Pointer Henry - Brighton Photographer
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Harry Pointer- Brighton Photographer
Henry "Harry" POINTER (1822-1889)
Henry "Harry"
Pointer was born at Marcham, As a young man, Harry Pointer enlisted in the 1st Regiment of the Life Guards. Coming from a family of poor agricultural workers, Harry Pointer probably saw the prospect of serving in an elite army regiment charged with the duty of protecting the Queen of England as a more attractive alternative to labouring in a farmer's field. The Life Guards had served with distinction at the Battle of Waterloo, but after the defeat of Napoleon, the regiments of the Household Cavalry returned to their main role of protecting the monarch. For much of his military career, Harry Pointer would have been based in London at the Hyde Park barracks of the Household Cavalry. The Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge were less than a mile from Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of Queen Victoria. Harry Pointer would not have seen any military action abroad, as the main duties of the the Life Guards Regiment was to protect the Queen at her London residence, providing a mounted military escort when necessary, and carrying out various ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions. As a member of an elite army regiment, we can assume that Harry Pointer was a fine figure of a man, especially when dressed in ceremonial gear. Harry Pointer would have been a relatively tall man as regulations specified that recruits to the Life Guards had to be at least five feet, ten inches in height. We also know from later photographic portraits that Harry Pointer had a luxuriant moustache, which probably dated from his time in the Life Guards. ( A nineteenth century account of the regiments of the Household Cavalry notes that " in 1821, for the first time, the men were directed to wear the moustache" ). The circumstances surrounding his introduction to his future wife, the artist Rosa Myra Drummond, indicates that it was Harry Pointer's physical stature, and in particular his good, strong legs, which recommended him to Miss Drummond. In the 1840s, Rosa Myra Drummond (born 1816, St Anne's Soho, London*), was a promising young artist and portrait painter. Rosa (Rose) Myra Drummond was the daughter of Samuel Drummond (1766-1844), a portrait and history painter, and his third wife Ann Holanby (born c1786). Rosa Myra Drummond's brother Julian Drummond (born c1828, St Anne's Soho, London) was also an artist and portrait painter. Miss Drummond had achieved some recognition for her portrait of the famous actress Helena Saville Faucit (1817-1898), but by 1845 she was a struggling artist living in virtual poverty. In her memoir "Landmarks of a Literary Life", the author Camilla Dufour Toulmin (1812-1895), the wife of Mr. Newton Crosland, a prosperous wine merchant, recalls meeting and becoming friends with Rosa Myra Drummond in the late 1840s and tells the "pathetic story" of the circumstances leading to the artist's marriage to Harry Pointer, then a young soldier in the Life Guards. According to Mrs Crosland, a painting featuring a Roman soldier had been "delayed from the difficulty in finding a suitable pair of legs from which to paint; but she added that her brother (Julian) had at last discovered a life-guardsman (Harry Pointer), who exactly answered the purpose of a model for her Roman soldier". Mrs Crosland continued : " ... I heard more of her handsome life-guardsman, who, I fancy, served for other subjects besides the Roman soldier. In hours off duty he also carried Myra Drummond's paintings to the picture dealer for sale....I remember she considered he had a real appreciation and love of art, and had been of the greatest service to her. And the next thing I heard was that they were married !". Harry Pointer married Rosa Myra Drummond at St Andrew's Church, Clewer, near Windsor, on 11th August 1849. Harry Pointer, who was serving as a Corporal in the Life Guards Regiment, was twenty-six years of age at the time of their marriage. Harry's bride, Rosa Myra Drummond, who had been born in December 1816, would have been thirty-two, yet, perhaps conscious of the age difference, she was recorded on future census returns as a few years younger than her husband. On the marriage certificate, Rosa signed her name as "Rose Myra Drummond" and, although she does not state her profession on the certificate, she proudly declared that she was the daughter of Samuel Drummond, Artist and "Member of Royal Academy". Harry Pointer informed the registrar that his father, John Pointer, was employed as a Gentleman's "Servant". After their marriage, the couple set up home in Albany Street, Regents Park, London. As a serving soldier in the Life Guards Regiment, Harry Pointer was stationed either at The Regents Park Barracks or the Hyde Park Barracks*, not too far away from the house in Albany Street, where his wife resided. [* Roger Viggers, a former member of The Life Guards, has since advised me that it was possible that Harry Pointer was based at The Regents Park Barracks in Albany Street with The First Life Guards ]. In the Summer of 1851, Mrs Pointer's friend, Mrs Newton Crosland journeyed from Blackheath to Albany Street to call upon the artist. In her memoir, "Landmarks of a Literary Life", Mrs Crosland recalled her visit to Mrs Myra Drummond Pointer and a conversation they had about the social class differences between Myra and her soldier husband :
Mrs Rosa Myra Drummond Pointer gave birth to a baby boy, during the 3rd Quarter of 1851. The child was named Harry Pointer junior after his father. [The birth was recorded in the Pancras Registration District, which covered the Regents Park area of London]. The Pointer family were still living in the area of Regents Park when a second child, Myra Pointer, was born during the 2nd Quarter of 1852. For a brief period, Mrs Pointer supplemented her husband's soldier's pay by painting portraits. Mrs Newton Crosland noted that "one of the officers in her husband's regiment had known her father, and gave her some portrait-painting commissions". According to Mrs Crosland, from the beginning of their relationship, Harry Pointer, had "carried Myra Drummond's paintings to the picture dealer's for sale, with instructions, I am afraid, to take almost anything that was offered for them" (Crosland, page 204). In the 1850s, Mrs Pointer continued to try to sell her paintings. In 1856, The British Institution made reference to an artwork called "Roman Drovers" painted by R. M. Pointer of 38 Upper Albany Street, London, which shows that Mrs Pointer was still working as a professional artist in London in the mid-1850s. By 1860, Henry Pointer had left the army and was residing with his wife and children in Brighton. The Pointer family set up home in College Road in the Kemp Town area of Brighton. Harry Pointer, being an ex-soldier, established himself as an Instructor in Military Drill at Lancaster House, College Road, Brighton, close to Brighton College, an independent public school on Brighton's Eastern Road. When the 1861 census was taken, Henry Pointer was described on the return as a "Drilling Master", aged 38. Mrs Rosa M. Pointer is entered on the census return as an "Artist", aged 35, ten years younger than the age suggested by her record of baptism. Residing with Henry Pointer and his wife were their two children, ten year old Harry and nine year old Myra. Within a few years, Harry Pointer and his family had moved to 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. |
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Rosa Myra Drummond
(1816-1888), artist and portrait painter and wife of the Brighton
photographer Harry Pointer Rosa Myra Drummond, who married Harry Pointer in 1849, was a promising artist and portrait painter when she first met the young Life Guardsman from Berkshire. Rosa Myra Drummond ( often referred to as Myra Drummond ), was born in London in December 1816 and baptised at St Anne's Church, Soho on 20th June 1817. Rosa was the daughter of Samuel Drummond (1766-1844), a portrait and history painter, and his third wife Ann Holanby (born c1786). Between 1833 and 1849, under the name of Miss Myra Drummond, Rosa regularly exhibited her artwork in London galleries. [ A portrait of "Miss Myra Drummond (artist)" was shown at the British Institute in 1840 by the Scottish painter Miss Margaret Gillies (1803-1887) ]. During this period, Miss Myra Drummond shared a studio and lived with Miss Ellen Drummond (born c1795, London), one of her half-sisters. Myra Drummond, like other members of the Drummond family of artists, specialised in portraits of actors and actresses. In 1839, Miss Drummond achieved some recognition for her full-length portrait of the famous actress Helena Saville Faucit (1817-1898). [See illustration below]. Although she was a talented artist, in the 1840s Myra Drummond was finding it difficult to make a living from her art work, especially after the death of her father in 1844. Miss Camilla Dufour Toulmin (1812-1895), an author and poet who went on to marry an American-born wine merchant Newton Crosland (1819-1899), became friendly with Rosa Myra Drummond and in her memoir "Landmarks of a Literary Life", she left a "pen portrait" of the artist, who was then aged around 30.
