Chichester Photographers (S-Z)

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Professional Photographers in Chichester (S-Z )

Frederick Smith - Sidney Pierre Smith - Wilhelm Carl Stackemann - Thomas James Stringer - Sussex School of Photography - J. S. Wright

 

Frederick SMITH (born c1844, Westbury, Buckinghamshire) - active as a professional photographer in Chichester between 1878 and 1884.

Federick Smith was born in Westbury, Buckinghamshire around 1844, the eldest son of Martha Bryan and Henry Smith, a gamekeeper from Paulerspury in Northamptonshire.

Sometime between 1867 and 1871, Frederick Smith married a woman named Annie who originated from Hawkhurst in Kent. The union between Annie and Frederick Smith produced 7 children, five of whom survived infancy - Anne Bryan Smith (born 1872, Bognor, West Sussex), Edith Emma Smith (born 1874, Gosport, Hampshire), Campbell James Smith (born 1876, Chilgrove, West Sussex), Archibald Henry Smith (born 1879, Chichester, West Sussex) and Reginald Smith (born 1881, Chichester, West Sussex).

The 1878 edition of Kelly's Post Office Directory of Sussex, records Frederick Smith as a 'Photographer' at Franklin Place, Chichester. The Trades section of Kelly's  Directory of Sussex, published in 1882, also lists Frederick Smith as a 'Photographer' at Franklin Place, Chichester.

The 1881 Census records Frederick Smith and his family residing in Franklin Place, Chichester. On the census return, Frederick Smith is described as a 37 year old photographer and his wife Annie indicates that she was born around 1846 in Hawkhurst, Kent. It appears that Frederick Smith's wife Annie died in Chichester towards the end of 1884 at the age of 38 [Death registered in Chichester during the 4th Quarter if 1884], which suggests that Frederick Smith was active as a professional photographer in Chichester between 1878 and 1884.

When the 1891 census was taken, Frederick Smith was lodging at a house in Oxen Lane, Ash, Surrey, with his son Archibald. On the census return, Frederick Smith is described as a 46 year old "Tobacconist (Employed)". In 1893, Frederick Smith married Mrs Eliza Wurr (born 1851, Hoxton, Middlesex), a 42 year old widow.

The 1911 Census records Frederick Smith in Wood Green, Edmonton, and describes him as a 67 year old widower employed as an "Agent".

1881 Census: Franklin Place, Chichester

NAME

 

AGE

OCCUPATION

WHERE BORN

Frederick Smith

Head 37

Photographer

Westbury, Bucks.
Annie Smith wife 34

Wife

Hawkhurst, Kent
Anne B. Smith daughter 9

Scholar

Bognor, Sussex.
Edith Emma Smith daughter 7

Scholar

Gosport, Hants.
Campbell Smith son 5

Scholar

Chilgrove, Sussex
Archibald Smith son 2 - Chichester, Sussex
Reginald Smith son 3 months - Chichester, Sussex

[ABOVE]  Frederick Smith described as a 37 year old photographer, recorded at Franklin Place, Chichester, with his wife and 5 children at the time of the 1881 Census.

[LEFT] Frederick Smith listed as a  photographer at Franklin Place, Chichester, in the Trades Section of the 1882 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex. Frederick Smith is first recorded as a professional photographer in Chichester in an earlier Post Office Directory of Sussex, published in 1878.

Sidney Pierre SMITH (born 1879, North Mundham, West Sussex) - active as a part-time photographer in Chichester between 1900 and 1905.

Sidney Pierre Smith was born in North Mundham, West Sussex, in 1879, the son of Eugenie la Joinie and George Smith, a 'Librarian & Tutor'.'  Eugenie la Joinie, Sidney's mother, had been born in Belfast, Ireland, around 1849 and his father George Smith was a native of the West Sussex village of North Mundham. By 1890, George Smith had been appointed the 'Custodian, Secretary and Librarian' of the Chichester Institute. The 1891 census records George Smith, his wife Eugenie and their 11 year old son, Sidney P. Smith residing at The Chichester Institute in South Street, Chichester. Later that year, George Smith, Sidney's father died at the age of 46. [Death registered in Chichester during the 3rd Quarter of 1891].

