Sticky Backs Studios - Sidney Boultwood
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Sidney Boultwood and his Stickybacks Studios
Sidney Boultwood (1882-1958)
Sidney
Boultwood's Family Sidney Boultwood was born in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1882, the son of Mary Ann Jackson and Alfred Thomas Boultwood, a musician who worked in South London before moving to Ramsgate around 1879. Alfred Thomas Boultwood, Sidney's father, was born in Greenwich, Kent, on 15th April, 1842, the son of Thomas and Emma Boultwood. When he was In his mid-twenties, Alfred Boultwood moved to South London where he met Mary Ann Jackson (born 1849, London). In 1869, at the age of 27, Alfred Boultwood married Mary Ann Jackson in the South London district of Camberwell. [The marriage of Alfred Thomas Boultwood and Mary Ann Jackson was registered in the district of Camberwell during the 3rd Quarter of 1869]. This union produced at least six children - Ellen (born 1870, Camberwell, Surrey), Jessie (born 1872, Lambeth, Surrey), Kate (born 1876, Lambeth, Surrey), Ada (born 1880, Ramsgate, Kent), Sidney (born 1882, Ramsgate, Kent) and Charles Boultwood (born 1884, Ramsgate, Kent).
By 1890, Alfred Boultwood, his wife Mary Ann and their six children had moved to the Sussex seaside resort of Brighton. Alfred and Mary Ann Boultwood ran a lodging house in Camelford Street, a street that ran into Marine Parade on Brighton's seafront near the famous Chain Pier. The 1890 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex lists Alfred Thomas Boultwood as the proprietor of a lodging house at 33 Camelford Street, Brighton. In 1893, Alfred's wife, Mrs Mary Ann Boultwood died at the age of 43. It appears that after his wife's death, Alfred Boultwood returned to his former profession as musician. When the census was taken on 31st March 1901, Alfred Boultwood, described on the census return as a fifty-nine year old "Musician", was living with his three youngest children in Brighton. Fifteen year old Charles Boultwood was not yet earning his living, but his twenty-one year old sister, Ada Boultwood, was employed as an assistant in a confectioner's shop. Sidney Boultwood, Alfred's eldest son, is entered on the 1901 census return as a "Music Hall Artist", aged 18. Sidney Boultwood - Photographer in London and Croydon In his twenties, Sidney Boultwood abandoned his stage career to become a professional photographer. A story passed down through members of the Boultwood family, records that Sidney Boultwood "worked for a photographer named Wallis in The Strand, London". Another story tells how Sidney went to work for a photographer named Wallis in Croydon around 1910. According to the family story, "when Wallis absconded, Sidney entered into an arrangement with Mrs Wallis, taking over the name and the shop". Wallis, the absconding photographer could have been the London-based photographer Henry James Cribb Wallis (1868-1943). The son of a blacksmith, Henry James Cribb Wallis was born on 18th April 1868 in the Hampshire village of Kingsclere. In 1892, Henry James Cribb Wallis married Enid De Saumarez Gillard (born 1870, Cheltenham, Glos.), the eldest daughter of the artist & photographer William Gillard (born 1841, Bodmin, Cornwall). Around 1897, Henry and Enid Wallis moved to London where they took over a photographic portrait studio at 100 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, Kensington. It appears that Henry Wallis got into financial difficulties and on 29th July 1898 he was the subject of a County Court judgement regarding his business debts. Between 1898 and 1899, the studio at 100 Westbourne Grove was managed by Henry's wife Mrs Enid Wallis, who had probably trained as a photographer under her father William Gillard. [ In London trade directories published between 1898 and 1900, the proprietor of the Westbourne Grove studio is given as Mrs Enid Wallis ]. When the 1901 census was taken, Henry Wallis was working as a photographer again and living with his wife and children in the Paddington district of London. By the following year, Henry Wallis had established a new photographic portrait studio at 2 Priory Villas, High Street, Lewisham, but the studio had closed by 31st October 1905. The closure of the Lewisham studio in 1905, possibly marks the sudden disappearance of Henry Wallis and the appointment of Sidney Boultwood as a studio manager for Mrs Wallis. Between 1906 and 1909, Mrs Enid Wallis ran a photographic studio at 121 Peckham Road, Camberwell, and this might have been the studio that Sidney Boultwood managed for Mrs Wallis