Sussex PhotoHistory Index

Sussex PhotoHistory Home Page

Sussex PhotoHistory

This website is devoted to photographers active in the English counties of East Sussex and West Sussex during Victorian and Edwardian times. It is designed to be used by people researching their family history who wish to date family photographs and those interested in the history of photography.

The counties of East Sussex and West Sussex were created in 1974. In Victorian and Edwardian times there was a single county called Sussex. For the sake of clarity and consistency, I have, for the purposes of organisation, divided the old single county of Sussex into two distinct sections headed West Sussex and East Sussex. This division follows the way the counties of West Sussex and East Sussex are constituted today.

Click on the links against each town or village for details of photographers and studios active between 1841 and 1910.

 

West Sussex

 

 East Sussex

         
Angmering Photo History        Studio Directory   Arlington Photo History      Studio Directory
Arundel Photo History        Studio Directory      
         
Bognor Photo History        Studio Directory   Battle Photo History      Studio Directory
Burgess Hill Photo History        Studio Directory   Bexhill Photo History      Studio Directory
      Brighton & Hove * Photo History    Studio Directory
Chichester Photo History        Studio Directory      *NOTE: Brighton & Hove is on a separate website
Clayton Photo History        Studio Directory     Brighton Photographers 1841-1910
Cocking Photo History        Studio Directory   Cooksbridge Photo History     Studio Directory
Crawley Photo History        Studio Directory   Cross-in-Hand Photo History     Studio Directory
Cuckfield Photo History        Studio Directory   Crowborough Photo History     Studio Directory
         
Easebourne Photo History        Studio Directory   Eastbourne Photo History     Studio Directory
      Eridge Photo History     Studio Directory
East Grinstead Photo History       Studio Directory   Etchingham Photo History     Studio Directory
      Flimwell Photo History     Studio Directory
         
Harting Photo History        Studio Directory   Hailsham Photo History     Studio Directory
Hassocks Photo History       Studio Directory   Halland Photo History     Studio Directory
Haywards Heath Photo History       Studio Directory   Hastings & St Leonards

Photo History     Studio Directory

Horsham Photo History       Studio Directory   Heathfield Photo History     Studio Directory
Hurstpierpoint Photo History       Studio Directory   Hellingly Photo History     Studio Directory
      Herstmonceux Photo History     Studio Directory
Ifield Photo History       Studio Directory   Hove & Aldrington Photo History     Studio Directory
Keymer Photo History       Studio Directory      
         
Lancing Photo History       Studio Directory   Lewes Photo History      Studio Directory
Lindfield Photo History       Studio Directory      
Littlehampton Photo History       Studio Directory      
      Maresfield Photo History      Studio Directory
Midhurst Photo History       Studio Directory   Mayfield Photo History      Studio Directory
         
      Newhaven Photo History      Studio Directory
      Newick Photo History      Studio Directory
      Northiam Photo History      Studio Directory
Petworth Photo History       Studio Directory   Nutley Photo History      Studio Directory
Portslade Photo History       Studio Directory      
Poynings Photo History       Studio Directory      
Pulborough Photo History       Studio Directory   Pevensey & Westham Photo History      Studio Directory
Pyecombe Photo History       Studio Directory   Ringmer Photo History      Studio Directory
Robertsbridge Photo History      Studio Directory
Rustington Photo History       Studio Directory   Rotherfield Photo History      Studio Directory
      Rottingdean Photo History      Studio Directory
      Rye Photo History      Studio Directory
Shoreham Photo History       Studio Directory      
Staplefield Photo History       Studio Directory
Steyning Photo History       Studio Directory Seaford Photo History      Studio Directory
Storrington Photo History       Studio Directory   Southwick Photo History      Studio Directory
         
Three Bridges Photo History       Studio Directory   Ticehurst Photo History      Studio Directory
      Uckfield Photo History      Studio Directory
Walberton Photo History       Studio Directory      
Westbourne Photo History       Studio Directory   Wadhurst Photo History      Studio Directory
Wick Photo History       Studio Directory   Waldron Photo History      Studio Directory
Worthing Photo History       Studio Directory   Winchelsea Photo History      Studio Directory
         

West Sussex

 

East Sussex

 

          Hooe  Link to John Newport's website on History of Hooe Village
 
Sussex Photohistory is an ongoing project. I have information on nearly every photographer who was active in Sussex between 1841 and 1910. Over the coming months I will be adding material to the Sussex Photohistory website until each of the towns and villages named above has its own Photohistory and Studio Directory. If the information you require is not yet featured on this website, feel free to contact me by e-mail. [SEE YELLOW PANELS BELOW TO SEE HOW TO CONTACT ME BY E-MAIL].
 
