EARLY NORFOLK PHOTOGRAPHERS - S
SANDELL, Robert J
Martham
KN1912
SARONY, Oliver F X
Heathcote places him in Norwich from January 1856 until about July. Advertisements in the Norwich press show him at 'St Stephen's, opposite Jolly's coach Manufactory'. He then set up business in King's Lynn (according to announcements in the Lynn Advertiser) from November 11th 1856 until mid-March 1857.
Canadian by birth, Sarony was an itinerant daguerreotypist and (from 1855) collodion photographer. He travelled widely – often in partnership with John Baum (or Baume) – and his enterprises included temporary studios in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. He later settled and prospered in Scarborough. More information about his career can be found in 'Photographers in mid-nineteenth century Scarborough' (Anne & Paul Bayliss: Bayliss, 1998).
SAUNDERS, Frederick
Dickleburgh, Scole
KN1916
SAUNDERS, Walter
Dickleburgh, Scole
KN1888, KN1892, KN1896, KN1900, KN1904, KN1908, KN1912
Photographer, joiner and parish clerk. Believed to be the same person as the erroneously listed William Saunders, below.
SAUNDERS, William
Dickleburgh, Scole
WN1890
Though a William Saunders appears in the county-wide trade listing of WN1890, its Dickleburgh section mentions only Walter Saunders. No William Saunders has been found in the census for 1891 or 1901, so the existence of two separate photographers named Saunders is open to question.
SAVIN, David William
Church Street, Cromer
HN1872, KN1875, HN1877, KN1879, KN1883, KN1888, WN1890
Savin is described in HN1872 as watchmaker, silversmith, jeweller, jet ornament manufacturer and photographic artist. He may have been operating earlier than 1872, since a surviving carte seems (from costume, studio background and mount) to date from the 1860s. Though directories repeatedly assign the business to David Savin, no David has been found in Norfolk census returns. The actual photographer appears to have been Daniel W Savin, born in 1841/2 and described as ‘photographer and jeweller’ in the 1881 census for Cromer. Savin & Holden say that he opened for business in 1860 as a jeweller and watchmaker, adding photography to his offering at an unspecified later date.
By WN1890 the business is referred to as ‘D W Savin & Son’. The son was Alfred C Savin, born in Norfolk in 1860/1, and his memoirs are incorporated into Savin & Holden.
SAVIN, William
Church Street, Cromer
WN1883
This seems very likely to refer to David William Savin, above.
SAWYER, John Robert
42 London Street, Norwich
HN1863, HN1868
London Street, Norwich
WN1864, KN1865, KN1869
46 London Street, Norwich
MN1867
Listed as Sawyer & Co in 1863. Hepworth notes him at London Street in Roger's 1859 Norwich directory. Cory believes Sawyer to have started as a photographer in the late 50s, but Linkman dates his first Norwich studio as 1853. Heathcote gives his first studio as 12 London Street, from July 1854 onwards, but other sources suggest this should be amended to 42 London Street. (42 is the number given in Sawyer's 'Norwich Mercury' advertisement of 16th January 1856, in which he refers to his 'residence of three years in Norwich'.)
John Robert Mather Sawyer was born in Sheffield in 1828 and died in Naples in 1889. His early career included experience as a cutler, optician, surgical instrument maker and truss maker. He was a leading member of the Norwich Photographic Society, founded in 1854.
A number of Sawyer's cartes from the 1860s (including one dated 1869) have the address, ‘Sawyer's Italian Studios, 46 London Street, Norwich’. Although this address has been found in only one trade directory, it was important enough to figure, at one point, as an illustration on a carte mount. A three-storey building is shown, surmounted by a balustrade and a flagpole. First and second floors each have four round-arched windows. The ground floor forms the shop front with examples of Sawyer's work in the large window. A name board, between ground and first floors, reads, ‘46 Sawyer 46’, while lettering across the second floor windows appears to read, ‘Sawyer's - Italian - Studios – 46’. The 46 London Street studio is also named on a number of Sawyer & Bird cartes from the 70s. Some 60s versions of Sawyer mount also have the address, ‘18 Brook Street, Ipswich’.
