[ABOVE] A portrait of Henry Blomfield (1817-1889) and Elizabeth Eldridge (1822-1890) painted in 1840 by John Edward Eldridge (1824-1847), Elizabeth's 16 year old brother. The portrait of the couple was painted around the time of their marriage in November 1840, a few months before they sailed for Jamaica to work as Baptist missionary teachers.

 [PHOTO: Courtesy of Patrick Blomfield]

The name of Blomfield was attached to a photography business in Hastings for over sixty years. William Knibb Blomfield and his younger brother John Henry Blomfield acquired the studio of Ayles & Bonniwell at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings in 1867. John Henry Blomfied was still in charge of the photography business at 44 Robertson Street in 1928, at the age of seventy-eight.

William and John Blomfield were the sons of Henry Blomfield (1817-1889) and Elizabeth Eldridge (1822-1890). William and John's parents were Baptists. Henry Blomfield was born in Finsbury in North London on 9th April 1817, the son of Samuel Blomfield, a London cutler or knife-maker. Elizabeth Eldridge was born in Hastings on 23rd April 1822, the daughter of Edward and Sarah Eldridge. When William Knibb (1803-1845), a Baptist missionary and anti-slavery campaigner, toured England to speak of his educational work in the Caribbean island of Jamaica and to recruit teachers for the Baptist Missionary Society, Elizabeth was inspired to volunteer as a missionary teacher. The black slaves on the island of Jamaica had recently gained their freedom and William Knibb believed it was essential that they received the benefits of formal education. William Knibb had pledged "never to rest satisfied, until I see my black brethren in the enjoyment of the same civil and religious liberties which I myself enjoy ". Elizabeth Eldridge and her friend Henry Blomfield both decided to follow William Knibb's example and work as school teachers in Jamaica. Elizabeth Eldridge would not be allowed to travel to Jamaica as a single woman and so she and Henry Blomfield were married on 5th November 1840 at the Croft Chapel, a Non-Conformist church located in Gloucester Place, Hastings.

Henry and Elizabeth Blomfield arrived in Jamaica in 1841 and taught at a Baptist mission in the north-western part of the island near the impenetrable region called Cockpit Country. The couple's first child was born in Jamaica on 8th April 1842 and he was given the name William Knibb Blomfield in honour of William Knibb, the Baptist missionary who had persuaded them to teach in Jamaica. A second son, Henry, was born in 1844, but he died a couple of years later. William and Elizabeth's third child, Sarah Eldridge Blomfield, was born in Jamaica in 1846. After their son Henry died in 1846, William and Henry Blomfield decided to return to England with their two surviving children.

Henry Blomfield and his family returned to England in 1847. A second daughter, Barbara Mary Blomfield, was born in Hastings in 1848 [birth registered in Hastings during the June Quarter of 1848]. Henry Blomfield  and his family then moved to New Romney, Kent, where he apparently worked as a Baptist Minister. Elizabeth gave birth to three more sons while the Blomfield family were residing in New Romney - John Henry Blomfield [birth registered in the Romney Marsh district during the June Quarter of 1850 ], Edwin Henry Blomfield, who was born on 2nd March 1852, and Alfred Samuel Blomfield, who was born early in 1854, but died before reaching his first birthday [Alfred's death was registered in the Romney Marsh district during the December Quarter of 1854].

Around 1856, Henry and Elizabeth Blomfield, together with their five surviving children, returned to Hastings in Sussex. The family moved into 1 Clarence Terrace, in the Ore district of Hastings. The couple decided to set up a Boarding & Day School at their new home and, on 14th March 1856, they placed the following advertisement in the Hastings & St Leonards News :

When the 1861 census was taken, the Blomfields were still using their house in Clarence Terrace as a Boarding & Day School. A total of six pupils are shown listed as boarders at No 1 Clarence Terrace. In the census return, Henry Blomfield is described as a "Baptist Minister", aged 44. There had been two more additions to the Blomfield family since they had set up home in Ore, Hastings - Elizabeth Hannah Blomfield (known as "Lizzie"), who had been born in 1858, and George Wills Blomfield, born on 18th March 1860. The last two members of the family were also born at Clarence Terrace - Edward Eldridge Blomfield, born in 1862, and Thomas Nevill Blomfield, who was born in Ore in 1864.

