Horsham Photographers ( H )
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Professional and Amateur Photographers in Horsham ( H )
Henry T. HEALEY - John HICKS - William HOBBS - Thomas HONYWOOD - Henry HOCKING
Henry Thomas HEALEY (born 1862, Bath, Somerset)
active as a photographer in Horsham around 1905
[ABOVE ] A portrait of a girl holding a flower and looking over a fake garden wall, a carte-de-visite by Henry T. Healey, Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1905) |
[ABOVE ] The trade sign of Henry Thomas Healey, Photographer, Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1905) Henry Thomas Healey was born in 1862 at Bath in Somerset [ Henry's birth was registered in Bath during the fourth quarter of 1862]. He was the son of Frances and Edward Healey, a master wire worker from Bath. At the time of the 1881 census, Henry Healey was living at his parents house at 32 Stall Street, Bath. In the 1881 census return, Henry Healey is described as a "Photographer's Apprentice", aged 18. [ Henry's younger brother, Arthur Frank Healey (born 1874, Bath) also became a photographer ]. When he was a young man in his twenties, Henry Thomas Healey emigrated to South Africa. At Cape Colony in South Africa, Henry Healey established himself as a photographer. It was in Cape Colony that Henry Healey met his wife, Annie Sarah Ffennell (born 1866, Colesberg, Cape Colony). The couple married in 1891 and produced two sons - Archibald Guy Healey (born 1892, Craddock, Cape Colony) and Arthur Ffennell Healey (born 1896, Gregusland, West Kimberley). Henry Healey's decision to return to England coincided with the outbreak of hostilities between the British authorities and the Dutch settlers during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Henry Healey arrived in Horsham around 1904 and by 1905 he was running the Carfax Studio at 18 Richmond Terrace, the former studio of John Hicks (in business at No 18 from 1885 to 1900) and William Henry Brigden (in business at No 18 from 1900 to around 1903). It was during Healey's tenure that the studio address was known as 18 Carfax, rather than 18 Richmond Terrace. Henry Thomas Healey was in business at 18 Carfax for only a short time. When Kelly's Directory of Sussex was issued in 1907, Healey was no longer listed as a photographer in Horsham and the studio at 18 Carfax was in the hands of William Hobbs (see below). Henry Healey had moved with his family to Cornwall. The 1911 census records Henry Thomas Healey as a 48 year old professional photographer, living with his wife and two teenage sons in St Ives, Cornwall. In 1914, Henry Healey and his family returned to South Africa. Henry Thomas Healey died in South Africa on 30th June 1929, aged 66. |
Photographs from Henry T. Healey's Carfax Studio in Horsham
[ABOVE] A circular portrait of a young woman on a square mount produced by H. T. Healey, Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1905)
[LEFT] A vignette portrait of a young woman, a cabinet format photograph by H. T. Healey, Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1905)
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Acknowledgements |
I am grateful to Rendel Williams of the Sussex Postcards Info website for providing information on Henry Healey's photographic career in South Africa. Family history information was supplied to Rendel Williams by Doug Walton of Australia, a great grandson of Henry Thomas Healey. |
Henry Thomas Healey (1862-1929 [PHOTO: Doug Walton of Australia] |
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John HICKS (born 1859, Ryde, Isle of Wight, Hampshire)
active as a photographer in Horsham from 1885 to 1902
John Hicks was the second child and only
son of Ann and William Hicks, a professional photographer. His father
William Hicks (1830-1888), who was originally from Heathfield in
Sussex, had established a photographic portrait studio on the Isle of
Wight around 1857. John Hicks was born in Ryde,on the Isle of Wight,
where his father operated his photographic studio, towards the end of
