Eastbourne - R

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Professional Photographers in Eastbourne (R)

 Richard Henry Ramsden - Rapid Art Photography - E. P. Rayment - Frederick T. Robinson - Thomas B. Rowe - Rhylls & Co.

 

Richard Henry  RAMSDEN  (1854-1933) 

Richard Henry Ramsden - Artist

Richard Henry Ramsden was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1854. [The birth of Richard Henry Ramsden was registered in the district of Leeds during the 3rd Quarter of 1854]. Richard Henry Ramsden began his working career as an artist and is described in documents of the time as "an artist in colours".

By the mid 1870s, Richard Henry Ramsden was living in London. In 1875, Richard Henry Ramsden married Annie Eliza Todd (born c1857) in Hackney, London. [ The marriage of Richard Henry Ramsden and Annie Eliza Todd was registered in the London district of Hackney during the 3rd Quarter of 1875]. Richard Ramsden's young wife gave birth to a son named Frederick Edwin Ramsden during the 1st Quarter of 1876, but sadly Annie Ramsden died soon after giving birth. [ The death of Annie Eliza Ramsden, Richard Ramsden's nineteen year old wife, was registered in the district of Hackney during the 1st Quarter of 1876]. Richard Ramsden, a widower at the age of twenty-one, placed his son in the care of his wife's parents. ( The 1881 census records five year old Frederick Ramsden living at 54 St Leonards Road, London with his grandmother, Mrs Eliza Todd, described on the census return as a "wife of a Car Man". Also residing at Mrs Todd's house were her three teenage daughters. Mrs Eliza Todd's husband is not listed on the census return as he was away from home when the census was taken, but he may have been Francis Todd, a forty-year old "Car Man" who was a patient at London's St George's Hospital).

In 1877, Richard Henry Ramsden married for the second time. Richard's bride was seventeen year old Kate Harriet Stevens (born 1860, Clerkenwell, London). Although Richard Ramsden had been working as an artist in London and Kate Stevens originated from London, the couple married in the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, which suggests the marriage was not approved by Kate's parents [The marriage of Richard Henry Ramsden and Kate Harriet Stevens was registered in the district of Scarborough during 3rd Quarter of 1877].

When the census was carried out on 3rd April 1881, Richard and Kate Ramsden were recorded at 11 Westbourne Terrace, Chiswick. Both Richard Ramsden and his wife Kate give their occupation as "Artist". Richard Ramsden and his wife were living in a newly built house in an attractive suburb of West London. Few of the houses in Westbourne Terrace were occupied at the time of the 1881 census, but Richard Ramsden's neighbours included a wine merchant, a private secretary, a retired licensed victualler, and another artist, William Fry, an Irish-born portrait painter.  Richard Ramsden was working as an artist and, given the location of his house and the fact he was able to employ a live-in domestic servant (seventeen year old Clara Clifton), he appears to have been making a reasonable living from his artistic talents.

As a professional artist, Richard Ramsden did produce original artwork and presumably he occasionally received commissions for painted portraits. ( A circular painting in oils, signed by R. H. Ramsden and entitled "Gentleman and Woman with Cat Playing with Ball of Wool" was up for auction in 1999). The range of Richard Ramsden's artistic talents were later listed in the publicity for his Eastbourne studio - "Miniatures upon ivory, paintings upon porcelain and paper, in water colours or black and white". However, to secure a regular income, Richard Ramsden worked as an artist for an established firm of portrait photographers. In later advertisements, Richard Ramsden informed the public that he had worked for "many years" as an artist at the Regent Street studio of Walery.

"Walery" was the trade name of a firm of photographers established in London in 1883 by Count Stanislaw Ostrorog, the Elder (1830-1890). A Pomeranian nobleman and former army army officer originating from Lithuania, Count Ostrorog became a British citizen in 1862. After working as a professional photographer in Marseilles and Paris, Count Ostrorog opened a photographic portrait studio in May 1883 at 5 Conduit Street, near London's Regent Street. Count Ostrorog operated his photographic studio under the pseudonym of "Walery", the masculine version of his wife's first name Waleria (Valerie). After Queen Victoria allowed Count Ostrorog (Walery) to take her portrait at her residence in Windsor in 1886, it became fashionable to have a photographic portrait taken at the aristocratic photographer's London studio. By 1887, Walery had moved his photographic studio to larger premises at 164 Regent Street, London. It was probably around this time that Richard Henry Ramsden went to work for the Walery studio. In 1890, Count Ostrorog, the original "Walery", died and the studio at 164 Regent Street passed to his son Stanislaw Julian Ignacy Ostrorog (1863-1935), who continued the business under the name of "Walery".

