[ABOVE] An advertisement placed on the front page of The Times on 4th September 1848 by "A. B." , offering for sale a Daguerreotype Licence which covered the Sussex towns of Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton, Arundel, Petworth and Midhurst. "A.B.", a bookseller and stationer, was previously based in Chichester, Sussex, but was residing in another county when this notice was published.

A second advertisement, also asking for interested parties to reply to "A. B.", was published in The Times on 4th September 1848 and included a few more details about the scope of the licence and added that a "glass room" (the photographic studio) was included in the sale. The identity of "A. B." has not been established. The newspaper notices provide a few clues - "A. B." was also a bookseller and stationer, was based in Chichester and around 1847 had established a photography business in another county. A possible candidate is Alfred Barber (1808-1884), who was a bookseller and stationer by trade, had purchased a daguerreotype licence from Richard Beard and set up a studio in Nottingham in October 1841, was active  in the southern counties of England from 1846 and established a daguerreotype studio in Southampton early in 1847.

William Barrett and his wife Catherine were in Chichester for the birth of their first child Kate, who arrived around 1859. A contemporary newspaper report mentions that "Mr. Wm. Barrett, the Photographist" was "well known in Chichester ". Barrett also took photographic portraits in nearby towns and in 1860 he was in Worthing with his family. William and Catherine Barrett's second child, Julia Florence Barrett, was born in Worthing on 5th September 1860. The following year, Barrett and his family settled in the nearby seaside resort of Bognor. At the time of the 1861 census, William Barrett, his wife Catherine and their two daughters, Kate and Julia, were living at a house in New Street, Bognor. William Barrett is entered on the census return as a "Photographer", aged 32. A third daughter, Edith Emily Barrett was born to William and Catherine Barrett in Bognor the following year. No longer constantly on the move, William Barrett was now able to arrange the christening of the two younger children, Julia and Edith, at the local church in South Bersted on 17th May 1862.

It appears that William Barrett had established a permanent photographic studio on the Parade at Bognor. However, Barrett was suffering from a fatal heart disease and on Monday, 2nd February 1863, he died from an "aneurism of the heart". There is evidence that, after William Barrett's death, his widow Mrs Catherine Barrett carried on the business at the Parade studio for a short time (see cdv portrait below).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a man  photographed by Mrs W. Barrett of the Parade, Bognor. (c1863). The photographer "Mrs W. Barrett" was Catherine Barrett, the widow of William Barrett.

[ABOVE] The death notice of William Barrett, published in the West Sussex Gazette of 5th February, 1863.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a lad in a cap photographed by C. Austin of Bognor. (c1900)

[ABOVE] A photograph of a bearded man holding a dog at The Stamp House, North Bersted by Austin & Son of Bognor. The bearded man is presumably Richard Sharpe (born c1844, Boxgrove, Sussex), a grocer and former publican, who covered the inside of his house at North Bersted with postage stamps. The stamps were arranged in special designs and stuck on the walls, ceilings, and special screens inside the house and consequently Mr Sharpe's home became something of a tourist attraction.