1859. [ John Hicks' birth was registered on the Isle of Wight during the
fourth quarter of 1859 and he was baptised at St. Thomas' Church, Ryde,
Isle of Wight, on 29th January 1860 ]. By 1864, William Hicks had left the Isle of Wight and had returned to his native Sussex with his wife Ann and their two children - five year old John and his older sister Clara (born 1858, Ryde, Isle of Wight). John Hick's father opened a photographic studio in Eastbourne early in 1864 and owned a photography business in this seaside town for the next fifteen years. After running studios in Eastbourne at Cornfield Road, Albert Place and Seaside Road, William Hicks finished his career as a professional photographer at a studio situated at 3 Terminus Road, Eastbourne. By the late 1870s, John Hicks was running the Terminus Road studio for his father. According to Charles Simmons, an Eastbourne businessman who resided near the Terminus Road studio, the young John Hicks was not a particularly diligent photographer. In an article published in the Eastbourne Gazette in December 1899, Simmons recollected the time when John Hicks would 'cast up his books at the end of the summer, and after remarking, "It has been a good season ! " would close his premises until the following spring ! '. ( Although Simmons specifically states "this was done by Mr. John Hicks, a photographer", he was looking back over twenty years and may have been referring to the working practices of John's father, William Hicks ). By the time of the 1881 census, William Hicks was no longer taking an active role in the studio he once ran in Terminus Road. In 1881, the Hicks family were living comfortably at a house called "Mayfield", near Upperton Gardens in Eastbourne. It appears that William Hicks was now involved in property development and he is described on the census return as a "Builder", aged 50. John Hicks, William Hicks' only son, is entered on the return as a "Photographer", aged 21. Around this time the Hicks' studio at 3 Terminus Road, Eastbourne was sold to Rudolph Vieler (born c1853, Westphalia, Prussia). In 1881, John's sister, Clara Hicks, had married John Berryman (born 1853, Wells, Somerset), a professional photographer with his own studio in Deal, Kent. John Hicks is not listed as a studio proprietor in Eastbourne after 1881 and so it is possible that John Hicks worked as a photographer for his brother-in-law between 1882 and 1884. In 1884, John Hicks married Jane Williams (born 1860, Chelsea), the niece of Alexander McBain of Eastbourne, apparently a wealthy man who derived his income from "Houses & Dividends" and was possibly a business associate of John's father, William Hicks the builder. [ The marriage of John Hicks and Jane Williams was registered in Eastbourne during the third quarter of 1884 ]. After their marriage, John and Jane Hicks settled in Horsham, where their first child Louisa Clara Hicks was born during the second quarter of 1885. After arriving in Horsham around 1884, John Hicks opened a photographic studio at No 18 Richmond Terrace, Carfax. John Hicks worked as a photographer at 18 Richmond Terrace - generally known as the Carfax Studio - for the next fifteen years. (See the section on the The Carfax Studio, Horsham, below). On 13th November 1888, John's father, William Hicks, died at the age of 57 at his residence of Woodlands, Horeham Road, near Heathfield in Sussex. Around this time, John Hicks became a father for the second time. Mrs Jane Hicks gave birth to a daughter named Dorothy May Hicks during the fourth quarter of 1888. By 1890, John Hicks was living with his family at 15 East Street, Horsham. In February 1890, John's mother, Mrs Ann Hicks, died during a train journey from Horsham to Eastbourne. John's mother did not live to see the birth of her third grandchild, Thora Margaret Hicks [ birth registered in Horsham during the fourth quarter of 1891 ]. John and Jane Hicks' fourth child, a son named William Alexander Hicks, was born in Horsham during the second quarter of 1898.
