Edgar Gael was born "Edgar Gale" in Newbury, Berkshire, during the 1st Quarter of 1849, the eldest child of Fanny Carter and Robert Gale. Edgar's mother Fanny Carter (born c1828, Surrey) had married Robert Gale (born 1803, Salisbury, Wiltshire) in Newbury, Berkshire, in 1847. [The marriage of Robert Gale and Fanny Carter was registered in Newbury during the 4th Quarter of 1847]. Soon after Edgar's birth, Robert and Fanny Gale moved to the Marylebone district of London, where Edgar's brother and three sisters were born. Edgar had at least four siblings - Mercy Ann Gale (born 1850, Marylebone, London), Jane Gale (born c1856, Marylebone, London), Alice Gale (born 1858, Marylebone, London) and Robert Gale (born 1860, Marylebone, London).

Edgar Gael - Photographer in Bromley, Kent (1874-1879)

On 25th September 1869, twenty year old Edgar Gael married Sarah Ann Tupper (1847, Lamberhurst, Sussex/Kent) in Bromley, Kent. Edgar's twenty-one year old bride Sarah Ann Tupper was one of eight children born to Mary Ann and William Tupper, a plumber and painter of Lamberhurst. After the death of William Tupper in 1851, Mrs Mary Ann Tupper and her children had moved away from Lamberhurst and settled in the Bromley area of Kent. It appears that after Edgar Gael married Sarah Ann Tupper in Bromley in 1869, he joined up with one of Sarah Ann's brothers to run a picture framing business in Bromley's High Street. By 1874, the firm of Gael & Tupper were engaged in the manufacture of picture frames at a shop at 31 Market Square, Bromley and premises at numbers 45 & 130 High Street, Bromley.

Edgar Gael, who had trained as a photographer and had joined the South London Photographic Society in 1874, established photographic portrait studios at his business premises in Bromley. The Bromley Directory for 1874 lists the firm of Gael & Tupper as "Photographers and Picture Frame Manufacturers" at 31 Market Square and at 45 & 130 High Street, Bromley. By 1875, Edgar Gael was the sole proprietor of the studios in Bromley's Market Square and High Street. The Bromley Directory, published by Edward Strong & Sons in 1875, featured an advertisement for "Edgar Gael, Photographer" at 130 High Street and 31 Market Square, Bromley.( The two addresses seem to correspond to two entrances to a single studio). The publicity printed on the carte-de-visite portraits produced by Edgar Gael at his Bromley studios during the 1870s describe him as an "Art Photographer, Portrait Painter, and Enlarger" and gives the location of his "Art Studio" as "Opposite Town Hall, Bromley, Kent" and at "The Post Office" in Bromley's High Street.

The Bromley Directory of 1875

The photographer Edgar Gael listed at 130 High Street (left) and 31 Market Square (above) in the 1875 edition of The Bromley Directory, published by E. Strong & Sons.

During his stay in Bromley during the 1870s, Edgar Gael fathered four sons, but only two survived infancy. Edgar Tupper Gael was born in Bromley in 1872, but the boy died, aged 4, during the Fourth Quarter of 1876. Edgar and Sarah Ann's second son, Clive Ronald Gael was born in Bromley during the 2nd Quarter of 1874. A third son, Ethelbert Lewis Gael arrived early in 1876, but sadly died before the year was out. Stuart Malcolm Gael was born in Bromley during the 3rd Quarter of 1877 and, like his older brother Clive, survived into adulthood and eventually joined Edgar Gael in his photography business.

Around 1880, Edgar Gael, his wife Sarah Ann, and their two surviving sons Clive and Stuart, travelled down to Falmouth in Cornwall, where Edgar hoped to continue his photographic career.

[ABOVE]  Market Square, Bromley, Kent, photographed in 1929.  The building in the centre of the photograph is Bromley's Town Hall. In 1875,  Edgar Gael gave his business addresses as 130 High Street and 31 Market Square, Bromley. In his publicity, the photographer Edgar Gael gave the location of his "Art Studio" in Bromley as "opposite the Town Hall".

[ABOVE] A map of the old town centre of Bromley, showing the approximate location of   Edgar Gael's "Art Studio" at 31 Market Square described in contemporary sources as being "opposite the Town Hall". To the west of Edgar Gael's studio in Market Square [marked by a purple dot]  is Bromley's High Street. In an advertisement published in 1874, it was suggested that Edgar Gael had a studio at No. 45 and No. 130 High Street, Bromley.

