In 1854, Stephen Grey entered into partnership with a Scottish-born photographer named William Hall (c1826 Selkirk). By July 1854, the firm of Grey & Hall had established a Photographic Institution at 13 St James' Street, Brighton. In an advertisement dated 13th July 1854, Grey & Hall announced the opening of their "General Photographic Institution", where they made photographic portraits " by all the most recent  and improved processes, by License of the Patentees." An advertisement for Grey & Hall's General Photographic Institution in the Brighton Gazette of 3rd August 1854 reads as follows :

Grey & Hall's General Photographic Institution was unusual in that it offered to take portraits using all three of the available photographic processes. - Daguerreotype, Talbotype and Collodion Positive. The patent on the daguerreotype, a positive image on a silver-coated copper plate, had come to an end on 14th August, 1853, and so, strictly speaking, Grey & Hall did not need to hold a licence for this particular method of photography. The Talbotype was a positive print on paper made from a negative using William Henry Fox Talbot's calotype process, which the inventor had patented in 1841. Professional photographers who wished to produce talbotype portraits were required to purchase a licence from William Henry Fox Talbot. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer had invented a photographic process which involved coating a glass plate with a sticky substance called collodion. Archer had chosen not to patent his invention, but as the collodion process involved making photographs from a negative, Talbot claimed that the process was covered by his earlier patent. The Collodion Positive was a method by which an underexposed collodion glass negative was placed against a black background to give the appearance of a positive photograph. As Henry Fox Talbot had recently started legal action against photographers who were using the collodion process, alleging they were infringing his patent rights, Grey and Hall decided to purchase a licence from Talbot so that they were free to produce both Talbotype portraits and 'collodion positives.' By 1854, there were only nine photographic studios in England holding licences from Talbot and two of these were located in Brighton - Hennah & Kent's Talbotype Portrait Gallery at 108 King's Road and Grey & Hall's General Photographic Institution in St James's Street.

Grey & Hall's Photographic Institution was located at 13 St James Street, in the eastern part of Brighton called Kemp Town. St James Street led to the Old Steine and ran parallel to Marine Parade on the eastern seafront and so was reasonably well located for visitors to the seaside town. In October 1854, Grey & Hall publicized a second studio at 18 Old Steine, but this branch studio was only in business for a short time. By the time Folthorp's Brighton Directory was compiled in September 1854, the firm of Grey & Hall is listed only at 13 St James's Street. The partnership of Grey & Hall was dissolved on 25^th November 1858. William Hall retained the studio at 13 St. James's Street and Stephen Grey established a separate studio of his own.

[ABOVE] Portrait of  a young woman holding a pet bird, a collodion positive (ambrotype) by Grey & Hall's Photographic Institution, 13 St. James Street, Brighton (c1858). [PHOTO: Courtesy of Richard Meara]

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Grey & Hall of 13 St. James Street, Brighton, which was stamped on the leather case of the collodion positive photograph shown above. [PHOTO: Courtesy of Richard Meara]

[ABOVE] Advertisement for Grey & Hall's Photographic Institution, 13 St. James Street, Brighton, which appeared in The Sussex Express on 7th October 1854.

From around 1854, Stephen Grey and his family lived in Park Street, Brighton. When the 1861 census was taken, Stephen Grey, his wife Jane and their four children were recorded at No 19 Park Street, Brighton. Stephen Grey is described on the census return as a "Photographist", aged 39.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a woman by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1866)

Not long after Stephen Grey and William Hall parted company, the carte de visite portrait became popular and this led to an increase in the number of photographic studios in Brighton. In 1862, Stephen Grey was one of two dozen photographers who had their own portrait studio in Brighton. In Folthorp's 1862 General Directory of Brighton, Stephen Grey is listed as a photographer at 20A Norfolk Square.

The carte de visite was a small photographic portrait pasted on a card measuring approximately 2 1/2 inches by 4 1/4 inches ( 6.3 cm by 10.5 cm)  -  the same size as a conventional visiting card and hence its name.

Stephen Grey's advertisements in the mid 1860s provide details of the charges he made for his carte-de-visite portraits. At Grey's studio, a single carte-de-visite cost one shilling, while a dozen copies could be had for 5 shillings.Compared to other Brighton studios, these prices were in the middle range. A high class establishment, such as Mayall's Photographic Portrait Studio at 90-91 King's Road, Brighton, charged £1. 1s. for a set of 12 carte-de-visite portraits. * *  

* *  In the mid 1860s, the average earnings of adult male workers was around 19 shillings a week. Adult women earned, on average, 11 shillings a week.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a couple by Wells & Grey, Photographers, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1864)

Wells & Grey

By 1864, Stephen Grey had joined Francis R. Wells at 144 Western Road to form the firm of Wells & Grey. Stephen Grey's business partner Francis Ross Wells (c1834-1893) had previously operated a studio at 27, St James' Street, Brighton. The partnership with Wells only lasted about a year and by October 1865, Stephen Grey was the sole proprietor of the studio at 144 Western Road and remained there for the next 10 years. 

