Frederick Stephen Mann opened a grocery shop at 33 All Saints Street, Hastings around 1850. When the census was taken on 30th March 1851, Elizabeth and Frederick Stephen Mann were shown residing at 33 All Saints Street, Hastings. On the 1851 census return, twenty-nine year old Frederick S. Mann is described as a "Grocer". It appears that in addition to selling groceries, Frederick Mann also manufactured picture frames. The 1855 edition of Kelly's Post Office Directory of Sussex lists Frederick Stephen Mann as both a "carver & gilder" and "grocer" at 33 All Saints Street, Hastings. A year or so later, Frederick Stephen Mann moved to 8 York Place, Hastings. [ F. S. Mann is recorded at 8 York Place, Hastings in the Electoral Register for 1857].

By 1858, Frederick Stephen Mann had established himself as a "Carver and Gilder" at No. 13 Wellington Place, Hastings. An advertisement in the 1858 edition of Melville & Co.'s Directory and Gazetteer of Sussex describes F. S. Mann as a "Carver and Gilder" and "Looking Glass & Picture Frame Manufacturer", but also indicates that he was running a "Stationery and Fancy Repository", which sold albums, scrap-books and a range of artists' materials, including pencils, chalks and "every description of artists' colours, oil and water, from Messrs. Rowney, Windsor & Newton". [ It appears that Frederick S. Mann also served as a kind of artist's agent. An advertisement under the heading of "Drawing and Painting", which appeared in the Hastings & St Leonards News in December 1864, announced that a Miss King "wishes to give Lessons in  Painting in Oil and Water Colours, Drawing, in Crayons and Pencil" and gave her contact address as "Miss King, Mr. F. S. Mann's, 13 Wellington place, Hastings"].

The 1861 census records Frederick S. Mann and Elizabeth S. Mann at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings. On the 1861 census return, thirty-nine year old Frederick S. Mann is described as a "Carver & Gilder". No children are recorded by the census enumerator, the only other occupant of Frederick Mann's household being a servant named Mary A. Hide, described on the census return as a "Housemaid", aged 37.

F. S. Mann's Stationery and Fancy Repository at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings, gradually evolved into a Photographic Depot which sold an "assortment of local photographic views". An advertisement in a Hastings & St Leonards trade directory, published in 1858, mentions that F. S. Mann was able to supply "a great variety of first class photographic and stereographic views of Hastings and St Leonards and surrounding neighbourhood". It is not clear from these early advertisements whether the photographic views of Hastings & St Leonards were created by Frederick Mann's camera or were the work of professional photographers based in the area. We do know for certain that Frederick Stephen Mann did eventually become a professional photographer, so it is possible that these early "first class photographic and stereographic views of Hastings and St Leonards" were created by Mann himself. An 1866 advertisement for F. S. Mann's "Wholesale & Retail Photographic Depot" at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings called attention to "his very large and choice assortment of LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS" and the proprietor (Frederick Stephen Mann) informed the public that he was "continually adding favourite spots to his stock".

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite view of the Prince Albert Memorial Clock Tower in Hastings at the junction of Robertson Street and Havelock Road, photographed by Frederick Stephen Mann around 1870. Immediately behind the Clock Tower is the parade known as York Buildings which faced Wellington Place. Frederick Stephen Mann established a Photographic Depot at No.13 Wellington Place, Hastings around 1858. Frederick Stephen Mann was selling  photographic views of Hastings & St Leonards in the form of cartes-de-visite and stereoscopic slides throughout the 1860s.

Frederick Stephen Mann possibly began taking photographic views of Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea around 1858, but it appears that he did not set up a photographic portrait studio at his business premises at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings, until about 1863. The 13th edition of Thomas Ross's Hastings and St Leonards Guide included a notice which stated that "F. S. MANN has also added to his establishment a first-class photographic saloon, where portraits can be taken in any weather". Frederick Stephen Mann is also listed as a professional photographer at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings in the 1865 edition of R. Simpson & Co.'s Hastings & St Leonards Directory. During the 1860s, newspaper advertisements for  F. S. Mann's "Wholesale & Retail Photographic Depot" advised the public that portraits were "taken daily" at his Wellington Place studio.