SUSSEX PHOTOHISTORY WEBSITE: Established August 2005.

WEBSITE LAST UPDATED: 25th May 2018  

 AUTHOR & COMPILER: David Simkin
Click on the link below to view the index to the web pages  devoted to Automatic Photographs and Photobooth Photos:

Automatic Photographs & Photobooth Photos Index

Dating Old Family Photographs

 

 To read an account of the early history of photography in both East Sussex and West Sussex, click on the following link :

An Outline History of Professional Photography in Sussex from 1841 to 1855

 

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

 To access over 5000 images of West Sussex in the past, currently held in various West Sussex collections, just click on the link below :

West Sussex Past Pictures

 

The Personal Portfolio of Kieran Simkin

 

My son Kieran Simkin is an amateur photographer and publishes his work online -

Click here to see his nature photography, Cuckmere Haven and South Downs landscapes.

 
 

Sussex PhotoHistory Part 2 : Additional Indexes to Brighton and Sussex Photographers active in the 19th Century

 

PROFILES OF 19TH CENTURY BRIGHTON PHOTOGRAPHERS

Click on the names inside the red box below to view Biographical Notes on particular Brighton Photographers

 

 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON BRIGHTON PHOTOGRAPHERS  (A-Z)

 A-Z LISTING OF BRIGHTON & HOVE PHOTOGRAPHERS  [ See the Brighton & Hove Studio Directory (above) for a complete alphabetical listing. Click this link for Studio Directory ]

BRIGHTON BIOGRAPHIES : William S. Antill & Sons ; Richard J. Baker; Baker & Hughes; Samuel Kay Balbirnie; Henry Barrett; Barrett & Upton; Alexander Bassano; Frank Houghton Berry Louis Bertin & Marie Bertin ; Henry BettsBenjamin William Botham ; Thomas Boxell ; Charles Brigden ; Charles Brook ; Arthur BrookesRichard Cartwright ; Richard W. Cartwright ; George Cassinello & Nicola Cassinello ; Arthur Esme Collings ; Keturah Collings ; Thomas Cowdrey; Samuel G. Cox; J. T. CoxWilliam Dawson ; Frederick Oakes Devereux ; Dickinson BrothersCharles Donovan ;  Thomas Donovan ; Frank Doran ; Abraham Dudkin ; Mordecai (Morden) Dudkin ;  Henry Thomas Edwards William Feldwicke ; Eugene de Fontaine (William Kessler)Samuel Fry ; A. H. Fy ; W. & A.H. Fry ; Walter Gardner ; Stephen Grey ; Charles S. Grey ; Sidney W. Grey ; Max GuillonWilliam HallRobert Hatt ; Henry Heyden; William Henry Hilton; Jesse Holloway; Holloway & Beard John Weaver Innes; Innes & BateJohn Atkins Jones William Lane  ; G. A. Lloyd ;  Lombardi (Antonio and Eugenio Martinucci) ; Stanley Mann and Sidney Herbert Mann  (Mann Bros.) ; John J. E. MayallE. Mentor & Co. ; Merrick & Co. (Joseph Langridge); ; O. P. Suisse (Otto Pfenninger) ; Ebenezer Pannell ; Harry Pointer ; Henry Pointer; William Prudden; G & K Ransom; George Alfred Read; William Roberts; William Benjamin Roe; Edmund Rubbra; George Ruff; Madame Agnes RugeGustav Schulz ; Albert Edward Slater;  Henry J. Spink & Henry Spink junior ; Henry Steel; Harry Taylor; Henry W. Tubb William Walls ; Francis Ross Wells ; Edmund Wheeler ; Ebenezer Woodcock

 

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF BRIGHTON PHOTOGRAPHERS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

BRIGHTON BEACH PHOTOGRAPHERS (The Kings Road Arches) 1872-1918

 

BRIGHTON & HOVE POSTCARD PORTRAITS

 

PICTURE GALLERIES FEATURING THE WORK OF 19TH CENTURY BRIGHTON & SUSSEX PHOTOGRAPHERS

Click on the names inside the blue box below to view a selection of work by Sussex and Brighton Photographers

