[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,

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. (c1894)

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

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a woman by William Atkinson of 67 Grove Road, Eastbourne. (c1898)

[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)

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

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

George Austin was still living in the Bromley-by-Bow area of London in the early 1890s. George Austin's daughter Florence Austin was born in Bromley-by-Bow in 1892. [ The birth of Amelia Florence Austin was registered in the London district of Poplar during the 1st Quarter of 1892 ].

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 and his family living at 70 Seaside Road, Eastbourne. George E. Austin is recorded as a "Photographer (Employer) at home" on the census return. Also residing in the living quarters attached to the studio at 70 Seaside Road was George's thirty-six year old wife Priscilla, who was born at Sheerness in Kent around 1865, and their nine year old daughter Florence. [ At the time of the 1901 census, Priscilla Austin may have been George Austin's common-law wife. The marriage of George Edward Austin and Priscilla Heer was registered in George's home district of Poplar during the 4th Quarter of 1904 ].

George Austin operated the photographic 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 cabinet portrait of a man by George Austin of 70 Seaside, Eastbourne. (c1902)