before moving to Croydon. By 1910, Henry Wallis had rejoined his wife and the 1911 census shows the couple living with five of their children in New Cross in South East London. Henry Wallis was now employed as a "Miller's Clerk", but his wife Mrs Enid Wallis was still working professionally as a photographer. If Sidney Boultwood did take over the running of a photographic studio in Croydon, Surrey, his new career path probably led him to a young photographer's assistant named Emily Louisa Coppen who was living in Croydon at the time. Emily Louisa Coppen was born in Croydon in 1890, the eldest child of Emily Beeney and Frederick Charles Coppen, a schoolmaster. When the census was taken on 2nd April 1911, Emily Louisa Coppen was living with her parents and six of her siblings at 33 St Saviour's Road, West Croydon. On the census return, Emily's father, Frederick Charles Coppen, is recorded as a "Head Teacher" at a "Public Elementary School". On the same census return, Emily Louisa Coppen is described as a twenty year old "Photographer's Assistant" engaged in "developing, printing & mounting". It is possible that Sidney Boultwood had been employing Emily Coppen as an assistant in the Wallis Studio in Croydon. According to a family story, Sidney Boultwood was operating a photographic studio in Croydon under the name of Wallis around 1910. By the end of 1911, both Sidney Boultwood and Emily Coppen were living in the Essex seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea. During the 4th Quarter of 1911, Sidney Boultwood married Emily Coppen in Southend-on-Sea. [The marriage of Sidney Boultwood and Emily Louise Coppen was registered in the Essex district of Rochford during the final quarter of 1911]. Around the time of his marriage to Emily in 1911, Sidney Boultwood opened a "Stickybacks" photographic portrait studio at 12 Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea. |
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[ABOVE] The photographer Sidney Boultwood posing with his baby son Sidney at his Stickybacks studio at 26 Crown Street Halifax. Sidney Boultwood's first son Sidney Boultwood junior was born in the Worcestershire town of Kidderminster during the 2nd Quarter of 1915. Sidney Boultwood travelled around the country with his portable Stickbacks photographic apparatus, setting up a temporary studio in each town he visited. Between 1911 and 1918, Sidney Boultwood established Stickybacks studios in Southend-on-Sea, Lowestoft, Ipswich, Reading, Kidderminster, Halifax, Bath, Derby, Worcester and Southampton. After Sidney Boultwood became blind around 1918, the photographic portraits were taken by his wife, Mrs Emily Boultwood . (SEE OPPOSITE) PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia
[ABOVE] A detail from an automatic photograph showing the sign used to identify the Stickybacks photographic studio where the portrait was taken. Sidney Boultwood was operating as a "Sticky Backs" photographer at 12 Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, between 1911 and 1912. [ABOVE] A Stickybacks photograph of Dorothy Boultwood, Sidney and Emily Boultwood's second daughter. Dorothy was born in Lowestoft in 1913, but when this portrait was taken, Sidney Boultwood was operating a Stickybacks studio at 17 Oxford Street, Reading. PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia [ABOVE] A detail from an automatic photograph showing the sign used to identify the Stickybacks photographic studio at 29 Queen Street where the portrait was taken. This sign appeared above a portrait of Emily Boultwood, Sidney Boultwood's wife, which was taken around 1916. Sidney Boultwood was operating as a "Sticky Backs" photographer in Worcester in 1916. PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia |
Sidney and Emily Boultwood's Children and the Stickybacks Studios Sidney Boultwood and Emily Coppen were the parents of 8 children. The dates and places where the births were registered helps to identify the various locations of Sidney Boultwood's photographic studios and provides a rough guide to the years he was in business at the various towns he visited. In the table below, the birth dates of Sidney and Emily Boultwood's children are matched with the Stickybacks studios known to have been operated by Sidney Boultwood between 1911 and 1918. After Sidney Boultwood went blind around 1918, his wife Emily Louisa Boultwood took his place behind the camera. It appears that after 1918, the Boultwoods gave up the "Sticky backs" format of photography and ran standard photographic portrait studios in Southampton and Ipswich.
PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia |
[ABOVE] A portrait of Mrs Emily Louisa Boultwood (formerly Coppen) photographed around 1912. Emily Louisa Coppen was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1890, the eldest child of Emily Beeney and Frederick Charles Coppen, a schoolmaster. At the time of the 1911 census, twenty year old Emily Coppen was working as a "Photographer's Assistant" engaged in "developing, printing & mounting". Presumably, Emily was working alongside the photographer Sidney Boultwood, who, it is reported, was running a photographic portrait studio in Croydon under the name of "Wallis". Emily Louisa Coppen married Sidney Boultwood, in Southend-on-Sea in 1912. The couple travelled around the country with Sidney's portable Stickybacks photographic apparatus, setting up temporary studios in the various towns they visited. When Sidney Boultwood, went blind around 1918, Emily took over her husband's role as photographer. Mrs Boultwood operated as a professional photographer until 1924. Seriously ill with tuberculosis she returned to live in her home town of Croydon, where she died in 1928 at the age of 38. PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia [ABOVE] A postcard portrait of Mrs Emily Boultwood and one of her children photographed in Southampton in 1917. The child has been identified as Sidney Boultwood (born 1915). An inscription on the postcard reads " Sidney, 1 yr, 11 months" and the card is postmarked 18th April 1917. PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy and Janis Wiberley [ABOVE] Sidney Boultwood's wife Emily photographed with her mother, Mrs Emily Coppen, at Sidney's Stickybacks studio at Lowestoft Bridge, Lowestoft, around 1913. PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia |
The Sticky Backs Photographic Companies
[ABOVE] A legal notice announcing the dissolution of the business partnership between Charles John Stewart Reed and Wallace Edward Allan, who had been operating a photographic studio at 54 Market Street, Manchester under the name of "Sticky-Backs". This notice appeared in The British Journal of Photography on 13th January, 1911.
[ABOVE] A legal notice, dated 30th December 1912, giving details of the liquidation of the photographic company known as the Sticky Backs Photo Syndicate Limited (The London Gazette, 3rd January 1913)
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The Sticky Back Photograph As a photography magazine explained in 1912, "A Stickyback Photograph is one that has adhesive matter spread on the back, which it is simply necessary to moisten and then stick the picture on the mount. 'Stickyback' is the name by which small gummed-photographs, not much larger than a postage-stamp, are known." [Photo-era Magazine, Vol.28, 1912]. "Sticky Back" portrait photographs measured roughly 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches and were created mechanically on a strip of photo-paper that could hold up to six individual portraits. A Sticky-Backs photographic company, which specialised in these tiny photo portraits, appears to have originated in Manchester around 1910, possibly growing out of a collaboration between Spiridione Grossi, a photographer and inventor, and an engineer named Charles John Reed. In 1910, Spiridione Grossi was working as a photographer at 84 Market Street, Manchester and Charles John Reed was the co-owner of the Sticky-Backs photographic studio at 54 Market Street, Manchester. By 1911, Spiridione Grossi was operating the Sticky Backs Photo Studio at 54 North Street, Brighton and Charles John Reed was residing in the same street at 58 Prudential Buildings. In January 1911, a man named Charles John Stewart Reed was recorded as the sole owner of the Sticky-Backs photographic firm. Within a few years there were a number of photographic portrait studios carrying the trade name of "Sticky Backs", "Stickybacks" or "Sticky-Back". Some studios operated under the name of "Mr Stickyback". In January 1911, The British Journal of Photography published an announcement of the dissolution of the business partnership between Charles John Stewart Reed and Wallace Edward Allan, who had been operating a photographic studio at 54 Market Street, Manchester under the name of "Sticky-Backs". In November 1911, The British Journal of Photography reported that a new photographic company, called the Sticky Backs Photographic Company Limited, had been established in London:
In 1911, The Board of Trade had a record of a company known as Sticky Backs Photo Syndicate Ltd (Company Registration No. 118170). According to a notice in The London Gazette, dated 30th December 1912, the Sticky Backs Photo Syndicate Ltd was dissolved within a year or so. A photographer named Knight (either H. C. Knight or C. H. Knight) operated the Original Sticky Backs photographic studio at 69 Wellington Street, Woolwich from around 1914 until 1920. A photographer working under the trade name of Mr Stickyback was producing photographic portraits on post cards at 36 Yorkshire Street, Rochdale in 1916. "Mr Stickyback" studios were also recorded in Birmingham, Leicester, Dublin and Glasgow. It is possible that the various "Sticky Back" photographic companies developed independently and that there was no direct connection between "Sticky-Backs", the Sticky Backs Photographic Company Limited, the Sticky Backs Photo Syndicate and other Sticky Back studios. What these photographic firms had in common was their adoption of an early type of "automatic photo" system which produced small, sepia-coloured prints on a strip of photographic paper, resembling the modern photo-booth portraits used on passports, driving licences and identity cards today. The reverse of these photographic strips were coated with a gum, which made the pictures adhesive when moistened. Not surprisingly, these small self-adhesive photographs were commonly known as "Sticky Backs". In 1910 or 1911, Spiridione Grossi (1877-1921) opened a photographic portrait studio at 54 North Street, Brighton. Grossi produced regular photographic portraits in the popular postcard format, but he also specialised in the production of "Sticky Backs", the tiny photographic portraits produced on a strip of photo-paper. Each "Sticky Back" photo-strip could show the subject in six different poses. (See the illustration below featuring Abaham Dudkin, who acquired Grossi's Sticky Back studio around 1911). Each individual "Sticky Back" portrait measured approximately 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches and were apparently created mechanically, but with the aid of a human photographic operator. Between 1910 and 1913, a number of photographers, including, Abraham Dudkin, H. L. Lloyd and Sidney Boultwood, were producing "Sticky Back" portraits, but it is not clear whether they were operating under a franchise from a company like the Sticky Backs Photo Syndicate or if they had purchased a licence to use a "Sticky Backs" photographic system from the original inventor or patent holder. |
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Early "Sticky Back" Photographic Studios in the British isles |
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Company Name |
Studio Address |
Dates Active |
NOTES |
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STICKY-BACKS | 54 Market Street, Manchester |
1910-1911 |
Charles John Stewart Reed and Wallace Edward Allan operated a photographic studio at 54 Market Street, Manchester under the name of "Sticky-Backs" in 1910. The partnership between Reed and Allan was dissolved in January 1911 and from that date Charles John Stewart Reed took control of the "Sticky-Backs" firm. | ||
STICKY BACKS | 54 North Street, Brighton |
1910-1915 |
Spiridione Grossi, a photographer and inventor of mechanical devices, opened a Sticky Backs studio at 54 North Street, Brighton, around 1910. By 1911, the Sticky Backs studio in Brighton's North Street had been acquired by Abraham Dudkin, a Russian-born furrier. | ||
STICKY BACKS PHOTO. CO. LTD. | 4A Acre Lane, Brixton, London S.W. |
1911 |
The Sticky Backs Photographic Company Limited was founded in 1911 by E. S. Perry, D. R. Blair and L. F. Pugh, who established a Head Office at 4A, Acre Lane, Brixton, S. W. London. | ||
STICKYBACKS | 12 Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea |
1911-1912 |
Sidney Boultwood opened a "Stickyback" photographic studio in Southend-on-Sea around 1911. Boultwood went on to open Stickyback" photographic studios in Lowestoft, Reading, Kidderminster, Derby and Worcester. | ||
MR STICKYBACK | 30 Grafton Street, Dublin |
1910 |
"Mr Stickyback" was the trading name of H. L. Lloyd, a professional photographer active in Dublin | ||
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Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks Studios
[ABOVE] Sidney Boultwood (far right) posing for a photograph which was probably taken on the beach at Southend-on-Sea (c1911). The jetty in the background and the style of boat is consistent with Southend-on Sea at this time. Sidney Boultwood opened a Stickybacks studio in Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea around 1911.
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Sidney Boultwood appears
to have opened his first Stickybacks studio around 1911, either in
Croydon, Surrey, or Southend-on-Sea, Essex. According to recollections of
family members, Sidney Boultwood managed a photographic studio in
Croydon between 1910 and 1911. The 1911 census provides evidence that
Emily Coppen, Sidney's future wife, was working as a photographer's
assistant in Croydon in April 1911. The earliest visual evidence that
Sidney Boultwood was operating a Stickybacks studio in
Southend-on-Sea around 1911, is a
Stickybacks photograph
featuring a very young Eva Boultwood. [ The birth of
Eva G. Boultwood was not registered in the Essex District of Rochford
(which covered Southend-on-Sea) until the 4th Quarter of 1912]. The
photograph, which shows Eva as a baby held by a Mrs Howells, the midwife at
the birth in Southend-on-Sea, carries the studio sign
"STICKYBACKS, 12 Victoria Avenue".
