Eastbourne - Isard

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Professional Photographers in Eastbourne ( I )

 E. Stanley Inchbold  - Alfred John Isard - Isard's Studio

 Edward Stanley Inchbold (1855 -1921)

Edward Stanley Inchbold, generally known as E. Stanley Inchbold or Stanley Inchbold, was born in Greenwich in 1855 [birth registered in the District of Greenwich during the Second Quarter of 1855]. E. Stanley Inchbold was the son of Ann and Thomas Mawson Inchbold (1818-1874), who was from the North Riding of Yorkshire and was possibly related to the Pre-Raphaelite landscape painter John William Inchbold (1830-1888).

E. Stanley Inchbold began his working life as a school teacher in East Barnet, Hertfordshire. In the 1881 census E. Stanley Inchbold is recorded as an assistant "Teacher Schoolmaster", aged 25 at Cowley College, East Barnet. Stanley Inchbold studied art under Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914), the famous German-born painter of portraits and social realist subjects who had opened his own art school at Bushey, Hertfordshire in 1883.

From 1884, E. Stanley Inchbold exhibited his paintings at the leading art galleries in London, including the Royal Academy, the Fine Art Society and the exhibitions organized by the New Watercolour Society. Stanley Inchbold was primarily a landscape painter and he spent much of his life travelling in Europe, the United States, North Africa and the Middle East. In the late 1880s, Inchbold was living in North America.

Although he was mainly known for his landscapes in watercolour, E. Stanley Inchbold was also a photographer. Around 1887, during his stay in America, Stanley Inchbold joined forces with Edgar Fleming (1859-1938), a London-born photographer who had emigrated to British Columbia. In 1887, the photographic firm of Inchbold & Fleming was based in Government Street, Victoria, British Columbia. By 1888, Inchbold had moved on to California, where he remained for the next few years.

During this period of travel, Edward Stanley Inchbold married. His wife, Mrs A. Cunnick Inchbold (born c1860), was a romantic novelist and travel writer who accompanied her husband on journeys to Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Portugal. Mrs A. Cunnick Inchbold later wrote two travel books based on their experiences abroad, Under the Syrian Sun (1906) and Lisbon and Cintra (1907), both of which were illustrated in colour by her husband Stanley.

By 1910, E. Stanley Inchbold had settled in Eastbourne and was living at 59d Tideswell Road when Kelly's 1911 Directory of Sussex was compiled. For a brief time, E. Stanley Inchbold worked as a photographer in Eastbourne.

[ABOVE] The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, a watercolour painting by E.Stanley Inchbold (c1903)

Alfred John Isard  (1862-1906)

Alfred John Isard was born in Eastbourne in 1862, the son of Joseph and Caroline Isard [ Alfred's birth was registered in Eastbourne during the First Quarter of 1862 ]. Alfred's father, Joseph Isard (1826-1872) was originally from South Malling, near Lewes, where he worked as a plumber and painter. In 1854, Joseph Isard married Caroline Hillman (born 1824, Lewes). At the time of his marriage to Caroline, Joseph Isard was running a plumbing and painting business with William Berry at Malling Street, South Malling. The partnership of Berry & Isard was dissolved sometime before 1858 when Joseph and Caroline Isard moved to Eastbourne. Four children were born to the Isards in Eastbourne - Caroline (born 1858), Amy Esther (born 1860), Alfred John (1862) and Edith Sarah Isard (born 1867). Soon after his arrival in Eastbourne, Joseph Isard started up his own plumbing & painting business in the town. In Melville & Co.'s Directory & Gazetteer of Sussex, published in 1858, Joseph Isard is listed as a "painter, plumber and glazier" at 4 Alma Place, Seaside Road, Eastbourne. Melville's Directory records Mrs Caroline Isard, at the same address, but Joseph's wife is shown as the proprietor of a "Berlin wool and fancy repository". The 1866 edition of the Post Office Directory of Sussex still lists Joseph Isard as a "painter, plumber and glazier" at 4 Alma Place, but adds that he was now an Agent for the London & General Plate Glass Insurance Company. The Fancy Repository was still housed at 4 Alma Place, Seaside Road. During the 1870s, the row of six houses that formed Alma Place became absorbed by Seaside Road. The businesses in Alma Place were renumbered 43 to 48 Seaside Road. The Isard's house at 4 Alma Place became 46 Seaside Road.

Joseph Isard, Alfred's father, died in Eastbourne on 15th March 1872 at the age of 45.Mrs Caroline Isard was already running a "Berlin wool, toy and fancy repository at 46 Seaside Road (formerly 4 Alma Place), where she sold " a large assortment of children's books, toys, buckets, dolls, etc". On the death of her husband, Mrs Isard became the owner of his plumbing and painting business. In the Post Office Directory of Sussex, published in 1878, Mrs Caroline Isard is listed at 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne with the description, "Plumber & Berlin wool, toy & fancy repository".

 

A. J. Isard  - Photographer in Eastbourne

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Alfred John Isard of 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, as displayed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite portrait (c1888).