BRIGHTON & SUSSEX GALLERIES

George Austin ; Daniel BlagroveJohn Henry Blomfield ; William & John Blomfield ; Benjamin William Botham ;   W. C. Bristow (cabinets) ; W.C. Bristow (cdvs) ; Carr & Hopperton ; George Churchill (cdvs) ; George Churchill (cabinets) ;  Henry Thomas Edwards Samuel Fry ; W & A. H. Fry ; Walter Gardiner ; Walter Noah Malby ;  Thomas Mann junior ; Merrick & Co. (Joseph Langridge) ;  Modern Studios; Harry Pointer's 'Brighton Cats' Series ; Frederick H. Robinson ; James Russell & Sons ; Thomas Russell ; Henry J. Spink & Henry Spink junior ; Ambrose Stickells ; Sticky Backs; John Wesley Thomas ; William Arthur Thomas ; Rudolph Vieler (cdvs) ; Rudolph Vieler (cabinets) ; Edmund Wheeler (cdvs); Edmund Wheeler (cabinets);  Willett Bros ;
 

INDEX TO WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS ACTIVE IN SUSSEX BETWEEN 1849 AND 1918 (Contents)

INDEX TO WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS ACTIVE IN SUSSEX BETWEEN 1849 AND 1918

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS ACTIVE IN SUSSEX (A-Z)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

INFORMATION REQUIRED

If you have any information on photographers active in Sussex during Victorian or Edwardian times or have examples of their work, please contact me by e-mail. I would also be pleased to hear from any person who has family links with a photographer who was active in Sussex between 1841 and 1910.

Thanks, David Simkin

If you have any questions or enquiries regarding Sussex PhotoHistory please contact me by e-mail

 

To contact me, please send an e-mail to SussexPhotoHistory at my gmail account. When e-mailing, simply substitute each asterisk (*) with the corresponding letter, as set out in the example below:

 

 

Portraiture in Sussex Before Photography

1. Portrait Artists

2. Miniature painters

3. Profilists and Silhouette Artists

4. Engravings & Prints

 

BRIGHTON CHARACTERS

 
 

NEW &  RECENT ADDITIONS

  Jesse Holloway and Holloway & Beard ;   Sidney Boultwood and his Stickybacks Studios ; Henry Steel of Hove ;

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special 'thank you' to the following contributors who have provided information on the Sussex photographers featured on this website or have supplied examples of the work of photographers who were active in Sussex during Victorian and Edwardian times :

 Kevin Bacon, Martin Balk, Kylie Barnes, Peter Bayliss, Brian Betts, Sally Blann, Helena Grace Blomfield, Johnny Blomfield, Alan Booth, Peter Booth, Debbi Botham, Brighton History Centre, Peter Cannings-Bushell, Gordon Childs, Chris Christian, Gill Clayton, Ron Cosens, John Counsell, Sue Craig, Joan Crook, David Cryer, Denise Dagen, Geoff Dernee, Jean Donovan, Linda Evans, Steven Evans, Winnifred Evans, Brian Faithfull, Don & Judy Fleming, Chris Francis, Paul Frecker, Alan Fry, Philippe Garner, Susan Guhm, Nicolette Gunn, Bernard & Pauline Heathcote, Christine Hibbert, Ted Hide, Heather Holford, Jeanette Holm, David Hooper, Brett Jeffery, Maxine Jones, Neil Kennett, Peter Kessler,  Peter King, Jeremy Knight of Horsham Museum, Jackie Knott,  Audrey Linkman, Craig Little, Deirdre Long, Zoe Lubowiecka of Hove Reference Library, Geoffrey Mead, Richard Meara, Peter Merrett, Eric Monahan, Alan Moore, Carolyn Nield, Pat O'Keefe, Roger Packham, Brett Payne, Jennifer Perraton, Sue Perry, Jacqueline Phillips, Rosemary & Stan Rodliffe, Michael Rogers, Marcel Safier, Jimmy Scutt, Jennifer Smith, Liz Smith, Nick Smith, Ruth Street, Peter Stubbs, David Ticehurst, Jillian Trethewey, Raymond Turley, Cris Van Hal, Roger Vaughan, Beryl Vosburgh, Dave Weedon, Sally Whiffing, Sheila Whittingham. A special thanks to John Roles who provided my first introduction to Victorian and Edwardian photographs.

 

This website is dedicated to the memory of Arthur T. Gill (1915-1987)

 I never met Arthur Gill, but his pioneering work in compiling directories of the professional photographers active in Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings & St Leonards and Bexhill during Victorian and Edwardian times provided the foundation stones for my study of the Sussex photographers who practised in the years between 1841 and 1910. The listings compiled from local directories by Arthur Gill and published by the Royal Photographic Society Historical Group [ Brighton Photographers in Victorian Times (1979), Photographers in Eastbourne (1984), Victorian and Edwardian Photographers in Hastings, St. Leonards and Bexhill (1986) ] supplied a framework for my own Sussex photographers directories.
 
"To his colleagues in photohistory, he was invariably generous in spirit and deed. His quiet scholarship sought neither gain nor fame; to a dedicated man it was its own reward. He will be remembered with gratitude and affection by his worldwide circle of friends and correspondents."

