Chichester Photographers (A-B)

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Professional Photographers in Chichester (A-B)

"A. B." - George Henry Allen - Dennis W. Baker - Charles Barclay - Charles H. Barden - William Barrett

 

"A. B." (1847-1848)

Proprietor of a daguerreotype studio in Chichester around 1847.

DAGUERREOTYPE

TO be SOLD, with or without a BOOKSELLING and STATIONERY BUSINESS, a LICENSE, embracing a circuit of fourteen miles, and including six towns. It has been granted for but a short time, and is parted with because the Proprietor has taken a larger business in another county.

Address, p.p. to A. B., Post Office Chichester.

[ABOVE] The text of an advertisement which appeared in Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle on Saturday, 26th June 1847.
 

[ABOVE] An advertisement placed on the front page of The Times on 4th September 1848 by "A. B." , offering for sale a Daguerreotype Licence which covered the Sussex towns of Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton, Arundel, Petworth and Midhurst. "A.B.", a bookseller and stationer, was previously based in Chichester, Sussex, but was residing in another county when this notice was published.
The initials "A. B." appeared at the foot of advertisements placed in the local and national press in 1847 and 1848, offering for sale a daguerreotype licence which covered Chichester and the surrounding district. The notice that appeared in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle on Saturday, 26th June 1847, reads as follows :
"To be sold, with or without a bookselling and stationery business, a license, embracing a circuit of fourteen miles, and including six towns. It has been granted for but a short time, and is parted with because the Proprietor has taken a larger business in another county."

A second advertisement, also asking for interested parties to reply to "A. B.", was published in The Times on 4th September 1848 and included a few more details about the scope of the licence. The six towns covered by the daguerreotype licence were listed as Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton, Arundel, Petworth and Midhurst. The Times notice added that a "glass room" (the photographic studio) was included in the sale.

The identity of "A. B." has not been established. The newspaper notices provide a few clues about the mysterious "A. B." - he was a bookseller and stationer, he was based in Chichester and around 1847 he established a photography business in another county. A possible candidate is Alfred Barber (1808-1884), a bookseller and stationer by trade, who had purchased a daguerreotype licence from Richard Beard and had set up a studio in Nottingham in October 1841. After leaving Nottingham, Alfred Barber was active  in the southern counties of England and, early in 1847, he established a daguerreotype studio in Southampton.

 

Alfred Barber (1808-1884) - the "A. B." of Chichester and Bognor ?

[ABOVE] A daguerreotype portrait of Alfred Barber (1808-1884), a printer, stationer and bookseller who established a daguerreotype studio in Nottingham in October 1841. After he was forced to close his Nottingham studio in 1843, Alfred Barber moved south and from 1846 he worked as a daguerreotype artist in the southern counties of England. Alfred Barber's initials and his documented photographic career suggests he might have been the "A. B." who was offering the daguerreotype licence covering six West Sussex towns (including Bognor) in 1847.

Alfred Barber was born in Nottingham on 19th March 1808, the son of Mary and Thomas Barber junior (1771-1843), a Nottinghamshire portrait painter. A printer, bookseller and stationer by trade, Alfred Barber married Eliza Gill, the daughter of John and Mary Gill,  on 23rd August 1831.

In 1841, Alfred Barber entered into negotiations with Richard Beard (1801-1885), a patent speculator who owned the patent rights to the daguerreotype process in England. Richard Beard had opened the first photographic portrait studio in the British Isles in London's Regent Street on 23rd March 1841 and from June 1841 he began to sell daguerreotype licences to those persons interested in establishing photographic portrait studios in the provinces. Richard Beard agreed to issue a daguerreotype licence to Alfred Barber to practise in Nottingham for the sum of £1,200 (pounds sterling). To operate in the city of Nottingham, Alfred Barber was expected to pay Beard a down payment of £450, a first instalment of £50, followed by three separate quarterly instalments of £240.

Alfred Barber opened his Photographic Portrait Institution in the attic rooms of Bromley House (which housed Nottingham's Subscription Library) on Saturday, 2nd October 1841. Unfortunately for Barber, around this time Nottingham was experiencing a recession in the lace and hosiery trades and therefore his photographic studio attracted only a small number of customers. Between 7th September 1842 and 10th January 1843, Alfred Barber only took 53 portraits. Barber struggled to keep up his payments to Richard Beard, who took legal action against the Nottinghamshire photographer, who was forced to close his photographic portrait studio in January 1843.