(Victoria Avenue is a major road in Southend-on-Sea which runs
down to Southend Victoria Railway Station). According to Mike Murphy (Sidney Boultwood's grandson), Sidney Boultwood travelled from place to place, opening a Stickybacks studio in each town he visited. As Mike Murphy points out, Sidney's "Sticky Back" photographic business was "very much a novelty and he tended to open up for short periods in different places". From the surviving labelled photographs It has been possible to identify over a dozen different "Sticky Back" studios which were set up by Sidney Boultwood between 1911 and 1918. It is known that Sidney Boultwood operated Stickybacks studios in Southend-on-Sea, Lowestoft, Reading, Kidderminster, Derby, Worcester, Halifax, Ipswich, Bath and Southampton. Mike Murphy reports that at one particular time, Sidney Boultwood owned five "Sticky Back" shops across England.
[ABOVE] Stickybacks Studios in England known to have been operated by Sidney Boultwood As the owner of a chain of "Sticky Back" photographic studios, Sidney Boultwood had to employ men and women to manage the various branches. Occasionally, Sidney Boultwood employed members of his extended family to run his Stickybacks studios. In 1899, Kate Boultwood, a sister of Sidney Boultwood, had married John Francis Breidenbach (born c1872, London), the son of John B. Breidenbach (born c1845, Germany) a perfume manufacturer. (Kate's sister Ada Boultwood married John Breidenbach's brother, Francis Gertman Breidenbach in Brighton in 1904). At the time of his marriage to Sidney's sister, John Francis Breidenbach was working as a furniture salesman in Hove, near Brighton. Around 1913, Sidney Boultwood invited his brother-in-law John Francis Breidenbach to manage one of his "Stickybacks" studios. In July 1916, John Francis Breidenbach (who was then working as a photographer at Sidney Boultwood's Stickyback studio in Derby) changed his surname to Bryden. There is some evidence that, at various times, John Bryden (Breidenbach) and his wife Kate managed Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks studios in Derby, Reading, Bath and Southampton.
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PHOTOS: Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia |
Emily Louisa Coppen - the wife of photographer Sidney Boultwood Emily Louisa Coppen was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1890, the eldest child of Emily Beeney and Frederick Charles Coppen, a schoolmaster. Frederick Charles Coppen was born in Maidstone, Kent, in 1865, the son of Annie and William Coppen, a boot and shoe maker. When the 1881 census was taken, Frederick Coppen was recorded as a fifteen year old "Pupil Teacher". In 1889, when he was twenty-three years of age and a newly qualified school teacher, Frederick Charles Coppen married Emily Beeney (born c1865, Maidstone, Kent), the eldest daughter of John and Eliza Beeney, a publican and greengrocer. Frederick Charles Coppen rose to become the Master of the Public Elementary School in Mitcham Road, Croydon, Surrey. When the 1911 census was taken forty-five year old Frederick Charles Coppen gave his profession as "Head Teacher, Public Elementary School". The union of Frederick Charles Coppen and Emily Beeney produced at least eight children - Emily Louisa (born 1890), Frederick junior (born 1891), Arthur William (born 1893), Claude Harold (born 1895), Alice May (born 1896), Ernest Edward (born 1898), Eva Elsie (born 1900) and Edith Muriel Coppen (born 1902). As a young woman, Emily Coppen spent some time living with a family in Brittany, France. Emily returned to England around 1910 and took a job as a photographer's assistant in her home town of Croydon. A story passed down through the family suggests that Emily Coppen eventually went to work alongside Sidney Boultwood, a twenty-eight year old photographer from South London. The 1911 census return records twenty year old Emily Coppen employed as a "Photographer's Assistant", being principally engaged in "developing, printing & mounting". Emily Louisa Coppen married Sidney Boultwood, in the Essex seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea in 1912. Sidney Boultwood had recently set up a "Stickybacks" photographic studio at 12 Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea. After a couple of years in Southend-on-Sea, Emmie and her husband travelled around the country with Sidney's portable Stickybacks photographic apparatus, setting up temporary studios in the various towns they visited. Emily was the mother of eight children - Eva Boultwood (born c1911, Southend-on-Sea), Dorothy M. Boultwood (born 1912,Lowestoft), Sidney C. Boultwood (born 1915, Kidderminster), Gladys D. Boultwood (born 1916, Worcester), Kathleen M. Boultwood (born 1916, Worcester), Arthur A. Boultwood (born 1918, Southampton), Leslie G. Boultwood (born 1919, Southampton) and Peter A. Boultwood (born 1923, Ipswich). When Sidney Boultwood went blind around 1918, Emily took over her husband's role as photographer. Mike Murphy, Emily Boultwood's grandson, has passed on this story from Emmie's daughter Dorothy: "Dorothy recalled one incident when her mother was out shopping when some customers called. Sydney asked the customers to pose themselves how they wanted the photograph taken, while he stuck his head under the cover over the camera. After a while he told them that was fine and they could call back for the photograph in three days. When they called back Emily was there and had been prepared. She told them they must have moved while the photograph was being taken and she would have to take it again." Emily Boultwood operated as a professional photographer in Ipswich until 1924. By this date, Emmie was seriously ill with tuberculosis. Sidney and Emmie Boultwood closed their photography business in Ipswich and moved to live with relatives in St Saviour's Road, Croydon. Racked with TB, Mrs Emmie Boultwood died in Croydon in 1928 at the age of 38.