Like many of the high-class photographic portrait studios of the Victorian period, Walery employed a team of artists to colour photographs by hand or to produce either a painted miniature or a larger portrait in oils, based on the original photograph taken at the photographic studio. According to his later publicity, Richard Ramsden rose up the ranks of employed artists to become "Chief Artist to Walery" at the Regent Street studio.

Frederick Edwin Ramsden - Photographer

By the time the 1891 census was taken, Frederick Edwin Ramsden, Richard Ramsden's son from his first marriage, had joined his father and step-mother at their home in the London. At the time of the census, fifteen year old Fred E. Ramsden was residing with Richard and Kate Ramsden at their London home. It appears that Richard Ramsden's second marriage was childless as no other children are shown living with him at his London address in 1891. Frederick Edwin Ramsden, Richard Ramsden's only son, married Florence Amelia Fletcher (born 1876, Altofts, Yorkshire) in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, in 1898. Frederick Ramsden, who was now a professional photographer, worked for a short time in Croydon, Surrey. It was while living in Neville Road, Croydon, in 1899, that Fred Ramsden's wife gave birth to a son named Lionel Ingram Ramsden. However, by the time the 1901 census was taken, Frederick Ramsden and his family were back in the Welsh town of Pontypridd. On the 1901 census return Frederick E. Ramsden is described as a twenty-five year old photographer living in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, with his wife Florence and their one year old son, Lionel.

In April 1899, Stanislaw Julian Ignacy Ostrorog (the proprietor of the Walery studio in Regent Street and Richard Henry Ramsden's employer) closed the Walery studio at 164 Regent Street, London. Stanislaw Ostrorog entered into a business agreement with the London photographer Alfred Ellis (1854-1930) to form the firm of Ellis & Walery at 51 Baker Street, London. Count Ostrorog the younger wanted to establish himself in Paris, so Alfred Ellis acquired Walery's business and goodwill, plus all the negatives from the Regent Street studio.

Richard Henry Ramsden - Artist and Photographer

No longer employed as an artist and photographer by the firm of Walery Limited of 164 Regent Street, London, Richard Henry Ramsden decided to set up his own photographic portrait studio. The opportunity arose, when in 1899,  George Churchill, a long established portrait photographer in Eastbourne, decided to sell his photographic studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of photographer Richard Henry Ramsden of 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne (c1902).

Walery, Society Photographer of Regent Street London

[ABOVE] A portrait of Count Stanislaw Julian Ostrorog the younger (1863-1935), who worked as a photographer in Regent Street, London, under the name of "Walery" between 1890 and 1898. Stanislaw Julian Ignacy Ostrorog was the son of  Count Stanislaw Ostrorog, the Elder (1830-1890), a Pomeranian nobleman who had served as an officer in the Polish Army. Count Stanislaw Ostrorog the elder had been born in Lithuania, but in 1862 he became a British citizen. After working as a professional photographer in France, Count Stanislaw Ostrorog the elder established a photographic portrait studio in London in 1883. Count Ostrorog adopted the pseudonym of Walery, the masculine version of his wife's first name Waleria (Valerie). When Count Stanislaw Ostrorog the elder died in 1890, his son Count Stanislaw Julian Ignacy Ostrorog took over the Walery studio at 164 Regent Street, London. The Walery Studio of Regent Street was associated with celebrity and royal portraits. In 1886, Count Stanislaw Ostrorog the elder had photographed Queen Victoria at Windsor and portrait sittings by other members of the Royal Family and the British nobility followed. The studio of Walery had became particularly well-known after the firm of Sampson Low & Co published a series of "Celebrity Portraits" taken at Walery's Regent Street Studio in the late 1880s. Famous sitters at Walery's London studio included the composer and conductor Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), the artist and painter Sir Frederick Leighton (1830-1896), the French chemist and bacteriologist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) and the actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923). In his publicity, the Eastbourne photographer Richard Henry Ramsden (1854-1933) pointed out that for "many years" he was the "Chief Artist to Walery, Regent Street". Presumably, Ramsden's employment at the Walery Studio mainly took place between 1891 and 1898, when Count Stanislaw Julian Ostrorog the younger (Walery) was the proprietor of the Regent Street studio.

[ABOVE] The detail from the publicity for the Eastbourne photographer Richard Henry Ramsden which informed the public that he was employed for many years as the "Chief Artist" to Walery of Regent Street, the well-known firm of society portrait photographers. The Walery studio in London's Regent Street closed in 1899, the same year that Ramsden purchased George Churchill's studio in Eastbourne.