Another common feature of his mounts was the use of a motto. In his early career, he opted for ‘Sol Fecit’ (‘The sun made it’). In later years he preferred ‘Solem Certissima Signa Sequuntur’ (‘The surest of signs result from the sun’) – a quotation from Vergil that also enjoyed some currency on sundials.
By 1868 (Heathcote relates) Sawyer was producing 6,000 negatives a year. By that date (Linkman tells us) he had accumulated 25,000 carte negatives, each with two different images of the same sitter. He entered into partnership with Walter Bird in 1871. Photographic historian Paul Godfrey reports a Sawyer carte de visite bearing three addresses: 87 Regent Street London, 46 London Street Norwich, and 182 King Street, Great Yarmouth. This seems to indicate that Sawyer was (or intended to be) active in Yarmouth before he formed his partnership with Bird.
SAWYER & Bird
42 London Street, Norwich
HN1872, HN1877
London Street, Norwich
CLN1877
King Street, Yarmouth
HN1872, HN1877, HAM1879
182 King Street, Yarmouth
GY1874, KN1875
32 London Street, Norwich
KN1875, KN1879, HAM1879, KN1883, EN1883
36a Rathbone Place, London (offices)
KN1875
14 King Street, Yarmouth
SYcirca1878, KN1879, KN1883
74 Oxford Street, London (offices)
KN1883
Heathcote says the partnership was formed in 1871. A rising sun motif formed the company’s first logo.
Less informative directory addresses include ‘Norwich’ (GY1874) and ‘London’ (HN1872, GY1874, HN1877). Some Sawyer & Bird carte mounts, probably dating from the 70s, give ‘46 London Street’ as the Norwich address, and the same address appeared in a series of 1873 advertisments in the Lynn Advertiser. (This studio was also used by Sawyer before the formation of the partnership.) According to Pritchard, Sawyer & Bird also had London premises at 87 Regent Street West, 1872-3, and were part of the firm of Sawyer, Bird & Foxlee at that address in 1874.
The partners were active in the development of the Autotype process for reproducing photographs on the printed page, and both settled in London, after 1883, as directors of the Autotype Company. References to the Autotype process frequently appeared on the firm's mounts during the early 70s.
See separate studio note for products, services and prices.
SAYERS, Frank Henry
26 King Street, Yarmouth
KN1900, TC1901
28 King Street, Yarmouth
KN1904, KN1908, KY1911-12, KN1912, KY1913-14, KY1915-16, KN1916, AN1916
TC1901 describes him as 'also artist'. The premises at 28 King Street are referred to as ‘St George’s Studio’ in KN1912 and KN1916. Sayers’ advertisement in KN1916 gives National Telephone Number, 176. (King Street studios)
41 Market Place, Yarmouth
KY1913-14, KY1915-16, KN1916
123 Regent Road, Yarmouth
KN1916
The address of 123 Regent Road seems to be an error. Photographic historian Paul Godfrey points out that Regent Road's house numbers do not go beyond 116, that K1925 lists Seaman at 23 Regent Road, and that an old photograph of of number 24 shows part of Seaman's studio next door. A postcard referring to studios in Market Place, Yarmouth, and Orford Place, Norwich, appears to date from around 1905. A later – but undated – postcard refers to two Yarmouth studios: Market Place and 21 Regent Street. (Regent Road studios)
Ann Green draws attention to a mount mentioning Seaman studios in Yarmouth and Colchester, Essex. Appleby locates Seaman's Colchester studios at High Street and 41 St Botolph's Street, c1917-1921.
