Hastings Photographers (Co-Cu)

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Professional Photographers in Hastings ( Co-Cu ) 

Jacob Henry Connop - Connop & White - Harry Seymour Cousens - Alfred Coussens - Leslie Cox - William George Cox Harriet Cross - Angus Croyle - Everard Cuzner

 

Jacob Henry CONNOP (1834-1870) - Daguerreotype Artist active in Hastings during 1853 and 1854.

Jacob Henry Connop was born on 2nd September 1834, the son of Jacob and Mariana Connop. Jacob Henry Connop was baptised on 2nd December 1834 at the Old Church of St Pancras, London. Mariana Connop (1799-1869) gave birth to three daughters -  Mariana Maria (born 1824), Sarah Harriet (born 1826) and Mary Jane (born 1832), but it appears that Jacob Henry Connop was the only son to survive into adulthood. Jacob Connop senior (c1796-1857) was a City of London broker, financier and property speculator who was involved in the development of the Ladbroke Grove area in Notting Hill, London during the 1830s. Unlike his father, Jacob Henry Connop showed no interest in a financial affairs and chose an artistic career instead. Jacob Henry Connop became a professional artist and his paintings of figures and still life were exhibited at various London galleries during the early 1850s. In 1852, J. H. Connop showed his work at an exhibition organised by the Society of British Artists.

Jacob Henry Connop a

 In 1853, in partnership with a photographic artist named White, Jacob Henry Connop acquired the photographic portrait studio of Richard Beauford at 6 East Parade, Hastings. The firm of White & Connop also a purchased a licence from Richard Beauford to enable them to use "Beauford's Registered Daguerreotype Accelerator", the means by which daguerreotype portraits could be taken in just a few seconds. On 13th October 1853, the partnership of White & Connop, Photographic Artists, of 6 East Parade, Hastings was "dissolved by mutual consent". In a newspaper advertisement published in The Hastings & St Leonards News on 21st October 1853, it was declared that "the business will in future be carried on by Mr. J. H. Connop."  Advertisements issued in October 1853 announced that Mr Connop was "Successor to R. Beauford, and Licensee for his Patent Daguerreotype Accelerator".

[ABOVE] Advertisement for Connop's Daguerreotype Portrait Gallery, 6 East Parade, Hastings published in December 1853.

From October 1853 until August 1854, Jacob Henry Connop operated the photographic studio at 6 East Parade, Hastings. In newspaper advertisements issued during this period, Connop informed the public that in order to "produce a really good Daguerreotype" and to "attain the highest perfection in this art", he had "paid particular attention to the lenses, which he has procured expressly to realize clear and distinct images, without the slightest distortion." As Connop was a trained artist and painter, it was not surprising that he could assure his customers that, since taking over Beauford's studio, "the colouring process has also undergone great improvements."

Jacob Connop was particularly proud of the fact that "his scale of charges places these beautiful pictures within the reach of all - being half the price of the best takers in town." Connop's Daguerreotype Portrait Gallery charged 5s 6d for a small size daguerreotype in a frame. A small daguerreotype in a handsome morocco leather case would, at 7s 6d, cost the customer two shillings extra. It is not clear to which competitors Connop was referring. In 1853, apart from Mr White, his former business partner, Connop appears to have been the only photographic artist with a permanent studio in Hastings. In 1854, Frederick Brookes, an experienced London photographic artist who had established a studio in Robertson Street, Hastings, offered to take a "One Guinea Daguerreotype Portrait for 2s 6d." That same year, Mr D. Gates, Daguerreotype and Photographic Artist of 13 East Ascent, St Leonards-on-Sea promised an "excellent likeness" for 2s 6d. It is possible that before moving down to Hastings in the Summer of 1853, Connop had operated a photographic studio in London or some other town, where there were a large number of competitors and where daguerreotype prices were high. The references in Connop's advertisement to the poor quality of many daguerreotypes - "the many wretched abortions to be seen in almost every street "- and the price of his daguerreotype portraits "being half the price of the best takers in town", appear to have been written for a town setting very different to that which existed in Hastings in 1853 and 1854.

By the end of August 1854, Jacob Henry Connop had sold the photographic studio at 6 East Parade, Hastings to a local young man named William Thomas Golding (born c1832, Hastings), who had previously worked as an upholsterer. When William Golding placed an advertisement in The Hastings & St Leonards News on 25th August 1854 to announce that he would be taking daguerreotype portraits at 6 East Parade, Hastings, he states that he was "Successor to R. Beauford", but he makes no mention of Jacob Connop, his immediate predecessor.

After his short career as a photographic artist, Jacob Henry Connop appears to have returned to painting and the fine arts. In the 1860s, Connop was producing works of art in Northern Ireland. There is pictorial evidence to show that Jacob Henry Connop was working as an artist and lithographer in the Belfast area between 1861 and 1867. In the early 1860s, Jacob Connop produced a series of views of Belfast and the surrounding area. In 1863, Jacob Henry Connop produced an oil painting entitled "Londonderry". The following year, J. H. Connop completed a painting depicting a view across Belfast's Victoria Park.

A number of scenes and views around Belfast were lithographed by Jacob Henry Connop between 1861 and 1867. J. H. Connop's "View of Sydenham New Park from Belfast Lough" was published as a lithograph in 1861. A coloured lithograph by Jacob Henry Connop, entitled "A Bird's Eye View of Belfast" was issued In 1863. The prints of J. H. Connop's "Bird's Eye View of Belfast", which showed all the main streets and buildings in the city, proved to be extremely popular. The following year, Connop produced a work entitled "View of Sydenham, Belmont and Glenmachan", which is now stored the collection of paintings held by the Belfast Harbour Commissioners. A coloured lithograph with the title "A Bird's Eye View of Sydenham, Belmont and Glenmachan" was also published in 1864. Connop became well-known for his aerial or "bird's eye" views of Belfast, which were apparently taken from the vantage points of hills or towers. (One of Connop's bird's eye views of Belfast is known to have been taken from the tower of St John's Church).