[ABOVE]  An advertisement giving details for Gael & Tupper, a firm of photographers at 45 & 130 High Street and 31 Market Square, Bromley, Kent. This advertisement appeared in The Bromley Directory for 1874 published by E. Strong & Sons of Bromley, Kent.

[ABOVE]  An advertisement  for Edgar Gael, photographer, at 130 High Street and 31 Market Square, Bromley, Kent. This advertisement appeared in The Bromley Directory for 1875 published by E. Strong & Sons of Bromley, Kent.

[ABOVE] A memorial group portrait photographed by Edgar Gael at the 50th Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society held at the Polytechnic Hall in Falmouth, Cornwall on 5th September 1882. In the Annual Report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society published for that year, it was noted that at "the conclusion of the President's speech, Mr Gael took a couple of Memorial Photographs of the platform, which will be highly prized in days to come." In 1882, the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society awarded a medal to Edgar Gael for his achievement in photography. Between 1881 and 1883, Edgar Gael was working as a professional photographer from his home at 9 Berkeley Vale, Falmouth, Cornwall.

Around 1880, Edgar Gael, his wife Sarah Ann, and their two surviving sons Clive and Stuart, travelled down to Falmouth in Cornwall, where Edgar Gael hoped to continue his career as a professional photographer. Edgar Gael was definitely residing in Falmouth in 1880, as a favourable review of Gael's photographs, published in the British Journal of Photography that very year, remarked that "Mr Edgar Gael of Falmouth, has some very good examples of portraiture taken on gelatine plates, which are very delicate, soft, and brilliant, and also well lighted". Surviving carte-de-visite portraits provide evidence that Edgar Gael was running a conventional photographic portrait studio at Berkeley Vale, near

When the census was taken on 3rd April 1881, Edgar Gael and his family were recorded at No.9 Berkeley Vale, Falmouth, Cornwall. At the time of the 1881 census, Mrs Sarah Ann Gael, Edgar's wife, was expecting another baby. A son named Allan Douglas Gael was born in Falmouth, Cornwall, during the 2nd Quarter of 1881. Another child, a daughter named Dora Eveline Gael, was born in Falmouth, Cornwall, two years later. [The birth of Dora Eveline Gael was registered in the district of Falmouth during the 2nd Quarter of 1883].

Now based in the Cornish town of Falmouth, Edgar Gael was keen to associate himself with The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, an educational, cultural and scientific institution which met regularly at  the Polytechnic Hall at 24 Church Street, Falmouth. The first meeting of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society was organized in 1832 by members of the Fox family ( Robert Fox and his daughters Anna Maria Fox and Caroline Fox), an influential Quaker family. When it was instituted in 1833, the stated purpose of the Cornwall Polytechnic Society, was "to encourage the useful arts". Established in 1833, the Cornwall Polytechnic Society received Royal patronage two years later and from 1835 the prefix "Royal" was added to to the official title of the Society.

Ever since 1843, when a selection of daguerreotypes were displayed at the Polytechnic Society's Autumn Meeting, The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society had held regular photographic exhibitions at the Polytechnic Hall in Church Street and since 1859 the Society had offered 'premiums' or prizes at an annual competitive exhibition of photography. By the mid 1860s, the photographic exhibitions organized by The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society were attracting submissions by some of the leading professional photographers of the day including Henry Peach Robinson of Leamington, Oscar Gustave Rejlander of Wolverhampton and the landscape photographer Francis Bedford. The annual exhibitions were No longer just a local showcase for Cornwall-based photographers. In 1875, the admired photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, who was based in Whitby some 350 miles away, exhibited at the Society's exhibition hall in Falmouth. Exceptional photographs were awarded medals by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. According to his own publicity, Edgar Gael had become a "Medallist of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society" in 1882. It appears that Edgar Gael had also become an official photographer for the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society because at the 50th Jubilee Meeting of the Society held at the Polytechnic Hall on 5th September 1882, Gael was commissioned to take a memorial group portrait of the Society's leading members. The Annual Report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society published for the year 1882, noted that at "the conclusion of the President's speech, Mr Gael took a couple of Memorial Photographs of the platform, which will be highly prized in days to come." 

