[ABOVE] The reverse of  a carte-de-visite portrait taken at the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a seated man taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866).

[ ABOVE ] An advertisement for Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester, dated Thursday, 11th January 1866.

Charles D. Clarke was born in Scotland around 1838. Charles Clarke, who described himself as an artist and photographer, arrived in Sussex before 1864. On 15th June 1864, Charles Clarke married Martha Ingledew (born c1839, Brighton) at St Nicholas Church, Brighton. By the following year, Charles Clarke had established a photographic studio at Westgate, Chichester. According to a price list which appeared on the reverse of a carte-de-visite produced in 1865, Charles Clarke charged one shilling for a single carte-de-visite and five shillings for a dozen copies. Later that year, Clarke changed the name of his studio to the Sussex School of Photography and opened a branch studio in High Street, Uckfield.

By the beginning of 1866, Clarke opened a new studio in West Street, Chichester. In a newspaper advertisement dated 11th January, 1866, Charles Clarke announced that his "New and Highly-Finished CRYSTAL STUDIO" in West Street, Chichester was open to the public. Clarke added that his Crystal Studio was "artificially heated, as to resemble the delicious climate of Madeira." Around this time, Charles and his wife became the parents of a daughter named Martha K. Clarke (born c1866, Chichester).

Sometime after 1866, Charles Clarke left Chichester. When the 1881 census was taken, Charles Clarke was recorded with his wife and daughter at Inveraray House, Margery Park Road, West Ham, Essex. In the 1881 census, Charlie D. Clarke is described as an "Artist and Photographer", aged 43.

The new proprietor of the Sussex School of Photography was a "Mr.Savage". Charles Clarke had sold the studio to Mr Savage around 1866. Mr Savage was probably William Savage (born c1817, Winchester) who had established a photographic studio at 97 High Street, Winchester around the same time.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  two young women taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866).

[ABOVE] A photographic copy of a framed collodion positive portrait (c1860), re-photographed at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester around 1866.

[ABOVE] A photograph of the spire of Chichester Cathedral covered by scaffolding and decorated with hand-painted flags. A carte-de-visite produced by the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester - Mr. Savage, Proprietor (c1867).

[ABOVE] The reverse of  a carte-de-visite produced by the Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1867). The new studio proprietor's name is given as Mr Savage.

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of  a young woman taken at Charles Clarke's Sussex School of Photography, West Street, Chichester (c1866)