It appears that Jacob Henry Connop left Northern Ireland around 1867 and by the late 1860s he was working as a lithographic artist in Nottinghamshire. Jacob Henry Connop worked for a brief period in Nottingham and then moved on to the Worksop area, where he died in 1870, at the age of 36 [Death registered in the Worksop district during the 3rd Quarter of 1870]. There is a memorial to Jacob Henry Connop, alongside his mother Mariana Connop, at the Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead, Church Row, London.

[ABOVE ] Advertisement for Connop's Daguerreotype Portrait Gallery published in The Hastings & St Leonards News on 6th January 1854. Connop claimed that his prices for daguerretype portraits were "half the price of the best takers in town".

[ABOVE ] A public notice, dated 13th October 1853, announcing the dissolution of the business partnership between photographic artist Jacob Connop and Mr White. (The Hastings & St Leonards News, 21st October 1853).

[ABOVE ] A View of Belfast by Jacob Henry Connop. A coloured lithograph produced around 1864..
 

[ABOVE LEFT] A Bird's Eye View of Belfast by Jacob Henry Connop .Coloured lithograph, dated 1863. [ABOVE RIGHT] A Bird's Eye View of Sydenham, Belmont and Glenmachan by Jacob Henry Connop. Coloured lithograph, dated 1864.

Reproductions of J. H. Connop's Bird's Eye Views of Belfast can be obtained from the Linen Hall Library Shop in Belfast. Orders can be placed on-line via the following link.

Linen Hall Library

Artwork by Jacob Henry Connop (1834-1870)

[ABOVE ] 'A Rustic Family by a Waterfall' by Jacob Henry Connop (1834-1870). Oil painting on canvas (1852). This was the type of painting produced by Jacob H. Connop before he set himself up as a daguerreotype artist in Hastings in 1853. [ABOVE ] 'Queens College, Belfast''by Jacob Henry Connop (1834-1870). A coloured lithographic print "drawn on stone by J. H. Connop" (c1864). Jacob H. Connop worked in Northern Ireland as an artist and lithographer during the early 1860s.
 

Harry Seymour COUSENS  (1876-1928) - active as a photographer in St Leonards-on-Sea between 1908 and 1928.

Harry Seymour Cousens was born in Eton, Buckinghamshire, early in 1876, the second son of Alice Dorrell and William Cousens, a upholsterer's salesman. William Cousens, Harry's father, was born in the Suffolk village of Monks Eleigh in 1843, but, by 1871, he was working as a clerk and living in London. In 1872, William Cousens married Alice Dorrell (born 1846, Camberwell), the youngest daughter of a Lambeth boot maker. William and Alice Cousens went on to have at least three children - William Neville Cousens (born 1874, Windsor, Berkshire), Harry Seymour Cousens (born 1876, Eton, Bucks.) and Alice Lily ('Lillie') Cousens (born 1877, Windsor, Berkshire). When the 1881 census was taken, William Cousens and his family were living at 27 Winchester Street, in the Preston district of Brighton. Both William and his wife Alice told the census enumerator that they were younger than they actually were, knocking 4 years off their real ages. Ten years later, William Cousens and his family were residing in Newbury, Berkshire. William Cousens senior was still employed as an "Upholsterer's Salesman", but both his teenage boys were working and contributing to the family's income. Seventeen year old William Cousens junior had found work as an office boy in a firm of auctioneers and 15 year old Harry Cousens was employed in a similar capacity in an architect's office.

By 1901, Harry Cousens had left home and was boarding with a Swedish-born waiter Claes Chytraeus and his family at 6 Berkeley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. On the census return Harry S. Cousens is described as a 25 year old single man working as a "Photographer". It appears that Harry Cousens had his own studio in Tunbridge Wells because on the census form he is recorded as an "Employer" rather than a worker or self-employed photographer. In 1903, Harry Seymour Cousens was recorded as a professional photographer at 81 High Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

In 1908, Harry Seymour Cousens married twenty-two year old Jessie Gladys Hitch (born 1886, Eastbourne, Sussex), the eldest daughter of Susannah and Alfred Wilson Hitch, a baker & confectioner of Seaside, Eastbourne. Around the time of his marriage to Jessie Hitch, Harry Seymour Cousens purchased a photographic studio at 239 London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, previously operated by Mrs Flora Verrall.

In 1915, Harry Cousen's wife Gladys gave birth to a son named D'orell Seymour Cousens. [The birth of D'orell Seymour Cousens was registered in the district of Hastings during the 3rd Quarter of 1915].

Harry Seymour Cousens ran the photographic portrait studio at 239 London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea from the end of 1908 until his death in 1928. By 1922, Cousens had expanded his business premises by taking over the neighbouring shop at No. 241 London Road. During his photographic career, Harry Cousens dropped his first name and worked under the name of "H. Seymour Cousens".

Harry Seymour Cousens died in St Leonards-on-Sea on 5th August 1928 at the age of 52.

[ABOVE] A studio portrait of a young man named Cecil by Harry Seymour Cousens of St Leonards, Sussex. This postcard portrait is inscribed in ink "Best Wishes from Cecil, Xmas, 1920".
[ABOVE] Harry Seymour Cousen's photographer's credit as printed on the reverse of a picture postcard produced at his studio at 239 & 241 London Road, St. Leonards in 1922. On his photographic work, Harry Seymour Cousens generally billed himself as "H. Seymour Cousens".

