Brighton Early 20th C Portraits

Between 1913 and 1915, Abraham H. Dudkin was listed in local trade directories as the proprietor of the photographic studios at 54 North Street and 31 West Street, Brighton. Abraham's brother, Mordecai Dudkin, operated a photographic studio at 157a Church Road, Hove in 1915. Around this time, Abraham and Mordecai Dudkin combined forces under the trading name of Modern Studios. The Modern Studios company had its main studio and Head Office at 54 North Street, Brighton, where Abraham Dudkin was listed as the proprietor. Mordecai Dudkin (also known as Morduch Dudkin, Morden Dudkin or Maurice Dudkin) managed the Hove branch of Modern Studios at 157a Church Road, Hove. Around 1917, Abraham Dudkin closed the studio at 54 North Street and opened a new studio at 10 Queens Road, Brighton. At the same time, Abraham's business partner, Mordecai Dudkin, vacated the studio in Hove and established his own studio at 26 West Street, Brighton. By 1918, William Henry Dudkin, possibly another member of the Dudkin family, but more likely a photographer who adopted the pseudonym of Dudkin, took charge of the Modern Studios premises at 19 High Street, Shoreham-by-Sea.

Abraham H. Dudkin and Dudkin's Photographic Studios

When I first purchased the postcard portraits photographed at Dudkin's studios in Brighton and Hove, I knew very little about the studio proprietors Abraham H. Dudkin and Mordecai M. Dudkin and hardly anything about the Dudkin Family who originated from Russia and settled in the Sussex seaside town during the first two decades of the 20th Century. Since featuring the studio portraits photographed at Dudkin's Modern Studios on this website, I have been contacted by Jonathan Walker, the son-in-law of Lewis Stanley Dudkin (1909-2005), the son of Abraham Dudkin. I am indebted to Jonathan Walker for providing the biographical details for the following account of the Dudkin Family.

Abraham Dudkin (1876-1949)

Also known as Alfred Dudkin

Abraham Dudkin was born on 10th November 1876 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Abraham was the eldest son of at least fourteen children born to Mira and Moses Dudkin, a Jewish rabbi.

After serving two years in the Russian Army, Abraham Dudkin arrived in England around 1898. Abraham Dudkin began his new life in England as a tailor's assistant in the London's East End, but within a few years he had set up his own business, dealing in furs and drapery. By 1906, Abraham Dudkin had opened a fur business in Regent Street, Great Yarmouth and was importing furs from his native Russia with the assistance of family members. Around this time Abraham Dudkin adopted the name of Hurvitz. For a few years, Abraham Dudkin worked as an itinerant seller of furs and drapery under the name of Abraham Hurwitz. (Although Hurwitz was not a given family name, Abraham would later add Hurwitz as a middle name so that when he was listed in local trade directories he could be known as Abraham H. Dudkin. Abraham Dudkin's grand-daughter Bettina Walker, has confirmed that Hurvitz was not Abraham's middle name and the later styling of his name as "Abraham H. Dudkin" was really an affectation. Jonathan Walker has noted that it was not unusual for Jewish immigrants to add a middle name or initial to their real name so that the nomenclature appeared stylish or distinguished).

Abraham Dudkin and his pregnant wife 'Ray' arrived in the seaside town of Brighton in August 1909. Abraham and Ray Dudkin set up home at 91 Upper North Street, Brighton, where their first child, Lewis Stanley Dudkin was born on 24th November 1909. By this date, Abraham Dudkin had established a fur business at 185 Western Road, Brighton under the name of Alfred Dudkin & Co.