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[ABOVE] A portrait of a teenaged Emily Coppen, photographed by the American-born photographer Charles Harrison Price at his Croydon studio. Charles Harrison Price was born around 1870 in New York, USA. By 1901, Charles Price had established himself as a photographer in Croydon, Surrey. This portrait of Emily Coppen was taken by Charles Harrison Price at his photographic portrait studio at 66A North End Road, Croydon. PHOTO: Courtesy of Chris Boultwood
[ABOVE] A portrait of Emily Louisa Coppen, photographed around the time she met her future husband, Sidney Boultwood (c1910). Emily was generally addressed as "Emmie" by family and friends,
[ABOVE] Sidney Boultwood's wife Emmie photographed with her mother, Mrs Emily Coppen , at Sidney's Stickybacks studio in Lowestoft, Suffolk. PHOTOS: Courtesy of Mike Murphy of Western Australia |
Emily 'Emmie' Boultwood - Sidney Boultwood's Chief Assistant and Favourite Model |
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John Francis Breidenbach (Bryden) and Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks Studios |
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Portraits from Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks Studios (1911-1914) |
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[ABOVE] A portrait of Sidney Boultwood wearing his wife's hat for comical effect. This photograph was taken at Sidney Boultwood's 'Mr Stickybacks Studio' at 12 Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea (c1911). | [ABOVE] A photograph taken at Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks studio at 155 London Road, Lowestoft around 1912. The boy wearing the school cap is one of John and Kate Breidenbach's sons - probably John Francis Breidenbach, who would have been around 12 years of age when this photograph was taken. John Breidenbach's father, John F. Breidenbach senior later managed one of Sidney Boultwood''s studios. The young woman appears to be Mrs Emily Boultwood, Sidney's 22 year old wife. | [ABOVE] A portrait of Sidney's wife, Mrs Emily Boultwood, taken at Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks studio at 49 St Matthews Street, Ipswich in 1913. When this photo was taken, twenty-three year old Emily was the mother of two daughters - Eva and Dorothy. | [ABOVE] A portrait of Sidney's wife, Mrs Emily Boultwood, taken at Sidney Boultwood's Stickybacks studio at 26 Crown Street, Halifax around the year 1914. Emily was expecting her third child, a boy named Sidney. |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Chris Boultwood |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Chris Boultwood |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Chris Boultwood |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Chris Boultwood |
The Sticky Backs Photographic Process and Apparatus
Grossi's Sticky Back Photos
Boultwood's Sticky Backs
Sticky Backs Photo Strip [ABOVE] A composite photograph showing how the individual shots of Sidney Boultwood and his baby son would have appeared on a Sticky Back photo strip. The standard Sticky Back apparatus produced 6 different shots on a single strip of photographic paper. |
Automatic Photo Portraits at the Sticky Backs Studio
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Sticky Backs Photos from Grossi's Brighton Studio
Boultwood's Stickybacks Photographs
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Family Photographs
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Novelty Picture Postcards by Sidney Boultwood |
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[ABOVE] Eva Boultwood, Emily's first child, featured in an "Easter Greetings" novelty picture postcard produced by Sidney Boultwood at his Southend studio in 1911. |
[ABOVE] Emily Boultwood, Sidney's wife, featured in an "Easter Greetings" novelty picture postcard produced at his Southend-on-Sea studio in 1911. |
Picture Postcards by Sidney Boultwood |
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[ABOVE] A studio portrait of Sidney's wife Emily Boultwood (1890-1928). When Sidney Boultwood went blind around 1918, Emily took over her husband's role as photographer at their Southampton studio. | [ABOVE] A picture postcard portrait of Sidney Boultwood junior (born 1915), Emily and Sidney Boultwood's eldest son. The postcard is inscribed "Sidney, August 1917. Aged 2 years & 3 months". | [ABOVE] A group photograph of three of Emily Boultwood's children - Eva, Sidney and Dorothy - taken at Sidney Boultwood's studio at 74 Above Bar, Southampton around 1916. |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Chris Boultwood |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Janice Wiberley |