Studio Portraits by Harry Seymour Cousens of London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex

 
[ABOVE] A postcard portrait of elderly woman seated in a chair by Harry Seymour Cousens of  239 & 241 London Rd., St Leonards, Sussex (c1922). [ABOVE] A postcard portrait of an unknown young woman by Harry Seymour Cousens of St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex (c1918).  
 

[ABOVE] A postcard portrait of an unknown wedding couple by Harry Seymour Cousens of 239 & 241, London Road, St Leonards, Sussex. (c1924) [ABOVE] A postcard portrait of three siblings by H. Seymour Cousens of St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex (1919). On the reverse of the card is the hand-written inscription "Xmas 1919".
 
Portrait of Fight Lieutenant George Frederick Hatch (1898-1986), taken at Harry Seymour Cousens' studio in London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex,

George Frederick Hatch was born in 1898 in Chorlton, Lancashire, a suburban area of Manchester, but was raised in Ontario, Canada. It appears that George Frederick Hatch was born in the Chorlton district of Manchester in March 1898. [The birth of George Frederick Hatch was registered in the district of Chorlton during the First Quarter of 1898], but later, in order to join the army, he gave his date of birth as 15th March 1897. 

At the time of the Boer War, George's father, was serving in the armed forces and it is believed that he became a casualty of the Anglo-Boer War sometime between 1899 and March 1901. When the census was taken on 31st March, 1901, Mrs Mary E. Hatch, a "Dressmaker", was recorded with her three year old son, George F. Hatch, at 50 Devonshire Street, Manchester. On the census return, George's mother is described as a 31 year old widow. In 1905, when he was about 7 years of age, George Frederick Hatch was placed in a Manchester orphanage. When he reached the age of 10 or 11, George Hatch was sent to Canada as part of the Home Children Child Migration Scheme, where poor or orphaned children were despatched to British territories abroad (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) to alleviate the 'shortage of labour' problem.

By the time he was 14 years of age, George Hatch was working as farm labourer in rural Ontario. George later recalled that "at 14 years of age, I stood with the men, the hired men, and pitched hay to the thatching machine and done a man's work .. and worked hard." When war broke out in August 1914, George was, on his own admission, only 16 years of age, but as his friends on neighbouring farms were enlisting to fight in the war, he was determined to join the armed forces. At the age of 17, George Hatch ran away from home and made his way to Coborne, Ontario, and then took a train to Kingston, Ontario, where, in September 1915, he attempted to enlist in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, telling the recruiting sergeant that he was born on 15th March 1897. The recruiting officer at Kingston looked at young George Hatch (who, at that time, was just over 5 feet, 4 inches in height) and declared "that boy's not 18 years of age, you can't give me that nonsense! He's still got his bloomer pants on!" The recruiting sergeant took George home and dressed him in more adult looking clothes and escorted him to another recruiting office in Toronto, where, on 13th September 1915, George was enlisted in the 81st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), later transferring to the 21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario), CEF.

George Frederick Hatch served on the Western Front with the 21st (Infantry) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, taking part in three major battles: The Somme (July-Nov. 1916), Vimy Ridge (April 1917) and Passchendaele (Oct-Nov 1917). By the start of 1918, George Hatch had joined the Royal Flying Corps, receiving officer cadet training at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, and undergoing flight school training at Exeter College, Oxford. At the age of 20, Flight Lieutenant G. F. Hatch returned to France and flew with the 56th Squadron until the Armistice was signed on 11th November, 1918.

George Frederick Hatch's son, George F. Hatch junior, informed me that his father continued to fly well into his 80s, and that he tragically died in an automobile accident when he was 88 years of age. As his son, George F. Hatch junior, observed: "Until the very end, he had a zest for life and adventure, always maintaining that he had an obligation to his fallen comrades to enjoy each day of life to its fullest."

[ABOVE] Flight Lieutenant George Frederick Hatch (1898-1986) in a studio portrait by Harry Seymour Cousens of St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex (c1918).  [PHOTO: Courtesy of George F. Hatch junior]
Early in 1918, Flt. Lt. George Hatch was based at a hotel in St Leonards-on-Sea, where he received his flying officer training. There is evidence that various boarding houses and hotels in Hastings and St Leonards were used by the Royal Flying Corps during the later stages of the First World War. Both the Queen's Hotel and the Palace Hotel are known to have served as a training base for Royal Flying Corps officers in 1918.
Recorded interviews with George Frederick Hatch can be listened to as paert of the First World War Audio Archive on the Veteran Affairs Canada website at the following link: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/video-gallery/video/5663
 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to George F. Hatch junior, M. D. for supplying the studio portrait of his father George Frederick Hatch (1898-1986), taken by Harry Seymour Cousens of St Leonards around 1918. George F. Hatch junior also kindly provided biographical details of his father.

Alfred COUSSENS 

   

Leslie COX 

   

William George COX  (born 1872, Hastings - died 1942, Hastings)

William George Cox was born in Hastings in 1872, the eldest son of Matilda and Benjamin Cox, a barge waterman from St Leonards. Benjamin Cox (born 1845, St Leonards, Sussex) had married Matilda Skinner (born  1849, Udimore, Sussex) in 1871 and William arrived the following year. When the 1881 census was taken, Benjamin and Matilda Cox were living at 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings with their four children and two young lodgers. William Cox had at this time two younger sisters - Ellen Elizabeth Cox (born 1874, Hastings) and Florence Ada Cox (born 1877, Hastings) - and a younger brother, Charles Percy Cox (born 1879, Hastings). William George Cox's sister Ellen Elizabeth Cox died in Hastings in 1893, aged 18.

Ten years later after the 1881 census, William George Cox was still residing with his parents at 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings. On the 1891 census return, William Cox is described as a nineteen year old "Photographer". Presumably, William Cox was employed at one of the twenty photographic studios that were in business in Hastings & St Leonards in 1891.