 

Richard Henry Ramsden in Eastbourne (1900-1907)

[ABOVE] A view of Cornfield Road, Eastbourne, a photograph taken in the early 1920s. Richard Henry Ramsden's photographic studio at No. 4 Cornfield Road was situated in the second building on the left (marked by the sign "The Amateur Depot"). When this photograph was taken the premises at 4 Cornfield Road was known as Churchill's Photo Supplies Store and in a 1920 trade directory was described as "the principal depot in Eastbourne for amateur photographers". The War Memorial was erected to commemorate those killed during the First World War and was unveiled on 10th November 1920.

[ABOVE] "A Souvenir Portrait of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, Empress of India". This coloured portrait was taken from a photograph taken by Valery of Regent Street, London, the studio where Richard Henry Ramsden worked for many years as "Chief Artist". The original photograph by Walery, which dates from around 1887, was transferred on to silk and was later presented as a souvenir portrait by "The Gentlewoman" magazine. As Chief Artist to the Walery Studio, Richard Ramsden would have been actively involved in the colouring of photographs of famous celebrities.

[ABOVE] Richard Ramsden listed as a photographer at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne in the Trades Section of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, published in 1905. Ramsden was the proprietor of the studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne from around 1900 until 1907.
Richard Henry Ramsden purchased the photographic portrait studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne around 1899. The former proprietor of the studio in Cornfield Road was George Churchill (1837-1907). George Churchill, who was from Glympton, Oxfordshire, arrived in Eastbourne in 1870 to take over the photographic studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne. A photographic portrait studio had been established at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne in 1864 by the veteran photographer William Hicks (1830-1888), but it had have been unoccupied for a few years before it was purchased by George Churchill in the Spring of 1870. George Churchill had operated as a portrait photographer at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne for nearly thirty years, but in 1899, at the age of 62, he decided to retire from the photography business and return to his native county of Oxfordshire.

By 1900, Richard Henry Ramsden had taken possession of the photographic portrait studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne. Pike's Directory of Eastbourne, issued for the period 1901-1902, lists R. H. Ramsden as a photographer at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne. When the census was taken on 31st March 1901, Richard Henry Ramsden was recorded as residing with his twenty-nine year old wife in the living quarters attached to the studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne. On the census return "R. H. Ramsden" is described as a "Photographer, own account".

George Churchill, Ramsden's predecessor at the Cornfield Road studio, had claimed that he had royal patronage and the photographs produced at Churchill's Eastbourne studio after 1878, carry the printed legend "Photographer to her Majesty the Queen (Victoria) & most of the Imperial & Royal Families of Europe". [To read how George Churchill justified his claims of royal patronage see the information in the navy blue panels on the webpage devoted to George Churchill ]. Walery, the photographic studio which had previously employed Richard Ramsden, had also claimed to be "Photographer to the Queen", having photographed Queen Victoria at Windsor in 1886. A portrait of Edward, Prince of Wales, photographed by Valery, was published by the firm of Sampson Low & Co. in 1889 and from this date the Valery studio in London utilised the emblem of the "Prince of Wales' Feathers", the heraldic badge of then Prince of Wales, in their advertisements and publicity. Based on his association with the Valery studio, Richard H. Ramsden also printed the "Prince of Wales' Feathers" emblem on the photographs he produced at his Eastbourne studio in his first two years of business. After the Prince of Wales acceded to the throne in January 1901, Ramsden employed the Royal Crown on the mounts of his photographs, together with the words "Under the Gracious Patronage of His Majesty King Edward VII". There is no evidence that Ramsden photographed Edward, either as Prince of Wales or King of the United Kingdom, while based in Eastbourne. However, Ramsden might have been involved in the production of images of Prince Edward when he was employed as "Chief Artist" to the Walery Studio in Regent Street.

Although trained as an artist, Richard Henry Ramsden took on the duties of a regular professional photographer in Eastbourne, producing standard studio portraits in the popular cabinet card format at his Cornfield Road studio (see examples of his work below). However, Ramsden was still able to exercise his artistic talents and utilise the experience gained at Walery's high class studio, by producing hand-painted versions of the photographic portraits produced at his premises in Cornfield Road. An advert on the reverse of a Ramsden cabinet photograph produced around 1900, advised his customers that "Miniatures upon ivory, paintings upon porcelain and paper, in water colours or black and white, can be executed from this or any photograph".