PHOTO: Courtesy of Janice Wiberley |
Sidney Boultwood's Blindness and the End of his Photographic Career In 1918, Sidney Boultwood lost his sight. Other members of the Boultwood family were visually impaired. Sidney's father, Alfred Boultwood, became blind as a result of paralysis of the optic nerve. Charles Boultwood, Sidney's brother, had lost his sight when he was still a young man. When the 1911 census was taken, both Alfred and his son Charlie were registered blind and were working as street musicians in Brighton. In photographs, both Sidney Boultwood and his older sister Ada are shown wearing eye-glasses. Sidney Boultwood eventually lost his sight completely when his retinas became detached. Although blind, Sidney's father was able to continue earning a living as a musician. Given the nature of his business, Sidney was no longer able to play an active role in the production of portraits at his photographic studio in Southampton, where he was based until at least 1919. Although no longer behind the camera, Sidney Boultwood was still in charge of the photography business and was looking to build up his trade. Frederick and Emily Coppen, Emmie's parents, spent their holidays touring England on a motorbike and sidecar and the Boultwoods saw this as an opportunity to find a suitable location for a permanent photographic studio. A surviving letter written by Emmie Boultwood to her mother and father in 1919, asks them to look out for empty shops during their travels. By the early 1920s, the Boultwoods had settled in Ipswich where, with the invaluable assistance of his wife Emmie, Sidney Boultwood operated a photographic portrait studio. [ Peter Boultwood, Sidney's youngest son, was born at 22 Upper Orwell Street, Ipswich, in 1923 ]. An anecdote, passed down through the Boultwood family, demonstrates how Sidney Boultwood found it difficult to accept his blindness and how, possibly out of pride, he tried to give the impression that he was still functioning as a professional photographer. Sidney's daughter Dorothy Boultwood (born 1912) remembered a particular episode when her father went through the motions of taking a group photograph rather than admitting to the customers that he was blind. Mike Murphy, Sidney Boultwood's grandson, has passed on this description of this event, which presumably took place at Sidney and Emmie's photographic studio in Ipswich: "Dorothy recalled one incident when her mother was out shopping when some customers called. Sydney asked the customers to pose themselves how they wanted the photograph taken, while he stuck his head under the cover over the camera. After a while, he told them 'that was fine' and informed them that they could call back for the photograph in three days. When they called back, Emily was there and had been prepared. She told them they must have moved while the photograph was being taken and she would have to take it again." Between 1918 and 1924, Sidney Boultwood's wife Emmie operated the camera at the Boultwood photographic studios, first in Southampton and later in Ipswich. By 1919, Stickybacks photographs were out of fashion and it is likely that the Boultwood studio at 22 Upper Orwell Street, Ipswich, mainly produced picture postcard portraits and standard studio portraits, either mounted on cards or presented in conventional picture frames. By 1924, Emmie Boultwood had become seriously ill with tuberculosis. It was decided that it would be best for Emmie and her family if she returned to her home town of Croydon, where she could be looked after by her parents and siblings. Sidney Boultwood sold his photography business in Ipswich and moved to a house in St Saviour's Road, West Croydon. [ In 1911, Emily Boultwood's parents and siblings were living at 33 St Saviour's Road, West Croydon ]. According to Mike Murphy, Emily Boultwood's grandson, Sidney Boultwood used the money from the sale of his photography business to buy Emmie's parents' house at 33 St Saviour's Road, Croydon and a second house which he rented out. Weakened by tuberculosis, Emmie Boultwood died from the disease in 1928 at the relatively young age of 38. [The death of Emily