In 1893, Sidney's mother, Eugenie Smith, married Henry Gordon Thomas States (born c1840, Scotland), her late husband's successor as Secretary & Librarian at the Chichester Institute. 'Harry' Gordon States was a veteran army officer who had served in India with the British Army. After he retired from the army, 'Harry' States had settled in Chichester with his wife Amelia and four of their children. Harry's wife Amelia Julia States (formerly Blaing) died in 1891 at the age of 43, so when Harry Gates married Sidney's mother in 1893 he was a 53 year old widower.

The 1901 Census records Sidney P. Smith with his mother and step-father at the Chichester Institute, 45 South Street, Chichester. On the census return Sidney P. Smith is described as a twenty-one year old "Engineer/Fitter". Although he was employed full-time as an engineer-fitter, Sidney Pierre Smith was around the time of the 1901 census, working as a part-time photographer. A carte-de-visite photograph dating from about 1902, carries a trade plate which reads: "Sidney P. Smith, 45 South street, Chichester".

Sidney Pierre Smith's career as a photographer in Chichester came to an end when he moved to the Brighton area to take up employment as a "Draughtsman" at the local Railway Locomotive Works, near the Brighton Railway Terminus. The 1911 census records Sidney Pierre Smith, a single man of 31, boarding with Thomas & Harriet Ansell at 4 Hamilton Terrace in the Prestonville district of Brighton.

When Sidney Smith's widowed mother, Mrs Eugenie States, died in 1923 she was living in the Brighton & Hove area (Eugenie's second husband, Harry Gordon States, had passed away in Chichester in 1911 at the age of 71). Probate records for Mrs States indicate that in 1923, her son Sidney Pierre Smith was working as an "engineering draughtsman", residing at 44 Addison Road, Hove.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a family group photographed on location at the sitters' home by Sidney Pierre Smith of 45 South Street, Chichester (c1902).
 

(Wilhelm) Carl STACKEMANN (1849-1916) active as an outdoor photographer based at 7 Westgate, Chichester, between 1879 and 1880.

Wilhelm Carl Stackemann was born in Einbeck, near Hanover, Germany, around 1849, the son of Juliane Franziska Steinacker and Georg Stackemann (1798-1858), a physician*.  By the time the 1871 census was taken, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann was living in England. The 1871 census records "W. C. Stackemann" lodging at 2 Castle Street, Dudley, Worcestershire. On the census return, 22 year old Wilhelm Stackemann's occupation is given as "Photographic Art". It appears that Wilhelm's sister joined her brother in England before 1873. Louisa Frederika Amelia Agatha Stackemann (born c1846, Einbeck, Germany) married the optician, photographer and magic lantern manufacturer Walter Clement Tyler (1850-1909) in Walton-on-Thames on 30th September, 1873. [See Tyler & Stackemann below]

On 19th April 1873, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann married Elizabeth Charlotte Galloway (born 1848) in his bride's home district of Feltham, Middlesex. Elizabeth Charlotte Galloway, who was baptised in Feltham, West London on 29th October 1848, was the daughter of Thomas and Charlotte Galloway. According to the marriage register, Elizabeth's father, Thomas Galloway, was a "Cattle Dealer". In census returns Thomas Galloway is recorded as a "Market Gardener" and "General Dealer".

Wilhelm Carl Stackemann, with his twenty-four year old wife Elizabeth, settled in Esher, Surrey. Under the name of "Carl Stackemann", Wilhelm Carl Stackemann set himself up as a "Landscape, Architectural and Portrait Photographer". In Esher on 26th July 1874, Wilhelm's wife Elizabeth gave birth to their first child, Carl Walter George Stackemann. The birth of a second child,  Elizabeth Charlotte S. A. Stackemann, known as "Tillie",  followed in 1876 [ birth registered in the Surrey district of Kingston during the 3rd Quarter of 1876].

[ABOVE] Christ Church in Esher, Surrey, a carte-de-visite photograph by Carl Stackemann, Landscape, Architectural and Portrait Photographer of Esher, Surrey (c1874). Christ Church had been built in 1854 to replace the old parish church of St. George's, and in the 1870s was still referred to as "Esher New Church", the name printed on the reverse of this carte-de-visite. The photographer, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann, lived in Esher between 1873 and 1878. The trade plate printed on the reverse of  Stackemann's photographs during this period describe Carl Stackemann as a "Landscape, Architectural and Portrait Photographer & Photo Publisher".