As a portraitist, Rosa Myra Drummond, appears to have devoted much of her time drawing and painting likenesses of personalities from the theatrical world. In 1835, it is recorded that Miss Rosa Myra Drummond exhibited a "Portrait of an actress" at the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in London. In 1838, Miss Myra Drummond exhibited a painting at the Royal Adademy entitled "Portrait of Mr Charles Kean in the Character of Hamlet." Charles John Kean (1811-1868), a theatre manager and actor, had just made a successful appearance in the lead role of William Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Drury Lane Theatre. Rosa Myra Drummond's chalk study of the head of Charles John Kean has survived and can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery. Two years later, in 1840, Miss Drummond exhibited a portrait of the famous tenor William Harrison in the role of Captain Macheath, the main character in John Gay's musical play "The Beggar's Opera". Early in 1839, Myra Drummond had her greatest success with a full-length portrait of the well-known actress Helena Faucit (1817-1898) dressed for the role of 'Pauline Deschappelles' in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's romantic drama "Lady of Lyons". Mrs Newton Crosland remarked that Myra Drummond's portrait of Helena Faucit was a "beautiful picture, that through the engravings of it, was well known at the time ... and must, indeed, be familiar to many people still."
Despite her success with her portrait of the actress Helena Faucit, by the mid-1840s Rosa Myra Drummond was finding it difficult to sell her paintings. The novelist Mrs Newton Crosland (Camilla Dufour Toulmin) commented that Myra Drummond was "a young artist who certainly deserved a wider popularity than she ever attained". There is some evidence that Miss Drummond derived a modest income by painting small portraits and miniatures. A recently discovered oil painting by Rosa Myra Drummond, depicting a "a cleric, seated, with a book, three quarter length", carried on the reverse, a contemporary label headed 'Miss Drummond's list of charges for portraits & miniatures'. Some time around 1848, Mrs Newton Crosland visited Miss Drummond at "her studio on a first floor, in one of the streets off the Tottenham Court Road". Mrs Crosland, who was married to a prosperous wine merchant, was concerned about Miss Drummond's poor living conditions :
Rosa Myra Drummond never found a wealthy or powerful patron, but she did find a young man who was willing to provide assistance and support in her artistic endeavours. Mrs Crosland could not hide her dismay when she discovered that Miss Drummond had taken up with a twenty-five year old soldier serving with the 1st Life Guards Regiment. Corporal Harry Pointer, a tall, strongly built son of a Berkshire farm labourer, had posed for Miss Drummond after she had sought a young man with muscular legs to serve as a model for a Roman soldier she was painting. Mrs Crosland remarked that Corporal Harry Pointer "served for other subjects besides the Roman soldier" and "had been of the greatest service to her". Mrs Crosland added : "In hours off duty he also carried Myra Drummond's paintings to the picture dealer for sale , with instructions, I am afraid, to take almost anything that was offered for them". Rosa Myra Drummond married Henry Pointer at Windsor on 11th August 1849. After her marriage, Mrs Pointer found a new apartment in the Regents Park area of London, but her artistic career was interrupted by the arrival of two children in quick succession. A boy named Harry Pointer junior was born in London during the 3rd Quarter of 1851 and a second child, Myra Pointer, less than a year later during the 2nd Quarter of 1852. Harry Pointer continued to serve as a soldier in the Life Guards Regiment based at the Hyde Park barracks in Knightsbridge. Mrs Pointer earned a little money from portrait painting during the early years of her marriage and, according to Mrs Newton Crosland, she received "some portrait-painting commissions" from "one of the officers in her husband's regiment". It appears the officer had known Mrs Pointer's father, the artist Samuel Drummond (1765-1844). Mrs Pointer also completed some larger history paintings during this period, exhibiting a work entitled "Roman Drovers" at the British Institution in 1856.Some time before April 1861, Harry Pointer left the army and together with his wife and two children moved down to the Sussex seaside town of Brighton. Initially, the Pointers were based at Lancaster House in College Road, but within a few years they had found a house in Bloomsbury Place, a street that ran down to the seafront at Marine Parade in the eastern sector of Brighton. Harry Pointer, a veteran soldier, set himself up as an "Instructor in Military Drill", while Mrs Pointer worked as a portrait painter from 15 Bloomsbury Place. During her years as an artist in Brighton, Mrs Pointer was primarily a portrait painter, but in 1868, under the name of Myra Drummond Pointer, she exhibited at the Society of Lady Artists a painting entitled "Elaine", which was based on a character in Arthurian legend. Mrs Rosa Myra Pointer was recorded as an artist and portrait painter in Brighton street and trade directories for a period of nearly twenty years, from 1861 until 1880. Mrs Rosa M. Pointer's daughter, Myra Pointer (born 1852, Regents Park, London) became an artist and photographer. When the 1881 census was carried out in Brighton, Miss Myra Pointer was described as an 'Artist' and "Painter in Oils". In her later years, Miss Pointer worked as a Photographic Artist in Brighton. Rosa Myra Pointer, died in Brighton during the 3rd Quarter of 1888. When her death was registered, Mrs Pointer's age was given as 62, but if the official record of her birth and baptism is correct, Rosa Myra Pointer would have been seventy-one years of age when she passed away. Rosa's old friend Mrs Newton Crosland later wrote in her memoir : "At Brighton, I believe the artist (Mrs Pointer) died, to be followed to the grave in a few months by the husband (Harry Pointer), who, it was said, loved her so well that he died literally of grief for her loss."