By 1867, the Blomfields had moved the location of their school to 6 Cavendish Terrace, Hastings. In the commercial section of Kelly's Post Office Directory of 1867, Reverend Henry Blomfield is listed as the proprietor of a boarding & day school at 6 Cavendish Terrace, Hastings.

[ABOVE] A photograph of the Blomfield family at their home in Hastings in 1868, a picture presumably taken by John Henry Blomfield. William Knibb Blomfield, the other photographer in the family, is the bearded figure standing in the doorway at the top of the steps.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of  Edward Archer]

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Messrs W. & J. Blomfield, Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1867). The Blomfield brothers had adapted the former trade plate of Ayles & Bonniwell and the latter's claim to be "Photographists to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales" was retained by William and John Blomfield. The brothers also kept the Prince's heraldic badge, featuring three ostrich feathers, to indicate royal patronage.

William and John Blomfield charged 8 shillings for a dozen cartes-de visite and five shillings for a half-dozen cartes. (Cartes-de-visite were small portrait photographs which measured roughly 4 inches by 2 1/2 inches). The Blomfield brothers' prices were higher than average. The photographer Francis Ross Wells, who had a studio at No 52 Robertson Street, Hastings, charged 6 shillings for twelve carte-de-visite portraits - the same price charged at the studio of Edwin Whiteman at 52 High Street, Hastings and John Wesley Thomas at 45 George Street, Hastings.

The Blomfields were also innovators, being amongst the first studios in Sussex to offer portraits in the new Cabinet size. In 1867, W. & J. Blomfield were offering a dozen of the "New Cabinet Portraits" for 30 shillings (The larger cabinet format, measuring approximately 4 1/4 inches by 6 1/2 inches, had only been introduced by Frederick Richard Window in 1866).

[ABOVE] An early advertisement for Messrs W. & J. Blomfield, Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings, published in the Hastings & St Leonards News on 6th December 1867. The 'Cartes' mentioned in this advert were cartes-de-visite, small photographs measuring 10.5 cm by 6.3 cm, the most popular format in the 1860s. The 'New Cabinet Portraits' were in a larger format, 16.6 cm x 10.6 cm. The Cabinet Portrait had only been introduced the year before, in 1866, by the London photographer F. R. Window. The studio of  W & J Blomfield was one of the first firms in Sussex to provide photographic portraits in the new Cabinet format.

At the end of 1870, William Blomfield and John Blomfield  vacated the studio at 44 Robertson Street, letting it out to the photographer Edmund James Eyres (c1833-1910). The Blomfield brothers continued to work as photographers, but used the family home at 6 Shornden Villas in Bohemia Road, St Leonards as their base. Without their well-equipped studio in Trinity House, the Blomfields concentrated more on outdoor work. Messrs Blomfield now styled themselves as "Landscape & Portrait Photographers" and were more likely to make a journey to the homes of their customers or carry out outdoor commissions than produce formal portraits in a studio setting.

When the 1871 census was taken, William K. Blomfield was recorded as an "Artist Photographer" residing at 6 Shornden Villas, St. Leonards with his mother and seven of his siblings. William's younger brother John Henry Blomfield was "on the road" in his new role as a travelling photographer. During the 1871 census, John Blomfield was working some 7 miles away in the village of Sedlescombe, lodging at the house of George Beney, a local grocer. In the census return John Blomfield is described as a "Photographic Artist", aged 20.

In 1872, Edmund James Eyres left 44 Robertson Street and moved into a studio at 21 White Rock, Hastings. John Henry Blomfield returned to the Trinity House studio and ran the business under the name of John Blomfield & Co. His brother William Blomfield was in poor health and so he retired from the business and eventually travelled back to Jamaica, the island of his birth.

Cartes-de-visite by William & John Blomfield of 6 Shornden Villas, St. Leonards (1870-72)

[ABOVE] A portrait of a young man, photographed by Messrs Blomfield either at the subject's home or in the back yard the photographers' premises at 6 Shornden Villas, St Leonards on Sea. During the period 1870 to 1872, the Blomfields concentrated on outdoor work, producing portraits on location, topographical views and photographs of buildings.