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John Hicks - Photographer in Horsham
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John Hicks remained at 18 Richmond Terrace until around 1900, when he sold the Carfax Studio to William Henry Brigden. For a short time, John Hicks worked at a studio attached to his home address at 15 East Street, Horsham. In trade directories of the time, Hicks' studio address is given as 15e East Street, Horsham. When the 1901 census was taken, John Hicks and his family are recorded at 15 E East Street, Horsham. In the census return, John Hicks is described as a "Photographer - own account (at Home)", aged 41. Also listed on the census return is John Hicks' wife Mrs Jane Hicks, aged 40, and their four children - Louisa, aged 15, Dorothy aged 12, Thora, aged 9 and three year old William. By 1902 Hicks had left Horsham and had moved to a new studio in Bexhill-on-Sea. The new studio was situated at 14 Devonshire Road, Bexhill and Hicks worked at this studio until around 1911. All three of his daughters - Louisa Hicks, Dorothy Hicks and Thora Hicks married in Bexhill. |
The Photographic Work of John Hicks of Horsham
[ABOVE ] Portrait of a man wearing a caped overcoat by John Hicks of the Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1890) | [ABOVE ] Portrait of a young woman in a rustic setting by John Hicks of the Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1890) | [ABOVE ] Portrait of a young boy seated on a fur rug and placed in a rustic setting, photographed by John Hicks of the Carfax Studio, Horsham (c1890) |
John Hicks's Carfax Studio
The Carfax Studio
[ABOVE] A detail from the photograph on the right, showing the location of John Hick's studio at No 18 Richmond Terrace, Carfax, Horsham. When this photograph was taken around 1902, the studio was in the hands of the photographer William Henry Brigden. Directly in front of the Carfax studio is the Jubilee Fountain. |
[ABOVE ] Richmond Terrace, Horsham, a row of buildings that lines one side of Horsham's Carfax, in a photograph taken around 1902. The Carfax is an open space in the centre of Horsham where North Street, West Street, East Street, and the London Road meet. The Carfax was a popular meeting place and in the nineteenth century was the site for summer fairs and open air concerts. The bandstand in the middle of the picture was erected in 1891. [LEFT] A detail from the photograph above, showing John Hicks' former studio at No 18 Richmond Terrace, Carfax, Horsham, known as the Carfax Studio, which was sold to the photographer William Henry Brigden about 1900. |
The Carfax Studio, Horsham
The building at No 18
Richmond Terrace, Carfax*,
Horsham (also known as 18, Carfax ) was the site of a photographic
portrait studio from about 1885 until 1918 and beyond. John Hicks,
who had previously worked as a photographer in Eastbourne, acquired the studio around 1885. Hicks
remained at 18 Richmond Terrace until around 1900, when he sold the Carfax Studio to
William Henry Brigden. For a short time, John
Hicks worked at a studio attached to his home address at 15 East Street,
Horsham, but by 1903 Hicks was working from a studio at 14 Devonshire
Road in Bexhill-on-Sea. William Henry Brigden was in business as a photographer at 18 Richmond Terrace, Carfax until about 1904. The Carfax Studio then passed to Henry T. Healey, who after a year or so sold the photography business to William Hobbs. William Hobbs worked as a photographer at 18, Carfax, Horsham from 1907 until his death in 1911 at the age of fifty-one. William Hobbs' widow, Mrs J. Hobbs took over the running of the Carfax Studio, but by 1918 it was in the hands of a rival Horsham photographer Arthur Lyle.
