[ABOVE] A photograph taken in 1898 showing the location of William Atkinson's Photographic Studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne, between Baddeley & Hewer's Grocery Store and the shop of Charles Ion Cooper, Tea & Coffee Merchant. Eastbourne's Fire Station can be seen at the end of the road. The photographic studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne, was opened by Eastbourne photographer John Berryman (born 1853, Wells, Somerset) in 1890. Berryman had previously established the Palace Studio at 58 Terminus Road, Eastbourne in 1887. Both Berryman's studios ended up in the hands of William Atkinson. In 1891, the Grove Road Studio passed to the photographer William Stanley. Around 1894, William Atkinson acquired the Grove Road Studio and Berryman's former studio in Terminus Road.

[ABOVE] A detail from the photograph pictured on the left which shows the entrance to  William Atkinson's Photographic Studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne. Samples of Atkinson's photographic work frame the doorway that leads to the photographer's studio on the upper floor.

William Atkinson appears to have worked as an itinerant artist, travelling around the north of England painting portraits. From the Botchergate district of Carlisle, William Atkinson journeyed south towards the Lake District. At Haverthwaite, a village a few miles south of Lake Windermere, William Atkinson met Sarah Jane Bannister (born 1858, Sawtry, Huntingdonshire), a young domestic servant who was working as a nursemaid in the home Ann and Richard Heighway Kirby, the vicar of Haverthwaite. In 1884, William Atkinson and Sarah Jane Bannister travelled to Sarah's home village of Sawtry in Huntingdonshire, where the couple were married. [The marriage of William Atkinson and Sarah Jane Bannister was registered in the district of Huntingdon during the 2nd Quarter of 1884]. After their wedding in Huntingdonshire, William and Sarah Atkinson returned to Haverthwaite, where their first child Edith Mary Atkinson was born towards the end of 1885. [The birth of  Edith Mary Atkinson was registered in the district of Ulverston during the 4th Quarter of 1885]. A second child, a son named Charles Atkinson, was born the following year.

After the birth of his first two children, William Atkinson resumed his itinerant lifestyle. By 1890, William Atkinson and his family had reached Yorkshire, where their third child Hilda Mary Atkinson was born. [The birth of Hilda Mary Atkinson was registered in the district of Huddersfield during the 2nd Quarter of 1890].

By 1894, William Atkinson had reached the Sussex seaside resort of Eastbourne. Atkinson established two photographic studios in Eastbourne, one at 67 Grove Road, near the Town Hall and close to Eastbourne's Fire Station, and another at 56 Terminus Road, not far from Eastbourne's Railway Station. Atkinson's studio at 56 Terminus Road, Eastbourne, known as the Palace Studio, closed after a couple of years, but he operated the studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne until about 1899.

In 1897, William and Sarah Atkinson's fourth child, a son named George Leslie Atkinson, was born in Eastbourne [The birth of George Leslie Atkinson was registered in Eastbourne during 3rd Quarter of 1897]. Around 1899, William Atkinson sold his photographic studio at   67 Grove Road, Eastbourne to two brothers Clement John Cordrey and Walter Sydney Cordrey.

William Atkinson and his family moved to Walthamstow in Essex, where William continued his career as a photographer. William Atkinson is recorded as a "Photographer", aged 42, in the 1901 census of Walthamstow.

[ABOVE] An advertisement from 1894 giving details of William Atkinson's two photographic studios in Eastbourne. ( The Eastbourne Chronicle, 29th September 1894). Atkinson established his first studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne around 1894. A second studio at 56 Terminus Road, Eastbourne, known as the Palace Studio, was opened later that same year. William Atkinson began his working career as a portrait painter and this advertisement bills him as a "Photographer and Portrait Painter". William Atkinson was not a high class photographer and his prices were relatively cheap. Atkinson charged 3s 6d for a dozen Midget Photographs, 5 shillings for a dozen carte-de-visite portraits and 10 shillings for a dozen portraits in Cabinet format. In the same period, Frederick Arthur Bourne (1860-1921), a photographer with a studio in Langney Road, Eastbourne, charged 8s 6d for a dozen carte-de-visite portraits and 17s 6d for a dozen Cabinet portraits. At 3/6 a dozen, Atkinson's Midget photographs were very reasonably priced. In contrast, James Ernest Stanborough, a Bexhill photographer, and John Henry Blomfield of Hastings both charged 4s 6d for twelve Midget cartes.