 In 1847, the Blomfield family returned to England. William Knibb Blomfield trained as a watchmaker and when the 1861 census was taken he is described as an "Apprentice Watchmaker", aged 19. Towards the end of 1867, at the age of twenty-five, William Knibb Blomfield entered into a business partnership with his younger brother, seventeen year old John Henry Blomfield, and acquired the photographic studio of Ayles & Bonniwell in Robertson Street, Hastings. The photographic studio of Messrs. W. & J. Blomfield at Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings opened towards the end of 1867. The brothers occupied the studio until the end of 1870, when they let it out to the photographer Edmund James Eyres (c1833-1910). William and John Blomfield were still in business as landscape and portrait photographers in 1870, but they based themselves at their family home at 6 Shornden Villas, St. Leonards-on-Sea. By this time, William Knibb Blomfield was probably weakened by tuberculosis of the lungs and would have found it easier to work from home rather than travel to the former studio in Hastings. In the 1871 census return, William K. Blomfield is recorded at 6 Shornden Villas, St. Leonards with his mother and seven of his siblings. Twenty-eight year old William gives his occupation as "Artist Photographer" on the 1871 census return.

John Blomfield returned to the studio at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings in 1872, but it appears that around this time William Knibb Blomfield travelled to the West Indies with his sister Barbara Mary Blomfield. William Blomfield was suffering from consumption and perhaps it was thought that a stay on the island of Jamaica, the place of his birth, would improve his health.

By the beginning of 1878, William Blomfield was back in Sussex at St. Leonards-on-Sea. He went to live with his mother and father, who were running a lodging house at 1 Magdalen Terrace, St. Leonards. William's health continued to decline and on 18th March 1878, at the age of thirty-five, he died at the family home in Magdalen Terrace. A notice in a local newspaper regarding William Knibb Blomfield's funeral on 30th March 1878, mentioned that "Rev. A. F. Benwell, preached in Emmanuel Church, a very impressive sermon on the death of W. K. Blomfield, who had died from consumption on his return from Jamaica."

[ABOVE] A portrait of William Knibb Blomfield (1842-1878), probably photographed by his younger brother John Henry Blomfield around 1868. The senior partner in the firm of W.& J. Blomfield , Photographic Artists, of Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings, William was forced to retire from the business when he became ill with consumption. He left Hastings & St Leonards to travel to Jamaica, where he hoped to recover his health, but he died from consumption on his return to England.

 [PHOTO: Courtesy of Patrick Blomfield]

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Messrs. W. & J. Blomfield, photographists  of  Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1868). William Knibb Blomfield and his younger brother John Henry Blomfield (1850-1928) purchased the photographic studio at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings, previously owned by Charles Cave Ayles and his half  brother William Cave Bonniwell.

[ABOVE] William Knibb Blomfield (1842-1878), photographed at his photographic studio in 1868.

[ABOVE] A portrait of John Henry Blomfield (1850-1928), a detail from a family group  photograph taken in 1868, when John was eighteen years of age.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Edward Archer]

[ABOVE] A report on the death of John Henry Blomfield junior (1884-1898) which appeared in The Sussex Express on 25th June 1898.

[ABOVE] A view of Wellington Square, Hastings (c1910). John Blomfield and his family resided at No 41 Wellington Square from around 1899 to 1907.

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Edward Fraser]

John Blomfield was keenly interested in photography and at the age of seventeen he combined forces with his older brother, William Knibb Blomfield (see above), to form the photography firm of Messrs W. & J. Blomfield. In 1867, the brothers purchased the photographic studio of Ayles & Bonniwell at Trinity House, Robertson Street, Hastings. The brothers used their funds to make alterations and improvements to the studio, yet 3 years later they let out the studio to  Eyres & Co, a firm of photographers headed by Edmund James Eyres (c1833-1910).

John Blomfield continued to work as a professional photographer, but he was now based at 6 Shornden Villas, Bohemia Road, St Leonards, the family home. John Blomfield spent much of his time travelling around the county carrying out commissions and photographing views of the landscape and buildings of interest. The 1871 census records the twenty year old "Photographic Artist" lodging with a family in Sedlescombe, a village seven miles north of John Blomfield's home.

Around 1873, John Blomfield returned to his former studio at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings. Edmund Eyres had vacated Trinity House to establish a photographic studio at 21 White Rock Place. John Blomfield was to be the studio proprietor at 44 Robertson street for the next 55 years.

