 London Street, Norwich
HN1877

14 King Street, Yarmouth
SYcirca1878, KN1979, KN1883

74 Oxford Street, London (offices)
KN1883

John Sawyer had already been running a studio at 42 London Street for some years before 1872, and Heathcote says the partnership was formed in 1871. According to Pritchard, Sawyer & Bird also had London premises at 87 Regent Street West, 1872-3, and were part of the firm of Sawyer, Bird & Foxlee at that address in 1874. Further information about the partnership appears under Sawyer & Bird. See also the Sawyer & Bird studio folder and a separate note on King Street studios.

BLANCHARD, Valentine, senior

According to the Lynn Advertiser, he opened a studio at the ‘Photographic Rooms of Mr Agger, the builder’ in Railway Road, Lynn, on 18th June 1859, and stayed there until late February or early March 1860.

Valentine Blanchard (1831-1901) was one of Cambridgeshire’s most distinguished photographers, but his only period of practice in that county appears to have been during a brief return to Wisbech in 1859, just before his stay in Lynn. His professional career was almost entirely London-based. He opened his first London studio in the 1850s and went on to practise in Regent Street from 1876 to 1884. Contemporary judgement ranked him with such figures as Francis Bedford, Henry Peach Robinson and Oscar Rejlander, and his obituary in The British Journal of Photography identified him as one of the pioneers who did ‘much to raise (photography’s) status and lay the foundations of what it has become today’.

For information about his later career, see studio note.

BLANCHARD, Valentine, junior

Nephew of Valentine Blanchard, above. The 1881 census shows him as a photographer at 107 Norfolk Street, King’s Lynn, but no record of this studio has been found in trade directories. He subsequently ran studios in Wisbech and Cambridge. For more information, see the Cambridgeshire Directory.

BLAKELY, S Fitzgerald

Snettisham
KN1896

BLAZEBY, James

He is referred to by Cory at 16 Bethel Street, Norwich, c1867, working with William Blazeby, below.

BLAZEBY, William

Bethel Street, Norwich
MN1867, HN1868, KN1869, HN1872, HN1877

BLYTH, William

Appointed in November 1896 as agent and canvasser for T Smith & Sons (q.v.), replacing George Robertson (q.v.) and James Thompson (q.v.). The duration of his appointment is not known.

BOND & Newman

Bank Plain, Norwich
KN1888

Bond is the same as William Bond, below. On the evidence of a copyright registration found by David Gobbitt, the partners had taken over the Bank Plain studio from C M Gidney by October 1886. A cabinet print from the mid-to-late 1880s gives the information: 'Bond & Newman, late R Green. Bank Plain and New Catton, Norwich'. (Robert Green had run the Bank Plain studio for some years before Gidney's brief tenure.) The New Catton branch was presumably the Denmark Road studio at which Bond also operated under just his own name for a while.

BOND, Frederick

172 Waterloo Road, Norwich
KN1912

BOND, Henry

Withers Street, Holt
WN1883

BOND, William

Cawston, Norwich
KN1875

Church Lane, Norwich
WN1883

New Catton, Norwich
KN1883

Denmark Road, New Catton
KN1888

Granville Terrace, Norwich
WN1890

Magdalen Road, Norwich
WN1890

Bank Plain, Norwich
WN1890, KN1892

Aylsham
WN1890

1 Sprowston Road, Norwich
KN1892, KN1896, KN1900, KN1904

53 London Street, Norwich
KN1896

Magdalen Street, Norwich
KN1896

63 Magdalen Street, Norwich
KN1900, KN1904

72b Magdalen Street, Norwich
TC1901

131a Magdalen Street, Norwich
JN1911, KN1912, JN1914, KN1916

These entries probably all refer to the same practitioner. Denmark Road was later known as Sprowston Road. Cory mentions an additional studio at 4 Churchill Road, Norwich, 1894. Cartes in the possession of Sheila Miller mention studios at both Bank Plain and New Catton, so there was a period - not evident from trade directory entries - when both studios were operating at the same time. David Gobbitt has discovered a copyright registration showing that the New Catton studio was in operation as early as October 1886.(See also Bond & Newman, above.)

BONE, Miss May

Norwich Street/Road, Fakenham
KN1904, KN1908, KN1912, KN1916

Beach Terrace, Hunstanton
KN1908

Red Lion Street, Aylsham ,
KN1908

Pier Gate, Hunstanton
KN1912, KN1916

Station Road, Fakenham
AN1916

Miss Bone’s Hunstanton operation aimed for a share of the holiday trade. The business took promenade photos that were presented in postcard format and bore the address ‘May Bone’s Kiosk, Hunstanton’. Photohistorian Paul Godfrey believes that she was one of the earliest photographers to produce 'walkie' pictures. She also ran studios in Peterborough in the years after the First World War. Though a substantial amount of her work was for the inexpensive and unpretending holiday market, an attractive example of her more thoughtful work can be seen on David Spencer’s website.