Although W. Carl Stackemann and his family were based in the Surrey village of  Esher, he worked as a travelling "outdoor photographer" and he does not appear to have operated a permanent photographic portrait studio in Esher, itself. ( Kelly's Post Office Directory of Surrey, published in 1878, lists only one professional photographer with a studio in the village of Esher - a young man named Frederick Frickers, but Stackemann may have left Esher by this date). When in 1878, Elizabeth gave birth to her third child, a boy named Herman George Stackemann (generally known as George Stackemann), the Stackemann family were staying in the village of Crawley, West Sussex, possibly on their way to the city of Chichester. [The birth of Herman George Stackemann was registered in the West Sussex district of Horsham during the 4th Quarter of 1878].

[ABOVE]  Detail from a (Wilhelm) Carl Stackemann photograph giving his business address as   7 Westgate, Chichester, Sussex (c 1880).

Between 1879 and 1880, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann appears to have been operating as an "outdoor photographer" under the name of "Carl Stackemann" from an address in Chichester. Three school group photographs taken at Chichester, Bexhill and Ringmer during this period identify the name of the photographer as Carl Stackemann of 7 Westgate, Chichester.

[ABOVE]  A school group photograph of  girls at Ringmer Board School taken by Carl Stackemann of 7 Westgate, Chichester around 1880.

By the end of 1880, Carl Stackemann and his family were residing in Croydon, Surrey. The 1881 census shows an addition to the Stackemann family in the form of a six month baby named Violet Miriam Stackemann. Sadly, young Violet, who was born in Croydon towards the end of 1880, did not live to reach her first birthday, dying in Croydon during the 2nd Quarter of 1881, not long after the census was taken. The 1881 census records Carl Stackemann, his wife Elizabeth and three of their four children at No.1, The Laurels, Southsea Road, Croydon, Surrey. (Presumably, six year old Carl Walter Stackemann was away at school or staying with relatives). Carl Stackemann (senior) is entered on the 1881 census return as a thirty-one year old "Photographer", originating from Hanover, Germany. Before Stackemann set off on his travels once again, Elizabeth gave birth to another baby girl, Francisca Marguerite Stackemann, affectionately known as "Daisy". [The birth of Francisca Marguerite Stackemann was registered in the district of Croydon during the 3rd Quarter of 1882].

Around 1884, W. Carl Stackemann and his family left Croydon and headed for the city of Bristol. In March 1885, when the Stackemann Family  were passing through Basingstoke in Hampshire, Elizabeth was delivered of a baby girl named Rosa May Stackemann. [The birth of Rosa Stackemann was registered in the district of Basingstoke during the First Quarter of 1885].

By the Spring of 1887, W. Carl Stackemann and his family had settled in Bristol, Somerset. During the 2nd Quarter of 1887, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann became a father for the seventh time. The latest addition to the family was Minnie Victoria Stackemann (born in the city of Bristol during the 2nd Quarter of 1887). The Stackemann family were still living in Bristol during the Summer of 1889, the period during which Victor Wilhelm Stackemann, Wilhelm's third son, was born. [The birth of Victor Wilhelm Stackemann was registered in the district of Bristol during the First Quarter of 1889].

Carl Stackemann is recorded in Bristol trade directories as a photographer at Grosvener (Grosvenor) Studio, Park Row, Bristol, between 1887 and 1890. It was during this period that Carl Stackemann began his connection with the Photographic Tourists Association, a network of travelling photographers who visited schools, workplaces and institutions around the country taking group photographs of school pupils, teachers, students, employees etc. A Bristol trade directory, published in 1889, lists the Photographic Tourists Association at Park Row, Bristol. The 1890 edition of the trade directory also includes the Photographic Tourists Association at Park Row, but this was to be the last entry for the photographic company in Bristol directories. (The Photographic Tourists Association appears to have been set up around 1889, with its head office in London. A set of ten photographic images of Brentwood School, a small independent school in Essex, were published by the Photographic Tourists Association, London, in 1889).