Alfred Barber travelled down to the Channel Islands, where Beard's patent restrictions did not apply. After a period working as a daguerreotype artist in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, and St. Helier in Jersey, from 1846 Alfred Barber operated in the southern counties of England. In 1846, Alfred Barber joined forces with John Frederick Goddard (1797-1866), who had been allowed by Beard to operate photographic portrait studios in Hampshire. By May 1846, Alfred Barber was taking daguerreotype portraits in Winchester and early in 1847, he and Goddard established a daguerreotype studio in Southampton. The details of Alfred Barber's career suggests that he could have been the mysterious "A. B." who was offering for sale a daguerreotype licence covering Chichester, Bognor and four other places in West Sussex because he had taken "a larger business in another county" (Alfred Barber operated a daguerreotype portrait studio in Winchester between 1846 and 1852). Alfred Barber eventually settled in Bristol, where he died on 8th March 1884, eleven days short of his 76th birthday.

 

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Bernard & Pauline Heathcote for their impressive research into the lives and careers of early professional portrait photographers. Bernard & Pauline Heathcote's wonderful reference work, 'A FAITHFUL LIKENESS - The First Photographic Portrait Studios in the British Isles, 1841 to 1855' (2002) is an essential resource for anyone interested in the development of photographic portraiture. I have also drawn heavily from Bernard & Pauline Heathcote's booklet 'Pioneers of Photography in Nottinghamshire, 1841-1910'  (2001) for the account of Alfred Barber's life and photographic career. Other sources include R. Derek Wood's article 'The Daguerreotype in England: Some Primary Material Relating to Beard's Lawsuits' (History of Photography, October 1979) and contemporary newspapers [ The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle (Saturday, 26th June 1847), The Times ( 4th September 1848) ]. I am grateful to Raymond Turley for first drawing my attention to A.B.'s 1847 advertisement in the Hampshire Telegraph.
 

George Henry ALLEN ( born 1876 Chichester, Sussex)

Photographer active in Chichester from around 1900. Manager for Russell & Co from 1903.

Proprietor of Russell's Studio from 1918 to 1921.

George Henry Allen was born in Chichester in the September Quarter of 1876. The youngest son of Charles and Augusta Allen, George Henry Allen was baptised on 2nd December 1876 at the church of St Olave in Chichester. George's father, Charles Allen (born c1833, Chichester), was a bootmaker of Southgate, Chichester. At the time of the 1881 census, five year old George was living with his parents and six brothers and sisters at their house in Southgate, Chichester. George Allen was employed as a photographer by Thomas Russell (c1841-1903) at his studio at 20 Southgate, Chichester. In the 1901 census, George Allen is  described as an "Operator in Photography", aged 25. When his employer Thomas Russell died in 1903, George Allen managed the Southgate studio for Thomas Russell's widow. After 1904, the studio was known as Russell & Co. Around 1918, George Henry Allen became the proprietor of the studio at 20 Southgate, but he retained the trading name of "Russell's". Between 1937 and 1940, George Allen was producing photographic views of Chichester under the name of G. H. Allen.
 

 A number of photographs by G. H. Allen are held in the Photographic Collection of West Sussex Record Office, Chichester

 

Denis Walter BAKER - christened William James BAKER (born 1866, Brighton, Sussex) - aka Denis W. Baker

Denis Walter Baker was born in Brighton, Sussex in 1866. Rendel Williams has discovered that Denis Walter Baker was the assumed name of William James Baker, the eldest child of Eliza Davey and Richard James Baker, a professional photographer of Brighton. On the 1881 census return, "Denis Walter Baker" is recorded as "William James Baker", a fourteen year old "Carpenter's Apprentice" living with his parents and two younger sisters, thirteen year old Mary Ann and 7 year old Edith, at 39 Kemp Street, Brighton. "Denis" Baker's father, Richard James Baker (born c1840, Sussex) is described as a forty year old "Photographer" on the 1881 census return. At this time, Richard J. Baker was one of two photographers operating a studio under the name of Baker & Hughes in Kemp Street, a small road that runs between Gloucester Road and Trafalgar Street, not far from Brighton's railway station.