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Harry Pointer in Brighton (1858-1889) |
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Harry Pointer in Brighton (1858-1889) |
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Harry Pointer's early career in Brighton as a Military Drill Instructor (c1858-1866) |
[ABOVE] Military Drill as physical exercise. On the right-hand side of this 1865 engraving of a gymnasium, a drill master can be seen seen instructing two lines of men in physical training exercises. During the 1860s, Harry Pointer, a veteran soldier, provided lessons in Military Drill at his Drilling Room in Brighton.
[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite view of Brighton's Marine Parade, photographed by Harry Pointer of 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton (c1868). The building on the left is the Royal Crescent Hotel at 100 & 101 Marine Parade, Brighton. Harry Pointer's photographic studio was situated further along the road in Bloomsbury Place, a street that ran between 114 & 115 Marine Parade. |
Harry Pointer and his
wife Rosa Myra Drummond, together with their two children, arrived in
Brighton around 1858. (A child named Julian Drummond Pointer
was born in Brighton during the 3rd Quarter of 1858, but he died early in
1861 before his third birthday). Mrs Pointer's father and her siblings had
previously visited Brighton in connection with their work as portrait
painters. Samuel Drummond (1765-1844), Rosa's father, had painted a
portrait of
Sake Deen Mahomed (1749-1851), the proprietor of Mahomed's Medicated
Vapour Baths on Brighton's seafront. Rosa's younger brother, the artist
Julian Drummond
(1827-1906), was a regular
visitor to Brighton and eventually settled permanently in the seaside town
in the late 1880s. Around the time Mrs Pointer arrived in Brighton with her
husband and family, Miss Ellen Drummond (c1826-1875) was working as a
portrait painter at 5 College Street, Brighton. Henry Pointer and his family set up home at Lancaster House, College Road in the Kemp Town area of Brighton. Harry Pointer, who had spent around twenty years as a professional soldier, established himself as an "Instructor in Military Drill" at Lancaster House, Brighton. Harry's wife, Mrs Rosa Myra Pointer, worked as an artist and portrait painter from the same address. When the census was taken on 7th April, 1861, Henry Pointer was recorded on the census return as a thirty-eight year old "Drilling Master". In a public notice, which appeared in the Brighton Gazette newspaper on Thursday, 27th February 1862, under the heading of "MILITARY DRILL", Mr Pointer announced that he held classes and gave private lessons in military drill at his "Drilling Room" in Lancaster House, adding that he also attended "Schools and families". Military-style drill had been introduced into Victorian schools as an important element of the school curriculum because it combined physical exercise with strict discipline. When a few years later, Harry Pointer and his family moved from College Road to Bloomsbury Place, a street near Brighton's eastern seafront, the ex-soldier was still working as a Military Drill Instructor. Folthorp's General Directory for Brighton,published in 1864, lists H. Pointer as a "drilling master" at 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. [ABOVE] A
detail from an 1865 map of Brighton showing the streets
(marked in
yellow)
where Harry Pointer and his family lived between 1860 and 1889. The
1861 census return recorded Henry Pointer and his family at Lancaster
House, College Road, Brighton. The same census recorded Miss Ellen
Drummond, a relative of his wife, as a thirty-four year old portrait
painter residing around the corner at No. 5 College Street, Brighton.
By 1864, Harry Pointer and his family had moved a short distance away to
15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. From 1872 until 1882, Harry Pointer was
listed as a photographer at 11 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. In the
last five years of his life, Harry Pointer's home address was given as 20
Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. Henry
Pointer died at his home at 20 |
Military Drill in Schools In Victorian schools, physical education often took the form of "Military Drill". Military-style drill had been introduced into Victorian schools as an important element of the school curriculum because it combined physical exercise with strict discipline. 'Military Drill' was seen as a desirable activity in schools because it was seen to promote social discipline and team work while improving health and fitness. Although, ostensibly, a means of providing physical exercise, 'Military Drill' was also designed to engender respect for authority and to teach children to obediently follow instructions. It is clear from the reports of School Inspectors that the main purpose of 'Military Drill' was to introduce discipline to boisterous and potentially unruly children. The Victorian Powys website, in its account of 19th century schools in Mid-Wales, quotes from a School Inspector's Report of Newtown National School published in 1873 : "The discipline was not perfect... Drill should be taught by a Drill Sergeant". Similar concerns about discipline appear in the Log Book of Llanllwchaearn School during the 1870s. An entry in the School Log Book, written on 23rd November 1874, reads: "Military drill is much needed as the children are awkward and restless". Another entry, dated 8th November 1875 - "Military drill should be attempted if possible. It would be found to improve the general discipline". |
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Henry Pointer becomes a Professional Photographer in Brighton
Henry Pointer established
a photographic studio at 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton around 1865.
An entry for " H. Pointer, photographer" of 15 Bloomsbury Place, first
appeared in the 1866 edition of the Post Office Directory of Brighton.
The following year, Kelly's Post Office Directory of Sussex listed "Henry
Pointer, photographer, 15 Bloomsbury place" in the commercial section
covering "Brighton with Hove and Cliftonville". Harry Pointer was one of
thirty-four photographers listed in Harrod & Co.'s Postal & Commercial
Directory of Brighton, published in 1867.
Harry Pointer had joined the ranks of Brighton's professional photographers when there was an enormous demand for carte-de-visite portraits. The carte-de-visite, which had been introduced from France in 1857, was a small photographic portrait mounted on card which was the same size as a conventional visiting card (roughly 2 1/2 inches by 4 1/4 inches or 6.3 cm by 10.5 cm). This new format for portrait photography was not immediately popular in this country, but after a set of cartes-de-visite portraits of the Royal Family were published in 1860, there was a sudden demand for these small, relatively inexpensive photographic portraits. The demand for carte-de-visite portraits led to a rapid increase in the number of photographic portrait studios in Brighton. In 1858, there were around 16 photographic studios in Brighton. By 1862, when the carte-de-visite craze was taking off, the number of portrait studios in Brighton had risen to 21. At the height of the 'carte-de-visite craze' in 1867, there were nearly forty photographic studios in Brighton, most of which were supplying carte-de-viite portraits.