Alfred Dudkin and his family were soon to be joined in England by Abraham's younger sister Bluma Dudkin, who, at the age of fourteen, had travelled alone from Siberia to England, arriving in London around 1910. At the time of the 1911 census, Abraham Dudkin (now generally known as "Alfred Dudkin") his wife 'Ray', and their one year old son Lewis, were residing at 7 Bedford Place, Brighton. Visiting the Dudkin family at the time of the 1911 census was one of Alfred Dudkin's younger sisters, who gives her name as 'Blanche' Dudkin. Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin's sister is described on the census return as an unmarried young woman of 18 from Russia, living on "Private Means". (Jonathan Walker has suggested that Bluma Dudkin and "Blanche Dudkin" are two versions of the same person).

In the 1911 census, Abraham Dudkin is recorded on the census return as 'Alfred Dudkin', a thirty-three year old "Furrier & Dealer". Alfred and Ray were doing well enough to employ a 'live-in' domestic servant, twenty-seven year old Lizzy Burgell from Horsham in West Sussex.

On 6th June 1913, Mrs Ray Dudkin gave birth to a second child, a daughter named Minnie Rosa Dudkin. By this time, Abraham Dudkin's fur business was flourishing and he was starting to diversify his commercial interests, investing in property and establishing a chain of photographic portrait studios. In 1912, Abraham Dudkin had acquired the Stickyback & Postcard Studio at 54 North Street, Brighton, previously occupied by the photographer Spiridione Grossi (1877-1921). Abraham Dudkin had also taken over a photographic portrait studio in Hampshire at 228 Commercial Road, Portsmouth.

Much of the money that was generated by Abraham Dudkin's various business ventures was used to bring other members of his family out of Russia. Abraham's younger sister, Bluma Dudkin arrived in England around 1910 at the age of fourteen or fifteen. One of Abraham's sisters, who went under the anglicised first name of 'Blanche', was living with the Dudkins at their Brighton home when the census was taken on 2nd April 1911. (Jonathan Walker believes that Bluma Dudkin and "Blanche Dudkin" are two versions of the same person). The next member of the Dudkin family to enter England was Abraham Dudkin's younger brother Mordechai Dudkin (see biographical notes below).

Abraham H. Dudkin was listed as a Brighton photographer in trade directories published between 1913 and 1925. A. H. Dudkin's photographic studio in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, made its last appearance in Kelly's Directory of Hampshire in 1927. Abraham H. Dudkin makes his last appearance as a photographer at 31 West Street, Brighton in Kelly's 1925 directory. The building No. 31 West Street, which housed Abraham Dudkin's photographic studio was scheduled for demolition in the late 1920s as part of a road widening scheme. By this time, Abraham Dudkin, trading under the name of Alfred Dudkin, was an established furrier with a number of retail outlets in Brighton. After 1925, Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin abandoned commercial photography and concentrated on his fur business. [See the section below, entitled 'Abraham Dudkin, Brighton Furrier trading under the name of Alfred Dudkin', for further details about Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin ].

Mordecai M. Dudkin (born 1881, Russia - died 1965, England)

Also known as Morduch Dudkin, Morden Dudkin and Maurice Dudkin

Mordecai Dudkin was born in Russia in 1881, the son Mira and Moses Dudkin, a Jewish rabbi of Nizhny Novgorod. Mordecai Dudkin, who was the younger brother of Brighton furrier Abraham (Alfred) Dudkin, arrived in Brighton with his wife Leah Stoffer sometime before the Spring of 1912. A few months after their arrival, in June 1912, Mordecai Dudkin's wife Leah gave birth to a baby boy, who was given the name Harold Dudkin. [The birth of Harold Dudkin was not registered in Brighton until the 1st Quarter of 1913]. Initially, Mordecai Dudkin assisted Abraham in his fur business, but when Abraham (Alfred) Dudkin established his chain of photographic portrait studios, Mordecai was placed in charge of the Hove branch of Modern Studios at 157a Church Road.

According to Jonathan Walker, Mordecai Dudkin quarrelled with his older brother Abraham (Alfred) Dudkin, causing Mordecai to branch out on his own - "Disagreements led to them becoming rivals and this turned into a bitterness which was never resolved". Mordecai Dudkin broke away from Modern Studios and set up his own photographic studio at 26a West Street, Brighton. Whereas the portraits taken after 1916 at Abraham Dudkin's photographic studios carry the name "Modern Studios", the portraits photographed at his brother's studio carry the photographer's credit "M. Dudkin, 26a West Street, Studio, Brighton".