By 1897, William George Cox had established his own photographic portrait studio at 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings, the home of his parents. William George Cox is listed as a photographer at 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings in local trade directories published between 1897 and 1909. William Cox was still listed as a photographer at 63 Stonefield Road in the 1909 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, but around 1910 he acquired Alfred Peplow's photographic studio at 225 Priory Road, Hastings.

In 1900, William George Cox married Anna (Annie) Wilhelmina Herrmann (born c1876,Wartemburg, Germany), the daughter of Frederika and Andrew Herrmann, a comb maker who had emigrated from Germany to England around 1878.

In 1906, William George Cox was apparently residing at 30 Emmanuel Road, Hastings, the home address he gave on a copyright application form when he registered a group photograph of the Hastings & St. Leonards United Football Club Team. The photograph of the Hastings & St. Leonards United Football Club team had been commissioned by James Oakey Forster, a newsagent and stationer of 55 Queens Road, Hastings. Forster later published the team photograph as a picture postcard with the printed message ""Play up, United!".

After William George Cox acquired Alfred Peplow's former photographic portrait studio at 225 Priory Road, Hastings around 1910, he and his wife occupied the living quarters attached to the studio. The 1911 census records William George Cox as a 38 year old "Photographer" residing at  225 Priory Road, Hastings with his wife of ten years, thirty-five year old Annie Wilhelmina Cox. No children are recorded in the Cox household.

Local trade directories list William George Cox as a photographer at 225 Priory Road, Hastings from 1911 until 1938.  William George Cox died in Hastings in 1942 at the age of 69.

[ABOVE] William George Cox listed as a professional photographer at 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings in the Trades section of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, published in 1899.
 

[ABOVE] William George Cox listed as a professional photographer at 225 Priory Road, Hastings in the Trades section of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, published in 1911. William George Cox worked as a photographer from  225 Priory Road, Hastings up until 1938, 4 years before his death in 1942 at the age 69.
 
The Family of Mrs Annie Cox  (Anna Wilhelmina Herrmann)

Anna (Annie) Wilhelmina Herrmann (born c1875, Wartemburg, Germany) was the youngest daughter of Frederica and Andrew Herrmann, a comb maker who had emigrated from Germany to England around 1878.

Andrew and Frederica Hermann were the parents of five children, four of whom were born in Germany - William Julius Herrmann (born c1868, Germany), Emil Herrmann (born c1870, Germany), Frederika Herrmann (born c1872, Germany) and Anna Wilhelmina Herrmann (born c1875,Wartemburg, Germany). Albert Herrmann, Andrew and Frederica's fifth child, was born in Hastings during the 4th Quarter of 1879, a year or so after their arrival in England.

William Julius Herrmann, Annie's eldest brother, married Ada Mary Tilley (born 1869, Lambeth) in Eastbourne in 1894 or 1896. William Julius Hermann was a Boatman in Her Majesty's Coast Guard. William Herrmann's first child Jessie Ada Mary Herrmann was born in Brixton, South London, in 1900. Four children followed - Phoebe Herrmann (born c1903), Emil William Herrmann (born 1905), Albert Herrmann (born 1908) and Elizabeth Herrmann (born 1909).

Frederika Herrmann, Annie's elder sister, married James Howard Luxton (born 1876, Merton, Devon), a young baker, in the London district of Shoreditch in 1898. Sadly, Frederica Herrmann died in 1901 at the age of twenty-nine, probably following the birth of her son James Howard Luxton junior.

In 1900, Anna (Annie) Wilhelmina Herrmann married the Hastings photographer William George Cox (born 1872, Hastings). Annie's mother, Mrs Frederika (Frederica) Herrmann died in Hastings the same year, at the age of 63.

When the 1901 census was taken, Annie's widowed father, Andrew Herrmann was working as a hairdresser in Hastings. Two years later, Andrew Herrmann married for a second time.

Andrew Herrmann, Mrs Annie Cox's father died in Hastings in 1909 at the age of 70.

When census was taken on 2nd April 1911, thirty-five year old Annie Cox (formerly Anna Wilhelmina Hermmann) was residing at 225 Priory Road, Hastings with her husband William George Cox, described on the census return as a 38 year old "Photographer".

Mrs Annie Wilhelmina Cox died in Hastings in 1950 at the age of 75.

[ABOVE] A portrait of Ada Mary Tilley (born 1869, Lambeth) and her husband William Julius Herrmann,  photographed around 1896 by W. G. Cox of 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings. William (Wilhelm) Julius Herrmann, who was born in Germany around 1868, was the older brother of Anna (Annie) Wilhelmina Herrmann (born c1875, Wartemburg, Germany), the future wife of the photographer William George Cox. William Hermann, who wears a naval uniform in this picture, was a Boatman in Her Majesty's Coast Guard.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Stefan Burr]

 
[ABOVE]  A cabinet portrait of an elderly couple, photographed by William G. Cox of 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings (c 1900). [ABOVE]  A cabinet portrait of a young woman in a white dress, photographed by W. G. Cox of 63 Stonefield Road, Hastings. Inscribed on the reverse of this cabinet card are the words "Taken Sep. 1902"
 

To view more photographic portraits by William George Cox of Hastings, click on the link below:

Parris Family Portraits by William George Cox of Hastings

 

Harriet CROSS  (born 1868, Hastings)

Harriet Cross was born in Hastings in 1868, the daughter of Harriet and Francis Cross, a painter and decorator from Norfolk. When the 1891 census was taken, Francis Cross and his daughter were recorded at 41 Priory Street, Hastings. On the census return, twenty-three year old Harriet Cross gave her occupation as "Photography Business". A Hastings trade directory published in 1910 listed H. Cross as a photographer at 13 Salisbury Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. Kelly's Directory of Sussex records a Mrs Cross at 13 Salisbury Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, but there is no mention of Miss Cross, the photographer.