Mrs Newton Crosland, who had known Mrs Pointer when she was an artist in London, reported that Harry Pointer "in conjunction with his wife, had taken up photography and settled in Brighton". This indicates that Mrs Pointer was working alongside her husband in the photographic studio at 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. Rosa Pointer, as an experienced portrait artist, could have helped her husband pose the sitters at their Brighton studio, but the carte-de-visite portraits taken by Harry Pointer do not display any noticeable artistic flair. Perhaps even more surprising, given Mrs Pointer's artistic skills with a paintbrush, is that the subjects of Harry Pointer's portraits are photographed with very plain backgrounds and not in front of the painted backdrops that were common during this period. Mrs Pointer had told Newton Crosland that her husband "had a real appreciation and love of art ", which suggests he had no particular need for his wife's artistic input. Besides, Mrs Pointer was a professional artist and was pursuing her own career in Brighton as a portrait painter. During the period that Harry Pointer was recorded as a professional photographer in Brighton, Mrs Pointer was listed in trade directories as a portrait artist at the same address. It was not uncommon for photographers' wives, if they were artistic, to hand-colour the small carte-de-visite portraits produced by their husbands. Portrait photographs were often enlarged and painted in oils. A notice on the reverse of cartes-de-visite issued from Harry Pointer's studio during the 1870s announced: "Every kind of portraits taken. Speciality in photographs - vignettes of ladies in oil ". The wording of this publicity indicates that Harry Pointer's photographic portraits were sometimes coloured with oil paints or crayon, possibly by his wife or daughter. |
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The Studio Addresses of Henry Pointer, Photographer of Bloomsbury Place, Brighton |
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STUDIO ADDRESS |
DATE RANGE OF ACTIVITY |
15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton |
1865-1871 |
11 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton |
1872-1883 |
20 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton |
1884-1889 |
Carte-de-visite portraits by Harry Pointer, Photographer of Bloomsbury Place, Brighton |
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[ABOVE] An oval portrait of a child standing on a chair, photographed by Harry Pointer at his studio at 15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton (c1870). | [ABOVE] The trade plate of Harry Pointer , Photographer, 15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1868). | [ABOVE] A vignette portrait a bearded man, photographed by Harry Pointer at his studio at 15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton (c1868). |
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[ABOVE] An oval portrait of a man with side whiskers, photographed by Harry Pointer at his studio at 15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton (c1870). | [ABOVE] A nurse and her charges, photographed by Harry Pointer of 15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton (c1872). |
[ABOVE] The trade plate of Harry Pointer Photographer, 15 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1872). |
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[ABOVE] The trade plate of Harry Pointer Photographer, 11 (late No.15) Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1872). |
[ABOVE] An oval portrait of a bearded man with an eye-glass hanging on a cord around his neck, photographed by Harry Pointer at his new studio at 11 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton (c1873). The photographer's studio address is given on the reverse of the carte as "H. POINTER, 11 (late 15,) Bloomsbury Place, MARINE PARADE, BRIGHTON. |
[ABOVE] A vignette portrait of a girl, photographed by Harry Pointer at his new studio at 11 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton (c1873). The photographer's studio address is given on the reverse of the carte as "H. POINTER, 11 (late 15,) Bloomsbury Place, MARINE PARADE, BRIGHTON. |
1871 Census : 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton |
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NAME |
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AGE |
OCCUPATION |
BIRTH PLACE |
Henry Pointer |
Head |
49 |
Photographer |
Marcham, Berkshire |
Rosa Pointer |
wife |
47 |
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St Ann's Soho, Middlesex |
Harry Pointer |
son |
20 |
Regents Park, Middlesex | |
Myra Pointer |
daughter |
18 |
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Regents Park, Middlesex |
[ABOVE] A transcription of the 1871 census return for 15 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton, recording Henry Pointer as a forty-nine year old "Photographer". No profession is given for Henry Pointer's wife and grown-up children, but we can assume that all three provided assistance in Pointer's photographic studio. In local trade directories published in the early 1870s, Mrs Rosa Pointer is listed as a portrait painter. Harry Pointer, Henry's son, was later described as a musician and Miss Myra Pointer is recorded as an artist and photographer in subsequent census returns. |
Harry Pointer and "The Brighton Cats" |
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During the 1870s, Harry Pointer
became well known for a series of carte-de-visite photographs which featured
his pet cats. Pointer started to produce studies of animals in the late
1860s, including straight forward shots of cats resting, drinking milk or
sleeping in a basket, but by 1870 he began to specialise in photographing
cats in a variety of poses. To begin with, Pointer simply photographed cats
sleeping or resting in unusual places (e.g. on top of a pile of books), but
he was soon deliberately placing his cats in settings that would create a
humorous or appealing picture (e.g. a cat in a child's toy pram, a kitten in
a mixing bowl, two small kittens resting on an old shoe, two small cats
perched on a watering can). Pointer's next step was to arrange his cats in
unusual poses that mimicked human activities - a cat riding a tricycle, cats
roller-skating and even a cat taking a photograph with a camera. Harry
Pointer soon realised that even a relatively straight forward cat photograph
could be turned into an amusing or appealing image by adding a written
caption. Three attractive cats posed around an empty plate were transformed
into an impatient set of diners by adding the caption "Bring up the
dinner, Betsy". A rather static arrangement of five cats posed next to a
teapot and a few cups and saucers became enlivened with the hand-written
title " Five o'clock tea". Pointer increased the commercial
potential of his cat pictures by simply adding a written greeting such as "A
Happy New Year" or "Very many happy returns of the day".
By 1872, Harry Pointer had created over one hundred different captioned
images of cats. Harry Pointer's series of cat photographs became collectively
known as "The
Brighton Cats". The Photographic News reported that, by
1884, Pointer had published about two hundred pictures in the "The
Brighton Cats" series.