[RIGHT] A newspaper article in the Eastbourne Chronicle, dated 13th October 1894, reporting " a sad affair" at William Atkinson's Grove Road Studio, when Mrs Jane Eleanor Biron, aged 55, suffered a stroke during a photography session. Mrs Biron, the wife of Dublin-born barrister Robert John Biron, Q.C., died a day or so after her seizure. Mrs Biron was not posing for her own portrait when she was struck down. Mrs Biron had called in at William Atkinson's studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne, to have a number of photographs taken of her pet dog. Mrs Biron was "suddenly seized with a paralytic stroke while in the act of posing the dog and fell down in an unconscious condition ". Mrs Biron's husband, Mr Robert John Biron, Q.C., died in London the following year at the age of 65.

[ABOVE] A newspaper article in the Eastbourne Chronicle, dated 13th October 1894, reporting how Mrs Jane Biron was seized by a "paralytic stroke" during a photographic session at William Atkinson's studio at 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne. Mrs Biron, who was 55 years old, later died from the stroke.

1891 Census : Villa, Ocklynge Road, EASTBOURNE

NAME

OCCUPATION

AGE

PLACE OF BIRTH

Photographer

32

33

5

5

11 months

[ABOVE] The trade plate of William Atkinson, Photographer & Portrait Painter, 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne, taken from the reverse of a carte-de-visite photograph (c1894)

[ABOVE] A vignette portrait of a woman by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1894).Atkinson charged 5s 0d per dozen for his carte-de-visite photographs.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a woman by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1898). Atkinson charged 10s 0d per dozen for his cabinet photographs.

Midget Photographs
[ABOVE] A midget portrait of a girl by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1897). Atkinson charged 3s 6d per dozen for his midget photographs.	[ABOVE] A midget portrait of a young woman wearing a straw boater by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne (c1897).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne. (c1894)

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young child by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne. (c1898)

Acknowledgements

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  George Austin, photographer, of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne (c1900).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne. Negative No. 9,603. (c1904)

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  George Austin, photographer, of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne (c1905).

When the 1881 census was taken, George Edward Austin was residing with his widowed mother and siblings in Green's House, Blackwall, on the western edge of the East India Docks. George's  mother Mrs Frances Austin, a widow of forty-five, is recorded as the Head of Household and she is entered on the census return as a "Housekeeper" or "House Cleaner". On the 1881 census the family name is spelt "Austen" rather than "Austin". George E. Austen (Austin) is described on the census return as a "joiner", aged 17. Francis Austin, George's nineteen year old brother was working as a basket maker, and fifteen year old Alice Austin was employed as a milliner. 

Around 1891, George Austin met Priscilla Massey (born 1857, Sheerness, Kent), the daughter of William Massey, a carpenter. When George Austin met Priscilla she went under the name Oswald, the surname of her common law husband. Priscilla had previously been married to a man named James Heer (Hur). Priscilla was only seventeen when she married James Heer early in 1875 and she had given birth to his daughter Ada some months before the wedding. [ Ada Prilly (Priscilla) Heer was born in the London district of Poplar during the Second Quarter of 1874. Priscilla Massey married James Hur (Heer) in Poplar during the First Quarter of 1875]. By 1878, Priscilla was living with a marine engineer named Oswald - either Henry "Harry" Oswald (born 1856, Stoke-on--Trent) or his younger brother, Thomas "Tom" Heath Oswald (born 1856, Stoke-on--Trent). Priscilla gave birth to a daughter named May Christina Oswald during the 3rd Quarter of 1878. At the time of the 1881 census, Priscilla was living under the name of "Priscilla Oswald" at 99 Abbott Road, London, not far from Cawdor Street, Bromley-by-Bow where George Austin and his family had once lived. "Priscilla Oswald" is described on the census return as a twenty-three year old "Marine Engineer's wife" with two children - six year old Ada Priscilla Oswald (who had been born as Ada Prilly Heer in 1874) and two year old May Christina Oswald, who had been born in Poplar during the 3rd Quarter of 1878. Priscilla is listed as "Head of Household" on the census return because her husband was living away from home ( Harry Oswald and Tom Heath Oswald, who both give their occupation as "Marine Engineer", were lodging at a boarding house in St Mary's, Southampton when the 1881 census was taken.

In 1891, Priscilla "Oswald" was pregnant with George Austin's child. George Austin's daughter was born early in 1892 and the birth was registered by Priscilla, the child's mother, under the name of Florence Austin Oswald during the 1st Quarter of 1892 in the London district of Poplar. George Austin did not marry the mother of his child until 1904.