SEYMOUR, Berney
Dereham Road, Norwich
KN1879, WN1883
Commercial Road, Aylsham
WN1890, KN1892, KN1896, KN1900, TC1901
Additional information from Stewart Addley, descendant of Berney Seymour: Seymour was born Berney Seymour Petre, 15th February 1852. His father was John Berney Petre of Westwick Hall, Norfolk, whose liaison with Susanna Childs, a social inferior, was disapproved of by the Petre family. Their marriage was annulled, but the relationship continued and four children were born. In the 1861 census Seymour is listed under the surname Petre (along with his younger bother Arthur) at a private school in Halesworth, Suffolk. He was taught photography by his father but started his working life as a seaman. He changed his career path when a train crash affected his plans to return to his ship, and he continued as a photographer until shortly before his death in 1904.
SHERMAN, George W
Regent Road, Yarmouth
KN1888, WN1890
82, Regent Road, Yarmouth
KN1892, KN1896, KN1900, KN1904
73 St Nicholas Road, Yarmouth
KN1900
81 Regent Road, Yarmouth
TC1901, KN1904
The business is referred to as ‘George Sherman & Sons’ from 1900 onwards. A cabinet mount, dating from the late 1880s or the 1890s, gives the address as 'Sherman's Pier Studio, corner of Nelson & Regent Roads, Great Yarmouth'. (Regent Road studios)
SHERMAN, Mrs Sarah Elizabeth
82 Regent Road, Yarmouth
KN1908
SHRUBSOLE, William Lewis
1 Ely Place, Carnarvon Road, Norwich
KN1879
5 Davey Place, Norwich
WN1883, WN1890, KN1892
Davey Place, Norwich
KN1883, EN1883, KN1888
8 Connaught Road, Norwich
KN1883, EN1883
Victoria Studio, St Stephen's Road, Norwich
KN1888
Market place (Exchange Street Corner), Norwich
KN1888, KN1892
Victoria Station, Norwich
KN1888
Exchange Street, Norwich
WN1890
13 Briggs Street, Norwich
KN1896
Grove Road, Norwich
TC1901, AN1916
83 Grove Road, Norwich
KN1904
82 Chapel Field Road/Row, Norwich
KN1908, JN1911, KN1912, JN1914, KN1916
Cory records a studio at 15 Briggs Street, Norwich, in 1894. A carte mount in the style of the 1870s gives a different form of the Ely Place address: 1 Ely Place, Earlham Road, Norwich.
The Exchange Street Corner and Davey Place studios were open from nine in the morning to nine at night, with arc light being used after dark. Shrubsole is listed by Dimond as one of the professionals who photographed Queen Alexandra (date unknown), and his mounts claimed the patronage of the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the English and Cape Town governments.
SISSON, Mr
An itinerant offering 'cheap photographic portraits' at the King's Lynn Mart from mid-February to 3rd March, 1855. (Source: Lynn Advertiser, 24th Feb, 1855)
SKERRY, John
Bridge Street, Lynn
KN1896, KN1900
The indexes of advertisers in SL1904, SL1905 and SL1906, list J Skerry of 1 Valingers Road, Lynn, as a photographer; but the advertisements themselves show him only as the proprietor of Morgan's Ales & Stout Stores. It is not clear whether it was his active studio practice or merely his reputation as a photographer that extended into the new century.
SLAUGHTER, Edward Hilton
1 Beetonian Villas, South End, Hunstanton
KN1900
SMALL, John William
Freeman Street, Wells
KN1912
John W Smalls, below, could possibly be the same person.
SMALLS, John W
North Creake, Fakenham
KN1908
See also John William Small, above.
SMITH, Henry James
Watton
KN1900, KN1904, KN1908, KN1912
SMITH, James C
St Augustine Street, Norwich
KN1875, HN1877, CLN1877, KN1879
SMITH, John William
Though he seems never to have operated under his own name, John William Smith was the principal of Thomas Smith & Sons, below. His father, Thomas, was primarily (and possibly excusively) a cabinet maker of Brigg in Licolnshire, whose sons ran studios in Norfolk and Lincolnshire under the family name.