Edgar Gael - Photographer in Exmouth, Devon

By 1887, Edgar Gael had established a photographic portrait studio in Exmouth, Devon. Between 1887 and 1891, Edgar Gael is listed as the proprietor of a studio in Rolle Street, Exmouth, Devon. Gael's studio was located in the seaside town's main street. Exmouth, which had began life as a market town and seaport had become a "fashionable watering place" in the 19th century. In 1891, Exmouth had a recorded population of 8,085, yet in the holiday season the town's population was boosted by hundreds of visitors. The number of people visiting and residing at Exmouth provided enough customers to support no more than three photographic portrait studios at any given time. In 1890, the seaside resort was served by three photographic studios - Edgar Gael in Rolle Street, Henry William Churchill at 10 Albion Street and William Beer & Sons at No. 2 Station Parade, Exmouth. Both Henry Churchill and William Beer were local men, both born in Exmouth around 1833, and both had been in business as photographers for over a decade when Edgar Gael arrived in the town around 1886. (William Beer had established a photographic portrait studio in Chapel Street, Exmouth, around 1865). Edgar Gael must have found it difficult to make inroads on the business of his competitors at Exmouth. In 1892, Edgar Gael decided to try his luck in another rapidly expanding seaside town - Bexhill-on-Sea on the Sussex coast.

Edgar Gael at the Rembrandt Studio, Bexhill-on-Sea (1891-1892)

Edgar Gael's Last Years as a Photographer in Bristol

After his short stay in Bexhill-on-Sea, Edgar Gael travelled down to Bristol, where with his sons he established a photographic studio at 77 Whiteladies Road in the Clifton district of Bristol. Between 1893 and 1905, the photography firm of Edgar Gael & Sons operated from 77 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol.

When the 1901 census was taken, two of Edgar and Sarah Ann Gael's children, twenty-three year old Stuart Malcolm Gael and his youngest sister Dora Eveline Gael were still living at home. By this date,  Edgar Gael had diversified his business interests. Edgar Gael & Sons, a firm of photographers, is listed at 77 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, yet sharing the sane building was the offices of Gael & Co., described in trade directories as "coal merchants". Interestingly, Stuart Gael is recorded as a "Coal Merchant" in the 1901 census.

In 1903, Edgar's youngest son Allan Douglas Gael died in Bristol at the age of 21. That same year, another of Edgar's sons, Stuart Malcolm Gael, married Millie Windebank (born 1878, Bristol), the daughter of Blanche and Albert Windebank, a Bristol tailor.

Edgar's wife Sarah Ann Gael died in Bristol in 1908 at the age of 60. At the time of the 1911 census, Edgar Gael, now a sixty-two year old widower, was living with his youngest daughter, twenty-seven year old Dora Eveline Gael. Edgar's son Stuart Gael was residing elsewhere in Bristol with his wife Millie and their three young children - Rosemary (aged 6), Roma (aged 5) and Douglas Gael (aged 4).

The 1914 edition of Kelly's Directory of Bristol lists S. M. Gael & Co. as coal merchants at 41 Whiteladies Road, Bristol. The same trade directory records Edgar Gael at 160 Coldharbour Road, Westbury Park, Bristol.

Edgar Gael died in Bristol in 1919, at the age of 70. [ The death of Edgar Gael was registered in the district of Bristol during 3rd Quarter of 1919]. Edgar's son, Stuart Malcolm Gael died in Bristol in 1947 at the age of 69.

At the time of the 1871 census, Alfred Harding senior was residing in Kent with his son Alfred Harding junior. On this occasion, Alfred Harding informed the census enumerator that he was 25 years of age and that he was born in Ramsgate, Kent. On the 1871 census return, the name of Alfred Harding's wife is given as Ann Harding.

Alfred Harding does not appear to have made a career out of photography. On subsequent census returns his gives his occupation as "Painter". However, on the basis of the 1881 census return alone, Alfred Harding is a significant figure in the history of photography in Bexhill, as he is the first photographer to be recorded in Bexhill.

[ABOVE] A photograph of a young child reproduced as a picture postcard by A. D. Hellier & Co.

[ABOVE] A composite picture postcard produced by A. D. Hellier & Co.