Richard H. Ramsden gave up the studio at 4 Cornfield Road around 1907, the year that George Churchill, the original proprietor, died. The Cornfield Road studio passed briefly to a photographer named J. Lamonte, but by the time Gowland's Directory of Eastbourne had been published in 1909, the proprietor of the studio at 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne was listed as H. H. Churchill. The studio at 4 Cornfield Road carried the name of "The Churchill Studio & Photo Supplies Store" until 1922, when the business passed into the hands of Kent & Lacey, a photographic company with branch studios in Eastbourne and Brighton.

After he closed his studio in Eastbourne, Richard Henry Ramsden travelled north to the Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough, the town where he had married Kate Harriet Stevens in 1877. At the time of the 1911 census, Richard Henry Ramsden was residing with his wife Kate at 53 Westbourne Grove, Scarborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. On the 1911 census return, Richard Henry Ramsden's occupation is given as "Painter - Artist". Local directories show that Richard Ramsden remained in Scarborough for several years. Kelly's Directory of the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, published in 1913, lists Richard Henry Ramsden's private residence as 50 Albemarle Crescent, Scarborough.

The death of a man named Richard H. Ramsden was registered in Battersea, South London during the 4th Quarter of 1933. The age at death is given as 79 and, given that Richard Henry Ramsden was born in 1854, there is a strong possibly that the deceased was the artist and  photographer who worked for Walery of Regent Street and operated his own photographic studio in Eastbourne between 1900 and 1907.
 

 

Cabinet Portraits by Richard Henry Ramsden of Eastbourne

[ABOVE] The reverse of a cabinet portrait produced by Richard Henry Ramsden of 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne (c1900). The printed publicity on this cabinet card emphasises royal patronage. Ramsden announces that he was  "Photographer to H. R. H. The Prince of Wales" and for good measure he has included a reference to his predecessor's claim of being "Photographer to Her Majesty the Queen & most of the Imperial & Royal families of Europe". Ramsden also makes reference to his artistic talents.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a man with a bushy moustache, photographed by Richard Henry Ramsden of 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne (c1900). Written in ball-point pen on the reverse of this cabinet portrait is the caption "John Collins?". Ramsden has included the emblem of the Prince of Wales at the foot of the photograph in association with the claim that he was "Photographer to H. R. H. The Prince of Wales". The publicity on the reverse of this cabinet mentions Ramsden's position as "Chief Artist" to the famous society photographer Walery of Regent Street, London.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a married couple, photographed by Richard Henry Ramsden of 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne (c1902). Inscribed in pencil on the the reverse of this cabinet portrait is the identity of the newlyweds -  "William & Louie Burgess".

[ABOVE] The reverse of a cabinet portrait produced by Richard Henry Ramsden of 4 Cornfield Road, Eastbourne (1902). The names of the sitters - "William & Louie Burgess" - are written in pencil on the cabinet card.

RAPID ART PHOTOGRAPHY (see also PROCHNOW)      

The R. A. P. (Rapid Art Photography) Gallery was opened in Eastbourne in 1907. The photographic studio at 56c Terminus Road, Eastbourne was eventually placed under the management of Hans D. Prochnow, a photographer from Germany.

Hans Detlof Prochnow was born in Germany around 1880. It appears that Hans Prochnow had arrived in Eastbourne as a young man during the early 1900s. Hans Detlof Prochnow married a Spanish woman named Matilda De Montilla (born c1883) at Eastbourne in 1905. [The marriage of Hans Detlof Prochnow and Matilda De Montilla was registered in Eastbourne during 3rd Quarter of 1905]. A year into their marriage, Hans and Matilda Prochnow became the parents of a baby girl. [The birth of Juanita Matilde Prochnow was registered in Eastbourne during the 3rd Quarter of 1906]. A second daughter, Pilar Carmen Prochnow, arrived during the early months of 1908. The couple's third child, a son named Manuel T. Prochnow was born in Eastbourne in the February or March of 1911.

Around 1907, Hans Prochnow was recruited by De Jornette Plummer of Rapid Art Photography to run a R. A. P. Gallery at 56c Terminus Road, Eastbourne. A second R. A. P. Gallery was opened in the town at 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne around 1910, under the London photographer Joseph Robert Lizars (born 1872, Islington, London).

Between 1909 and 1910, Hans Prochnow and his family were living at 25 Upperton Road, Eastbourne. By the time the census was taken on 2nd April 1911, Hans Prochnow, his wife Matilda and their children had moved to the outskirts of the seaside resort. The 1911 census return records Hans Prochnow as a 30 year old "Artist and Photographer", living with his wife Matilda and their three young children - Juanita, aged 4, Carmen, aged 3 and one month old baby Manuel - at 7 Lewes Road, Eastbourne.