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* The name Carfax is thought to be derived from the Latin word quadrifurcus meaning "four-forked" - a place where four roads meet. Carfax is generally used to describe an intersection of main roads at the centre of a town.However, there is some evidence to suggest that the Carfax in Horsham originates from the name 'Skarfolkes', an Old English term to describe the open area in the centre of a town. (In a document dating from the middle of the 16th century, the ancient place name of Skarfolkes is actually spelt 'Scarfax' ). It has been suggested that that name 'Scarfolkes' means " an open space devoid of homes and people" , literally "scarce of folke" ( from the Old English word 'folc' [or folk] meaning 'people'). |
William HOBBS (1860-1911)
active as a photographer in Horsham from 1907 to 1911
Mrs Julia HOBBS (1861-1952)
active as a photographer in Horsham from 1911 until 1915
William Hobbs was born
in Blandford, Dorset, in 1860, the son of Elizabeth
White and John James Hobbs, a stationer of Blandford
Forum. [The birth of William Hobbs was registered in Blandford
during the 2nd Quarter of 1860]. When the 1881 census was taken, William Hobbs was residing with his parents and elder brother Alfred at 1 Valencia Villas, Salisbury Road, Blandford. In 1881, twenty year old William Hobbs and his older brother Alfred Hobbs (born 1855, Blandford) were both employed as stationer's assistants at their father's business premises. (John James Hobbs ran a stationers shop in West Street and Salisbury Street, Blandford). On 11th April 1887 at Poole Baptist Church, William Hobbs married Julia Elizabeth Poole, the daughter of Elizabeth Silverthorn and John Poole, a master carpenter & joiner of Poole, Dorset. John Poole had married Elizabeth Child Silverthorn(e) in the Shaftesbury district of Dorset in 1854. A son, Isaiah John Poole was born Poole in 1859 and Julia Elizabeth Poole arrived two years later on 10th April 1861. After their marriage, William and Julia Hobbs moved to the Essex town of Saffron Walden, where William Hobbs set himself up as a photographer. William Hobbs operated as a photographer in Gold Street, Saffron Walden, from around 1888 until 1897. The 1891 census records William Hobbs as a 30 year old "Photographic Artist" in Saffron Walden. During their time in Saffron Walden, William's wife Julia gave birth to four or five children, all girls, but only two survived infancy. Margaret Eva Hobbs was born in 1888, Ethel Elizabeth was born in 1890, but died two years later, and Evelyn Silverthorn Hobbs was born in 1895. Around 1897, William Hobbs, his wife Julia, and their two surviving daughters, Margaret and Evelyn, moved to Boscombe, a seaside resort near Bournemouth. At the time of the 1901 Census, William Hobbs, now 40 years of age, was working as a manager for a firm of stationers. On the census return, William Hobbs gives his occupation "Stationer, Shop Keeper's Manager". Recorded in the same household was William's 39 year old wife Julia, thirteen year old Margaret, five year old Evelyn and, a new addition to the family, one year old Muriel. [ William and Julia's youngest daughter, Muriel Hobbs had been born in Boscombe, Hampshire, during the 1st Quarter of 1900]. William Hobbs arrived in Horsham around 1907 to take over the Carfax Studio at 18 Richmond Terrace, Carfax from Henry T. Healey (see above). From this time, the Carfax Studio address was generally given as 18 Carfax, Horsham. The 1911 census records William Hobbs, his wife Julia and their two youngest daughters, 15 year old Eva (Evelyn) and 11 year old Muriel at 18 Carfax, Horsham. [The photographer's eldest daughter, twenty-three year old Margaret Eva Hobbs had recently married John Woods Prior (born 1878, Chichester, Sussex) and at the time of the 1911 census she was boarding with her thirty-three year old husband at a house in Ventnor, Isle of Wight]. William Hobbs worked as a photographer at 18 Carfax, Horsham from 1907 until his death during the 3rd Quarter of 1911 at the age of fifty-one. After the death of William Hobbs, the photographer's widow, Mrs Julia Hobbs, took over the running of the Carfax Studio. In Sussex trade directories published between 1911 and 1915, Mrs Julia Hobbs is listed as the proprietor of Horsham's Carfax Studio, but by the end of the First World War the studio at 18 Carfax was in the hands of a rival Horsham photographer, Arthur Lyle.
Mrs Julia
Hobbs married Benjamin Martin at Horsham in 1931.