 

 

Angus CROYLE  (born c1871, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia)

Angus Norman Croyle was born in the Australian city of Ballarat, in the State of Victoria, around 1871. Angus was the son of Marion McDonald (born c1842, Edinburgh) and James Croyle (1837-1887), a mining engineer who made a fortune in the goldfields of Australia and later became a stockbroker and banker in London.

James Croyle (1837-1887) - the father of St Leonards Photographer Angus Norman Croyle

James Croyle was born in Beddington, Northumberland in 1837. As a young mining engineer, James Croyle was attracted to the goldfields of Australia. Croyle appears to have emigrated to Australia in the late 1850s and made his way to the town of Ballarat, where gold had been discovered in 1851. Ballarat, then a small settlement situated some 65 miles north-west of Melbourne, became the focus of a "gold rush", when around 20,000 gold diggers arrived in the area searching for gold. With the arrival of thousands of gold prospectors, Ballarat became a boomtown. (Such was the scale of this population explosion, Ballarat was proclaimed a town in 1852 and achieved city status in 1870). Early in 1862, James Croyle was employed as an underground manager by the Cosmopolitan Gold Mining Company in Ballarat, Victoria. In October 1862, James Croyle became one of the founder members of the Scarsdale Gold Mining Company, marking the beginning of a successful career as a "share broker" and "mining speculator".

Around 1860, James Croyle married Marion McDonald, a girl in her late teens who originated from Edinburgh. Between 1861 and 1872, James and Marion Croyle resided in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia, where five of their children were born - Helen Mary Croyle (born 1861), James Croyle junior (born c1865), Joseph J. Croyle (born c1867), Ernest Arthur Croyle (born 1869) and Angus Norman Croyle (born c1871).

During the 1860s James Croyle became one of the leading figures in Ballarat's business community. In 1864, James Croyle is recorded as a share-holder in the Cosmopolitan Gold Mining Company and by 1865 he was a registered as a share broker in Sturt Street, Ballarat. On 10th January 1872, the Melbourne newspaper The Argus published a tribute to James Croyle who had recently left Australia for England:

  "Mr. James Croyle who has taken passage by the Somersetshire for himself and his wife and family ....I doubt if any citizen of Ballarat has more thoroughly deserved a parting tribute of respect than he has. He was intimately associated with Ballarat in its early days, when he used to take his shift as an ordinary miner, and by his own industry, honesty, and shrewdness, he has raised him- self to a position of affluence, in which he commands no small amount of the respect of all who know him. He has had hard things said of him as a mining speculator ... He saw the opportunities that were placed within his grasp, and he laid hold of them ; others did the same, but not so successfully ....To Mr. James Croyle. Ballarat is to a large extent indebted, because but for his enterprise and shrewdness many mines would never have been opened to this day ...There will be few indeed who will not bid him a kind farewell, and wish him a pleasant voyage and a speedy return."                                                                                         The Argus 10th January 1872

Early in 1872, James Croyle and his family returned to England. At a farewell dinner held in Craig's Royal Hotel, Ballarat, in January 1872, James Croyle, then described as a "mining speculator", informed the assembled guests that he was returning to "the old country" for the sake of his wife's health. The Argus of Melbourne reported that James Croyle, his wife and five children set sail for England in the S.S. Somersetshire on 27th January 1872.

James and Marion Croyle's fifth son, Alexander Leopold Croyle, was born at the end of 1872 in Redhill, Surrey. By 1874, James Croyle and his family had settled in Sydenham, Kent, where two more children were born - Gilbert Roy Croyle (born 1874, Sydenham) and Marion Maude Ann Croyle (born 1877, Sydenham). The baby girl, Marion, died soon after birth during the 2nd Quarter of 1877. The Croyle's eldest daughter, Helen Mary Croyle died in 1878 at the age of 17.

James Croyle amassed a fortune in his financial dealings. Newspaper articles report that when working as a member of the London Stock Exchange, he was "awarded a very handsome testimonial" for saving the interests of "Peruvian bondholders". When the 1881 census was taken, James and Marion Croyle and their six surviving children were living comfortably in a large house near Lewisham in Kent. The 1881 census records James Croyle and his family residing at Godstone House, West Hill, Sydenham, Kent. It is a testament to his wealth that James Croyle, the Head of Household, is described on the census return as a "Retired Banker" even though he was only 43 years of age.

Two of James and Marion Croyle's children had died young in the 1870s. More premature deaths occured in the Croyle family during their time in Sydenham. James Croyle's seventeen year old son Ernest Arthur Croyle died in Sydenham in 1886. Another son, Gilbert Roy Croyle, died in 1888 shortly after reaching his fourteenth birthday. James Croyle himself died in Sydenham in 1887 at the age of fifty.

By 1891, Angus Norman Croyle and his brothers were living in London.  Angus and his younger brother Alexander were living with their widowed mother Mrs Marion Croyle. Twenty-four year old Joseph J. Croyle was single and living away from the family home. James Croyle junior had married and was working as a stockbroker in The City.

Angus Norman Croyle

Angus Norman Croyle had chosen to pursue a career in photography and by the time he was in his late twenties he was working as a professional photographer in the Sussex seaside resort of St Leonards-on-Sea.

On 9th March 1898, Angus Norman Croyle married Matilda Freeland (born 1880, Fairlight, Hastings), the daughter of Alice and Harry Freeland, an agricultural labourer. Rendell Williams, the author of the Sussex Postcards.Info website has discovered that at the time of his marriage, Angus Croyle was residing at 56 Warrior Square, St. Leonards and was working as a photographer.