Hans Prochnow remained in charge of the R.A.P. Gallery at 56c Terminus Road, Eastbourne until around 1914. By this date, De Jornette Plummer had ended his involvement in the R. A. P. (Rapid Art Photography) business and had left Brighton. (The studio at 59 King's Road, Brighton was taken over by a photographer named A. W. Newnham). The advent of the First World War might have forced the German-born Hans Prochnow to give up his photographic studio in Eastbourne. (H. D. Prochnow was last recorded as a photographer at 56c Terminus Road, Eastbourne in the 1915 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, but trade directories were generally compiled during the year preceding publication). I have found no trace of Hans Prochnow after 1915, but his daughter Juanita Prochnow was living in Hendon when she married Herbert S. Price in 1932. Hans Prochnow's son Manuel T. Prochnow married Sonia M. S. Hooper in the London district of Westminster in 1947.

To read an account of the R. A. P. (Rapid Art Photography) Galleries in Eastbourne, Hastings and Brighton and see examples of R. A. P. Gallery Postcards, click on the link below:

 R. A. P. (Rapid Art Photography) Galleries

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a man wearing pince-nez eyeglasses, photographed at the Rapid Art Photography Gallery at 56c Terminus Road, Eastbourne (c1907). A R. A .P. Gallery portrait in carte-de-visite format is rare as most of the studio's output was in the form of postcard portraits.

 Ernest Percival RAYMENT  (born 1880, Luton, Bedfordshire)

Ernest Percival Rayment was born in Luton, Bedfordshire during the 1st Quarter of 1880, the son of Sarah and Charles Rayment, a straw bonnet and straw hat manufacturer. Ernest was the fifth of nine children, eight of whom survived to adulthood. The majority of Ernest Raymond's siblings worked in the hat trade, but Ernest himself became a professional photographer. By the time he was twenty-one, Ernest Percival Rayment was employed as a photographer in Luton.

Around 1907, Ernest Percival Rayment took over the photographic portrait studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne, recently vacated by Ernest W. Beattie. After a year or so, Ernest Rayment closed his photographic studio and the business premises at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne, was passed on to Mr Herbert Pike and his wife Annie, a tailor and costumier, respectively. For a few years, Ernest Rayment worked as a photographer in the London area. At the time of the 1911 census, Ernest Rayment was boarding at a house in Frimley Road, York Town, Camberley, Surrey. On the census return, Ernest Percival Rayment is described as a single man of thirty-one, working as a "Photographer". According to Lindy Dawson's family history website, Ernest Rayment later emigrated to Canada.

[ABOVE] The trade stamp of photographer Ernest Percival Rayment of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1907). The photographer's details  -"Rayment, 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne " - are impressed into the bottom right-hand corner of the photographic mount (see below).

[ABOVE] A portrait of a young man, photographed by Ernest Percival Rayment of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1907). The photographer's signature of "E. P. Rayment" has been written in ink on the photograph itself. Rayment was in business as a photographer in Eastbourne for less than two years.

[ABOVE] A portrait of an unknown man, photographed by Ernest Percival Rayment of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1907).The photographer's details  -"Rayment, 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne " - are impressed into the bottom right-hand corner of the photographic mount (see above for enlargement)

Frederick T ROBINSON  (see PARISIAN PHOTO. CO)

   

George ROBINSON - active as a photographic artist in Eastbourne in 1862

[ABOVE] An advertisement for George Robinson, Photographic Artist ( Late of San Francisco, California) which appeared in The Eastbourne Gazette on 16th April 1862.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for George Robinson, Photographic Artist ( Late of San Francisco, California) of 6 Terminus Road, Eastbourne, which appeared in The Eastbourne Gazette on 13th August 1862.
George Robinson, Photographic Artist, "Late of San Francisco, California", was operating a photographic studio in Eastbourne at Cornfield Road early in 1862. Robinson's prices started at one shilling for one photographic portrait. For a single carte-de-visite (cdv) portrait, Robinson charged 2s 6d, but if  customers ordered extra copies they only had to pay 10 shillings for ten cdvs. In April 1862,  George Robinson advertised the removal of his Gallery to his home address at 6, Terminus Road. By August 1862, Robinson had increased the price of 10 cartes-de-visite to 10s 6d.

Thomas Bradridge ROWE  (see G & R  LAVIS)

   

RYLLS & CO

   

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