Harry Pointer's Brighton Cats series of novelty cartes proved popular with the public and were appreciated by writers on photography. The Art-Journal of 1876 commented on Harry Pointer's extraordinary ability in posing his pet cats : "An eminent photographer has produced a series of cartes that cannot fail to be very popular...It was a good idea so to train a number of cats as to make them excellent, attentive and obedient 'sitters' ...it seems as if each knew precisely what he wanted, is gentle or fierce, or listless or eager, or docile or angry, according to the character depicted" . [The Art-Journal of 1876, page 374 ] Harry Pointer's fame as a photographer of cats increased as his work was shown at exhibitions in London and Dublin. Between 1870 and 1885, Harry Pointer exhibited his animal studies at the annual London exhibitions of the The Photographic Society of Great Britain. In 1870 and 1872, Harry Pointer displayed a series of animal studies at Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of London. In 1870 at the Fifteenth Annual Exhibition, Harry Pointer displayed a series of stereoscopic slides featuring a variety of animals, but from 1877 until 1885, the majority of his exhibited photographs featured his "Brighton Cats". In 1877, at the Twenty-second Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great Britain held in London's Pall Mall, Harry Pointer displayed photographs which were entitled "Cats, photographed from life" and "Cats, photographed from Nature". From 1880, Harry Pointer was exhibiting his felines under their popular title "The Brighton Cats". Although he had become a Member of The Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1877, Harry Pointer did not show any more photographs of his "Brighton Cats" in the Society's Exhibitions after the Thirtieth Annual Exhibition of 1885. ( At this final exhibition of his work, Harry Pointer had shown "Studies from Nature", a photograph using the gelatine dry plate process). However, although he was no longer showing his cat photographs at the Photographic Society's exhibitions in London, Harry Pointer continued to produce remarkable photographs of cats and other animals right until the end of his working life. By the early 1880s, Harry Pointer had expanded his photographic repertoire to include images of dogs as well as cats. One of these photographs which featured two dogs staring out at scene beyond the frame of the picture included an ironic caption which referred to Pointer's successful cat pictures. A small dog draws the attention of his bulldog companion to some cats with the comment "Look at those horrid 'Brighton Cats", Bull". [ See illustration below this panel, on the right ]. Other photographs by Pointer show cats and dogs in peaceful co-existence. One charming carte-de-visite by Pointer shows two small cats perched on the back of a sleeping dog. Between 1884 and 1887, Harry Pointer registered some of his novelty canine photographs at the Copyright Office of the Stationers' Company in London. On 18th April 1884, Harry Pointer filled out a Copyright Registration Form giving a written description of a photograph he had produced to celebrate St Patrick's Day : "Photograph of a dog, sitting, with cap on & with pipe in mouth: entitled 'St Patrick's Day in the morning' ". Another photograph by Pointer, registered by the Stationers' Company on 16th June 1887, was produced to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and featured "50 Dogs' heads", each marking a year in the monarch's reign. Another written description on a Copyright Registration Form completed on 18th April 1884, provides evidence that Pointer was introducing human figures into his animal compositions : " ' Photograph of a girl, profile face, & with hands together, standing before a dog, both looking at each other '. Copyright owner and author of photograph: Harry Pointer, 20 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton". A particularly ambitious composition, featuring twenty-nine different animals, was registered at the Stationers' Company's Office by Harry Pointer on 16th June 1887. The copyright registration form read : "Photograph entitled 'Home Rule', consisting of 19 Cats, 6 dogs, 3 foxes, and one monkey, and a piece of roast beef." |
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To view some of Harry Pointer's cartes-de-visite which feature cats, click on the link below : |
Harry Pointer's Carte-de-visite Photographs of Cats and Dogs |
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[ABOVE] Three mournful dogs photographed by Harry Pointer at his photographic studio in Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. After his success with 'The Brighton Cats' series of cartes, Harry Pointer turned his attention to dogs and other domestic animals.(c1875) | [ABOVE] Two cats in a basket, a carte from 'The Brighton Cats' series, photographed by Harry Pointer at his Bloomsbury Place studio in Brighton. The photograph carries the greeting "A Happy New Year". (c1873) | [ABOVE] "Look at those horrid 'Brighton Cats', Bull". Two dogs take a dim view of their feline rivals in this carte-de-visite photograph by Harry Pointer of Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. (c1875) |
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Pointer's 'Brighton Cats' and the firm of H. & C. Treacher Celebrity and novelty cartes-de-visite were generally sold through retail outlets such as stationers, booksellers and fancy goods stores. It appears that in Brighton, Harry Pointer's cartes-de-visite of cats and dogs were dealt with mainly through the agency of H. & C. Treacher, a firm of stationers and booksellers with a large shop on the corner of North Street and East Street. A number of Pointer's "Brighton Cats" cartes carry the rubber-stamped inscription: "Agents - H. & C. Treacher, The Library, Brighton." The firm of H. & C. Treacher was founded by two brothers from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire - Harry Treacher (c1832-1891) and Charles Treacher (c1834-1871). By 1858, Harry and Charles Treacher had established a successful bookselling and stationery business at 1 North Street / 44 East Street, Brighton. Melville's 1858 Directory of Brighton describe Harry and Charles Treacher as "printers, booksellers, stationers & publishers" and agents for two insurance companies - Phoenix Fire Assurance and the Pelican Life Assurance Company. In 1856, Harry Treacher (born c1832, High Wycombe, Bucks.) had married Sarah Deacon (born c1827, Boxmoor, Bucks.). After their marriage, the couple set up home at Scrasebridge, Lindfield, taking in Harry Treacher's younger brother Charles as a lodger. On 26th January 1862, Charles Treacher (born c1834, High Wycombe, Bucks.) married Sarah Elizabeth Sedgwick (born 1839, Hertford). Charles and Sarah Treacher settled in Brighton, where their five children were born. Around 1865, Harry Treacher and his family moved into a large house called "Oaklands", which Mr Treacher had recently built in Haywards Heath. The union of Harry Treacher and Sarah Deacon produced seven children. After Charles Treacher died in 1871 at the age of 37, his brother Harry joined with his nephew Henry Philip Moreton (1845-1891) to continue the business under its original name of H. & C. Treacher. The two business partners both died in 1891. Henry P. Moreton died in the Summer of 1891, aged forty-five. Harry Treacher died, aged 59, on 29th September, 1891, at his home of Oaklands, Haywards Heath, "where he had resided for 25 years". The bookselling and stationery business on the corner of North Street and East Street continued under the name of H. & C. Treacher Ltd. up until the First World War. The building at the corner of North Street and East Street was eventually absorbed by Hannington's department store in 1924.
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The Tragic Death of Harry Pointer junior |
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Harry Pointer and Myra Pointer had two children who survived into adulthood, both named after their respective parents. Harry Pointer junior had been born in the Regents Park area of London during the third quarter of 1851 and his sister Myra Pointer arrived less than a year later in the Spring of 1852. Miss Myra Pointer followed the career path of her parents, becoming an artist and photographer. Although Harry Pointer junior probably assisted his father in his photographic studio and was described as a "photographer of Kemp Town" in a newspaper article published in 1876, the young Harry Pointer was more generally known as a musician. According to one newspaper report, Harry Pointer junior was a musician who was "very favourably known in connection with the Brighton Snowdrop Minstrels." On the evening of Saturday, 29th April 1876, twenty-five year old Harry Pointer junior boarded the 7.50 pm train from Kemp Town to Brighton. The young man shared the passenger compartment with two other travellers, a Mrs Manwaring and her fourteen year old niece, Jane Heathcote. As the train left Kemp Town railway station, one of the doors of the adjoining luggage compartment flew open. The open door was beating against the side of the passenger compartment, much to the annoyance of Mrs Manwaring. The lady passenger rose from her seat hoping to resolve the problem of the banging door. Harry Pointer offered Mrs Manwaring his assistance, saying "I will try and shut it". Harry leaned as far out of the passenger window as possible, in an effort to secure the luggage compartment door. Mrs Manwaring and her niece later testified that Harry Pointer "put his head and body out of the carriage as far as he could." Almost immediately, the young man was struck by something as the train entered the long tunnel that skirted Brighton's Queens Park. According to the Brighton Herald newspaper report, Harry Pointer "staggered back instantly, and fell insensible on the floor of the carriage, with his head, from which blood poured in torrents, in Mrs Manwaring's lap." On reaching the next stop, Lewes Road Station, the still unconscious body of Harry Pointer junior was transferred to Brighton's County Hospital. Mr Henry Marmaduke Langdale, a young house-surgeon at the hospital, established that Harry Pointer junior was "suffering from a fracture of the skull, extending from the 'vertex' (the crown of the head) to the base, causing compression of the brain". Harry Pointer junior never recovered consciousness and died two days later on Monday 1st May 1876. At the inquest held at Brighton's County Hospital on the day after Harry Pointer's death, it could not be established what had actually caused the young man's terrible head injury. Mrs Manwaring told the Coroner that she "believed they were close to the tunnel when the deceased put his head out, but Peter Thornton, the guard of the train, maintained that "an open door would clear the tunnel, and leave room for a man to stand untouched, so that the deceased could not have been struck by the tunnel." As the guard of the train, it was Peter Thornton's duty to see that the doors of the carriages were "shut and fastened before the train started." The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death" but appended their opinion that "blame attached to the guard in not having seen that the doors were properly fastened".