BOSANQUET, Richard

141 Blackfriars Road, Yarmouth
TC1901

BOSWELL, William

Magdalen Street, Norwich
HN1863, HN1868

15 & 16 Exchange Street, Norwich
MN1867

Exchange Street, Norwich
HN1868

MN1867 and HN1868 refer to ‘William Boswell & Son’, which suggests that the son entered the business between 1863 and 1867. But this assumption is undermined by a number of surviving ambrotypes. Printed on the back of these is, ‘W Boswell jun., Magdalen Street, Norwich. Portraits in this style, Sixpence’, and several of them are dated 1859 or 1860. Cory gives 1859 as the earliest date for the Magdalen Street Studio. He dates the Exchange Street premises from c1864, and suggests the firm continued in photography until about 1872. A little more information and some examples of Boswell's work can be found on the 'Early Norfolk Photographs' website.

BOUCH, Ernest

He was described as ‘Apprentice’ (i.e. junior assistant) aged 14, to Jasper Wright (q.v.) of Lynn. His death, by drowning in the River Nar, was reported by The Lincolnshire Echo of 27th June 1895.

BOUGHTON, Walter

Guildhall Street, Thetford
WN1883, WS1892

Market Place, Thetford
WS1885, KN1888, KN1892

King Street, Thetford
WN1890

For subsequent operations in partnership with his sons, see below.

BOUGHTON, W & Sons

92 Regent Road, Yarmouth
KN1896

King Street, Thetford
KN1896 KN1900, TC1901, KN1904, KN1908, KN1912

Station Road, Thetford
KN1896, KN1908, KN1912

Lowestoft
KN1896

60 London Street, Norwich
KN1900

2 St John's Terrace, Lynn
KN1900, TC1901

London Street, Norwich
TC1901

High Street, Lynn
TL1901

102 High Street, Lynn
KN1904, KN1908

This was a family-owned chain of studios, building on the success of William Boughton’s work in Thetford during the 1880s. There is only one mention of a Lowestoft studio in Norfolk sources, but the Boughtons ran a number of studios in Suffolk (for which, see the Suffolk directory). They also opened a studio in Peterborough (then in Northamptonshire) in the late 1890s.

Their first advertisement in Lynn, for their studio at St John’s Terrace, appeared on 12th March 1900. The latest evidence of their presence in town was a photo of the celebrations for George V’s coronation, 26th May 1911. But later that year, when information was being collected for KN1912, the studio at 102 High Street was being run by William Reynolds (q.v.), Boughton’s former manager.

BOVILL, William John

Northwold
KN1896, KN1900, KN1904, KN1908

BRADDOCK, George

Martham
KN1865, KN1869, KN1875, KN1879, WN1883

White Street, Martham
HN1868, HN1872, HN1877

HN1863 records a George Braddock, watchmaker, at Martham. The photographer is also described as a watch and clock maker in HN1868, HN1872, and HN1877.

BRAND, C & Co

Opaline Works, 75 & 77 Dereham Road, Norwich
KN1892

Station Road, North Walsham
KN1892

BRENNER’S BAZAAR

This shop at 105 High Street Kings Lynn was one of a chain of ‘penny bazaars’ built up by Max Nusen Brenner, a Romanian entrepreneur who settled in Norwich. It was opened by 1911, and an early manager was Sidney Chaplin (q.v.). Postcards were among the shop’s many cheap goods, and whilst, in most cases, the shop was simply a retailer for national publishers, a few images seem to have been commissioned and published locally.

BREWER, Julian Cedric

Yoxford House, St Stephen's Road, Norwich
MN1867, HN1868, KN1869, HN1872, KN1875, HN1877, KN1879, HAM 1879, WN1883, EN1883

Cory records 31/33 St Stephen's Road as the number of Yoxford House.

BROWN

A cabinet print, in the possession of Sheila Miller and dating probably from the 1890s, is marked: 'Brown, Photographic Artist, 10 Cloisters Street, Norwich'.

BROWN, Mr

A press advertisement in the Lynn Advertiser 14th March 1857 mentions Mr Brown as a ‘first-rate photographer’ engaged by W R Pridgeon (q.v.) to assist in his new studio. There is no sign of him in the 1861 census. (Brown may have previously been employed by Oliver Sarony (q.v.), who taught Pridgeon the photographic process before leaving the town.)