When he was in his mid-twenties, William James Baker (later known as Denis Walter Baker) was working as a photographic artist in the Welsh city of Cardiff. By 1898, Denis Walter Baker was living in Chichester, where he married Ada Beatrice Underwood (born 1872, Isle of Wight) on 22nd May 1898. Rendel Williams, who has seen Denis and Ada's marriage certificate reports that at the time of the wedding, Denis Walter Baker was an "Artist" living at Hatfield Lodge, Wyke Lane, Chichester. Denis and Ada Baker's first child, a son named Reginald Denis Baker, was born in Chichester on 18th May 1899. In the 1901 census Denis Walter Baker is shown living with his wife and young son in Chichester. On the census return, Denis Baker is described as a "Photographer", aged 34.

During the period 1902 to 1907, there were several additions to Denis Baker's family. A daughter named Doris Evelyn Baker was born during 4th Quarter of 1902. Another daughter, Eunice Dorothy Baker, was born in 1905. Eustace Gerald Baker, Denis Baker's second son, was born in the district of Chichester during the 2nd Quarter of 1907,

Surviving examples of D. W. Baker's work suggests he was primarily an outdoor photographer, producing pictures of buildings, school group photographs and special events in the Chichester area. By 1905, Denis Baker was operating his own studio at 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester. The 1911 census records Denis Baker, his wife Ada and their four children at 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester. On the census return, Denis Walter Baker is described as a forty-four year old "Photographic Artist".

Trade directories list D. W. Baker as a photographer at 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester, until 1914. Denis Baker's wife, Mrs Ada Baker, died in Chichester during the 3rd Quarter of 1914 at the age of 42. Denis Walter Baker apparently left Chichester after the death of his first wife.

During the First World War, Denis Walter Baker resumed his photographic career in Hampshire. There is a record of a marriage between Denis W. Baker and Augusta Chapman Kerley (born 1878, Winchester) taking place in the bride's home city of Winchester towards the end of 1917. There is evidence that Denis Baker and his new wife settled in Portsmouth, where a son Guy D. V. Baker was born during the final quarter of 1918. During the mid-1920s, Denis W. Baker was recorded as a photographer at 21 Green Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire. The 1927 edition of Kelly's Directory of Hampshire lists D. W. Baker as a photographer at 21 Green Road, Portsmouth in the trades section of the county directory.

Two of Denis Baker's children from his first marriage emigrated to Canada. Eustace Gerald Baker left England for a new life in Canada in the early 1920s. Doris Evelyn Baker set off for Canada shortly after marrying Joseph C. Cooper in 1927. Doris's sister Eunice Dorothy Baker remained in England. In 1929, Eunice Baker married William George Arnell (born 1902, Portsmouth) in her home town of Chichester. Eunice became the mother of two daughters Julia Arnell, who was born in Chichester at the end of 1930 and Sylvia Arnel, who was born in India a few years later. Eunice's husband, William George Arnell, was a member of the Royal Corps of Signals and served in India for several years.

Denis Walter Baker (aka William James Baker) died in Portsmouth, Hampshire, early in 1931, at the age of 64. [The death of Denis W. Baker was registered in the Hampshire district of Portsmouth during the 1st Quarter of 1931]

[ABOVE] The photographer Denis Walter Baker, pictured in the back garden of his home in Portsmouth 1930, about a year before his death.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Mrs Julia Costa of Sydney, Australia]

[ABOVE] Denis Walter Baker listed as a photographer in the trades section of  the the 1911 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex.

 

Richard James Baker (c1839-1897) - Father of William James Baker who worked as a photographer under the name of  "Denis Walter Baker".

To read an account of the life and career of the Brighton photographer Richard James Baker, click on the following link:

Richard James Baker - Photographer of Brighton

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a middle-aged man and a young woman (father & daughter?) photographed at the studio of Baker & Hughes at 39 Kemp Street, Brighton (c1880). One of the partners in the firm of Baker & Hughes was Richard James Baker (c1839-1897).     [PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Rogers of Lewes] [ABOVE] The reverse of the cabinet portrait illustrated on the left, showing the details of the studio of Baker & Hughes at 39 Kemp Street, Brighton.(c1880). The photographer Richard James Baker (c1839-1897) was recorded at  39 Kemp Street, Brighton in the 1881 census.   [PHOTO : Courtesy of Mike Rogers of Lewes]
 

[ABOVE] A school group photograph taken by Denis Walter Baker of 88 Olive Terrace [Town or Village unknown] (c1905)

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  Denis Walter Baker, photographer, which appears in the bottom right-hand corner of the school group photograph shown on the left.
 