When the 1891 census was taken on 5th April 1891, W. Carl Stackemann, his wife Elizabeth, and their seven surviving children were residing in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, where the German photographer had set up another branch of the Photographic Tourists Association. Around this time, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann's eldest son Carl Stackemann junior was working alongside his father as a "Photographic Assistant". It was while based in Stratford-upon-Avon that W. Carl Stackemann took legal action (probably in connection with an infringement of copyright) against George Smith, a stationer with a business in Pershore, a market town in Worcestershire.**

In 1892, at the age of forty-three, Mrs Elizabeth Stackemann gave birth to her last child, a baby girl named Gertrude Flora Grace Stackemann. [The birth of Gertrude Flora Grace Stackemann was registered in the district of Stratford-upon-Avon during the 2nd Quarter of 1892].

By November 1892, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann and his family were residing in the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire. During their stay in Oundle, Wilhelm and Elizabeth Stackemann took the opportunity to have their two youngest children christened. Three year old Victor Wilhelm Stackemann, known as "Willie", and  Gertrude Flora Grace Stackemann, a six month old baby who usually went under the name of "Grace", were both baptised in Oundle on 27th November 1892.

By 1893, W. Carl Stackemann and his family were residing at No.1 Brighton Terrace, Rutland Park, Catford, in South-East London. Stackemann was working as a photographer from this address when a County Court judgement was issued against him on 10th October 1893 regarding a debt of £15 18s 2d. Stackemann was still based at Rutland Park, Catford in the Autumn of 1894, when the County Court ruled on Stackemann's debts (now totalling nearly 23 pounds sterling) on 17th September 1894.

Around 1895, W. Carl Stackemann moved to Wandsworth, where he set up an office of The Photographic Tourists Association. Business directories issued during the period 1896 and 1897 list the Photographic Tourists Association at 23 Geraldine Road, East Hill, Wandsworth, with Mr Carl Stackemann as the Manager of the business.

[ABOVE]  A school group photograph taken by (Wilhelm) Carl Stackemann of 7 Westgate, Chichester, between 1879 and 1880. It is presumed that this photograph was taken at a school in Chichester, but Stackemann is known to have made a tour of towns and villages in East Sussex between 1879 and 1880. Some of the school group photographs carrying the photographer's credit "Carl Stackemann, 7 Westgate, Chichester" were in fact taken at schools at some distance from Chichester (e.g. Ringmer, near Lewes, and Bexhill-on-Sea. See examples on this webpage, below and left)

[PHOTO : Courtesy of  West Sussex County Council Library Service]

[ABOVE]  A school group photograph of  boys at Bexhill National School taken by Carl Stackemann of 7 Westgate, Chichester around 1880. In the centre of the middle row of boys (fourth from the right) is young George Cockett (born 1873, Crowhurst), who would have been aged around seven or eight when this photograph was taken. George Cockett, was the second youngest son of the eight surviving children born to Emma and Richard Charles Cockett, Farm Bailiff to Thomas Brassey (1836-1918), Member of Parliament for Hastings and one of the chief landowners in the Bexhill area. Richard Cockett (born c1833) had married Emma Barker (born c1834, Bexhill) in 1856 and, after entering the service of Thomas Brassey, M.P., Richard Cockett and his family lived at Sampson's Farm in Crowhurst. Richard Cockett, George Cockett's father, died in 1879 at the age of 46. After his father's death, Alfred Cockett (born 1860, Battle), Richard Cockett's eldest son, was kept on as Farm Bailiff by Thomas Brassey and the Cockett family were allowed to stay on at Sampson's Farm in Crowhurst. The 1881 census records Mrs Emma Cockett, a forty-seven year old widow with eight children, as the Head of Household at Sampson's Farm, Crowhurst. There was a National School in Crowhurst, but Richard Tapner, the Master of Crowhurst School, had died early in 1880, which probably explains why young George Cockett was attending the National School in Bexhill when this photograph was taken. It is possible that George Cockett lodged with relatives in Bexhill during this time, yet, by 1881, Crowhurst School had appointed a new Master and George was back living with his mother and seven siblings at Sampson's Farm, Crowhurst.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Ron Cresswell]

Larger versions of these school photographs and further details about School Photography and Bexhill Schools in the Victorian period can be viewed by clicking on the link below :

School Photographs by W. Carl Stackemann of Chichester

[ABOVE]  A large mounted photograph (12 inches by 9.5 inches) of a room interior taken by W. Carl Stackemann of The Photographic Tourists Association around 1892. Stamped in ink on the reverse of the photograph's card mount are the words "The Photographic Tourists' Association, Stratford-on-Avon"

 

[ABOVE]  A photograph of workers at the Midland Railway's Depot in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, probably taken by W. Carl Stackemann around 1892, when the photographer was living in nearby Oundle. This photograph shows an assembled group of  fitters, boilermakers and young apprentices, posed in front of one of the large engine sheds where repair and maintenance work was carried out. This photograph was one of a set of Wellingborough Railway Depot pictures produced by The Photographic Tourists Association around 1892. Other photographs taken by Stackemann  at the Wellingborough Railway Depot show locomotives being serviced, the engine sheds and group photographs of other members of the Midland Railway's workforce. All the photographs are credited to "The Photographic Tourists' Association".