In 1881, John Blomfield was living with his brothers and sisters at 1 Magdalen Terrace, Hastings ( a row of houses along Bohemia Road which were demolished around 1971). John Blomfield is entered on the 1881 census return as 'Head of Household' as both of his parents were away visiting friends ( Elizabeth Blomfield was in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire and Henry Blomfield was staying with William Hawkes, an "Army Scripture Reader", in Hougham, Kent ). John Blomfield is recorded on the census return as an unmarried "Artist Photographer", aged 30.

In 1882, John Henry Blomfield married Mary Elizabeth Grace Hoffmann (born c1859, Carlow, Co. Down, Ireland). Mary Hoffmann was the grand-daughter of Mrs Mary Browne, an army officer's widow, who was a neighbour of the Blomfield family. In 1881, Mrs Browne and her daughters were living at 4 Magdalen Terrace, St Leonards, just a few doors away from the Blomfield family. In the 1881 census return, Mary Hoffman (Hoffmann) is described as a twenty-two year old "Docker's daughter", but this may have been a transcription error, given that her mother's sister was married to a clergyman and her grandmother's husband had been an army officer. John Henry Blomfield and Mary Hoffmann were married in London in 1882 ( marriage registered in the Hackney District during the March Quarter of 1882). John Blomfield was thirty-one years old at the time of his marriage. According to the details in the 1881 census return, Mary Hoffmann would have been around twenty-three when she wed John, but other sources indicate she might have been only eighteen or nineteen years of age.

John and Mary Blomfield's first child, William Arthur Blomfield was born in 1883 [birth registered in the Hastings district during the March Quarter of 1883]. A second boy, John ('Jack') Henry Blomfield was born the following year [birth registered in the Hastings district during the December Quarter of 1884]. The couple's third son, Edwin Hoffmann Blomfield was born towards the end of 1886 [birth registered in the Hastings district during the December Quarter of 1886]. The three sons were followed by three daughters - Gladys (Gwladys) Muriel Blomfield [birth registered in the Hastings district during the March Quarter of 1888], Mary Barbara Blomfield [birth registered in the Hastings district during the March Quarter of 1890], and Elizabeth Eldridge Blomfield [birth registered in the Hastings district during the March Quarter of 1894]. William and Mary's youngest son, George Peter Blomfield was born around 1896.

John and Mary Blomfield set up home at 43 Cornwallis Terrace, Hastings. John Blomfield, his wife Mary and their five children are recorded at this address in the 1891 census. John H. Blomfield is described in the census return as a "Photographic Artist", aged 40.

By 1899, John Blomfield and his family had moved to 41 Wellington Square, Hastings. In the space of two years, John and Mary Blomfield had lost two children. In June 1898, their second eldest son, John Henry Blomfield junior, affectionately known as 'Jack', was killed by a cricket ball in a freak accident. Jack, who was only 13, was hit in the chest by the cricket ball while batting during cricket practice and the impact caused his heart to stop. Early in the following year, John Blomfield's youngest daughter Elizabeth Blomfield (known as 'Bessie'), died at the age of four [death registered in Hastings during the March Quarter of 1899]. By 1901, John Blomfield's eldest child, William Arthur Blomfield, had left the family home ( William Arthur Blomfield married in 1910). The 1901 census return records John and Mary Blomfield at 41 Wellington Square, Hastings. Four children are listed - Edwin (aged 14), Gladys [Gwladys] (aged 13), Mary Barbara (aged 12) and George, who was only 5 years of age. John H. Blomfield is described on the census return as an "Artist Photographer (Employer)", aged 51.

John Henry Blomfield continued in business as a photographer at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings until April 1928, when he retired due to ill-health. John Henry Blomfield died at his home at Clarence Villa, 124 Old London Road on Sunday, 26th August 1928, aged 78.