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1881 Census : 11 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton |
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NAME |
|
AGE |
OCCUPATION |
BIRTH PLACE |
Harry Pointer |
Head |
58 |
Photographer |
Marcham, Berkshire |
Myra Pointer |
wife |
55 |
Artist (Painter in Oils) |
Soho, Middlesex |
Myra Pointer |
daughter |
25 |
Artist (Painter in Oils) |
St Pancras, Middlesex |
Eliza Coates |
Servant |
19 |
Domestic Servant |
Lewes, Sussex |
[ABOVE] A transcription of the 1881 census return for 11 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton, recording Henry Pointer as a fifty-eight year old "Photographer". Mrs Myra Pointer and her daughter, Miss Myra Pointer, are both recorded as artists. Both ladies have lowered their actual ages for the census return. Harry's daughter would have been around 29 years of age at the time of the 1881 census. In 1871, the Pointer family were living at 15 Bloomsbury Place, but the new address of 11 Bloomsbury Place given on this census return does not indicate a house move. The buildings in Bloomsbury Place had been re-numbered around 1873 following changes to the houses in the street. |
Harry Pointer receives recognition as a pioneer in Animal Photography |
Harry Pointer exhibited his photographs
in London for the first time at the annual exhibition of The
Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1870. Pointer went
on to exhibit his work at the Society's Annual Exhibitions another eight
times between 1872 and 1885. The photographs of cats and dogs exhibited at
the London exhibitions were received warmly by the critics in the
photographic press. In a review of the 22nd Annual Exhibition in 1877,
The
Photographic News noted that "Harry Pointer of Brighton,
contributes some funny cat and dog studies from life", adding that
Pointer's studies of animals were "little short of perfection in this
line". The Journal of the Society of Arts and
The British
Journal of Photography also published favourable reviews.
By the end of 1877, Harry Pointer had become a Member of The Photographic Society. Harry Pointer's photographic work was displayed regularly at the Photographic Society's annual exhibitions. Between 1877 and 1885 there were only two years (1880 and 1882) when his photographs were not on show at the Society's exhibition gallery in London at 5A Pall Mall East. The majority of the photographs shown by Pointer at the Photographic Society's annual exhibitions featured cats or dogs. In 1878, The British Journal of Photography commented "Mr. Harry Pointer, Brighton, contributes a number of instantaneous photographs from life, principally of domestic pets, in all kinds of peaceful and warlike attitudes, the whole forming an amusing collection." In 1884, Harry Pointer exhibited his "Brighton Cats" at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin as part of a photographic exhibition organised by The Photographic Society of Ireland. In 1884, after announcing the medal winners at the 29th Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great Britain, James Glaisher FRS, the Society's Chairman, commented that "there were many others who had sent pictures of great merit, and to whom he should like to have presented medals". Mr. Glaisher named Harry Pointer as one of the photographers who deserved a prize medal. In its review of the works on show at the 29th Annual Exhibition, The Morning Advertiser newspaper also singled out one of Harry Pointer's exhibits for praise : "A frame of comically-treated cats and dogs by Mr. H. Pointer (is) worthy of commendation."
By the end of the 1880s, Harry Pointer's photographs of cats and dogs had become well known on the Continent. Josef Maria Eder (1855-1944), an Austrian chemist and photo-historian who authored several important books on photography, was familiar with Pointer's series of cat photographs. Dr. Eder's 1886 book on the subject of instantaneous photography, Die Moment-Photographie, contained a section on Harry Pointer's cat pictures in the chapter on animal photography. Dr. Eder's original treatise in German and later translations of Eder's book included reproductions of five of Pointer's cartes-de-visite from the "Brighton Cats" Series. ( A large illustration showing a trio of Pointer's pet cats entitled "Katzenbilder von Pointer" occupied nearly the whole of one page in the original edition). Eder's book on instantaneous photography was translated into several languages (a French translation, La photographie instantanee, appeared in 1888) thus bringing Pointer's work to a wider European audience.
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The Photographic News, 7th November1874
EXHIBITION AWARDS. Feeling deeply for them in their thankless task, I would suggest, for their relief, that the Photographic Society might take a higher and grander position than hitherto, and abolish medals altogether. The Committee cannot be infallible. The difference of opinion among the mass of photographers is most notable, and how often errors are made. One instance on the moment : "A Misty Morning on the Weir," to the astonishment of everybody, escaped a medal. But if their abolition is not thought desirable, I have another idea which I think would disarm all grumblers. It is this: the Society should place a book in the Gallery for all the exhibitors and photographers generally to put numbers or marks, so as to indicate which picture each visitor thinks fittest for the award, his name and address being appended, and at the end of the Exhibition the book could be easily added up, and the medals awarded. I do not wonder at the dissatisfaction expressed at giving a medal to a - well, a still subject. Surely, architectural things cannot rank with nature, sea, land, or living creatures, and the perpendicular being a little fanciful makes it worse. Very faithfully yours,
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[ABOVE] Harry Pointer's letter to The Photographic News, suggesting a new system of awarding prizes at the Annual Exhibitions organised by the Photographic Society of Great Britain (7th November1874). Harry Pointer never received a prize medal for his cat pictures, although his two exhibits at the 29th Annual Exhibition in 1884 were commended by the Chairman of the Photographic Society. |
[ABOVE] "Be it ever so humble there is no place like Home" - a carte-de-visite from 'The Brighton Cats' series, photographed by Harry Pointer at his studio at 11 Bloomsbury, Brighton (c1873). |
[ABOVE] The trade plate of Harry Pointer Photographer, 11 Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of the carte-de-visite pictured on the left. (c1873) |
Harry Pointer and "The Brighton Cats" |
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During the 1870s, Harry Pointer
became well known for a series of carte-de-visite photographs which featured
his pet cats. Pointer started to produce studies of animals in the late
1860s, including straight forward shots of cats resting, drinking milk or
sleeping in a basket, but by 1870 he began to specialise in photographing
cats in a variety of poses. To begin with, Pointer simply photographed cats
sleeping or resting in unusual places (e.g. on top of a pile of books), but
he was soon deliberately placing his cats in settings that would create a
humorous or appealing picture (e.g. a cat in a child's toy pram, a kitten in
a mixing bowl, two small kittens resting on an old shoe, two small cats
perched on a watering can). Pointer's next step was to arrange his cats in
unusual poses that mimicked human activities - a cat riding a tricycle, cats
roller-skating and even a cat taking a photograph with a camera. Harry
Pointer soon realised that even a relatively straight forward cat photograph
could be turned into an amusing or appealing image by adding a written
caption. Three attractive cats posed around an empty plate were transformed
into an impatient set of diners by adding the caption "Bring up the
dinner, Betsy". A rather static arrangement of five cats posed next to a
teapot and a few cups and saucers became enlivened with the hand-written
title " Five o'clock tea". Pointer increased the commercial
potential of his cat pictures by simply adding a written greeting such as "A
Happy New Year" or "Very many happy returns of the day".