[ABOVE ] John Hicks, the Horsham photographer, captured by the camera at the unveiling of the Jubilee Fountain in Horsham in 1897. John Hicks became a well known figure in the town of Horsham. Hicks was active in local affairs and by 1891 he was a Committee Member of the Horsham Mutual Improvement Society.

By 1864, William Hicks had left the Isle of Wight and had returned to his native Sussex with his wife Ann and their two children - five year old John and his older sister Clara (born 1858, Ryde, Isle of Wight). John Hick's father opened a photographic studio in Eastbourne early in 1864 and owned a photography business in this seaside town for the next fifteen years. After running studios in Eastbourne at Cornfield Road, Albert Place and Seaside Road, William Hicks finished his career as a professional photographer at a studio situated at 3 Terminus Road, Eastbourne. By the late 1870s, John Hicks was running the Terminus Road studio for his father. According to Charles Simmons, an Eastbourne businessman who resided near the Terminus Road studio, the young John Hicks was not a particularly diligent photographer. In an article published in the Eastbourne Gazette in December 1899, Simmons recollected the time when John Hicks would 'cast up his books at the end of the summer, and after remarking, "It has been a good season ! " would close his premises until the following spring ! '. ( Although Simmons specifically states "this was done by Mr. John Hicks, a photographer", he was looking back over twenty years and may have been referring to the working practices of John's father, William Hicks ).

By the time of the 1881 census, William Hicks was no longer taking an active role in the studio he once ran in Terminus Road. In 1881, the Hicks family were living comfortably at a house called "Mayfield", near Upperton Gardens in Eastbourne. It appears that William Hicks was now involved in property development and he is described on the census return as a "Builder", aged 50. John Hicks, William Hicks' only son, is entered on the return as a "Photographer", aged 21. Around this time the Hicks' studio at 3 Terminus Road, Eastbourne was sold to Rudolph Vieler (born c1853, Westphalia, Prussia).

In 1881, John's sister, Clara Hicks, had married John Berryman (born 1853, Wells, Somerset), a professional photographer with his own studio in Deal, Kent. John Hicks is not listed as a studio proprietor in Eastbourne after 1881 and so it is possible that John Hicks worked as a photographer for his brother-in-law between 1882 and 1884.

In 1884, John Hicks married Jane Williams (born 1860, Chelsea, London), the niece of Alexander McBain of Eastbourne, apparently a wealthy man who derived his income from "Houses & Dividends" and was possibly a business associate of John Hicks' father, William Hicks the builder. [ The marriage of John Hicks and Jane Williams was registered in Eastbourne during the third quarter of 1884]. After their marriage, John and Jane Hicks settled in Horsham, where their first child Louisa Clara Hicks was born during the second quarter of 1885.

John Hicks opened a photographic studio at No 18 Richmond Terrace, Carfax around 1884. John Hicks worked as a photographer at 18 Richmond Terrace - generally known as the Carfax Studio - for the next fifteen years. (See the section on the The Carfax Studio, Horsham).

On 13th November 1888, John's father, William Hicks, died at the age of 57, at his residence of Woodlands, Horeham Road, near Heathfield in Sussex. Around this time, John Hicks became a father for the second time. Mrs Jane Hicks gave birth to a daughter named Dorothy May Hicks during the fourth quarter of 1888. By 1890, John Hicks was living with his family at 15 East Street, Horsham.

In February 1890, John's mother, Mrs Ann Hicks, died during a train journey from Horsham to Eastbourne. John's mother did not live to see the birth of her third grandchild, Thora Margaret Hicks [ birth registered in Horsham during the fourth quarter of 1891 ]. John and Jane Hicks' fourth child, a son named William Alexander Hicks, was born in Horsham during the second quarter of 1898.

John Hicks remained at 18 Richmond Terrace until around 1900, when he sold the Carfax Studio to William Henry Brigden. For a short time, John Hicks worked at a studio attached to his home address at 15 East Street, Horsham. In trade directories of the time, Hicks' studio address is given as 15e East Street, Horsham. When the 1901 census was taken, John Hicks and his family are recorded at 15 E East Street, Horsham. In the census return, John Hicks is described as a "Photographer - own account (at Home)", aged 41. Also listed on the census return is John Hicks' wife Mrs Jane Hicks, aged 40, and their four children - Louisa, aged 15, Dorothy aged 12, Thora, aged 9 and three year old William.