[LEFT] A photograph of  a group school children believed to be pupils at Oving Public Elementary School, Sussex (c1905). Oving School was established in 1839 by Miss Woods of Shopwyke. In 1905, there were 130 pupils on roll at Oving Elementary School, which had an average attendance of thirty children. From around 1899, Oving School was run by the husband and wife team of Edward and Annie Trendell. By 1905, Mr and Mrs Trendell had been succeeded by Mr Albert Victor Jordan and his wife. Oving School closed in 1967.
 
The West Sussex Record Office has a number of photographs by D. W. Baker in its Photographic Collection, including: 1) a view of the Oliver Whitby School, a charity boarding school, which was built around 1712 in West Street, Chichester ; 2) Court Barn, the family home of the Farne Family of Birdham, near Chichester, and 3) a couple of photographs dating from 1911, which record a visit by St. John's Church Christian Band to Bracklesham Bay, a seaside resort located 7 miles south of Chichester.
 

Picture Postcards by Denis W. Baker of Chichester

[ABOVE] A picture postcard by the Chichester photographer Denis Walter Baker (1910). This photograph, which apparently depicts a lady in fancy dress at the Chichester Carnival in 1910, is rubber-stamped on the reverse with the photographer's credit "D. W. Baker, Photographer, 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester". 

 [PHOTO : Courtesy of Rendel Williams of Sussex Postcards.Info]

[ABOVE] Another picture postcard by Denis Walter Baker showing a participant in the Chichester Carnival of 1910. The photograph of this lady is captioned "Maltese" and is rubber-stamped on the reverse with the photographer's credit "D. W. Baker, Photographer, 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester". 

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Rendel Williams of Sussex Postcards.Info]

[ABOVE] A wedding photograph produced as a picture postcard by the Chichester photographer Denis Walter Baker (c1910). This photograph,  is rubber-stamped on the reverse with the photographer's credit "D. W. Baker, Photographer, 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester".  Denis Walter Baker generally took his portraits "on location".

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Rendel Williams of Sussex Postcards.Info]

 

Rendel Williams' Gallery of Picture Postcards by Denis W. Baker of Chichester

Rendel Williams has produced a detailed account of the life and career of Denis Walter Baker on his excellent Sussex Postcards. Info website. To view a selection of 'real photo' picture postcards by Denis W. Baker of Chichester as featured on Rendel Williams' Sussex Postcards. Info website, click on the link below:

Picture Postcards by Denis W. Baker of Chichester

 

[ABOVE] Mrs Eunice Arnell (formerly Baker) with her daughter Julia Arnell (born 1930, Chichester) in a portrait produced by the photographic firm of Malcolm McNeille & Co.. of 26 South Street, Chichester. The young woman in the photograph is Eunice Dorothy Baker (born 1905, Chichester), a daughter of Chichester photographer Denis Walter Baker. When her daughter Julia was still an infant, Eunice and her husband William George Arnell (born 1902, Portsmouth) went to live in India, where their second daughter Sylvia Arnell was born in 1934.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of of Mrs Suzanne Bucklee of Auckland, New Zealand]

Family Album of Denis Walter Baker, Photographer of Chichester

[ABOVE] The photographer Denis Walter Baker, pictured in the back garden of his home in Portsmouth around 1930. In the mid-1920s, Denis Walter Baker was operating a photographic studio at 21 Green Road, Portsmouth

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Mrs Julia Costa of Sydney, Australia]

 

[ABOVE] Mrs Eunice Arnell (formerly Baker) with her two daughters, Julia Arnell (born 1930, Chichester) and Sylvia Arnell (born 1934, India), photographed in the 1940s.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of of Mrs Suzanne Bucklee of Auckland, New Zealand]

[ABOVE] Eustace Gerald Baker (the youngest son of Chichester photographer Denis Walter Baker), pictured with his Dutch wife Tineke. Eustace Gerald Baker, known as Gerry Baker to family and friends, settled in Canada with his wife Tineke.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Mrs Julia Costa of Sydney, Australia]

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mrs Suzanne Bucklee of Auckland, New Zealand and Mrs Julia Costa of Sydney, Australia for providing  family photographs and further information about Denis Walter Baker and his family. Mrs Julia Costa is the granddaughter of the Chichester photographer Denis Walter Baker (aka William James Baker). Mrs Julia Costa's mother was Eunice Dorothy Baker, the third child of Denis Walter Baker, photographer of Chichester and Portsmouth. I am indebted to Rendel Williams and his excellent website Sussex Postcards.Info. Thanks to Mike Rogers of Lewes for providing the cabinet portrait by Baker & Hughes.
 