By 1870, Frederick Stephen Mann had established a reputation as a prolific producer of stereoscopic views of Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea. Stereoscopic cards carrying the credit "F. S. MANN, PHOTO., 13, WELLINGTON PLACE, HASTINGS." depict a wide range of local views including Hastings Castle, The Promenade Pier at Hastings, All Saints' Church (Hastings), Fairlight Glen (nr Hastings), The Dripping Well at Fairlight Glen, Lovers' Seat near Hastings, Ecclesbourne Glen, The Glen Roar Waterfall near Hastings, Battle Abbey, Battle Church and Hurstmoceux Castle.

[ABOVE] Frederick Stephen Mann's stereoscopic photograph featuring a man looking through a telescope from the vantage point of  Castle Gardens which overlooks the seaside towns of Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea. (c1870)

When the census was taken on 2nd April !871, Frederick Stephen Mann and his wife Elizabeth S. Mann were still residing in the living quarters attached to Mann's business premises at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings. On the 1871 census return, forty-nine year old Fredk S. Mann is described as a "Carver, Gilder & Stationer". Although he does not mention his status as a professional photographer on the census return, it is clear from surviving examples of his photographic work and entries in local trade directories that Frederick Stephen Mann was still actively engaged in photography. (Parson's Directory of Hastings & St Leonards, published in 1871, describes Frederick Stephen Mann as a picture frame maker, artists' colourman and photographer).

[LEFT] Frederick Stephen Mann listed as a professional photographer at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings in the trades section of  Kelly's Post Office Directory of Sussex (1878).  Although Frederick Stephen Mann continued to work as a photographer until his retirement around 1891, he does not appear under the heading of "PHOTOGRAPHERS" in  local trade directories  published after 1878.

The 1878 edition of Kelly's Post Office Directory of Sussex records Frederick Stephen Mann  as an "artists' colorman &  photographer" at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings. Kelly's 1878 Directory of Sussex also lists Frederick Stephen Mann under the heading of "Photographers" within the Trades Directory.

After 1880, Frederick Stephen Mann worked mainly as a "carver & gilder" and picture-frame maker at his Wellington Place workshop, taking the occasional photographic portrait at the studio attached to his premises. When the census enumerator called on Frederick Mann at his Wellington Place residence on 3rd April 1881, he was informed that the Head of Household's main occupation was as a "Carver & Gilder". Frederick Stephen Mann continued to trade as a carver & gilder, picture-frame maker and stationer at his business premises at No 13 Wellington Place, Hastings until his retirement around 1892.

Frederick Stephen Mann is not mentioned as a professional photographer in Hastings street and trade directories issued after 1878, yet there is plenty of evidence to show that he continued to take portraits at his photographic portrait studio over the next decade. When Frederick S. Mann retired around 1892, he sold his portrait studio to Arthur Perry (born 1866, Throop, Hampshire) a young man who had been working as a photographer's assistant in Hastings since his marriage in 1890.

When he was in his seventies, Frederick Stephen Mann retired and passed on his picture-framing business at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings to Herbert Mann (born 1861, Tunbridge Wells, Kent), grandson of Thomas Mann senior, another carver & gilder based in Hastings. The fact that Herbert Mann inherited Mann's picture-framing business in Wellington Place suggests that Frederick Stephen Mann was related to Thomas Mann senior (1815-1903).

Frederick Stephen Mann died in Hastings in 1904 at the age of 82. [ The death of Frederick Stephen Mann was registered in Hastings during the First Quarter of 1904].