The Family of John Hicks of Bexhill-on-Sea

By 1881, Walter Noakes, the eldest son of the family, had left home and was probably serving his apprenticeship as a boot and shoemaker. (The 1881 census shows Walter's twelve year old brother George Noakes and his eldest sister Dorcas Mary Noakes - described as a twenty-one year old "Domestic Servant - Out of Employment" - living at their parents' cottage in Retford Lane, Peasmarsh. Walter's youngest sister, Sarah Noakes was a live-in servant in the household of Emma and Richard Wait, a well-to-do family living in Main Street, Peasmarsh).

In 1885, Walter Noakes, married Anna Laura Funnell (born 1860, Peasmarsh, Sussex), the eldest daughter of Martha Ann Fowler (born c1829, Peasmarsh) and Charles Funnell (born c1835, Battle,Sussex) a farm bailiff of Old House, Peasmarsh. [ The marriage of Walter Noakes and Anna Laura Funnell was registered in the district of Rye during the 2nd Quarter of 1885 ]. In 1881, Anna Laura Funnell (who preferred to be known as "Laura") was working as a housemaid in St Leonards-on-Sea, one of six domestic servants employed by Charlotte and Emma Walker at their lodging house at 60 Marina, St Leonards.

After a brief stay in Barnsley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where his first son Charles Walter Noakes was born during the 4th Quarter of 1886, Walter Noakes senior settled in the growing seaside resort of Bexhill-on-Sea on the Sussex coast.

By 1889, Walter Noakes had set up a boot-making business in Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea. During the 2nd Quarter of 1889, Walter's wife gave birth to their second child, a daughter named Ethel Clara Noakes. Two more children were to follow - Edith Laura Noakes, who was born in Bexhill-on-Sea towards the end of 1890 and Ernest James Noakes, who arrived on 22nd January,1893. At this time, Walter Noakes and his family were residing at Shaftesbury Cottage, Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea.

In the late 1890s, Walter Noakes was elected as a councillor in Bexhill's Urban District Council. The 1899 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex lists Walter Noakes as one of five Bexhill Councillors who were due to retire from their positions in January 1901. In a court case heard in February 1901 involving an attempt to defraud Noakes at his Bexhill business two years earlier, Walter Noakes told the court he was "a bootmaker of 66 Station Road, Bexhill" adding that he was "a very busy man", being "a Town Councillor and a Poor Law Guardian". (A Poor Law Guardian was a very important local official, whose main responsibility was to help administer The Workhouse, the place where the poor and destitute were housed and maintained. Walter Noakes would have been on the Board for the Battle Union Workhouse, which covered the Bexhill area). The 1901 census records Walter Noakes as a thirty-eight year old "Bootmaker" living in Bexhill-on-Sea with his forty year old wife (Anna) Laura Noakes and their four children.

By 1910, Walter Noakes had become an Alderman in the Municipal Borough of Bexhill. The 1911 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex lists Walter Noakes as one of three Bexhill Aldermen who were due to retire from their office in November 1911.

Walter Noakes' wife Mrs Anna Laura Noakes died in Bexhill-on-Sea during the 3rd Quarter of 1913 at the age of 53. The following year, Walter Noakes married Mary A. Fowler [ The marriage of Walter Noakes and Mary A. Fowler was registered in the district of Battle during the 3rd Quarter of 1914 ].

By 1915, Walter Noakes had been joined in his business by his son Ernest James Noakes. The 1915 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex lists Walter Noakes & Son as a firm of boot makers with shops at 100 Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea and Ninfield Road, Sidley.

Ernest James Noakes (born 1893, Bexhill), Walter's youngest son, married Florence Edith Dallaway in Hampstead, London, in 1919. [ The marriage of Ernest James Noakes and Florence Edith Dallaway was registered in the district of Hampstead during the 2nd Quarter of 1919 ]. Ernest J. Noakes, his wife Florence and their young daughter Clara Florence Noakes (born 1920, Hampstead, London), later emigrated to Australia, embarking from Southampton on board SS Demosthenes of the Aberdeen Line in 1927.

Ethel Clara Noakes (born 1889, Bexhill), Walter's eldest daughter, married Alfred J. S Burton (born 1882), a grocer from Hastings.