[PHOTO : National Railway Museum]

The Location of Wilhelm Carl Stackemann 's Photographic Activities (1873-1897)

Carl Stackemann Esher, Surrey

1873-1878

  Crawley, Sussex

1878

Carl Stackemann 7 Westgate, Chichester

1879-1880

  Touring Towns and Villages in East Sussex

1879-1880

Carl Stackemann 1 Southsea Road, Croydon, Surrey

1880-1884

  Basingstoke, Hampshire

1885

Photographic Tourists Association Park Row, Bristol

1887-1890

Photographic Tourists Association Stratford-upon-Avon

1891-1892

Photographic Tourists Association Oundle, Northamptonshire

1892

Carl Stackemann 1 Brighton Terrace, Rutland Park, Catford

1893-1894

Photographic Tourists Association 23 Geraldine Road, East Hill, Wandsworth

1895-1897

* I am grateful to Alan Stackman, a great grandson of Wilhelm Carl Stackemann, for providing me with family history information on the Stackemann family of Einbeck, Germany. Alan advised me that Wilhelm Carl Stackemann's father was Georg Carl Conrad Stackemann (1798-1858) who was a physician in Einbeck, Germany. Georg Stackemann's father was Johann Friedrich Stackemann who was a linen inspector in Germany.

 ** Carl Stackemann, photographer, v. George Smith, stationer of Pershore .(Legal papers of Slatter, Son and More, Solicitors of Stratford-Upon-Avon-Warwickshire, 1891-1892)

 

The Stackemann Family of Photographers Recorded in the 1901 Census

1901 CENSUS : 4 Heathfield Terrace, CHISWICK

NAME

ORIGINAL FULL NAME

 

OCCUPATION

AGE

PLACE OF BIRTH

Carl STACKEMANN Wilhelm Carl STACKEMANN

Head

Photographer

52 Germany (German Subject)
Elizabeth STACKEMANN ( formerly Elizabeth GALLOWAY )

Wife

  52 Feltham, Middlesex
Carl STACKEMANN (junior) Carl Walter STACKEMANN

son

Photographer

26

Esher, Surrey
Daisy STACKEMANN Francisca Marguerite STACKEMANN

daughter

  18 Croydon, Surrey
Rosa STACKEMANN Rosa May STACKEMANN daughter Juvenile 16 Basingstoke, Hampshire
Mina STACKEMANN Minnie Victoria STACKEMANN daughter Juvenile 14 Bristol, Gloucestershire
Willie STACKEMANN Victor Wilhelm STACKEMANN son Juvenile 11 Bristol, Gloucestershire
Grace STACKEMANN Gertrude Flora Grace STACKEMANN daughter Juvenile 8 Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire
           

1901 CENSUS : Everton, LIVERPOOL

     

OCCUPATION

   
George STACKEMANN Herman George STACKEMANN   Landscape Photographer 22 Crawley, Sussex
Tillie STACKEMANN Elizabeth Charlotte STACKEMANN     24 Esher, Surrey

[ABOVE] Extracts from the 1901 Census returns giving details of the photographer Wilhelm Carl Stackemann and his two photographer sons, Carl Stackemann junior and George Stackemann.

 
Wilhelm Carl Stackemann and the Photographic Tourists Association
The Photographic Tourists Association

Wilhelm Carl Stackemann first set up an office of The Photographic Tourists Association around 1888. Stackemann went on to run branches of the Photographic Tourists Association at Bristol in 1889, in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1891 and in Northamptonshire in 1892. By 1893, Stackemann  had established the head office of the Photographic Tourists Association at No.1 Brighton Terrace, Rutland Park, Catford, in South-East London. Between 1895 and 1897 the Photographic Tourists Association was based at 23 Geraldine Road, East Hill, Wandsworth, with Mr W. C. Stackemann serving as the Manager of the business.