By 1872, Harry Pointer had created over one hundred different captioned
images of cats. Harry Pointer's series of cat photographs became collectively
known as "The
Brighton Cats". The Photographic News reported that, by
1884, Pointer had published about two hundred pictures in the "The
Brighton Cats" series.
Harry Pointer's Brighton Cats series of novelty cartes proved popular with the public and were appreciated by writers on photography. The Art-Journal of 1876 commented on Harry Pointer's extraordinary ability in posing his pet cats : "An eminent photographer has produced a series of cartes that cannot fail to be very popular...It was a good idea so to train a number of cats as to make them excellent, attentive and obedient 'sitters' ...it seems as if each knew precisely what he wanted, is gentle or fierce, or listless or eager, or docile or angry, according to the character depicted" . [The Art-Journal of 1876, page 374 ] Harry Pointer's fame as a photographer of cats increased as his work was shown at exhibitions in London and Dublin. Between 1870 and 1885, Harry Pointer exhibited his animal studies at the annual London exhibitions of the The Photographic Society of Great Britain. In 1870 and 1872, Harry Pointer displayed a series of animal studies at Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of London. In 1870 at the Fifteenth Annual Exhibition, Harry Pointer displayed a series of stereoscopic slides featuring a variety of animals, but from 1877 until 1885, the majority of his exhibited photographs featured his "Brighton Cats". In 1877, at the Twenty-second Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great Britain held in London's Pall Mall, Harry Pointer displayed photographs which were entitled "Cats, photographed from life" and "Cats, photographed from Nature". From 1880, Harry Pointer was exhibiting his felines under their popular title "The Brighton Cats". Although he had become a Member of The Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1877, Harry Pointer did not show any more photographs of his "Brighton Cats" in the Society's Exhibitions after the Thirtieth Annual Exhibition of 1885. ( At this final exhibition of his work, Harry Pointer had shown "Studies from Nature", a photograph using the gelatine dry plate process). However, although he was no longer showing his cat photographs at the Photographic Society's exhibitions in London, Harry Pointer continued to produce remarkable photographs of cats and other animals right until the end of his working life. By the early 1880s, Harry Pointer had expanded his photographic repertoire to include images of dogs as well as cats. One of these photographs which featured two dogs staring out at scene beyond the frame of the picture included an ironic caption which referred to Pointer's successful cat pictures. A small dog draws the attention of his bulldog companion to some cats with the comment "Look at those horrid 'Brighton Cats", Bull". [ See illustration below this panel, on the right ]. Other photographs by Pointer show cats and dogs in peaceful co-existence. One charming carte-de-visite by Pointer shows two small cats perched on the back of a sleeping dog. Between 1884 and 1887, Harry Pointer registered some of his novelty canine photographs at the Copyright Office of the Stationers' Company in London. On 18th April 1884, Harry Pointer filled out a Copyright Registration Form giving a written description of a photograph he had produced to celebrate St Patrick's Day : "Photograph of a dog, sitting, with cap on & with pipe in mouth: entitled 'St Patrick's Day in the morning' ". Another photograph by Pointer, registered by the Stationers' Company on 16th June 1887, was produced to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and featured "50 Dogs' heads", each marking a year in the monarch's reign. Another written description on a Copyright Registration Form completed on 18th April 1884, provides evidence that Pointer was introducing human figures into his animal compositions : " ' Photograph of a girl, profile face, & with hands together, standing before a dog, both looking at each other '. Copyright owner and author of photograph: Harry Pointer, 20 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton". A particularly ambitious composition, featuring twenty-nine different animals, was registered at the Stationers' Company's Office by Harry Pointer on 16th June 1887. The copyright registration form read : "Photograph entitled 'Home Rule', consisting of 19 Cats, 6 dogs, 3 foxes, and one monkey, and a piece of roast beef." |
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[ABOVE] "The Old Steine Pet", a photograph of tabby cat - a carte from 'The Brighton Cats' series, photographed by Harry Pointer at his Bloomsbury Place studio in Brighton (c1884). | [ABOVE] The trade plate of Harry Pointer Photographer, 20 (late No.11) Bloomsbury Place, Marine Parade, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of the carte-de-visite entitled "The Old Steine Pet" (c1884). [See picture on the left] |
The Last Years of Harry Pointer senior In 1887, at the age of sixty-five, Harry Pointer was still working as as a professional photographer. In May and June of 1887, Harry Pointer registered at the Stationers' Company Copyright Office, four photographs that he had created to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Two of the photographs, both captioned "The Jubilee,1887", featured his famous cats and dogs - one photograph featuring "50 Dogs' Heads", the other picture being a composite photograph of "Fifty Cats", each animal signifying a year in the monarch's reign. The third photograph, registered on 16th June 1887, was even more ambitious. Entitled "Home Rule", this photograph consisted of "19 Cats, 6 dogs, 3 foxes, and one monkey, and a piece of roast beef." The fourth and final photograph, entitled 'Sunrise on Jubilee Day', 1887" was registered for copyright on 23rd June 1887. The registration form, completed by Harry Pointer of 20 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton on 22nd June 1887, described the picture as a "Photograph of sunrise from the Brighton Downs and showing portion of Race Stand and other objects". Harry Pointer's wife, Rosa Myra Pointer, died in Brighton during the 3rd Quarter of 1888. When her death was registered, Mrs Pointer's age was given as 62, but if the official record of her birth and baptism is correct, Rosa Myra Pointer would have been seventy-one years of age when she passed away. Rosa's old friend Mrs Newton Crosland later wrote in her memoir : "At Brighton, I believe the artist (Mrs Pointer) died, to be followed to the grave in a few months by the husband (Harry Pointer), who, it was said, loved her so well that he died literally of grief for her loss." Harry Pointer senior died at