During the 2nd Quarter of 1899, Angus Croyle's wife Matilda gave birth to a son, who was named Angus Norman Croyle after his father. Sadly, Angus Norman Croyle junior died less than a year later [ The death of Angus Norman M. Croyle was registered in the district of Hastings during the 4th Quarter of 1899].

By the time the 1901 census was taken, Angus Croyle was living with his wife at 9 East Ascent, St. Leonards. On the 1901 census return, Angus Croyle declared that he was "living on his own means". The fortune made by his late father must have provided Angus Croyle with some financial security. Probably using funds provided by his wealthy family, Angus Croyle set himself up as "a dealer in photographic materials and equipment" at 9 East Ascent, St Leonards-on-Sea. Angus Croyle operated the "Photo Stores" at 9 East Ascent, St Leonards-on-Sea for a couple of years before moving to 11 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, where he continued as a "Photographic Materials Dealer". Angus Croyle sold cameras and photographic equipment from his store at 11 Norman Road, St Leonards, from 1903 until 1911. The 1911 census records Angus Norman Croyle as a 40 year old "Photographic Materials Dealer" at 11 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. Also living at 11 Norman Road, was Angus Croyle's sister-in-law Eva Freeland, a young woman of twenty employed as a "Shop-Assistant" in Angus Croyle's Photo Store.

During their long marriage, Angus and Matilda Croyle produced at least six children, five of whom survived infancy - Gilbert Harry Johann Croyle (born 1909, Hastings), Marion Croyle (born 1912, Hastings), Gerald Ludwig Croyle (born 1913, Hastings), Frederick V. N. Croyle (born 1916, Hastings) and Eric F. Croyle (born 1917, Hastings),

By 1913, Angus Croyle's Photo Store was located at No. 3 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. For twenty years, from 1913 until 1933, the Photo Store of Angus Norman Croyle was based at 3 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. Sussex trade directories list A. N Croyle under the heading of "Photographic Material Dealers", but surviving picture postcards demonstrate that Angus Croyle was still active as a photographer, capturing dramatic scenes with his camera on location in Hastings and St Leonards. Croyle became well-known for his "lightning picture postcards" showing streaks of lightning flashing across the sea on the St Leonards seafront. An article entitled "Clash of the Postcard Titans" which appeared in the magazine "Picture Postcard Monthly" in August 1994, explores the rivalry between Angus Norman Croyle and Fred Judge (born 1872, Wakefield, Yorkshire), a photographer who had established Judge's Photo Stores at 21a Wellington Place, Hastings around 1902. During 1903 and 1904, both men had taken photographs of bolts of lightning on the coast around Hastings and St Leonards and issued the resulting pictures as picture postcards. In June 1904, Angus Croyle claimed to have sold 7,500 copies of his "lightning cards". Angus Croyle's camera also recorded the fire that broke out on Hastings Pier on 15th July 1917.
 

Angus Norman Croyle remained in business as a "Photographic Material Dealer" at 3 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea until about 1933. Retiring from his photography business at the age of 62, Angus Croyle and his wife spent their retirement years at 87 Sedlescombe Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. (Source: Rendell Williams and Sussex Postcards.Info website).

Angus Norman Croyle died in his late seventies on 10th January 1950. (Source: Rendell Williams).

[ABOVE ] A crowd of men and boys posing in front of the business premises at The Corner (Sturt Street) in the Australian gold-mining town of Ballarat, photographed by A. V. Smith in April 1866. The business sign of "James Croyle, Share Broker" can be seen hanging in front of the building in the centre of the picture. James Croyle (1837-1887) was the father of Hastings photographer Angus Norman Croyle, who was born in Ballarat around 1871.

 

DEATH OF MR JAMES CROYLE

LONDON, AUG. 10.

The death is announced of Mr James Croyle, formerly of Ballarat.

Mr James Croyle was one of the earliest miners in Ballarat, and a co-operative share holder in the Cosmopolitan Company, from which he realised a fair competence, the dividends being sometimes £250 (pounds) a fortnight. On retiring from the claim he entered into business as a share broker at the Corner, and it is known that during the excitement of 1867 to 1872, his transactions through the office amounted sometimes to £10,000 per week. On leaving Ballarat, he proceeded to San Francisco, and afterwards became a member of the London Stock Exchange, where he distinguished himself by his action in conserving the interests of the Peruvian bondholders, for which he was awarded a very handsome testimonial.

[ABOVE ] A report on the death of James Croyle (1837-1887), Angus Croyle's father, which appeared in the Melbourne newspaper The Argus on 12th August 1887.

[ABOVE ] A badly faded advertisement for Angus Norman Croyle's Photo Stores at 9 East Ascent, St Leonards-on-Sea. (Hastings Observer, 10th May 1902).

[ABOVE ] The Hastings Pier Fire, photographed in July 1917 by Angus Norman Croyle of 3 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. This picture postcard carries the written inscription "Hastings Pier Fire, July 15th 1917, Croyle Photo. 3 Norman Road , St. Leonards".

[ABOVE] Angus Norman Croyle of 3 Norman Road, St Leonards listed under the heading of "Photographic Material Dealers" in the Trades section of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, published in 1924. Angus N. Croyle operated a Photo Store in St Leonards for over 30 years from 1902 until around 1933.

