[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. The six towns covered by the daguerreotype licence were listed as Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton, Arundel, Petworth and Midhurst. The Times notice 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 about the mysterious "A. B." - he was a bookseller and stationer, he was based in Chichester and around 1847 he established a photography business in another county. A possible candidate is Alfred Barber (1808-1884), a bookseller and stationer by trade, who had purchased a daguerreotype licence from Richard Beard and had set up a studio in Nottingham in October 1841. After leaving Nottingham, Alfred Barber was active  in the southern counties of England and, early in 1847, he established a daguerreotype studio in Southampton .

 A number of photographs by G. H. Allen are held in the Photographic Collection of West Sussex Record Office, Chichester

In the 1901 census Denis Walter Baker is shown living with his wife and young son in Chichester. On the census return, Denis Baker  is described as a "Photographer", aged 34.

During the period 1902 to 1907, there were several additions to Denis Baker's family. A daughter named Doris Evelyn Baker was born during 4th Quarter of 1902. Another daughter, Eunice Dorothy Baker, was born in 1905. Eustace Gerald Baker, Denis Baker's second son was born in the district of Chichester during the 2nd Quarter of 1907,

Surviving examples of D. W. Baker's work suggests he was primarily an outdoor photographer, producing pictures of buildings and school group photographs. By 1905, Denis Baker was operating his own studio at 8 Cleveland Road, Chichester. Trade directories list D. W. Baker as a photographer at 8 Cleveland Road until 1914. Denis Baker's wife, Mrs Ada Baker, died in Chichester during the 3rd Quarter of 1914 at the age of 42. It is believed that Denis Baker later married a lady named Mrs Ellis.

The West Sussex Record Office has a few photographs by D. W. Baker in its Photographic Collection, including 1) a view of the Oliver Whitby School, a charity boarding school, which was built around 1712 in West Street, Chichester ; 2) Court Barn, the family home of the Farne Family of Birdham, near Chichester, and 3) a couple of photographs dating from 1911, which record a visit by St. John's Church Christian Band to Bracklesham Bay, a seaside resort located 7 miles south of Chichester.

Two of Denis Baker's children emigrated to Canada. Eustace Gerald Baker left England for a new life in Canada in the early 1920s. Doris Evelyn Baker set off for Canada shortly after marrying Joseph C. Cooper in 1927. Doris's sister Eunice Dorothy Baker remained in England. Eunice Baker married Bill Arnold and became the mother of two daughters - Sylvia and Julia.

Charles Barclay was born on 4th August 1798 in London, Middlesex. ( Charles Barclay, son of John and Ann Barclay, was baptised at Aldersgate Church on 11th November 1798 in the City of London parish of St. Botolph without Aldersgate ).

On 3rd January 1820 (or 1821), Charles Barclay married Mary Ann Bigg at Christ Church, Newgate Street, London. Charles Barclay's wife Mary Ann Bigg was born on 4th November 1798 in the Fleet Street district of London. The union of Charles and Mary Ann Barclay produced at least eight children :

1) Charles Samuel Barclay (born 9th November 1821, Holborn, London)

2) James Barclay (born 6th March 1824, Holborn, London - died 4th August 1825)

3) William Bigg Barclay (born 26th December, 1825, Shoreditch, London)

4) George James Barclay (born 31st December, 1828, Shoreditch, London)

5) John Henry Barclay  (born 20th October 1829, Hoxton. London)

6) Adolphus Fredrick Barclay (born 27th December 1831, Hoxton. London)

7) Mary Ann Barclay (born 18th November 1833)

8) Sophia Sarah Barclay (born 20th October 1836)

In the 1850s, when all of his children had grown up, Charles Barclay toured England as a travelling photographer, visiting Portsea, Birmingham, Derby and Shrewsbury.

In the Summer of 1853, Barclay operated a temporary photographic portrait studio at 2 St. James Street, Winchester, Hampshire. Barclay left Winchester in October 1853 and by the following February he was taking photographic portraits in Newbury, Berkshire. On 14th February, 1855, Barclay announced on the front page of the Essex Standard that he was ready to take portraits at 150 High Street, Colchester. After his short stay in Essex, Barclay gradually made his way back to the south coast.

[ABOVE] A portrait believed to be of Mrs Mary Ann Barclay (nee Bigg) [1798-1857], the wife of the photographer Charles Barclay (1798-1864). This portrait has been passed down through the family of Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann Barclay. In 1860, Mary Ann Barclay married Jabez Dennis. In 1869, Jabez and Mary Ann Dennis emigrated to the United States. The original photograph carries the inscription  "Papa Dennis's grandmother" and therefore the subject of the portrait is either Mary Ann's mother, Mrs Mary Ann Barclay or her mother-in-law, Mrs Dennis. The photograph dates from the period 1856-1860 and so if it does portray Mrs Mary Ann Barclay, the likeness was taken towards the end of Mary Ann's life and the photographer was probably her husband Charles Barclay. Mrs Mary Ann Barclay died in Fratton, near Portsmouth, Hampshire on 10th December, 1857 at the age of 59.

