Ayles & Bonniwell Photo Gallery

 

Photographs produced at the studio of Ayles & Bonniwell, Hastings (1857-1867)

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 [ABOVE] An early carte-de-visite  produced by Ayles & Bonniwell

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings, printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1862).

[ABOVE & LEFT] The early cartes produced by Ayles & Bonniwell in the early 1860swere slightly smaller in size (9.3cm x 6cm) than those produced in the mid 1860s (10.2cm x 6.3cm). The trade plate printed on the reverse of early Ayles & Bonniwell cdvs was simple and basic.

 
[ABOVE] The trade plate of  Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings, printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1863). [ABOVE] A portrait of  a young woman by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings (c1862). [ABOVE] The trade plate of  Messrs Ayles & Bonniwell of  Hastings, printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1865).
     
     
[ABOVE] A portrait of  a woman in black by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863).The carte is inscribed on the reverse  "For Hannah with much love". [ABOVE] A portrait of  a young man standing by a classical column, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1865).The carte is inscribed on the reverse "Hutton Sloper Hill Hutton" [ABOVE] A portrait of  a woman standing by a classical column, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863).The carte is inscribed on the reverse "Ruth Chester" [ABOVE] A portrait of  a seated woman  photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1862). The early cartes produced by Ayles & Bonniwell were slightly smaller in size than those produced in the mid 1860s (see top panel above).

 

Posing for Ayles & Bonniwell : The Family History of a Typical Customer

Many of the sitters who posed for the camera at the studio of Ayles & Bonniwell at Trinity House in Hastings were wealthy members of the landed gentry. The following subject is a typical representative of the social class which patronised the studio of Ayles & Bonniwell in the eighteen-sixties.

The carte-de-visite photograph on the right is a portrait of five year old Isabel Hervey Woodhouse taken at the Hastings studio of Ayles & Bonniwell in February 1863.. Isabel Hervey Woodhouse (born 1858, London, Middlesex) was the only daughter of Sarah Ellen Woodhouse (nee Cole) and William Hervey Woodhouse (1823-1859), a Liverpool wine merchant. When William Hervey Woodhouse died in 1859, his manor and estate at Irnham in Lincolnshire passed to his young daughter, Isabel.

The reverse of the carte is inscribed, in ink, "Isabel H. Woodhouse - for Mrs Lilley, from S.E.W., Irnham. Feb 28th / '63." The inscription was written by Isabel's widowed mother, Mrs Sarah Ellen Woodhouse (1837-1884) from her country house at Irnham, Lincolnshire. On 9th December 1867, at Hove in Sussex, Mrs Sarah Woodhouse married Alexander Crowe (c1836-1894), a gentleman of independent means. In 1881, twenty-three year old Isabel Hervey Woodhouse was living with her mother Sarah, her stepfather and three young step-siblings at a house called Pinewood in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. Also residing at the family home in Stoke Poges were ten domestic servants, including a teacher-governess, a children's maid, a footman, a groom and a lady's companion.

On 30th April 1889, Isabel Hervey Woodhouse married John Gordon Wolrige-Gordon, a Scottish landowner and army officer. After her marriage, Isabel was the principal landowner and lady of the manor at Irnham. Mrs Isobel Wolrige-Gordon (formerly Isabel Hervey Woodhouse) died on 28th February 1911, aged 53.

[ABOVE] A portrait of  Isabel Hervey Woodhouse (born 1858, London, Middlesex) photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (1863).The carte is inscribed on the reverse  "Isabel H. Woodhouse - for Mrs Lilley, from S.E.W., Irnham. Feb 28th / '63."

 

[ABOVE] A vignette portrait of  a young woman by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings (c1865). [ABOVE] A portrait of two men seated at a small table, photographed at the studio of  Messrs Ayles & Bonniwell, Photographic Artists of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863). [ABOVE] A portrait of  a man seated at a desk with pen in hand, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1865). Written in pencil on the back of the carte is "1/6". One shilling and sixpence was the cost of a single carte-de-visite in 1865. [ABOVE] A portrait of  a woman standing by a chair, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863).
 

[ABOVE] A portrait of  a girl standing in front of a painted backdrop, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863). [ABOVE] A portrait of 'Ellen Greenwood' standing by a chair with a book in her hand, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863). [ABOVE] A portrait of  a seated woman  photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1865). [ABOVE] A portrait of  a seated man, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1866).
 

Click below to go to an account of the photographic career of Ayles & Bonniwell of Hastings

Ayles & Bonniwell of Hastings

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Click here to go to A Directory of Photographic Studios in Hastings & St Leonards, 1848-1910

[ABOVE] A portrait of  a boy standing by a chair, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863). [ABOVE] The trade plate of Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings, printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1863). [ABOVE] A portrait of  a boy leaning on a classical column, photographed by Ayles & Bonniwell of Trinity House, Hastings. Carte-de-visite (c1863).

Click here to go to A History of Professional Photography in Hastings (1849-1910)

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