"Lightning Photographs" issued as Picture Postcards by Angus Croyle 

[ABOVE ] One of Angus Croyle's "lightning cards". Angus Norman Croyle claimed to be the "originator of the lightning cards". According to the hand written inscription,  the photograph on the above card was "Taken from the seafront , near St Leonards  pier, Hastings, during a thunderstorm at 10.45 pm, May 30, 1903". The photograph is marked "Angus N. Croyle, copyright, St Leonards". Croyle's business rival, Fred Judge of Hastings also issued "lightning" picture postcards in the early years of the 20th century. [ABOVE ] Another of Angus Croyle's "lightning cards". This example was probably taken by Angus Norman Croyle on the evening of  6th June 1904, when there was a dramatic lightning storm on the seafront at Hastings. Croyle published picture postcards showing the lightning flashes and later claimed to have sold 7,500 copies of his "lightning cards", described by the photographer in later publicity as "the most wonderful ever produced". Stung by allegations that the lighting photographs were faked, Angus Croyle offered a £100 reward to anyone who could prove that his photographs were not genuine.
 

 To view examples of Angus Norman Croyle's picture postcards on Rendel Williams' Sussex Postcards.Info. website, click on the link below:

Angus Norman Croyle at Sussex Postcards.Info.

 

Everard CUZNER (1870-1941)

Everard Cuzner was born in Coleford, Somerset in 1870, the youngest son of Fanny and Felix Cuzner, a carpenter and joiner. [ Everard Cuzner's birth was registered in the Somerset district of Frome during the First Quarter of 1870. The birth registration and his family's early census returns gives his first name as "Everarde". Although given the first name "Everarde" at birth, in later life Everard  Cuzner spelt his forename without the 'e'].

Felix Cuzner (born c1837, Beckington, Somerset) had married Frances (Fanny) Clare (born c1833, Beckington, Somerset) at Coleford, Somerset, in 1860. The union produced three children - Harry Cuzner (born 1867, Coleford, Somerset)  Annie Cuzner (born 1868, Coleford, Somerset) and Everarde Cuzner (born 1870, Coleford, Somerset).

At the time of the 1881 census, Everarde Cuzner was living with his parents and siblings at a house in Bay Terrace, Kinson, Dorset, near Bournemouth. Felix Cuzner, Everarde's father is described on the census return as a "Carpenter & Joiner". Shortly after the 1881 census was taken, Felix Cuzner died, aged 44.

Everarde's widowed mother went into domestic service and by the time the next census was taken on 5th April 1891, she had found employment in Hastings as a "Lady's Companion". The 1891 census records Mrs Frances Cuzner and her youngest son at 4 Vine Terrace, Ore, Hastings. Mrs Cuzner's son Everarde Cuzner is described on the 1891 census return as a "Photographer (Employee)", aged 21. The following year, Everard Cuzner took over the photographic portrait studio at 38 White Rock, Hastings, previously occupied by Atkins & Son.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  Everard Cuzner of the White Rock Studio, Hastings. (c1892)

Everard Cuzner operated the photographic studio at 38 White Rock, Hastings, for a very brief period. Pike's Directory of Hastings, compiled in May 1892, lists Everard Cuzner as the proprietor of the studio at 38 White Rock, but by the following year the studio had been acquired by the well-known Hastings photographer Henry James Godbold (1842-1927).

In 1895, Everard Cuzner was in Pembrokeshire, where he married Florence Christina Gamble (born 1869, Slough, Buckinghamshire ), the daughter of Elizabeth and Frederick Gamble, a plumber and decorator.

By 1899, Everard Cuzner had set himself up as a photographer in Reading Berkshire. A son named Eric Everard Llewellyn Cuzner was born in Reading during the 4th Quarter of 1899. In 1906, Everard Cuzner is recorded as a photographer at 81 Oxford Street, Reading. Cuzner appears to have been the official photographer to Reading Football Club between 1905 and 1909. A group photograph of the Reading Football Club team which played in the 1905-1906 season was issued as a picture postcard by Everard Cuzner. Photographs of the Reading Football Club Teams which played in the 1906-1907 and 1909-1910 football seasons were registered for copyright by the photographer Everard Cuzner on 24th August 1906 and 27th August 1909.

During Cuzner's stay in Reading, his wife gave birth to two more children - Donald Everard (Trevor) Cuzner (born 1903) and Brian Wilfred Cuzner (born 1907). Florence Christina Gamble became pregnant again in 1908, but she died in childbirth during the 4th Quarter of 1908.

Everard Cuzner married for a second time in Paddington, London, during the 2nd Quarter of 1910. Everard Cuzner's bride was Sarah Ann Hood. When the 1911 census was taken, Everard Cuzner was visiting Albert Henry Crouch, an insurance agent of 283 London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. On the census return Everard Cuzner is described as a forty-one year old "Photographer (Employer)".

 Everard Cuzner died in Dartford, Kent, in 1941, aged 71.

[ABOVE] A portrait of the photographer Everard Cuzner (1870-1941), taken at his White Rock Studio in Hastings around 1892.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Daniel Cuzner]

[ABOVE] A photograph of the parade of shops numbered 37-40 in White Rock Place, Hastings (c1900).  Everard Cuzner's photographic portrait studio,  located on the top floor of the building at centre-left, No. 38 White Rock,  was known as the White Rock Studio. Cuzner operated as a photographer at 38 White Rock from  between 1892 and 1893. The photographer Henry James Godbold (1842-1927) took over Cuzner's studio in 1893. The name "Godbold" can be seen on the top storey of No.38 White Rock in this photograph taken by H. J. Godbold around 1900.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield]

 
[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a  family group, photographed by Everard Cuzner of the White Rock Studio, Hastings (c1892). [ABOVE] The same family group photographed by Everard Cuzner of the White Rock Studio, Hastings (c1892).
 