BROWN, Mrs C

East Gates Studio, 91 Norfolk Street, opposite Railway Road, Lynn
TAL1895

A studio mount of the mid-to-late 1890s locates Mrs Brown’s East Gates Studio at 59 Norfolk Street. Her only trade directory entry shows her at a different address. Which studio came first is not clear.

BROWNE, George

Prince of Wales Road, Norwich
WN1890

A cabinet print from the second half of the1880s gives the studio address as Foundry Road, Norwich, and adds: 'George W Newman, manager'.

BRUNTON, William George

High Street, Dereham
HN1863, HN1872, KN1875, HN1877, KN1879, WN1883, KN1883

Brunton’s business was described as ‘photographer and fancy repository’ in HN1863 and HN1872. In HN1877 he appeared as ‘jeweller, Berlin (wool) merchant, fancy repository & photographer’.

BULLOCK, Edward

4 London Road, Lynn
HN1872, HN1877

The common studio address arouses suspicions that Edward Bullock and Edwin Bullock (below) are the same person. Since the 1871 census shows Edwin as a King’s Lynn photographer, and since there is no sign of an Edward, it appears that Harrod is in error over the forename.

BULLOCK, Edwin

St James' Street, Lynn
HN1868, KN1869

4 London Road, Lynn –
HN1872*, KN1875, HN1877*

*Mistakenly referred to as Edward Bullock.

The brother of H B Bullock, below, he opened his first studio on 5th June 1865. The move to the London Road studio was made at the beginning of 1872 (Source: 'Lynn Advertiser' ). He was bought out by Wallis and Manders (q.v.) in July 1878, but was in business again, in Luton, by 1871. (See also Edward Bullock, above.)

Born in Lynn in 1833/4, Edwin was the youngest son of Brame Bullock, grocer, and the younger brother of Henry Brame Bullock (q.v.). He worked as a photographer in London and Manchester before returning to Lynn to set up his own business.

According to press announcements, he opened his St James’ Street studio in June 1865, moved to London Road in February 1872, and transferred his business to Wallis and Manders (q.v.) in November 1877. After leaving Lynn he worked in studios in Luton, Bedford, Leighton Buzzard and Leamington. By 1901 he had retired to Brighton, Sussex.

(For a non-family employee, see Smith, William L.)

BULLOCK, Henry Brame

A native of Lynn and the oldest son (born 1820/1) of grocer Brame Bullock. He practised portraiture by the collodion process at his father’s premises, 110 High Street, from August to October 1852 (first advertisement, 21st August; last advertisement, 9th October). By June 1853 he was working in Hull. After a short period as an itinerant, he joined William Dolamore in London to form a partnership that lasted from 1854 until 1867. He died in Sussex in 1871.

BULLOCK, Thomas Brame

The son of Edwin Bullock (above), he was born in King’s Lynn in 1871/2. He was still a child when the family left Norfolk, but he later assisted in his father’s Leamington studio (1891 census), and went on to run his own studio in King’s Norton, Worcestershire (1901 census).

BURGESS, John Middleton

5 Lower Goat Lane, Norwich
KN1865

Burgess was the inventor of the Eberneum or Ivorytype process, one of a number of methods devised for producing positive images on a manufactured, ivory-like material. At the time of KN1865, Burgess’ partner-to-be, Thomas Henry Grimwood, was running a tailoring business at the same address.

BURGESS, Grimwood &

Queen Street, Norwich
MN1867, HN1868, KN1869, HN1872

According to 'The Norfolk News' of 23rd December 1865, they had just opened their Queen Street studio the day before.

BURGESS & Jennings

Queen Street, Norwich
KN1875

By the time of HN1877, Jennings was running the business alone.


BURRELL & Flower

75 Dereham Road, Norwich
KN1896

BURRELL, H R

Market Place, Fakenham
KN1858

BURROUGHES, Frank Smith

76 High Street, Gorleston
KN1912

76 & 77 High Street, Gorleston
AS1916

121 High Street, Gorleston
KN1916

See also Burroughs.

Note: Gorleston was a Suffolk parish until the early 1800s when it became a part of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. We have therefore included Gorleston photographers in both county listings.

BURROUGHS, Frank S

76 High Street, Gorleston
KY1911/12, KY1913/14

121 High Street, Gorleston
KY1915/16

See also Burroughes.

Note: Gorleston was a Suffolk parish until the early 1800s when it became a part of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. We have therefore included Gorleston photographers in both county listings.

BURTON, R

Of North Walsham. Known only from a 'Norfolk News' advertisement, 23rd April 1870, where he offered 'for sale at half its original cost, a [photographic] salon, built last year'.

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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: 22 October 2022, 06:54

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