The Trades section of Kelly's Directory of Sussex published for the year 1922, shows Abraham H. Dudkin as the proprietor of the photographic studios at 31 West Street and 10 Queens Road, Brighton, while Mordecai Dudkin is listed as a photographer at 26 West Street, Brighton. By the time the 1924 edition of Kelly's Sussex directory was issued, Abraham Dudkin had given up his studio at 10 Queens Road, Brighton and was operating solely from 31 West Street, Brighton. Just a few doors away, his brother Mordecai, now using the name Morden M. Dudkin, was running a rival studio at 26 West Street, Brighton. (Like his elder brother Abraham, Mordecai Dudkin had introduced a bogus middle name. During this period, Abraham was listed as "Abraham H. Dudkin", the middle initial of 'H' ostensibly standing for Hurvitz or Hurwitz, a former pseudonym. Mordecai Dudkin followed suit, placing the initial letter 'M' in the middle of his name to read "Mordecai M. Dudkin". (The letter 'M' may have stood for Morden, Morduch or Maurice, all three names being employed by Mordecai over theyears. Amongst members of the Dudkin family Mordecai was known as 'Motya').

Although, Mordecai (Morden) Dudkin, had shifted his photography business to the centre of Brighton, he and his family continued to reside in Hove during the 1920s. Mordecai Dudkin gave his place of residence as Hove when he applied to become a naturalised British subject in 1929. Dudkin's Naturalisation papers (Certificate No. 17118) issued on 22nd April 1929 states clearly that Mordecai Dudkin (also known as Morduch Dudkin) was born in Russia. In 1929, Mrs Leah Dudkin, the wife of Mordecai Dudkin, sold the building at 26 West Street, Brighton (the site of her husband's photographic studio) to the Brighton Corporation, which needed to acquire the property as part of road improvement scheme. It appears that Mordecai and Leah Dudkin had invested money in a large number of properties. In the early 1930s, Mrs Leah Dudkin also disposed of freehold properties at 7 Wilbury Gardens, Hove; 3 Beaconsfiled Villas, Brighton; 11 Palmeira Avenue, Hove; St Winifred's, Outlook Avenue, Peacehaven and a residence in Roedean Crescent, Roedean, Brighton.

Harold Dudkin, Mordecai and Leah Dudkin's only child, died in 1932, at the age of 19. The fact that Harold's death was registered in the Sussex district of Steyning, suggests Mordecai and Leah Dudkin were still residing in Hove. Mrs Leah Dudkin, Mordecai's wife, died in 1939. Jonathan Walker has traced the movements of Mordecai Dudkin after the death of his wife. In 1939, the year of Leah Dudkin's death, Mordecai is recorded under the name of Maurice Dudkin at 38 Tisbury Road, Hove. In 1945, Mordecai Dudkin married Tamara Rimalt [The marriage of Mordecai Dudkin and Tamara Rimalt was registered in Brighton during the 3rd Quarter of 1945]. In the 1947 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, Mordecai Dudkin is shown residing at 8 Sillwood Road, Brighton.

Abraham Dudkin (1876-1949), Brighton Furrier trading under the name of Alfred Dudkin

[ABOVE] A view of the Main Road at Nizhny Novgorod around the time that Abraham Dudkin left his native Russia for England in 1898. The original photograph, which was taken around 1900, appeared as an engraved illustration to an account of the Russian fur trade by the German writer Hans Caspar von Zobeltitz, published in 1905.

Abraham Dudkin was born on 10th November 1876 in Nizhny Novgorod, a centre for the Russian fur trade. Abraham Dudkin arrived in England around 1898, after serving two years in the Russian Army. According to a family legend, Abraham, who was then in his early twenties, arrived in England from Russia with only 5 pounds in his pocket. Abraham Dudkin began his new life in England as a tailor's assistant in London, but within a few years he had set up his own business, dealing in furs and drapery.