Everard Cuzner of the Vandycke Studio, Oxford Street, Reading (1899-1909)

Everard Cuzner set up a photographic portrait studio in Reading Berkshire around 1899. The Reading Street Directory in the 1899 edition of Kelly's Directory of Berkshire records Everard Cuzner as residing at 124 Whitley Street, Reading. Carte-de-visite and cabinet portraits produced by Everard Cuzner in this period carry the photographer's credit "Everard Cuzner, Vandycke Studio, 81 Oxford Street, Reading". The list of 'Photographers' in the Trades Section of Kelly's Directory of Berkshire does not include the name of Everard Cuzner, but there is a photographer's studio listed as "V. E. Vandycke, 81 Oxford Road, Reading". [ The proprietor's full name is given as Vernon E. Vandycke].

The 1901 census records Everard Cuzner and his family at 124 Whitley Street, Reading. On the census return, Everard Cuzner is recorded as a 31 year old "Photographer (Employer)". Residing with Everard Cuzner was his thirty-one year old wife, Mrs Florence C. Cuzner, their young son Eric E. L. Cuzner (born 1899, Reading) and the photographer's mother, Mrs Fanny Cuzner, a sixty-seven year old widow "Living on Own means".

In 1906, Everard Cuzner is recorded as a photographer at 81 Oxford Street, Reading. [It appears that the stretch of Oxford Road where Cuzner's studio was located became known as Oxford Street around 1900].

Between 1905 and 1909, Everard Cuzner was taking group photographs depicting the teams of Reading Football Club, which suggests Cuzner was the official photographer for this football club. Photographs of the Reading Football Club Teams which played in the 1906-1907 and 1909-1910 football seasons were registered for copyright by Everard Cuzner on 24th August 1906 and 27th August 1909.

Everard Cuzner remained in the Berkshire town of Reading for at least a decade. All three of Everard Cuzner's sons - Eric Everard Llewellyn Cuzner (born 1899), Donald Everard (Trevor) Cuzner (born 1903) and Brian Wilfred Cuzner (born 1907) - were born in the town of Reading and Cuzner was still registering photographs with a Reading address in August 1909.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of an unknown woman  photographed by Everard Cuzner of the Vandycke Studio, Oxford Street, Reading (c1908).

[RIGHT] The trade plate of the photographer Everard Cuzner (c1901).  Everard Cuzner took over the Vandycke Studio at 81 Oxford Street, Reading around 1899. Originally, the studio address was given as 81 Oxford Road, but around 1900 this stretch of the Oxford Road was referred to as "Oxford Street".
 
Carte-de-visite Portrait of Sidney Broomfield (1879-1957) taken by Everard Cuzner at the Vandycke Studio, Oxford Street, Reading

Sidney Herbert Broomfield (whose portrait by the Reading photographer Everard Cuzner is shown on the right) was born in the small Surrey village of Wonersh in 1879. Sidney Broomfield was the second son of Alice Manfield (born 1857, Wonersh, Surrey) and Andrew Broomfield (born 1851, Wonersh, Surrey) an agricultural labourer. [Alfred Henry Broomfield, Sidney's brother, was born in Wonersh in 1875, but, sadly, Alfred died in 1884 when he was only 8 years old].

Andrew Broomfield, Sidney's father, died in 1887 at the age of 36. Three years after her husband's death, Mrs Alice Broomfield, Sidney's widowed mother, married Thomas Killick (born 1869, Albury, Surrey), a young gardener who lived at Chilworth, near the Surrey village of Shalford. When the census was taken on 5th April 1891, Sidney Broomfield was living with his mother and step-father, Thomas Killick, at Chilworth, Shalford, Surrey. At the time of the 1891 census, Sidney's mother (Mrs Alice Killick) was pregnant and during the 4th Quarter of 1891 she gave birth to a daughter named Alice Winifred Killick.

By the time the 1901 census was taken, Thomas Killick and his family had moved to Old Windsor, Berkshire. The 1901 census return records Thomas Killick, his wife Alice, their nine year old daughter Alice Winifred Killick and his stepson Sidney Broomfield at The Lodge, Old Windsor, Berkshire. Sidney's stepfather was still employed as a "Gardener (Domestic)", but 21 year old Sidney Broomfield had found work as a "Coach Painter". It is likely that Sidney Herbert Broomfield had his portrait taken at Everard Cuzner's Vandycke Studio in Reading, Berkshire, around this time. Sidney might have planned to present this portrait to his fiancee Lilian Sumpter.

In 1903, Sidney Herbert Broomfield married Lilian Blanche Sumpter (born 1882, Windsor, Berkshire) in his bride's home town. The couple settled in Clewer, Berkshire, where their two children were born - Violet Lilian Broomfield (born 1906) and Sidney Edmond Broomfield (born 1908). By the time the census was taken on 2nd April 1911, Sidney Herbert Broomfield and his family were living in Shelfanger, Norfolk, where Sidney was raising poultry on a smallholding farm.

Sidney Herbert Broomfield died in Shelfanger in 1957 at the age of 77. He is buried in Shelfanger Churchyard.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of Sidney Herbert Broomfield (1879-1957) by Everard Cuzner of the Vandycke Studio, Oxford Street, Reading (c1901).

PHOTO: Courtesy of Terry Smith

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Daniel Cuzner for providing the portrait of the Hastings photographer Everard Cuzner. Daniel Cuzner is the great grandson of Everard Cuzner (1870-1941). Thanks also to Terry Smith for providing the portrait of Sidney Herbert Broomfield (1879-1957) which was taken by Everard Cuzner at the Vandycke Studio, Oxford Street, Reading around 1901. Terry Smith also supplied family history information relating to Sidney Herbert Broomfield. Further information about the Broomfield / Manfield / Killick / Families can be found on Terry Smith's family history website at Family Tree of Edna Killick and Terry Smith. Further details on the life of Sidney  Broomfield can be found on Terry Smith's site at Sidney Herbert Broomfield

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