his home at 20 Mrs Newton Crosland, a friend of Mrs Pointer, reported that Harry Pointer had died from grief following the loss of his beloved wife. The cause of death given on the death certificate was more prosaic : 'Pericarditis, 7 days' and suggests a physical reason for Pointer's demise rather than the emotional explanation cited by Crosland. Pericarditis, the medical condition that led to Harry Pointer's death, was probably triggered by a virus or a bacterial infection. Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium, the fibrous sac which surrounds the heart. Pericarditis causes pain in the chest and can lead to a fatal heart attack. Perhaps it could be said, in both senses of the word, that Harry Pointer died from a 'broken heart'. Myra Pointer (born 1852, Regents Park, London), the sole surviving child of Harry Pointer, followed in her parent's footsteps by becoming an artist and photographer. Myra Pointer was described as an 'Artist' and "Painter in Oils" when the 1881 census was carried out in Brighton. ( A study of a dog's head drawn by Myra Pointer, signed and dated 1886, was sold at Sotheby's auction house in January 2001). When the 1901 census was taken, Miss Myra Pointer, then aged 48, was recorded as a "Photographic Artist" in Brighton. Miss Pointer was still residing in Brighton at the time of the 1911 census. |
[ABOVE] A modern photograph of Bloomsbury Place, Brighton (2009). Bloomsbury Place is a street which runs down from St. George's Road in Kemp Town to Marine Parade on Brighton's eastern seafront. The Brighton photographer Harry Pointer lived in Bloomsbury Place from around 1864 until his death in 1889. Harry Pointer's first address was 15 Bloomsbury Place, but around 1873, following re-development in the street, the house numbers were changed. In an 1874 street directory Harry Pointer was listed at 11 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. Harry Pointer had not moved house, it was just that houses further up the street had been combined to form larger dwellings and the sequence of house numbers had been changed accordingly. Apparently, there was further development in the mid 1880s and the house number on Harry Pointer's residence and studio was changed from No. 11 to No.20. When Harry Pointer died in January 1889 his home address was given as 20 Bloomsbury Place, Brighton. Brighton's Bloomsbury Place, was a well-to-do residential street in the second half of the nineteenth century. At the time of 1881 census, the families of three different clergymen lived in this street of thirty or so houses. Other houses were occupied by comfortably off widows, retired military officers and middle-aged spinsters living on the proceeds from shares, dividends and property. There were at least half a dozen lodging houses in Bloomsbury Place. Next door to Harry Pointer's home and photographic studio was a private school. Another near neighbour was Herbert C. Redknap, a tailor, who was living with his widowed mother, two of his siblings, both employed as private tutors, and a live-in domestic servant. |
Acknowledgements & Sources |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : I am particularly grateful to Philippe Garner,
the author of
"A Seaside Album: Photographs
and Memory,
who has allowed me to use the portrait of Harry Pointer with three of his
cats ("Pointer's Pets") and "The Photographer", a carte-de-visite
from the "Brighton Cats" series.
Philippe Garner
comments on the work of the Brighton photographer Harry Pointer and his "Brighton
Cats" series of cartes-de-visite on page 61 of
his book
"A
Seaside Album". It was also Philippe Garner
who tracked down the comments about Harry Pointer's "Brighton Cats"
series of cartes in the 1876 edition of the Art-Journal. Thanks
also to Fay L. Clark of Louisville, Kentucky, who is a direct
descendant of the artist and portrait painter Samuel Drummond
(1765-1844). Fay Clark has researched the family tree of
Samuel Drummond and has produced a database that contains details of
Samuel Drummond and his children, including Rosa Myra Drummond
(1816-1888), the wife of Harry Pointer. Fay Clark's Drummond Family
database appears
at part of the
RootsWeb WorldConnect project
on Ancestry.com.
Fay Clark also has her own family history
website The Clarks of Otter Creek and
Related Families.
SOURCES : Books: "A Seaside Album: Photographs and Memory" by Philippe Garner (Philip Wilson, 2003) ; "Landmarks of a Literary Life, 1820-1892" by Mrs Newton Crosland [Camilla Dufour Toulmin] (Originally published in 1893 by S. Low, Marston & Co. Ltd, re-issued by Biblio Bazaar in 2008) ; Die Moment-Photographie (1886) and La photographie instantanee (1888) by Josef Maria Eder ; "Helena Faucit (Lady Martin)" by Sir Theodore Martin (Blackwood & Sons, 1900) ; The Catalogues of The Royal Academy Exhibitions (1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1845,1846). Articles: "Portraits of Pussy" (an article on Harry Pointer's 'Brighton Cats' series) in The Photographic News (12th December 1884). Primary Sources : Trade Directories: Folthorp's General Directory for Brighton (1864); Page's General Directory for Brighton (1865,1876,1877,1879,1880,1881,1883, 1884, 1886, 1887,1888); Harrod & Co.'s Postal & Commercial Directory of Brighton (1867); Mathieson's Brighton Suburban Directory (1870). Kelly's Post Office Directory for Sussex (1866,1867,1870,1874,1878,1882,1887.) ; Newspapers : Brighton Gazette (27/02/1862); Brighton Herald (6/05/1876); Sussex Express (6/05/1876). Journals & Magazines : The Photographic News (1874,1877,1884); The Art-Journal (1876); The Journal of the Society of Arts (1877); The British Journal of Photography (1877,1878). Census Returns: 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 & 1911. Websites : Births, Marriages & Deaths Records on FreeBMD ; 1881 Census & International Genealogical Index on LDS Family Search. Census returns were also explored on the UK Census Collection featured on the ancestry.co.uk website, 1901 Census Online and the 1911 Census website. Information on the artist Samuel Drummond and his family was found in a database created by Fay L. Clark who has made her family history research available via the RootsWeb WorldConnect project at Ancestry.com. Fay Clark also has her own family history website The Clarks of Otter Creek and Related Families on FamilyTreeMaker Online at Genealogy.com. Copyright Registrations of Harry Pointer's Photographs at the Stationers' Company Office appear on the National Archives website. Catalogue records from the annual exhibitions of the Photographic Society can be found on De Montfort University's Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society 1870-1915 website. The National Portrait Gallery website. References to military drill in 19th century schools in Mid-Wales on the Victorian Powys website. Digitized books on the American Libraries' Internet Archive website, the Open Library website and Google Books. |
To view a selection of Harry Pointer's photographs of cats, click on the link below : |
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To read more about Rosa Myra Drummond (Mrs Pointer), her father Samuel Drummond and his family of artists, click on the link below : |