[PHOTO : Courtesy of Tom Coleman of Ackerman, Mississippi, USA]

Charles Barclay had made his permanent home in Hampshire. At the time of the 1851 census, Charles Barclay, his wife Mary Ann and their 17 year old daughter, Mary Ann Barclay, were residing in Portsea, Hampshire. Charles Barclay's wife Mrs Mary Ann Barclay died at the family home at 9 St. John's Place, Fratton, near Portsmouth, on the 10th of December, 1857 at the age of 59. At the time of his wife's death, Charles Barclay was not working as a professional photographer. On his wife's death certificate, Charles Barclay is recorded as a journeyman printer of 9 St. John's Place, Fratton.

Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann married Jabez Dennis in Portsea early in 1860. Mary Ann Barclay, then aged 26, married Jabez Dennis, a twenty-five year old factory worker, on the 31st January 1860 at St. Peters Methodist Chapel in the Portsea Island district of Hampshire. Significantly, Charles Barclay Mary Ann's widowed father, gives his occupation as "photographist" on his daughter's marriage certificate. Around the time of his daughter's marriage in 1860, Charles Barclay set himself up as a photographer in the Sussex city of Chichester.

Charles Barclay - Professional Photographer in Chichester

Around 1860, Charles Barclay arrived in Chichester. At the time of the 1861 census, Charles Barclay was lodging at 39a East Street, Chichester and he gave his occupation as "Photographer". Barclay was, by this date, a sixty-two year old widower and while his earlier stints as a photographic artist in other towns lasted only a matter of days, weeks, or months at the most, he remained in Chichester for the next six years. Barclay established a permanent photographic studio in South Street, Chichester and operated from these premises until 1867.

Around 1868, Charles Barclay returned to Hampshire. In 1869, Charles's daughter and son-in-law, Mary Ann Barclay and Jabez Dennis, together with their two young sons, emigrated to the United States. Charles Barclay apparently ran a grocer's shop in Portsea after his daughter's departure.

Charles Barclay died on the 16th of August, 1874, at the age of seventy-six, at 72 Fratton Road, Portsea, Hampshire. The death certificate records that Charles Barclay had been working as a grocer before his death.

Charles Barclay's daughter Mary Ann Barclay, her husband Jabez Dennis and their two sons - Charles William Dennis (born 21st April 1861, Portsea, Portsmouth) and Josiah Barclay Dennis (born 16th March 1866, Portsea, Portsmouth) - settled in Nebraska, USA around 1870.

Mrs Mary Ann Dennis (nee Barclay) died in Nebraska City, Nebraska, on 12th August 1872. In 1880, Mary Ann's son Charles William Dennis was working as a labourer in Otoe County, Nebraska. The 1880 US census records Charles and his younger brother Josiah (transcribed "Joseph" on the census return) living with relatives in Nebraska City. Josiah Barclay Dennis married Ida May Darner in Cozad, Nebraska on the 8th January,1891. Josiah Dennis settled in Williamsport, Indiana, where he died on 30th October 1944, aged 78.

Acknowledgements

[ ABOVE ] An advertisement for Charles H. Barden, Photographer, of 68 East Street, Chichester, which appeared in the Chichester Guide of 1898.

Charles Hugh Barden was born in Bayswater, London in 1862, the son of Charles and Bertha Barden. [ Birth registered in the Kensington District during the December Quarter of 1862 ]. Charles Barden senior ( born 1836, Boulogne, France ) was a  fishmonger and poulterer who had lived in London for a decade before moving with his wife and family to Kent. Charles Barden senior, his wife, and four children, settled in Tunbridge Wells, where Charles Hugh Barden found work as a photographer. In the 1881 census, Barden is shown living with his parents and four siblings at 110 Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells and is described as a "Photographer", aged 18.

In the June Quarter of 1883, Charles Hugh Barden married Emily Sophia Baker ( born 1862 Tunbridge Wells ). For the next ten years Charles and Emily lived in Tunbridge Wells, the birthplace of their first four children - Hugh (born c1884), Albert (born c1889) and twins Daisy and Violet (born 1890). Charles H. Barden is not listed as a studio proprietor in Tunbridge Wells Trade Directories and it is likely he was employed as an operator or manager in the town before he took over Malby's photography business in Chichester in 1894.

In an advertisement published in 1898, Charles H. Barden is described as a "Portrait and Landscape Photographer". Although Barden was known to employ an assistant, his advertisements clearly state that "Chas. H. Barden will personally photograph each sitter".

Charles H. Barden remained in Chichester for over 10 years. Two sons were born in Chichester - Charles junior who arrived around 1896 and Harold George Barden whose birth was registered in the town during the 2nd Quarter of 1905.

[ABOVE] A midget photograph by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1898)

[ABOVE] A carte size mounted portrait of  a man with a striped tie by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1900).

[ABOVE] A carte size mounted portrait of  a bearded man by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1905).

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a young woman  by Charles H. Barden of 68 East Street, Chichester (c1895).

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

THE FULL TEXT OF THIS OBITUARY AND AN ACCOUNT OF WILLIAM BARRETT'S TIME IN BOGNOR CAN BE FOUND IN THE  PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS IN BOGNOR SECTION

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"