For a few year, Abraham Dudkin worked as an itinerant seller of furs and drapery under the name of Abraham Hurwitz. ( Although Hurwitz was not a given family name, from this period Abraham often used the name or Hurwitz or Hurvitz as a trading name. Abraham would later add Hurwitz as a middle name so that when he was listed in local trade directories he could be known as Abraham H. Dudkin. Abraham Dudkin's grand-daughter Bettina Walker, has confirmed that Hurvitz was not Abraham's middle name and the later styling of his name as "Abraham H. Dudkin" was an affectation. Jonathan Walker has noted that it was not unusual for Jewish immigrants to add a middle name or initial to their real name so that the nomenclature appeared stylish or distinguished).

From around 1902, Abraham Dudkin was based in Great Yarmouth, trading in furs under the name of "Abraham Hurwitz". Jonathan Walker reports that, for a period of time, Abraham "spent 6 months of each year in Great Yarmouth and spent the remainder of the time travelling England, attending markets and shops for the sale of furs". By 1906, Abraham Dudkin had opened a fur business in Regent Street, Great Yarmouth and was importing furs from his native Russia with the assistance of family members.

On 8th March 1908, Abraham Dudkin married twenty-three year old Rachel Hanchen Plaut (born 1885, Wehrda, Germany) at the Stoke Newington Synagogue in North London. Rachel's family had anglicized their surname from Plaut to 'Plant' and consequently Rachel's marriage to Abraham Dudkin was registered in the London district of Hackney under the name of 'Ray Plant'. Abraham Dudkin closed his business premises in Yarmouth in September 1908 and over the next eleven months travelled across the West Country and South Wales dealing in furs. (Jonathan Walker has noted that during this period Abraham Dudkin visited Plymouth, Cardiff, Newport and Swansea). When his wife fell pregnant early in 1909, Abraham Dudkin decided to abandon his itinerant way of life and settle permanently on the south coast of England.

Abraham Dudkin and his pregnant wife 'Ray' arrived in the seaside town of Brighton in August 1909. Abraham and Ray Dudlkin set up home at 91 Upper North Street, Brighton, where their first child, Lewis Stanley Dudkin was born on 24th November 1909. By this date, Abraham Dudkin had established a fur business at 185 Western Road, Brighton under the name of Alfred Dudkin & Co.

At the time of the 1911 census, Abraham Dudkin (generally known as "Alfred Dudkin") his wife 'Ray', and their one year old son Lewis, were residing at 7 Bedford Place, Brighton. Alfred Dudkin and his family had been joined in England by Abraham's younger sister Bluma Dudkin, who, at the age of fourteen, had travelled alone from Siberia to England, arriving in Brighton around 1911. (Another sibling, a younger brother named Mordecai Dudkin arrived in Brighton with his wife Leah Stoffer around 1912). On the evening of 2nd April 1911, the census enumerator recorded a young woman named "Blanche Dudkin" as a visitor at the Dudkin family home in Bedford Place. Jonathan Walker believes that the teenager named as "Blanche Dudkin" on the 1911 census return was in fact Alfred Dudkin's younger sister Bluma Dudkin. Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin's sister is entered on the census return as as an unmarried, eighteen year old woman from Russia living on "Private Means".

On 6th June 1913, Mrs Ray Dudkin gave birth to a second child, a daughter named Minnie Rosa Dudkin.

Abraham (Alfred) Dudkin - Brighton-based Entrepreneur

By 1915, Alfred Dudkin's fur business was flourishing. Alfred Dudkin opened a second shop at 31 Western Road, Brighton, and in 1916 he moved his young family into a large house called "Red Croft" at 105 Dyke Road, Brighton. In January 1916, Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin applied to become a naturalised British subject. "Alfred Abraham Dudkin", described as "from Russia and resident in Brighton" received his Naturalisation papers (Certificate No. 1,572) on 28th January 1916. During this period Abraham Dudkin was operating a chain of photographic portrait studios as well as running two successful fur shops.