Four of John H. Blomfield's Children

[Left to right] Edwin Hoffmann Blomfield (b1886),who emigrated to New Zealand ; Gwladys Muriel Blomfield (b1888) ;  Mary Barbara Blomfield (b1890) and George Peter Blomfield (born c1896), the youngest of John Blomfield's children.                                                                                                             [PHOTOS : Courtesy of Patrick Blomfield]

John Henry Blomfield returned to his former studio at Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings around 1873. Although John Blomfield had been away from his studio in Robertson Street for twelve months or more, he had kept a note of all the eminent sitters that had patronised the Trinity House studio in the past. An advertisement published early in 1874 promised to supply " Price Lists containing the names of the Royal, Noble and distinguished personages who have been photographed at this studio." The list of notable customers was lengthy and included H. R. H. the Prince of Wales, Princess Mary Adelaide - the Duchess of Teck, Duke Franz of Teck, Reginald Windsor Sackville - the 7th Earl de la Warr and Bertram Ashburnham - the Fifth Earl of Ashburnham. Over the next twenty years, Blomfield's studio continued to attract a number of distinguished sitters including Thomas Brassey MP and his wife Lady Anna Brassey, Gilbert Sackville - the 8th Earl de la Warr  and William Lucas Shadwell, MP for Hastings.

Initially, the studio at Trinity House went under the name of Messrs William & John Blomfield & Co., but by the end of 1874 the studio was listed in trade directories solely under the name of John Blomfield. In the mid-1870s, carte-de-visite portraits from the Trinity House studio in Robertson Street carry the business title of Blomfield & Co. After about 1880, the firm went under the title "J. H. Blomfield, Art Photographer", although in newspaper advertisements, John H. Blomfield is occasionally given the full billing of "Photographic Artist, Miniature and Portrait Painter". There is little evidence to suggest that John Blomfield was a professional portrait painter as well as a professional photographer. The description of John Blomfield as a "Miniature and Portrait Painter" refers to the studio's practice of either colouring the small carte-de-visite portraits to produce painted "miniatures" or making "permanent enlargements" from the original photograph and then having the enlarged picture "coloured in Crayons, Water, or Oil Colours".

From around 1883, John Henry Blomfield added the title of "Royal Studio" to his business premises at Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings. From around 1895, J. H. Blomfield added the words "Royal Studios, Hastings" to the name plate of his studio photographs.

[ABOVE] A portrait of an unknown young man, photographed by Blomfield & Co., Trinity House, Hastings (c1878). During this period Blomfield & Co. registered copyright on every photographic portrait taken at the Trinity House Studio. A "copyright" notice would normally suggest that the sitter was a a well-known figure or local celebrity, but this was not the case with the portraits registered by Blomfield & Co. in the 1870s.

[ABOVE] The trade plate design used by Blomfield & Co. a few years after the firm returned to the Trinity House studio around 1873. Note that Blomfield & Co. describe themselves as "Artist Photographers" and "Miniature & Portrait Painters" and that cartes and cabinet portraits were "coloured to order". It was common practice in the 1870s to produce portrait paintings based on photographic images.

John Henry Blomfield was a photographer who embraced every new innovation in photography, pioneering new photographic formats and photographic novelties such as electric lights and Roentgen's X-ray photographs.

In 1867, John Blomfield's studio had been one of the first studios in Sussex to offer the recently introduced "Cabinet Portrait". The Cabinet Portrait, a larger format for portrait photography, had first been introduced by the London photographer Frederick Richard Window in 1866. F. R. Window believed the larger dimensions of the 'cabinet print'  would enable the professional photographer to demonstrate his technical and artistic skill and produce portraits of a higher quality than the small carte-de-visite would allow. The cabinet portrait format was a photographic print measuring 4 inches by 5 1/2 inches (approximately 10.2 cm x 14.1 cm) mounted on a sturdy card measuring 4 1/4 inches by 6 1/2 inches. (roughly 11cm x 17cm). As soon as John Henry Blomfield and his brother William Knibb Blomfield took over the photographic studio at Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings in 1867, they offered "The New Cabinet Portraits" at 30 shillings per dozen.

John Henry Blomfield was a great innovator, ensuring that all the latest formats of photograph and all the new photographic techniques were available to his customers. In addition to the established formats of carte-de-visite and the cabinet card, Blomfield offered a range of portrait sizes including the Boudoir (8 1/2 inches x 5 1/4 inches), the Victoria (3 1/4 x 5 inches), the Imperial (7 inches x 10 inches), the Promenade (7 1/2 inches x 4 inches), the Panel Print (8 1/4 inches x 4 inches) and the Panel Card (13 inches x 7 1/2 inches). In 1883, J. H. Blomfield was one of the first studios in Sussex to produce "Midget Cartes", small portrait photographs measuring 3 inches by 1 5/8 inches. These "new size" midget cartes sold for 4s 6d a dozen.