Walter Noakes died in 1934 at the age of 72. [ The death of Walter Noakes was registered in the Surrey district of Croydon during the 4th Quarter of 1934 - Reference: Volume 2a, page 625, period ending December 1934].

[ABOVE ] Councillor Walter Noakes (1862-1934) photographed in the studio of John Hicks, 14 Devonshire Road, Bexhill-on-Sea (c1900). In 1900, Walter Noakes was the owner of a successful boot-making business in Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea as well as being an Urban District Councillor in Bexhill and a Poor Law Guardian for the Battle  Union Workhouse. [Photograph courtesy of Bryan Corkran]

[Photograph courtesy of Bryan Corkran]

[ABOVE ] Walter Noakes (1862-1934) photographed with members of his family around 1915. The lady sitting in the front row on the left of the picture is Mrs Mary Noakes (formerly Mary Fowler), Walter's second wife. (Walter's first wife, Mrs Anna Laura Noakes had died in 1913 at the age of 53). Walter's youngest son Ernest James Noakes (born 1893, Bexhill) is in uniform. Between Ernest Noakes and his father are Walter Noakes' two daughters - Ethel Clara Noakes (born 1889, Bexhill) and Edith Laura Noakes (born 1890, Bexhill). This portrait was taken at the studio of  Thomas Henry Robbins who ran the studio at 2 Marina Arcade,  Bexhill-on-Sea, from 1911 until 1924. Ernest James Noakes, Walter's youngest son, married Florence Edith Dallaway in Hampstead, London, in 1919. Ernest J. Noakes, his wife Florence and their young daughter Clara, later emigrated to Australia, embarking from Southampton on board SS Demosthenes of the Aberdeen Line in 1927. Bryan Corkran, the owner of the Noakes Family photographs, is the grandson of Ernest James Noakes.

[Photograph courtesy of Bryan Corkran]

[ABOVE ] The children of Walter Noakes and Anna Laura Funnell, Walter's first wife. Sitting on the left of the picture is Charles Walter Noakes (born 1886, Barnsley, Yorkshire) and seated on the table is his younger brother Ernest James Noakes (born 1893, Bexhill) . The two girls on the right are Walter Noakes' daughters -  Ethel Clara Noakes (born 1889, Bexhill) and Edith Laura Noakes (born 1890, Bexhill). This carte-de-visite group portrait was taken around 1898 at Emil Vieler's photographic studio in Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, not far from Walter Noakes' boot and shoe making business.

[Photograph courtesy of Bryan Corkran]

Acknowledgements

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

[ABOVE ] A portrait of James William Thomas Hope-Ede (1885-1943) photographed by John Hicks at his studio in Devonshire Road, Bexhill-on-Sea.

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

[ABOVE] A portrait of James William  Hope-Ede  taken around the time he married Catherine Alcock in New Zealand in 1913.

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

James Thomas Ede (born c1834, London) married Elizabeth Hope (born c1840, Musselburgh, Midlothian, Scotland) in Liverpool at the Church of St Silas on 22nd September 1874. By 1878, James Thomas Ede had settled on the Sussex coast, where he ran a lodging house at 10 Mostyn Terrace, Cliff Road, Eastbourne, Sussex. A daughter named Elizabeth Charlotte Ede was born in Eastbourne during the 3rd Quarter of 1879. A son, James William Thomas Ede, arrived some six years later. When the census was taken on 3rd April 1881, James Thomas Ede, his wife Elizabeth, and their three year old daughter Elizabeth were recorded at 10 Mostyn Terrace, Eastbourne. James Ede junior's parents were still running the lodging house at 10 Mostyn Terrace, Eastbourne in the early 1890s. After James Ede senior died in Eastbourne in 1894 in his 60th year, his widow Mrs Elizabeth Ede, together with her two children Elizabeth and James, moved to Bexhill-on-Sea, where Mrs Ede ran a boarding house. The 1901 census records Mrs Elizabeth Ede as a "Boarding House Keeper" in Bexhill-on-Sea. Living with the sixty-two year old widow were her daughter, twenty-one year old Elizabeth, and her fifteen year old son, recorded on the census return as "William Ede", aged 15. In 1905, Kelly's Directory of Sussex shows Mrs Elizabeth Ede owning apartments at 31 Eversley Road, Bexhill-on-Sea. When the census was taken on 2nd April 1911, James William Ede is recorded as an unmarried man of twenty-six working as an "Electrician" and residing with his widowed seventy-four year old mother Mrs Elizabeth Ede at 22 Wickham Avenue, Bexhill-on-Sea.