 By 1901, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann and his two photographer sons, Carl Stackemann junior (born 1874, Esher, Surrey) and George Herman Stackemann (born 1878, Crawley, Sussex) were running the Photographic Tourists Association from the family home at Syringa House, 4 Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick. When the 1901 census was taken, the photographers Wilhelm Carl Stackemann and his son Carl Stackemann junior were residing in Chiswick, but George Stackemann, who described himself as a "Landscape photographer" was in the Everton district of Liverpool with his older sister Tillie, presumably travelling through Merseyside on behalf of the the Photographic Tourists Association. There may have been other branches of The Photographic Tourists Association during this period. The University of Liverpool, for example holds a photograph dating from around 1901 which is labelled "photograph by the Photographic Tourists' Association, Hastings".

The Photographic Tourists Association was a photography business that involved photographers touring various districts of England and calling in on schools, workplaces, colleges and other institutions to ask if they could photograph interior and exterior views of the building and take group portraits of pupils, teaching staff, employees, etc. The photographer W. Carl Stackemann was experienced in taking school group photographs, something he had done since the 1870s. Not surprisingly, schools and colleges provided much of the business for W. Carl Stackemann's Photographic Tourists Association.

Stackemann's method of dealing with his school customers can be pieced together from reports of a significant court case involving the copyright of photographs which took place in 1906 (**). One report states that Messrs. Stackemann of the Photographic Tourists Association were "photographers who were in the habit of taking photographs of schools and pupils attending them". The report continued :"This they did as speculation. their practice was to seek permission from the principals to take photographs, it being clearly understood that no one was to be compelled to purchase copies, although, no doubt the photographers had reasonable expectation of being able to effect sales amongst the pupils and others". Another report on the "infringement of copyright" case brought by the Stackemanns mentions that "The Photographic Tourists' Association also printed and supplied (school) prospectuses containing reproductions of the photographs, and they relied for one source of their profits on the sale of such (school) prospectuses"(**).

 Examples of the School Prospectuses published by Stackemann's Photographic Tourists Association, occasionally surface. Recently, a school prospectus produced by the Photographic Tourists Association in 1889 for The Brentwood School, a small independent school in Essex, was sold at auction. The prospectus consisted of a set of ten photographic images of Brentwood School, "bound in a folding concertina style in half morocco with gilt decoration".

W. Carl Stackemann and his sons did not win their copyright infringement court case of 1906.  Wilhelm Carl Stackemann's photography business at Syringa House, Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick was declared bankrupt in April 1907.

After Stackemann's bankruptcy in 1907, The Photographic Tourists Association was taken over by London chemist Tudor Travers Hora (born 1872, Battersea, London). Mr Hora traded under the name of The Photographic Tourists Association from two offices in Wandsworth, Surrey -  54 East Hill, Wandworth & 346 York Road, Wandsworth. In September 1908, Tudor Travers Hora, trading as The Photographic Tourists Association, registered a set of photographs of Holloway College, Egham at the Copyright Office of the Stationers' Company in London. Photographs of Westfield College, Hampstead, also taken by the Photographic Tourists Association of Wandsworth, were still being published in 1910.

 **The court case came about when the Stackemanns discovered that photographs they had taken of a school at Harrow in 1904 had been published, without their permission, in "Paton's List of Schools and Tutors" and they subsequently sued Mr Paton for "an infringement of their copyright" in 1906. Stackemann v Paton. [1906]

Picture Postcards by W. Stackemann & Co. of Teddington

The Photographic Tourists Association had produced picture postcards when the firm was based at Turnham Green in Chiswick. After the Photographic Tourists Association passed to Tudor Travers Hora around 1907, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann formed the firm of  W. Stackemann & Co., a company which produced picture postcards and prospectuses for educational institutions. ( A  booklet containing a set of 8 photographs was produced for University College Reading by W. Stackemann & Co, Teddington in 1910). For their picture postcards, the firm of Wilhelm Stackemann & Co. photographed a range of subjects, but they seemed to take a special interest in churches and religious buildings, particularly those associated with the Catholic faith.