Midget Photographs

[ RIGHT] A "midget carte" portrait of a young woman produced at John Henry Blomfield's photographic studio at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1888). The Midget Carte, was a tiny photographic portrait mounted on a small card measuring 3 inches in height. John Henry Blomfield also produced an even smaller "midget" photograph, which was just over two inches high [SEE LEFT].

Around 1886, John Blomfield became the second Hastings photographer to use electric lighting. (The first studio in Hastings to employ electricity appears to have been the studio of Boning & Small of Verulam Place. Robert Boning and Charles James Small made a public announcement that they were "now using the Electric Light in their new studio, opposite the Pier", in July 1884.) Blomfield used electric lighting not so much to dramatically improve the quality of his photographs, but to extend his business hours and to enable his customers to have their portraits taken in the evening. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Blomfield's Electric Light Studio was open in the evening from 8 pm to 10 pm for the convenience of those customers who were otherwise "engaged " during the day and for others who wanted to be photographed in "Evening Dress" and "Fancy Dress". Blomfield mentions in his publicity for the Electric Light Studio that the electric lamps could also be used to create "novel effects in Light and Shade." An advertisement for Blomfield's Electric Light Studio, published in 1890, informed the public that evening photographs were "taken by powerful Electric Arc Lamps, but the light is so diffused that the sitter feels no unpleasant glare".

John Blomfield regularly introduced novelty items, such as Autogram Portraits and Roentgen images. Autogram Portraits were small oval photographic portraits with adhesive backs, which could be attached to personal stationery, books, Christmas cards, wedding invitations, business cards and so on. These Autogram Portraits were supplied in large numbers, costing five shillings for fifty, 7s 6d for one hundred and 42 shillings for one thousand.

Another rather surprising novelty on offer at Blomfield's studio in the late 1890s was the Roentgen X-ray Photograph. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) had discovered the phenomena of X-rays and produced experimental radiographs in 1895.  Roentgen had made X-ray photographs of his wife's hand and published the pictures of the skeletal hand wearing a wedding ring. Presumably, Blomfield produced similar X-ray photographs for his customers.

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a married couple photographed by John Henry Blomfield of Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1890). The Cabinet card, a larger format for portrait photography, was introduced by the London photographer Frederick Richard Window in 1866. The cabinet portrait format was a photographic print measuring 4 inches by 5 1/2 inches (approximately 10.2 cm x 14.1 cm) mounted on a sturdy card measuring 4 1/4 inches by 6 1/2 inches. (roughly 11cm x 17cm). As soon as John Henry Blomfield and his brother William took over the photographic studio at Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings in 1867, they offered "The New Cabinet Portraits" at 30 shillings per dozen. Much larger than the carte-de-visite, the size of the cabinet format made it particularly suitable for couples, groups and family portraits.

[ABOVE] An early radiograph produced in 1896 by the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, showing an X-ray image of a human hand.	[ABOVE] Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) the German physicist who detected a form of electromagnetic radiation which could produce X-ray images of the human body.

John H. Blomfield : Founder Member of the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society

[ABOVE] Notices in the Hastings & St Leonards News published during October 1888 giving details of the inaugural meeting of the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society which took place at the Hastings School of Art, Claremont, on Monday, 22nd October 1888. The photographer John Henry Blomfield was a founder member of  the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society but he was unable to attend the inaugural meeting at the School of Art.

The Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society was open to "all interested in Photography, Amateur or Professional". Mr Wilson Noble, M. P. for Hastings and "an enthusiastic photographer" was appointed President of the Society. Over thirty people attended the inaugural meeting, the majority of whom were amateur photographers. Among the amateur photographers who gathered at the School of Art were a bookseller, a brewery manager, a printer and at least four clergymen. About a quarter of the membership of the Hastings and St Leonards Photographic Society were professional photographers. The professional photographers who attended the inaugural meeting included George William Bradshaw, Henry Bultz, Henry J. Godbold, Melancthon Moore, George Pearson, Charles Ash Talbot and William A. Thomas.