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a unknown man by Alfred John Isard of 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne.( Dated "June, 1897")

[ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite showing the trade plate of  Alfred John Isard of 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne (c1897).

By the time the 1881 census was taken, Mrs Isard's only son, Alfred John Isard, had found employment in a local photographic studio. In the 1881 census, Mrs Isard and three of her four children are recorded at 46 Seaside Road. Mrs Caroline Isard, then aged fifty-six, is described as "Painter, Plumber etc." and is entered as the "Head of Household". Nineteen year old Alfred J. Isard gave his occupation as "Photographer's Apprentice". Two of Alfred's sisters - Amy, aged 20, and fourteen year old Edith - are also shown at 46 Seaside Road. (Alfred's eldest sister Caroline was away from home visiting friends in Newington, Surrey on the evening of the census).

Around 1887, after serving his apprenticeship in another photographer's studio, Alfred Isard established his own photography business at the family home in Seaside Road. Alfred John Isard is listed as a photographer with a studio at 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, in the commercial section of Kelly's 1887 Directory of Sussex.

In the 1891 census, Alfred John Isard is recorded at 46 Seaside Road as a "Photographer (Employer)", aged 29. Alfred's youngest sister, Edith Sarah Isard is described on the census return as a twenty-four year old "Photographer's Assistant" and was probably, at that time, Alfred's only employee. Alfred's mother, Mrs Caroline Isard still appears as the Head of Household and is entered on the census return as a "Plumber & Painter (Employer)", aged 66.

Alfred Isard was in business as a photographer at 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, for almost twenty years. The studio of Alfred J. Isard is listed in Kelly's Post Office Directory of Sussex in 1903, but within two years both Alfred and the sister who assisted him in the studio at 46 Seaside Road were dead. Edith Sarah Isard died during the Second Quarter of 1904 at the age of thirty-seven. Alfred John Isard died in Eastbourne on 12th February 1906 at the age of 44. Like his father before him, Alfred Isard had died in his early forties. Alfred's mother, however, lived a long life. Mrs Caroline Isard passed away in Eastbourne on 21st April 1918 at the advanced age of 94.

Cabinet Portraits by A. J. Isard of Eastbourne

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a man wearing horse riding outfit by A. J. Isard of 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of  a young boy with a fishing net by A. J. Isard of 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne.

 

Click on the link below to view carte-de-visite portraits by Alfred John Isard

Alfred John Isard - Photographic Gallery

Izard's Studio (Isard's Studio)

[ABOVE] Detail from the reverse of the postcard portrait of the young woman shown on the right. The stamp has been stuck over the photographer's credit, but the details look like "Izard's Studio, 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne". The stamp is postmarked "Eastbourne" and carries the date of August 8th, 1906.

Isard's Studio at 46 Seaside Road

Alfred John Isard, the founder of the photographic studio at 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, was in business at this address from around 1887 until his death some nineteen years later. There is some evidence that the studio at No. 46 continued under the name of "Isard's Studio" or "Izard's Studio" for a few years after the death of Alfred Isard which occurred on 12th February 1906. A postcard portrait of a young woman (see right), postmarked on 8th August 1906, carries the photographer's credit "IZARD'S STUDIO, 46 SEASIDE ROAD, EASTBOURNE". It appears that a photographic artist named Joseph Robert Lizars (born 1872, Islington, London), who had previously worked as a professional photographer in Bournemouth, had joined Alfred Isard at his Eastbourne studio before the end of 1905. Alfred Isard had died in February 1906, yet Kelly's 1907 Directory of Sussex, which would have been compiled during 1906, still lists Alfred J. Isard as a photographer at 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne. It seems that Joseph Lizars took over the ownership of the studio in Seaside Road on the death of his fellow photographer in 1906. It appears that Alfred Isard had never married and that there were no sons or daughters to inherit the photography business. Alfred Isard may have treated Joseph Lizars like a member of the family and it might be significant that Joseph Lizar's fourth child, who was born in 1908, was named Kenneth Isard Lizars, perhaps in honour of the recently departed photographer.

In some local trade directories published between 1906 and 1909, the business premises at 26 Seaside Road is entered as "Isard's Studio". The postcard portrait of the young woman pictured on the right is stamped, in red ink, "IZARD'S STUDIO, 46 SEASIDE ROAD, EASTBOURNE". The trading name of Izard's Studio could be a nice combination of the two photographers' surnames - Isard and Lizars. When Kelly's Directory of Sussex was published in 1909, J. R. Lizars was shown as the proprietor of Isard's former studio at 46 Seaside Road. According to Kelly's Directory of Sussex, Joseph Lizars was still occupying the studio in Seaside Road in 1911. By 1915, a photographer named Lionel Brooker had taken possession of the studio at 46 Seaside Road.

 

[ABOVE] A postcard portrait of a young woman by Izard's Studio of 46 Seaside Road, Eastbourne.(Postmarked "Eastbourne August 8th 1906")

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Jim Isard of Horley, Surrey who has kindly provided details of the Isard Family. Jim Isard has his own website devoted to the Isard families of Sussex, Kent and Surrey. See Jim's website at :

ISARD FAMILY HISTORY

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