In 1911, W. Stackemann & Co. were based at 13 Elmers Drive, Teddington, in South-West London. The 1911 census records Wilhelm Carl Stackemann under the name of Carl Stackemann, residing with his wife Elizabeth, and three of his daughters - Rose (aged 26), Minna (aged 24) and Grace (aged 24) - at 13 Elmers Drive, Teddington. On the census return, Carl Stackemann is entered as a sixty-two year old "Photographer", and has informed the census enumerator that he was born in Einbeck, Germany and had been married to his wife Elizabeth for thirty-seven years.

George Herman Stackemann, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann's thirty-three year old son, is recorded with his wife Hilda and their three children at 83 Atbara Road, Teddington. On the census return, George Stackemann gives his profession as "Commercial Traveller" rather than photographer, yet there is evidence that George Stackemann was working as a photographer from Atbara Road, Teddington until October 1913.

Wilhelm Carl Stackemann died in Teddington in 1916 at the age of 67.
 

[LEFT] A picture postcard of St Mary's Hall, Cheltenham, produced by W. Stackemann & Co., 13 Elmers Drive, Teddington, London SW. (1911).

[ABOVE]  A picture postcard showing the boys of Ealing Grammar School gathered on the school's Playing Field, published around 1908 by The Photographic Tourists Association, Turnham Green, West London. This picture postcard was one of a set depicting scenes in and around Ealing Grammar School. The Photographic Tourists Association passed to chemist and photographer Tudor Travis Hora in 1907, but under the name of  W. Stackemann & Co. of  Teddington, Wilhelm Carl Stackemann continued to produce photographs of schools and school pupils, which he issued as a series of picture postcards or as a set of photographs used to illustrate school prospectuses.

[ABOVE]  A picture postcard of The Pulpit at St Peter's Church, Vauxhall, London, produced by W. Stackemann & Co. Teddington (c1912). From around 1910 the firm of W. Stackemann & Co. specialised in the production of picture postcards featuring the interiors of churches.
 

[ABOVE]  A picture postcard of The Sanctuary, St Wilfred's Catholic Church, Ripon produced by W. Stackemann & Co., 13 Elmers Drive, Teddington, London SW. The firm of W. Stackemann & Co. produced a number of picture postcards featuring Catholic churches.

Subjects of other picture postcards produced by W. Stackemann & Co. of 13 Elmers Drive, Teddington, include: The Church of the Immaculate Conception and of St Norbert, Spalding [Interior]; St Elthelbert's College next to St Lawrence Church on Main Road, Sidcup (1911); Great Haywood Catholic Church, Staffordshire; Crofton Grange, Orpington; The Girls' High School, Bedford; Girls in the Hall of St Catherine's School, Bramley, Guildford; St Peter's Catholic Church & Presbytery, Cirencester; Catholic College, Leeds.

 
Tyler & Stackemann - Manufacturers of Magic Lanterns and Lantern Slides

[ABOVE] A double-lens magic lantern manufactured by Tyler &  Stackemann of  Waterloo Road, Lambeth.

Walter Clement Tyler was born in Staines, Middlesex in 1850. On 30th September 1873, Walter Tyler married Louisa Frederika Amelia Agatha Stackemann (born c1846, Einbeck, Germany), a sister of the photographer Wilhelm Carl Stackemann (born c1849 Einbeck, Germany).

From around 1875, Walter Clement Tyler operated a photographic business at 12 Tonsley Hill, Wandsworth, Surrey. At the time of the 1881 census, Walter Tyler was working as a photographer at 12 Tonsley Hill, Wandsworth, where he lived with his wife Agatha and their three children - Walter Samuel Tyler (born 1874, New Hampton, Middlesex), Louise Caroline Tyler (born 1878, Wandworth, Surrey) and Florence Alexandra Tyler (born 1879, Wandworth, Surrey).

An optician as well as a photographer, Walter C. Tyler manufactured magic lanterns and lantern slides under the name of Tyler & Stackemann from around 1884. The firm of Tyler & Stackemann operated from various premises in Waterloo Road, Lambeth. Tyler & Stackemann were based at 115 Waterloo Road between 1884 and 1885, 48 Waterloo Road from 1886 until 1890, 50 Waterloo Road from 1891 to 1894, and at 94 Waterloo Road, Lambeth, from 1894 until Walter Tyler's death in 1909.

Walter Clement Tyler died at his home in Teddington on 28th July 1909. Mrs Agatha Tyler (nee Louisa Frederika Amelia Agatha Stackemann) died in 1920 at the age of 75.