James William Thomas Ede had qualified to be an electrician and was employed as such at the time of the 1911 census. Around 1912, James Ede emigrated to New Zealand with his friend Howard Nicholson Hilliard. After he arrived in New Zealand, James William Thomas Ede adopted the surname of "Hope-Ede" (a double-barrelled name derived from the surnames of his mother and father). In 1913, a year or so after his arrival in New Zealand, James William Thomas Hope-Ede married Catherine Mary Alcock of Newmarket, Auckland City. In New Zealand, James Hope-Ede secured a job as an ironmonger, yet, because of the advent of the First World War, James Ede found himself involved in a military career which spanned the next decade. In his twenties, James Ede had been a member of the Sussex Imperial Yeomanry and from 1914, under the name of "James Hope-Ede" he served in the 21st Mounted Rifles.

At the outbreak of the First World War, James Hope-Ede enlisted in the 21st Mounted Rifles and served with this unit from 1914 until the end of the war in 1918, reaching the rank of Sergeant-Major. On 8th February 1917, Sergeant-Major James Hope-Ede was part of a force of 123 soldiers of the 21st Mounted Rifles which left New Zealand to reinforce troops in Egypt. After an 8 week voyage, Sergeant-Major Hope-Ede and the 21st Mounted Rifles arrived in the port of Suez on 2nd April 1917. According to his military records, at the end of hostilities, Sergeant-Major Hope-Ede spent 6 years in India.

After he left the armed forces, James Hope-Ede found employment with the New Zealand Railways. Mrs Catherine Hope-Ede, who had one child from a previous relationship (Leonard Alcock, who was born in 1911), gave birth to a son named Leo Donald Mostyn Hope-Ede on 29th May 1924 in the Mount Albert district of Auckland, New Zealand. James and Catherine Hope-Ede's son, Leo Hope-Ede became a keen sportsman and played soccer for North Shore United Football Club. In the early 1950s, Leo Hope-Ede played internationally for New Zealand's national football team.

When New Zealand entered the Second World War alongside Britain, James Hope-Ede joined the New Zealand Military Force. In 1941, at the age of 56, James William Hope-Ede made an attestation "for temporary service in New Zealand". It was on 17th May 1943, while serving as a Corporal with the New Zealand Military Force, that James Hope-Ede died. Corporal J. W. T. Hope-Ede is buried at the Waikumete Cemetery in Haratounga, Auckland Province, New Zealand. Although James William Thomas Hope-Ede would have been approaching his 58th birthday, his age is given as 60 in the Roll of Honour.

[ABOVE] Sergeant James Hope-Ede (centre, front row) photographed with other members of No. 1 Troop, 21st Mounted Rifles early in 1917 before they set off on their long voyage to Suez, Egypt, via Sydney, Melbourne, Colombo and Bombay.

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

[ABOVE] Sergeant James Hope-Ede (centre, front row) photographed with other members of No. 1 Troop, 21st Mounted Rifles around the time they set off from New Zealand in February 1917 on their way to Suez in Egypt. The original photograph taken by J. J. Cameron is inscribed  in ink '"The Die Hards" - Sailed Feb 8th 1917 '.

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

[ABOVE] A studio portrait of James William  Hope-Ede  and his wife Catherine Alcock, photographed around 1913 in New Zealand. James William  Hope-Ede  married Catherine Alcock in New Zealand in 1913. The couple had one son, Leo Donald Mostyn Hope-Ede, who was born in 1924 (See below)

[Photograph courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

[All Photographs in this panel courtesy of Matthew Hope-Ede]

Bexhill Photographers  A - B

Bexhill Photographers  C - D

Bexhill Photographers  E - H

Bexhill Photographers  J - Q

William J. Reed - Thomas Robbins - Robson - Sackville Studio (W. M. Crouch) - Leonard Snelling - James E. Stanborough - George E. Swain - Charles Ash Talbot

Bexhill Photographers  R - T

Emil Vieler - Herbert Vieler - J & E Wheeler 

Bexhill Photographers  V - Z