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Wells & Grey, Photographers, of 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1864)

[ABOVE] Advertisement for Stephen Grey's studio at 144 Western Road, Brighton (1865)

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a seated man by Stephen Grey (Late Wells & Grey), Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1865)

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young man writing at a desk by Stephen Grey (Late Wells & Grey), Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1866). Negative No. 32944

[ABOVE] A hand-coloured carte-de-visite portrait of a seated man by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1868). Negative No. 55852

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey (Late Wells & Grey), Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton,  as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1865).

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey (Late Wells & Grey), Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton,  as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1865). Negative No. 32944

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1865). Negative No. 55852

Towards the end of 1871, Stephen and Jane's youngest daughter, Emily Grace Grey, died before reaching her third birthday. Early in 1873, Sarah Jane Grey, their eldest daughter, married and left the family home. Sarah's place in the Grey household was soon filled by the arrival of Stephen Grey's last child - Sidney William Grey ( birth registered in Brighton during the Second Quarter of 1873].

Some time before 1876, Stephen Grey had returned to his original studio at 13 St. James's Street. By 1882, Stephen Grey had taken his sons into the family business and from this date the studio at 13 St James's Street went under the name of "Stephen Grey & Sons".

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a seated man by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1872).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman and child by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1872)

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  Miss Margaret King by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton (c1871).

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey, Photographer, 144 Western Road, Brighton,  as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1871). The Dublin International Exhibition mentioned at the foot of the design took place in 1865.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a bearded man by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 13 St James Street, Brighton (c1876). See below for the reverse of this carte-de-visite.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a boy and a young woman by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 13 St James Street, Brighton (c1876).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a bearded man in a top hat by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 13 St James Street, Brighton (c1877). See below for the reverse of this carte-de-visite.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey, Photographer, 13 St James's Street, Brighton,  as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1876). The Brighton Aquarium mentioned in the address was opened in 1872.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite group portrait of  three men by Stephen Grey, Photographer, 13 St James Street, Brighton (c1878).

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey, Photographer, 13 St James's Street, Brighton,  as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1877).

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey & Son, Artists and Photographers, 13 St James's Street, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of  carte-de-visite portrait (c1887).

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Stephen Grey & Sons, Artist Photographers, 67 Lewes Road, Brighton (c1890)

When the 1891 Census was taken, the only child living with his parents at the family home was 18 year old Sidney William Grey, who was assisting his father in the Caledonian Road studio.

Over the last twelve years of his life, Stephen Grey suffered from an inguinal hernia. In April 1891 it was discovered that the hernia had become strangulated and that an operation was essential. Stephen Grey was admitted to the Sussex County Hospital and underwent surgery lasting three hours. Stephen Grey did not survive his ordeal and, on 29th April 1891, he died. He was sixty-eight years old at the time of his death. Stephen Grey had been active as a photographer in Brighton for nearly 40 years. Five of his children had worked as photographers in Brighton and three of these had operated their own photographic studios in the town.

Stephen Grey's second eldest son George Elijah Grey (born 1859, Brighton) had established his own studio at 70 Islingword Road, Brighton around 1889. In 1891, George Grey and his wife Louisa were living in London. George Grey returned to Brighton, but early in 1892, George Grey died at the relatively young age of 32.

Stephen Grey's eldest son, Charles Stephen Grey (born 1854, Brighton) ran what he called the Military Photographic Studio at 67 Lewes Road, Brighton until about 1896, when it was sold to Ernest H. Jones. Another son, Walter James Grey (born 1854, Brighton) worked as a photographer in Stephen Grey's Brighton studio from the age of sixteen, but after his father's death he appears to have abandoned photography. In 1901, Walter Grey was working as an “Assurance Agent” in Willesden, Middlesex.

Stephen Grey's youngest son, Sidney William Grey (born 1873, Brighton) took over the family studio at 32 Caledonian Road, Brighton, after his father died in 1891. Sidney (who went by the name of "Sydney W. Grey" in adult life) worked as a photographer throughout the 1890s. Around 1899, Sydney W. Grey opened a new studio at 172 Lewes Road, Brighton which he operated until the end of the First World War. By 1921, S. W. Grey’s studio at 172 Lewes Road was in the hands of the London photographer Henry Brabazon.

Click on this link to go to :  Stephen Grey - Brighton Photographer

Click on this link to go to : Charles Stephen Grey - Brighton Photographer

Click on this link to go to :  Sidney W. Grey - Brighton Photographer