B. A. H. and H. K. H. in "History of Photography", September 1987  

 

[ABOVE] Arthur Gill photographed in London in 1964.

 

Early Portrait Photographers in Sussex (1841-1855)

East Sussex

William Constable (1783-1861) opened his Photographic Institution in Brighton on 8th November 1841. William Constable was probably the first professional photographer to operate a photographic portrait studio in Sussex. By 1855, Constable had been joined in Brighton by at least 10 rival photographers. Around 1849, Richard Brothers Finlayson (c1815-1886), trading under the name of 'Richard Beauford', set himself up as a "Heliographist" in the Sussex resort of St Leonards-on-Sea. Initially, Richard Beauford took small daguerreotype portraits at the Assembly Rooms in St Leonards, but by August 1850, he had established a permanent photographic portrait studio at No. 6 East Parade, Hastings. Richard Beauford's married sister, Mrs Maria King (born c1827, London) took her brother's place in the Assembly Rooms at the beginning of 1851, thus becoming, probably, the first woman to work as an independent photographer in Sussex. Richard Beauford and his sister Mrs King left the Hastings & St Leonards district during the Summer of 1853, but within 2 years there were at least four photographers producing portraits in Hastings. In Lewes, in 1851, Edwin Blagrove and his partner Mr. Moore were taking daguerreotype portraits on Brack Mount, near Lewes Castle. James Russell junior was possibly taking photographic portraits at Edward Reeves' jeweller's shop in Lewes's High Street as early as 1855.

West Sussex

Professional photography had an uncertain start in West Sussex. In June 1847, a person identifying himself as "A. B." of Chichester was offering for sale a "Daguerreotype License" which covered 6 towns, namely Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton, Arundel, Petworth and Midhurst. Evidence of photographic activity in these towns between 1847 and 1855 is sketchy. James Russell senior (1809-1899), a cabinet maker in Chichester, claimed he had been taking photographic portraits in the town since 1853. In 1855, the seaside resort of Worthing had its own resident photographer in Edward Charles Cortis (1837-1899), the son of a local chemist.

The villages of East Sussex and West Sussex were served by itinerant photographers during the 1850s, but documentation about their activities is scarce. John Craig, a photographer who had travelled from Kent, died in the West Sussex village of Cuckfield on 31st January 1855, after a two week stay.

Bernard & Pauline Heathcote

Anyone researching the early history of professional photography in Britain will be indebted to the thorough research and impeccable scholarship of Bernard Heathcote and Pauline Heathcote. In their excellent reference book "A Faithful Likeness: The First Photographic Portrait Studios in the British Isles 1841 to 1855", the  Heathcotes have compiled a comprehensive listing of early photographic artists and their portrait studios by gleaning information from numerous editions of both local and national newspapers. My research into early Sussex photographers has benefited greatly from Bernard and Pauline Heathcote's magnificent endeavours.

[ABOVE] The cover of Bernard & Pauline Heathcote's indispensable reference work "A Faithful Likeness: The First Photographic Portrait Studios in the British Isles 1841 to 1855". Published by the authors in 2002, this authoritative volume should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in the early history of professional photography in Britain. Using 19th century newspapers and other primary sources, Bernard and Pauline Heathcote have produced a comprehensive set of biographical notes and a very useful directory of early photographic studios operating in the various towns of Britain between 1841 and 1855.
 

[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.
 
 

Click below to see a list of websites which provide information on photographers active in other parts of the British Isles during the period 1841-1910

LINKS TO OTHER PHOTO-HISTORY WEBSITES

 

The Personal Pages of David Simkin and his Family

Simkin Family History

David Simkin

Author Profile

Muriel Simkin (formerly Hughes)

 born 1914 - died 2010

Muriel Simkin's Life in Photographs

 

Family History Websites - Links to Family History Services and Useful Genealogy Websites

 

Traditional Family Trees

A Family History Research Service provided by Matthew Homewood M.A.

If you are planning to trace your own family history and want to produce a family tree that goes back further than your grandparents, but need professional assistance to make a start or progress to the next stage, help is available from an experienced genealogist.

If you need help researching your family history or would like to own a professionally produced family tree, contact Mathew Homewood via his own website at:

Traditional Family Trees

Mathew Homewood M.A.

"Tracing one's ancestors can be a fascinating personal journey, and I aim to give as much passion and commitment to a customer's family tree as if it were my own".
 

CONTENTS : INDEX TO THE SUSSEX PHOTOHISTORY WEBSITE

What's New ?    Recent additions to the Sussex PhotoHistory website [ 20th September 2014 ]