[ABOVE] An extract from the Brighton & Hove Commercial Directory showing businesses with the name of Dudkin featured in Kelly's 1915 Directory of Sussex. Abraham H. Dudkin and Alfred H. Dudkin are entries for the same Jewish businessman, Abraham Dudkin (1876-1949). Abraham Dudkin operated a photography business under his own name and a fur business under his anglicized name of Alfred H. Dudkin. The third entry is for Abraham's younger brother Mordecai Dudkin (1881-1965), who managed the Hove branch of Modern Studios for Abraham Dudkin.

In the 1925 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex, Alfred Dudkin is listed as a furrier with business premises in Brighton at 71 King's Road, 1 Western Road and 36 Western Road. Kelly's trade directory of 1947, lists Alfred Dudkin as a furrier at 36 Western Road.

Mrs Rachel "Ray" Dudkin died in Brighton on 17th August 1928 at the age of 42. Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin passed away at the family home of "Redcroft", 105 Dyke Road, Brighton on 25th February 1949. Alfred had lived at "Redcroft" for over 30 years and his son was to live at the same family house throughout his adult life. (The houses in Dyke Road were re-numbered after new buildings were erected, changing the house number of "Redcroft" from No.105 to 148 Dyke Road)

Alfred Dudkin's only son Lewis Stanley Dudkin (1909-2005) followed his father into the family fur business, establishing fur shops in Brighton, Eastbourne and Worthing. Lewis Stanley Dudkin, who was generally known by his second name Stanley, ran the family fur business until he retired in 1989. Stanley Dudkin died at the Dane House Nursing Home in Brighton on 24th March 2005 at the age of 95.

[ABOVE] A wholesaler and fur trader negotiating prices for animal furs at Nizhny Novgorod, a centre for the Russian fur trade. This illustration was published in 1905 to accompany an account of the fur trade by the German writer Hans Caspar von Zobeltitz (1853-1918). Relatives based in Nizhny Novgorod supplied Abraham Dudkin with furs when he was establishing himself as a furrier in England during the first decade of the 20th century.

[ABOVE] A fashion plate of 1913 showing the type of furs sold by Alfred H. Dudkin at his shop in Brighton's Western Road before the First World War.

[ABOVE] A 1914 advertisement for fur coats and stoles. The fur coat on the left retailed at 25 guineas and the fur stole illustrated on the right sold for nearly 20 guineas.

[ABOVE] Lewis Stanley Dudkin (born 1909, Brighton), Alfred (Abraham) Dudkin's son photographed at his father's photographic studio in North Street, Brighton, around 1913. Alfred's son is wearing a fur hat and coat - probably from his father's shop.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Jonathan & Bettina Walker]


Minnie Rosa Dudkin	Lewis Stanley Dudkin
(born 1913, Brighton)	(1909-2005)
[PHOTOS: Courtesy of Jonathan & Bettina Walker]

Personalised Greeting Cards produced by Abraham Dudkin of the Stickyback & Postcard Studio

[ABOVE] A personalised greeting card produced by Abraham Dudkin of the Stickyback & Postcard Studio of 54 North Street, Brighton. Abraham Dudkin has incorporated a Sticky Back photo-strip featuring himself and his young son Lewis Stanley Dudkin (born 1909, Brighton) with a printed design displaying the message "Yours in Many Moods".	[ABOVE] A personalised greeting card produced by Abraham Dudkin of the Stickyback & Postcard Studio of 54 North Street, Brighton. Abraham Dudkin has incorporated a Sticky Back photo-strip featuring himself and his young son Lewis Stanley Dudkin (born 1909, Brighton) with a printed design displaying the message "Yours in Many Moods".