 
Larger versions of Carl Stackemann's school group photographs and further details about School Photography and Bexhill Schools in the Victorian period can be viewed by clicking on the link below :

The School Photographs of W. Carl Stackemann

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ron Cresswell, grandson of George Cockett (born c1873,Crowhurst), for providing the school group photograph of the class of boys at Bexhill National School taken by Carl Stackemann and for supplying family history information relating to his grandfather and the Cockett family of Crowhurst. Thanks also to Martin Hayes of the West Sussex County Council Library Service for  providing the school group photograph taken by Carl Stackemann of Chichester. I am grateful to photoLondon for providing information on W. Carl Stackemann, George Stackemann and Tyler & Stackemann on The Database of 19th Century Photographers and Allied Trades in London: 1841-1901 (based on the research of David Webb) which is featured on the photoLondon website. I am grateful to Alan Stackman, a great grandson of Wilhelm Carl Stackemann, for providing me with family history information on the Stackemann Family of Einbeck, Germany.
 

Thomas James STRINGER

   

 

SUSSEX SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY ( Proprietors : Charles Clarke [1865-1866]; William Savage [1866-1867] )

[ABOVE] The Trade Plate of Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866).

[ABOVE] The reverse of  a carte-de-visite portrait taken at the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866).

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester, dated Thursday, 11th January 1866.

Charles D. Clarke was born in Scotland around 1838. Charles Clarke, who described himself as an artist and photographer, arrived in Sussex before 1864. On 15th June 1864, Charles Clarke married Martha Ingledew (born c1839, Brighton) at St Nicholas Church, Brighton. By the following year, Charles Clarke had established a photographic studio at Westgate, Chichester. According to a price list which appeared on the reverse of a carte-de-visite produced in 1865, Charles Clarke charged one shilling for a single carte-de-visite and five shillings for a dozen copies. Later that year, Charles Clarke changed the name of his studio to the Sussex School of Photography and opened a branch studio in High Street, Uckfield.

By the beginning of 1866, Charles Clarke had opened a new studio in West Street, Chichester. In a newspaper advertisement dated 11th January, 1866, Charles Clarke announced that his "New and Highly-Finished CRYSTAL STUDIO" in West Street, Chichester was open to the public. Clarke added that his Crystal Studio was "artificially heated, as to resemble the delicious climate of Madeira." Around this time, Charles and his wife became the parents of a daughter named Martha Clarke (born 1865, Chichester).

Sometime after 1866, Charles D. Clarke left Chichester. When the census was carried out on 2nd April 1871, Charlie D. Clarke was residing in Kent. The 1881 census records Charles D. Clarke residing with his wife and daughter at Inveraray House, Margery Park Road, West Ham, Essex. (Margery Park Road now comes under Forest Gate, London, E7). In the 1881 census, Charlie D. Clarke is described as an "Artist and Photographer", aged 43.

The new proprietor of the Sussex School of Photography in Chichester was a "Mr. Savage". Charles Clarke had sold the studio to Mr Savage around 1866. Mr Savage was probably William Savage (born c1817, Winchester) who had established a photographic studio at 97 High Street, Winchester around the same time.

The Sussex School of Photography did not survive very long in Chichester and by 1870 the photographic studio in West Street had closed.

 

[LEFT] West Street, Chichester, as it appeared in a picture postcard published in 1907. The Sussex School of Photography was based in West Street, Chichester between 1865 and 1867.

 

 

 

Carte-de-visite Portraits taken at the Sussex School of Photography in West Street, Chichester.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  two young women taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866). [ABOVE] A photographic copy of a framed collodion positive portrait (c1860), re-photographed at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester around 1866. [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a seated man taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a man taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866). [ABOVE] The reverse of  a carte-de-visite portrait taken at the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866). The studio proprietor's name is given as C. Clarke. (c1866). [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a young woman taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866)

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a seated man taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866). [ABOVE] A photograph of the spire of Chichester Cathedral covered by scaffolding and decorated with hand-painted flags. A carte-de-visite produced by the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester - Mr. Savage, Proprietor (c1867). [ABOVE] The reverse of  a carte-de-visite produced by the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1867). The new studio proprietor's name is given as Mr Savage.

J. S. WRIGHT

   

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