Mrs Julia Martin and her husband set up home at "Silverthorn",
Hurst Avenue, Horsham, but Benjamin Martin died in
1933, just 2 years after their marriage. Twice widowed, Mrs Julia
Martin (formerly Mrs William Hobbs) remained at "Silverthorn",
Hurst Avenue, Horsham, until she passed away in 1952. |
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1911 CENSUS: 18 Carfax, Horsham, Sussex |
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NAME |
AGE |
OCCUPATION |
WHERE BORN |
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William Hobbs |
Head |
50 |
Professional Photographer |
Blandford, Dorset |
Julia Hobbs |
wife |
49 |
Poole, Dorset | |
Eva Hobbs | daughter |
15 |
Saffron Walden, Essex | |
Muriel Hobbs | daughter |
11 |
Boscombe, Hampshire |
[ABOVE] The photographer William Hobbs recorded with his wife and his two youngest daughters at the living quarters attached to his studio at 18 Carfax, Horsham. |
[ABOVE ] The reverse of a cabinet portrait taken by William Hobbs at his photographic studio in Gold Street, Saffron Walden, Essex (c1888) | [ABOVE ] A cabinet portrait of an unknown man photographed by William Hobbs at his studio in Gold Street, Saffron Walden, Essex (c1888) |
Acknowledgements |
Thanks to David Wilson for supplying family history information relating to Henry Hobbs and his family. David Wilson is related to Julia Elizabeth Poole, the wife of the Horsham ohotographer Henry Hobbs. The cabinet photograph taken at Henry Hobbs' Saffron Walden studio was also supplied by David Wilson. |
Henry HOCKING (born 1848, Bideford, Devon)
active as a photographer in Horsham during the 1870s
Henry Hocking was
born in Bideford, Devon, in 1848, the son of William
and Sarah Ann
Hocking. Henry Hocking was active as a photographer in Horsham for a very brief period. The only evidence I have that Henry Hocking had a photographic portrait studio in Horsham is a carte-de-visite portrait of a child with the following printed details on the reverse :
The clothing worn by the child in the photograph and the style of the carte-de-visite suggests a date of around 1875. This date would tie in with the fact that Thomas S. Robinson took over the studio at 4 Denne Parade, Horsham around 1877. By the end of 1877, Henry Hocking was in London, where he married Ellen Martin (born 1855, Rotherhithe, London)). By the late 1870s, Henry Hocking was running a studio at 89 Lake Road, Portsmouth. A local trade directory published in 1879 lists Henry Hocking as as a "carver, gilder & photographer" at 89 Lake Road, Portsmouth. Rather surprisingly, at the time of the 1881 census thirty-one year old Henry Hocking is recorded in York, and gives his occupation as "Railway Porter". Henry Hocking later moved to Aston in Warwickshire, not very far from Birmingham. The 1891 census shows Henry Hocking residing with his wife in Aston and on the census return he is described as a self-employed "Photographic Artist". In 1900, Henry Hocking was back in Portsmouth and was working as a photographer at 1 Binsteed Road, Portsmouth. When the census was taken on 31st March 1901, Henry Hocking declared that he was working as a self-employed photographer from his home at 1 Binsteed Road, Portsmouth. Henry Hocking was still working as a photographer at 1 Binsteed Road, Portsmouth when a Hampshire trade directory was compiled in 1904. The 1911 census, records Henry Hocking and his wife Ellen at 56 Foster Road, Portsmouth. On the census return, sixty-two year old Henry Hocking gives his occupation as "Photographic Canvasser (own account)". Henry and Ellen Hocking had no children, but sharing their home in Portsmouth was Henry's mother-in-law, Mrs Ann Martin, an 88 year old widow, and his niece, twenty-three year old Annie Ogden, who was employed in a local corset factory. Henry Hocking died in Portsmouth in 1928 in his 81st year. |
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Thomas HONYWOOD (1819-1888) - amateur photographer
Thomas Honywood
was born at Horsham on 7th October 1819, the son of Mary Anne Morth
and John Honywood (1790-1866), a carpenter, builder and surveyor.