Charles BARCLAY (1798-1874)

Photographer active in Chichester between 1861 and 1867.

Charles Barclay was an early itinerant photographer who ended his career in Chichester when he was in his sixties.

Charles Barclay was born on 4th August 1798 in London, Middlesex. ( Charles Barclay, son of John and Ann Barclay, was baptised at Aldersgate Church on 11th November 1798 in the City of London parish of St. Botolph without Aldersgate ).

On 3rd January 1820 (or 1821), Charles Barclay married Mary Ann Bigg at Christ Church, Newgate Street, London. Charles Barclay's wife Mary Ann Bigg was born on 4th November 1798 in the Fleet Street district of London. The union of Charles and Mary Ann Barclay produced at least eight children :

1) Charles Samuel Barclay (born 9th November 1821, Holborn, London)

2) James Barclay (born 6th March 1824, Holborn, London - died 4th August 1825)

3) William Bigg Barclay (born 26th December, 1825, Shoreditch, London)

4) George James Barclay (born 31st December, 1828, Shoreditch, London)

5) John Henry Barclay  (born 20th October 1829, Hoxton. London)

6) Adolphus Fredrick Barclay (born 27th December 1831, Hoxton. London)

7) Mary Ann Barclay (born 18th November 1833)

8) Sophia Sarah Barclay (born 20th October 1836)

In the 1850s, when all of his children had grown up, Charles Barclay toured England as a travelling photographer, visiting Portsea, Birmingham, Derby and Shrewsbury.

In the Summer of 1853, Barclay operated a temporary photographic portrait studio at 2 St. James Street, Winchester, Hampshire. Barclay left Winchester in October 1853 and by the following February he was taking photographic portraits in Newbury, Berkshire. On 14th February, 1855, Barclay announced on the front page of the Essex Standard that he was ready to take portraits at 150 High Street, Colchester. After his short stay in Essex, Barclay gradually made his way back to the south coast.

[ABOVE] A portrait believed to be of the photographer Charles Barclay (1798-1874). This portrait has been passed down through the family of Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann Barclay. In 1860, Mary Ann Barclay married Jabez Dennis. In 1869, Jabez and Mary Ann Dennis emigrated to the United States. The original photograph carries the inscription  "Papa Dennis's grandfather" and therefore the subject of the portrait is either Mary Ann's father Charles Barclay or her father-in-law, William Dennis. However, as William Dennis worked as an "agricultural labourer", the identification of the sitter as the photographer  Charles Barclay is more likely. If the subject of the portrait is William Dennis, the likeness could have been made by Charles Barclay during his stay in Hampshire.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Tom Coleman of Ackerman, Mississippi, USA]

 

[ABOVE] A portrait believed to be of Mrs Mary Ann Barclay (nee Bigg) [1798-1857], the wife of the photographer Charles Barclay (1798-1864). This portrait has been passed down through the family of Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann Barclay. In 1860, Mary Ann Barclay married Jabez Dennis. In 1869, Jabez and Mary Ann Dennis emigrated to the United States. The original photograph carries the inscription  "Papa Dennis's grandmother" and therefore the subject of the portrait is either Mary Ann's mother, Mrs Mary Ann Barclay or her mother-in-law, Mrs Dennis. The photograph dates from the period 1856-1860 and so if it does portray Mrs Mary Ann Barclay, the likeness was taken towards the end of Mary Ann's life and the photographer was probably her husband Charles Barclay. Mrs Mary Ann Barclay died in Fratton, near Portsmouth, Hampshire on 10th December, 1857 at the age of 59.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Tom Coleman of Ackerman, Mississippi, USA]

Charles Barclay in Hampshire

Charles Barclay had made his permanent home in Hampshire. At the time of the 1851 census, Charles Barclay, his wife Mary Ann and their 17 year old daughter, Mary Ann Barclay, were residing in Portsea, Hampshire. Charles Barclay's wife Mrs Mary Ann Barclay died at the family home at 9 St. John's Place, Fratton, near Portsmouth, on the 10th of December, 1857 at the age of 59. At the time of his wife's death, Charles Barclay was not working as a professional photographer. On his wife's death certificate, Charles Barclay is recorded as a journeyman printer of 9 St. John's Place, Fratton.

Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann married Jabez Dennis in Portsea early in 1860. Mary Ann Barclay, then aged 26, married Jabez Dennis, a twenty-five year old factory worker, on the 31st January 1860 at St. Peters Methodist Chapel in the Portsea Island district of Hampshire. Significantly, Charles Barclay Mary Ann's widowed father, gives his occupation as "photographist" on his daughter's marriage certificate. Around the time of his daughter's marriage in 1860, Charles Barclay set himself up as a photographer in the Sussex city of Chichester.

Charles Barclay - Professional Photographer in Chichester

Around 1860, Charles Barclay arrived in Chichester. At the time of the 1861 census, Charles Barclay was lodging at 39a East Street, Chichester and he gave his occupation as "Photographer". Barclay was, by this date, a sixty-two year old widower and while his earlier stints as a photographic artist in other towns lasted only a matter of days, weeks, or months at the most, he remained in Chichester for the next six years. Barclay established a permanent photographic studio in South Street, Chichester and operated from these premises until 1867.

Around 1868, Charles Barclay returned to Hampshire. In 1869, Charles's daughter and son-in-law, Mary Ann Barclay and Jabez Dennis, together with their two young sons, emigrated to the United States. Charles Barclay apparently ran a grocer's shop in Portsea after his daughter's departure.

Charles Barclay died on the 16th of August, 1874, at the age of seventy-six, at 72 Fratton Road, Portsea, Hampshire. The death certificate records that Charles Barclay had been working as a grocer before his death.

Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann Barclay, her husband Jabez Dennis and their two sons - Charles William Dennis (born 21st April 1861, Portsea, Portsmouth) and Josiah Barclay Dennis (born 16th March 1866, Portsea, Portsmouth) - settled in Nebraska, USA around 1870.

Mrs Mary Ann Dennis (nee Barclay) died in Nebraska City, Nebraska, on 12th August 1872. In 1880, Mary Ann's son Charles William Dennis was working as a labourer in Otoe County, Nebraska. The 1880 US census records Charles and his younger brother Josiah (transcribed "Joseph" on the census return) living with relatives in Nebraska City. Josiah Barclay Dennis married Ida May Darner in Cozad, Nebraska on the 8th January,1891. Josiah Dennis settled in Williamsport, Indiana, where he died on 30th October 1944, aged 78.

 

Charles Barclay, Photographer of South Street, Chichester

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Charles Barclay, photographer of South Street, Chichester, taken from the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1863).

[ABOVE] Charles Barclay, a photographer with a studio in South Street, Chichester, listed under the heading of "Photographic Artists" in the trades section of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, published in 1862. Charles Barclay operated the photographic portrait studio in South Street, Chichester from around 1861 until 1867.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of an unknown woman, photographed by Charles Barclay of South Street, Chichester (c1863) [ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite portrait produced at Charles Barclay's studio in South Street, Chichester (c1863).
 

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Thomas A. Coleman of Ackerman, Mississippi, USA for providing the two family photographs and further information about Charles Barclay and his family. Tom is descended from Jabez Dennis and Mary Ann Barclay, the daughter of the photographer Charles Barclay. Mary Ann's second son, Josiah Barclay Dennis was Tom's grandfather. Tom's mother was Margaret Janet Dennis (1914 - 2000), the youngest child of Josiah Barclay and Ida May Darner. Margaret Dennis married James Plemon Coleman in Washington, D.C. in 1937.
 

Charles Hugh BARDEN  (born 1862, Bayswater, London)

Photographer active in Chichester between 1894 and 1905.

[ ABOVE ] An advertisement for Charles H. Barden, Photographer, of 68 East Street, Chichester, which appeared in the Chichester Guide of 1898.