SMITH, Mrs Susannah
Cherry Street, Norwich
WN1854
Her business is described as ‘Daguerrotype portrait gallery’. She is listed in KN1853 as ‘artist’ at Cherry Street, Lakenham, Norwich. Heathcote says she was also an astrologer, and dates her Cherry Street studio from July 1853 to some time in 1854. The Norfolk Chronicle of July 9th 1853 carried her advert for ‘likenesses taken by the Daguerreotype and photographic process’ at prices from 5/- upwards.
SMITH, Thomas
60 High Street, Lynn
WN1883, KN1883, LNA1885, LNA1886, LNA1887, KN1888, WN1890, KN1892, LR1894, LR1895, KN1896, KN1900, TC1901, KN1904, KN1908, AN1916
Norwich Street, Fakenham
LNA1885, LNA1886, LNA1887
4 London Road, Lynn
KN1896
High Street, Lynn
TL1901
The Smiths' Lynn business was run by John William Smith and was established by 1st May 1880, according to an advertisement in the Lynn Advertiser. It is listed as ‘T Smith & Son’ in WN1883. All other entries show ‘& Sons’. Some carte mounts from the 80s (including one marked ‘1888’ and one dating from 1886) refer to their studio at Brigg in Lincolnshire, in addition to the one in Lynn High Street. Adamson 2 shows a Thomas Smith in Brigg in 1870, 1872 and 1882-1905. Some carte mounts – possibly dating from the 1880s – refer to an additional studio in Swaffham. Whilst Brigg was the Smith family's home town and the site of its earliest studio, the Lynn premises seem to have become more important. (A carte mount, dating from the mid-to-late 1880s, refers to 60 High Street as the 'Central Studio' and lists those at Fakenam and Brigg in subordinate positions.)
AN1916 comes after an apparent eight-year gap and seems surprising. But 60 High Street, Lynn, appears as the studio of L Vilenkin in KN1916, and this may be more reliable.
Smith’s 1885 prices started at 6/- a dozen for cartes and 15/- a dozen for cabinet prints. By 1894, he had reduced his prices to 5/- and12/- respectively, and was offering a free opal print with his more expensive cabinet print range.
SNELLING, E F
Brancaster Staithe
KN1908
SPANTON, Frederick
Recorded in the 1881 census as photographer's assistant to W S and W J Dexter of King's Lynn.
SPEIGHT, James
A member of a Rugby family of photographers, Speight worked as assistant to Jasper James Wright (q.v.) of King's Lynn from 1898 to 1900. Notes based on his diary of those years appear as a separate studio note.
SQUIBBS, Harold E
Recorded in the 1901 census as a photographer, aged 21, boarding in Windsor Road, King's Lynn. Quite possibly an employee rather than an independent operator.
STAINER, Maurice
Victoria Road, Diss
KN1888, WN1890, KN1892
Information supplied by Steve Clarke suggests that Stainer's business was semi-itinerant. In 1881 he had a studio in Saxmundham, Suffolk. In the 1901 census he appeared as 'travelling photographer' in a caravan on East Harking Market Place. (In the 1881 census he was listed as 'photographist' and in 1891 as 'photographer and Wesleyan lay preacher'.)
STANGROOM, James
Cley
KN1879, KN1883, KN1888, KN1892, KN1896, KN1900, KN1904, KN1908
STANLEY, Fred
Station Road, Wymondham
KN1892
STANLEY, Joseph
Hartington Terrace, Dereham
WN1890
STANNARD, H
Queen’s Road, Norwich
HAM1879
STANNARD, James
Thorpe, Norwich
KN1883
STANTON, John
St Augustine's Street, Norwich
HN1863, WN1864, HN1868
STOWERS, William
Austin Street, Lynn
KN1875
SWAIN, George E
2a Davey Place, Norwich
KN1908, KN1912, AN1916
SWAIN, Mrs G
25 St Giles Street, Norwich
AN1916
SWAIN, Mrs M
27 St Giles Street, Norwich
KN1912, JN1914, KN1916
SWANN, John
Opie Street, Norwich
HN1863, HN1868
Bank Plain, Norwich
KN1865
King Street, St Stephen's, Norwich
MN1867
SYMES, Herbert
134 King Street, Yarmouth
KN1908