Louisa Boultwood was registered in Croydon during the 3rd Quarter of 1928]. Handicapped by his blindness, Sidney Boultwood was now a middle-aged widower with eight children to support. At the time of their mother's death, Eva Boultwood, the eldest daughter, was a teenager of 17, and Dorothy Boulwood, the next eldest, was not yet 16. Peter Boultwood, the youngest of eight children, was only 5 years of age. After Emmie's death in 1928, two of her married sisters, together with their families, moved into Sidney's house in St Saviour's Road to help him care for his younger children. Although blind, Sidney Boultwood was able to support his family from the rents of two houses he owned in the area. Around 1932, more funds became available to Sidney Boultwood when an endowment policy he had taken out when he had first set himself up as a professional photographer finally paid out. When his younger children were old enough either to marry or support themselves by their own labour, Sidney Boultwood went to live with his married daughter Dorothy and her family at 37 Kimberley Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon. [ Dorothy M. Boultwood had married Herbert W. Turrell in 1935. After her first husband died in 1948, Dorothy married Thomas Murphy in Croydon]. After Mrs Dorothy Murphy (Boultwood) emigrated to Australia with her husband and children in 1951, Sidney Boultwood remained at the house in Kimberley Road with his son Arthur Boultwood (born 1918, Southampton). Mike Murphy, who shared his family home in Thornton Heath with his grandfather Sidney Boultwood, has memories of his blind grandfather:
Sidney Boultwood's daughter Dorothy remembered her father as "a very ambitious man, who hated being blind". Mike Murphy, Sidney's grandson, has written: "The more I think about it - especially after reading Sidney Boultwood's letters to his sister - I think he was a shrewd man with a fair idea of what was going on around him. I can imagine these were traits that had stood him in good stead when he first started his (photography) business." Sidney Boultwood died in Croydon in 1958 at the age of 76. [The death of "Sydney C. W. Boultwood " was registered in the Surrey district of Croydon during the 2nd Quarter of 1958]. Sidney's younger brother Charles Boultwood, a blind musician, died in Brighton the following year at the age of 75. Alfred Thomas Boultwood, Sidney's father, who was also described as a "blind street musician", had died in Brighton some thirty-two years earlier in 1926, in his 84th year. Sidney's sister Mrs Ada Bryden (Boultwood), who in 1904 had married Frank Breidenbach (aka Bryden), passed away in the West Sussex seaside resort of Worthing in 1977 at the advanced age of 97. |
[ABOVE] Sidney Boultwood photographed around 1911, when he was twenty-nine years of age.
[ABOVE] Sidney Boultwood photographed around 1914, when he was in his early thirties.
[ABOVE] Sidney Boultwood photographed in 1954, when he was 72 years old. Sidney Boultwood died in Croydon in 1958, four years after this photograph was taken. PHOTOS: Courtesy of Mike Murphy |
To view more photographs of Sidney Boultwood's Family, click on the link below: |
Acknowledgements & Sources |
I am indebted to Mike Murphy of Western Australia for providing biographical details for Sidney Boultwood and other members of the Boultwood/ Coppen / Breidenbach (Bryden) Families. Mike Murphy is the grandson of the photographer Sidney Boultwood. Mike Murphy's mother was Dorothy Boulwood (born 1912, Folkestone, Kent), Sidney Boultwood's second daughter. Mike Murphy provided copies of the majority of the photographs which illustrate the story of Sidney Boultwood and the Stickybacks Studios. I am grateful to Bec Thomas, Mike Murphy's daughter, who has kept these photographs safe and has helped to identify the sitters in many of the photographs. Additional photographs and information about the Boultwood/ Coppen / Breidenbach (Bryden) Families has been provided by Chris Boultwood (son of Peter Boultwood, Sidney Boultwood's youngest child), Janice Wiberley (daughter of Sidney Boultwood junior, Sidney Boultwood's eldest son), Lorrain Bryden and David Bryden, |
Links to other Sussex PhotoHistory webpages featuring Stickybacks |
Stickybacks & Postcard Studios in Brighton The Stickyback Studio and the Automatic Photo Machine |
Click here to go to a Webpage Index to Automatic Photographs and Photobooth Photos on Sussex PhotoHistory |