[LEFT] A detail from a newspaper account of the inaugural meeting of the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society which was published in the Hastings & St Leonards News on Friday 26th October 1888, which mentions the letter of apology sent by the Hastings photographer John Henry Blomfield. This indicates that although John Blomfield was involved in the setting up of the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society, he was unable to attend the Photographic Society's inaugural meeting.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Messrs Blomfield & Co, Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings, published in the Hastings & St Leonards Times on 17th August 1878. This advertisement shows the range of photographic formats and services provided by Blomfield in the 1870s.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for J. H. Blomfield, Art Photographer, Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings, published in the Hastings & St Leonards Times on 4th January 1890. Blomfield first installed electric lights at his studio around 1886, mainly to extend his business hours and to allow his customers to sit for their portraits before going on to an evening engagement, such as a fancy dress party, a ball or a dinner party.

[ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite produced by J. H. Blomfield of 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1888). Twenty years on, Blomfield has retained the basic back design first used by Ayles & Bonniwell around 1865.The publicity featured on this cdv refers to Blomfield's Electric Light and Daylight Studios. Blomfield introduced electric lighting for "Special Evening Photography" around 1886. Blomfield abandoned the traditional design, which featured the three feathers of the Prince of Wales, around 1890. From 1890 to around 1900, the studio of J. H. Blomfield used black card mounts with plain backs and gold edges. The name of the studio appeared on the front in gold lettering. (see below)

[ABOVE] Two views of John Blomfield's studio at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings. The bottom view shows the luxurious reception area, with many examples of Blomfield's framed portraiture on display. The top picture shows the studio itself with its cameras, reflectors and electric lights. Illustration from "Views and Reviews" (c1900).

[ABOVE] The trade plate design used by the photographer J. H. Blomfield in the late 1890s. From around 1895 John Henry Blomfield's business premises at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings went under the name of the Royal Studios, Hastings.

From around 1895, John Henry Blomfield's business premises at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings went under the name of the Royal Studios, Hastings. The firm of J. Blomfield & Co. retained the name of Royal Studios, Hastings until John Henry Blomfield, the founder of the business, retired in 1928.

[ABOVE] The trade plate design used by J. Blomfield & Co.'s Royal Studios in Hastings (c1927)

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Richard Hemery]

In April 1922, Mary Elizabeth Grace Blomfield, John Blomfield's wife, died in Hastings at the age of 60. John Henry Blomfield continued in business as a photographer at 44 Robertson Street, Hastings until April 1928, when he retired due to ill-health. John Henry Blomfield died at his home at Clarence Villa, 124 Old London Road on Sunday, 26th August 1928, aged 78. Obituaries in the local press mention John Blomfield's genial, but retiring, disposition and his keen interest in painting and chess.

[ABOVE] John Henry Blomfield's obituary, published in the Hastings & St Leonards Observer on 1st September 1928.

John Henry Blomfield was survived by three sons - Captain William Arthur Blomfield, Edwin Hoffmann Blomfield, who had emigrated to New Zealand, and George Peter Blomfield (who was twice married and fathered seven children ) - and two daughters - Gwladys Muriel Blomfield, who was an invalid and never married, and Mrs Mary Barbara Teevan Power, who had married Leonard Teevan Power following the death of her first husband, William Couldery in the First World War.

[ABOVE] A portrait of John Henry Blomfield (1850-1928) towards the end of his life. John Blomfield was active in his photography business until he was in his seventies and only became became seriously ill during the last year of his life. He was forced to retire through ill-health in April 1928. The death notice in the Hastings Observer noted that on 26th August 1928, "John Henry Blomfield passed away peacefully after eight months suffering, patiently borne."

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Bruce Blomfield ]

Click below to view photographs from the studio of John Blomfield & Co., 44 Robertson Street, Hastings :

Photographs from the studio of John Blomfield & Co. of Hastings

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Richard Hemery of Farncombe, Surrey, for supplying the J. Blomfield & Co. photograph of the University School Gymnastics Team, Hastings. Richard Hemery's uncle is one of the young gymnasts featured in the photograph.

I am grateful for the resources available at Hastings Reference Library and the East Sussex Record Office, Lewes. Thanks to the staff of both centres who have provided information and helpful assistance.

Click below to view more family photographs and further information about the Blomfield Family of Hastings

The Blomfield Family of Hastings

Blomfield Family History

 Grace Blomfield of New Zealand has her own website, which is concerned with the many branches of the Blomfield family. The website can be reached via the link below :

History and Mystery