John Morth Honywood (1816-1871), Thomas's older brother, became a
carpenter and master builder like his father, but Thomas Honywood
appears to have been a man of independent means. Honywood was a man
interested in art and science and he spent much of his time
conducting scientific experiments with printing techniques. In the
1881 census, Thomas Honywood gave his occupation as "Captain of the Horsham
Volunteer Fire Brigade". ( Honywood had been appointed Captain of Horsham's Volunteer Fire
Brigade sometime in the early 1860s ). Thomas Honywood took an early interest in photography and is thought to have taken the earliest known photographs in Horsham. A photograph by Honywood, showing a group of woodcutters, has been given a date of 1850 and an early view of Horsham's Carfax was photographed by Honywood in 1855. Henry Burstow (1826-1916) in his book 'Reminiscences of Horsham' (1911), makes the claim that Thomas Honywood introduced the "new art" of photography into Horsham. Henry Burstow described an incident where two Horsham men inserted their legs into the town's stocks "for the purpose of being photographed by Mr. T. Honywood, the captain of the Horsham Fire Brigade, who introduced the new art into Horsham". Honywood took a number of photographs in Horsham in the 1850s and 1860s, including a number of views of the town and a picture purporting to show a Horsham postman delivering a letter. (See illustration below). In his spare time, Thomas Honywood was an inventor, photographer, artist, and archaeologist, yet, although he served in the Volunteer Fire Brigade, no professional occupation is given for Honywood in local trade directories. However, Thomas Honywood is listed as the Captain of the Horsham Volunteer Fire Brigade in a Sussex Directory of 1866. It is recorded that he served as the Horsham Fire Brigade's captain for a period of twenty-six years, so he must have been appointed to the post before 1862. Thomas Honywood married late in life. In 1878, at the age of 58, Honywood married thirty-one year old Clara Anna Simpkin [Marriage registered in Marylebone, London during the third quarter of 1878]. Clara Anna Simpkin (born 1849, Rusper, Sussex), was the daughter of Sarah and George Simpkin, a painter & glazier who had previously lived and worked in Horsham. Early in 1880, the new Mrs Honywood gave birth to a son, whom the couple christened Thomas Courtenay Honywood. A second child, a daughter named Mabilia Mary Honywood, was born to the couple in 1883. In the 1880s, Thomas Honywood was perfecting his technique of "Nature Printing". Honywood had been experimenting with photo-chemical printing processes which could transfer the images of ferns, flowers, leaves and even snowflakes onto a variety of surfaces. Eventually, Thomas Honywood patented his "Nature Printing" process for "producing designs direct from natural objects on all kinds of Fabrics, Pottery, Dados, Panelling, &c, &c". and exhibited his work at the International Inventions Exhibition held in London in 1885. Thomas Honywood died at Horsham in 1888, as he approached his 69th birthday. His widow, Mrs Clara Honywood, remarried the following year. Clara's husband was the recently widowed Leonard Baldwin Henderson (c1830-1891), a Superintendent of Police in Horsham. In the 1901 census, Thomas Honywood's son is recorded as "Thomas De'Honywood", a twenty-one year old "Railway Telegraphist". Thomas Courtenay Honywood's sister is entered on the 1901 census return as "Mabilia De'Honywood" and is described as a milliner, aged 17. |
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Early Photographs by Thomas Honywood
[ABOVE ] "The Woodcutters", a photographic study by Thomas Honywood (1850).This heavily re-touched photograph shows a group of working men posing with their woodcutting tools in the grounds of a grand house in the Horsham area. |
[ABOVE ] "The Horsham Postman" by Thomas Honywood (c1860). Although long thought to be a portrait of the town's postman, it appears that the man on the doorstep was, in reality, John Morth Honywood, the photographer's brother. The elderly man carrying the basket was John Honyman senior, who would have been seventy years of age in 1860. |
[ABOVE ] "The Horsham Stocks", a photograph attributed to Thomas Honywood (c1859). According to Henry Burstow, the two men posing in the town stocks were Bunk Dumbrell and Walter Burstow. |
Click on the link below to view more photographs by Thomas Honywood |
Notes on Horsham Photographers & Examples of their Work