[ABOVE]  A tinted postcard view of the seaside resort of Eastbourne, where George Austin worked as a photographer from 1894 until around 1922. This view Eastbourne's Parade and seafront was taken from the Wish Tower, the area where George Austin worked as a beach photographer in the mid-1890s.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  George Austin, photographer, of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne (c1918)

George Austin appears to have given up the idea of a full-time career as a carpenter & joiner and by the 1890s he was supplementing his work in the woodworking trade with photography. By 1894, George Austin was working as a beach photographer in the Sussex seaside resort of Eastbourne. In the year 1894, the Eastbourne Watch Committee granted a photography licence to George Austin, permitting him to operate a "Photographic Stand" on Eastbourne's seafront. The Minutes of the Eastbourne Watch Committee records that Photographic Stand No. 2 ,"near The Wish Tower", was granted to "Mr George Austen (sic)" .

Local trade directories show that George Austin was operating a photographic portrait studio at 54 Terminus Road, Eastbourne from around 1896. ( Arthur T. Gill in his survey "Photographers in Eastbourne, 1877-1910" records G. Austin at 54 Terminus Road for the period 1896-1897 ). Around 1899, George Austin established a photographic studio at 70 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, where he was to remain for over twenty years.

The 1901 census records George Austin, his common-law wife Priscilla and their nine year old daughter Florence residing at 70 Seaside Road, Eastbourne. George E. Austin is recorded on the census return as a "Photographer (Employer) at home". Priscilla, who is described on the census return as George Austin's "wife", gives her age as thirty-six, when in fact she was nearly seven years older than her "husband" and approaching her 44th birthday. Florence, the daughter fathered by George Austin, is entered on the census return as Florence Austin, although at the time of her birth in 1892, her name was registered as Florence Austin Oswald. George Austin did not marry Priscilla Austin until the Autumn of 1904. The marriage of George Edward Austin and Mrs Priscilla Heer took place at St Leonard's Church, Bromley-by-Bow on 19th October 1904 (3). On the marriage certificate, Priscilla is described as a "widow", so the couple might have delayed their marriage until there was confirmation that Priscilla's first husband had died. Mr Oswald, Priscilla's common-law husband, had by this time married another woman. [Henry Oswald had married Margaret (Mary) Ellen Mahoney in Liverpool in 1889 and had settled in the welsh town of Newport, while his brother Thomas Heath Oswald had married Louise Bessie Young in 1884 and was living in Wanstead, Essex].

George Austin operated the photographic portrait studio at 70 Seaside Road, Eastbourne from 1899 until around 1922. A local trade directory of 1904 also lists George Austin as the proprietor of a photographic studio at 53d Terminus Road, Eastbourne (George Austin was based at 54 Terminus Road, Eastbourne between 1896 and 1897). George Austin is last recorded as a photographer in Eastbourne in Kelly's 1922 Directory of Sussex. The 1924 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex does not list George Austin under the heading of 'Photographers' in the Trades section of the directory for that year.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a woman standing by a rustic fence by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne. Negative No. 5,518. (c1902)

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman standing by a plant stand, photographed by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne. Negative No.9,713. (c1904)

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a man by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne. (c1902)

George Austin's Boarding House Postcards

[ABOVE] A postcard format photograph of holidaymakers outside an unidentified Eastbourne Boarding House, photographed by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne on 23rd August 1910. The young woman wearing the striped tie, who is featured in the picture postcard opposite, which was taken the week before, poses in the ground floor window of the boarding house.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Brian Partridge]

Between 1904 and 1922, George Austin produced a number of photographic picture postcards, taken at his studio and on location. Austin's speciality appears to have been picture postcards depicting  holiday makers outside boarding houses or small hotels in Eastbourne. George Austin also photographed family groups outside their own homes and took outdoor group portraits of sports teams.

[ABOVE] A postcard format photograph of holidaymakers outside the "Angles", a boarding establishment in Eastbourne, photographed by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne on 14th August 1911.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Brian Partridge]

[ABOVE] A detail from a George Austin picture postcard showing a group of  holidaymakers outside an unidentified Eastbourne boarding house. This group was photographed by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne on 12th September 1913.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Brian Partridge]

[ABOVE] Detail from a picture postcard of holidaymakers outside the Kynance Boarding House, 67 Royal Parade, Eastbourne, photographed by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne on 16th August 1910. The date of the photograph (16-8-10) can be seen in the bottom left-hand corner of the photograph. The young woman wearing the striped tie who is standing in front of the wall on the left, also appears in the picture postcard opposite.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Brian Partridge]

[ABOVE] A detail from George Austin's photograph of the Angles Boarding Establishment in Eastbourne, showing a group of holidaymakers gathered in front of the entrance to the boarding house. The original group photograph was taken on 14th August 1911. (The complete image of the picture postcard is shown in the illustration on the left)

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Brian Partridge]

 

Click on the link below to view a selection of boarding house picture postcards produced by George Austin of Eastbourne between 1910 and 1914 :

George Austin's Photographs of Eastbourne Boarding Houses