The studio at 68 East Street, Chichester was established by Walter Noah Malby around 1880. When Walter Malby died in September 1892, his thirty-three year old widow, Agnes Malby, took over the running of the East Street studio. When Agnes Malby married Henry Wakeford in 1894, the studio at 68 East Street passed to Charles Hugh Barden.

Charles Hugh Barden was born in Bayswater, London in 1862, the son of Charles and Bertha Barden. [ Birth registered in the Kensington District during the December Quarter of 1862 ]. Charles Barden senior ( born 1836, Boulogne, France ) was a  fishmonger and poulterer who had lived in London for a decade before moving with his wife and family to Kent. Charles Barden senior, his wife, and four children, settled in Tunbridge Wells, where Charles Hugh Barden found work as a photographer. In the 1881 census, Barden is shown living with his parents and four siblings at 110 Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells and is described as a "Photographer", aged 18.

In the June Quarter of 1883, Charles Hugh Barden married Emily Sophia Baker ( born 1862 Tunbridge Wells ). For the next ten years Charles and Emily lived in Tunbridge Wells, the birthplace of their first four children - Hugh (born c1884), Albert (born c1889) and twins Daisy and Violet (born 1890). Charles H. Barden is not listed as a studio proprietor in Tunbridge Wells Trade Directories and it is likely he was employed as an operator or manager in the town before he took over Malby's photography business in Chichester in 1894.

In an advertisement published in 1898, Charles H. Barden is described as a "Portrait and Landscape Photographer". Although Barden was known to employ an assistant, his advertisements clearly state that "Chas. H. Barden will personally photograph each sitter".

Charles H. Barden remained in Chichester for over 10 years. Two sons were born in Chichester - Charles junior who arrived around 1896 and Harold George Barden whose birth was registered in the town during the 2nd Quarter of 1905.

 

[ABOVE] A midget photograph by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1898)

 

[ABOVE] A carte size mounted portrait of  a man with a striped tie by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1900).

[ABOVE] A carte size mounted portrait of  a bearded man by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1905).

Photographic Portraits by Charles H. Barden of Chichester

 

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Charles H. Barden, Photographer of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1898)

 

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a young woman  by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1895).

 

William BARRETT (1829-1863)

Itinerant photographer active in Chichester around 1859

[ABOVE] Detail from the death notice of William Barrett, published in the West Sussex Gazette of 5th February, 1863.

THE FULL TEXT OF THIS OBITUARY AND AN ACCOUNT OF WILLIAM BARRETT'S TIME IN BOGNOR CAN BE FOUND IN THE  PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS IN BOGNOR SECTION

William Barrett was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on 1st December 1829, the son of William Barrett senior and Mary Demaine, and was baptised a month later at Bradford's Baptist Chapel on 3rd January 1830. William Barrett junior became a travelling photographer in the north of England. From April to July 1855, William Barrett was taking photographic portraits in Parliament Street, York. In July 1855, Barrett moved on to Durham where he set up another temporary studio. After three months in Durham, William Barrett travelled south towards Worcestershire. Barrett had reached the city of Worcester by the Autumn of 1857. On 18th October 1857, William Barrett married Catherine Mary Smith (born 1835, Leamington Priors, Warwickshire) at St Peter's Church, Worcester. William Barrett continued his journey south, reaching Sussex around 1858.

William Barrett and his wife Catherine were in Chichester for the birth of their first child Kate, who arrived around 1859. A contemporary newspaper report mentions that "Mr. Wm. Barrett, the Photographist" was "well known in Chichester ". Barrett also took photographic portraits in nearby towns and in 1860 he was in Worthing with his family. William and Catherine Barrett's second child, Julia Florence Barrett, was born in Worthing on 5th September 1860. The following year, William Barrett and his family settled in the nearby seaside resort of Bognor. At the time of the 1861 census, William Barrett, his wife Catherine and their two daughters, Kate and Julia, were living at a house in New Street, Bognor. William Barrett is entered on the census return as a "Photographer", aged 32. A third daughter, Edith Emily Barrett was born to William and Catherine Barrett in Bognor the following year. No longer constantly on the move, William Barrett was now able to arrange the christening of the two younger children, Julia and Edith, at the local church in South Bersted on 17th May 1862.

It appears that around 1862, William Barrett had established a permanent photographic studio on the Parade at Bognor. However, William Barrett was suffering from a fatal heart disease and on Monday, 2nd February 1863, he died from an "aneurism of the heart"

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