Carte-de-visite Portraits taken at Frederick Stephen Mann's studio at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings during the 1860s

Portraits of Clergymen by  Frederick Stephen Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings

[LEFT] An advertisement for F. S. Mann's Photographic Depot at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings (Hastings & St Leonards News, 16th November, 1866). Frederick Stephen Mann took the opportunity to inform the public that he had for sale a number of portraits of local clergymen including Rev. Thomas Vores, Rev. John Parkin (of St Clement's Church, Halton), Rev. James Griffin and Rev. Andrew Reed.
During the 1860s and 1870s there was a craze for collecting celebrity portraits in the carte-de-visite format. (Cartes-de-visite were small photographs mounted on cards measuring roughly 21/2 inches by 41/4 inches or 6.3 cm by 10.5 cm). In the 19th century, celebrities included actors, authors, artists, generals and politicians. Today, celebrities are more likely to be pop singers and film actors, but in the 1860s, some of the most popular "celebrity cartes" featured portraits of church ministers and clergymen.		[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of Revd. James Griffin, Minister of the Independent Congregational Chapel in Robertson Street, Hastings by Frederick Stephen Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings (c1866).	[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a clergyman  by Frederick Stephen Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings (c1868). Inscribed in ink on the reverse, "Alfred Burden, 1863"
	Revd. Thomas Vores (1804-1875), a portrait by F. S. Mann. Born in Marylebone, London, on 8th July 1804, Revd. Thomas Vores was the Vicar of St. Mary-in-the-Castle Church, Hastings from 1841 until his death in 1875.
[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of Rev. Joseph Bancroft Read (1801-1870), clergyman and amateur scientist, by Frederick Stephen Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings (c1866).		[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of Rev. Thomas Vores by Frederick Stephen Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings (c1866).	[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of an unknown clergyman  by Frederick Stephen Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings (c1870).

Frederick Stephen Mann's Photographic Studio in Wellington Place, Hastings

		[ABOVE] The trade plate of Frederick S. Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings. This design in brown-coloured ink was used during the 1870s. [ABOVE] The trade plate of Frederick S. Mann, Photographic Artist of 13 Wellington Place, Hastings. This design was used  during the early 1880s.
[ABOVE] The location of Frederick Stephen Mann's Photographic Depot and Portrait Studio at 13 Wellington Place, marked on an old map of Hastings. The green area is the Central Cricket & Recreation Ground. South of  F. S. Mann's studio (marked by a red dot) is Hastings seafront with its beach and sea (marked in light blue ). Frederick Stephen Mann opened a Photographic Depot at No. 13 Wellington Place, Hastings around 1858.  About 5 years later, Frederick S. Mann added a "first class photographic saloon", where portraits were taken daily. In the centre of the map is the Albert Memorial Clock Tower, a well-known landmark in central Hastings.	[ABOVE] A photograph of Wellington Place, Hastings, dating from around 1905. On the left at 16 Wellington Place is the shop of Albert Andrews, fruiterer and greengrocer. In the bottom left hand-corner a woman and a young boy walk in the shadow of  13 Wellington Place, the former premises of Frederick Stephen Mann, the Hastings photographer who died in 1904. When this photograph was taken, the shop at No. 13 Wellington Place was in the hands of Herbert Mann (born 1861, Tunbridge Wells, Kent), a carver & gilder. The son of  Hastings photographer Thomas Mann junior and grandson of  Thomas Mann senior, another carver & gilder, Herbert Mann was probably related to Frederick Stephen Mann. On the right is the parade of shops known as York Buildings. The banners of Ernest Draper, Fancy Draper of 12 York Buildings, can be seen centre-right. In the background, just to the right of the lamp post, is the Prince Albert Memorial Clock Tower.

Carte-de-visite Portraits taken at Frederick Stephen Mann's studio at 13 Wellington Place, Hastings between 1870 and 1890

John Fortescue Mann (1848-1897)

John Fortescue Mann was born in the Huntingdonshire parish of Swineshead (situated 3 miles south-west of Kimbolton) in 1849. [ Fortescue Mann's birth was registered under the name of "John Fortesque Mann" in the district of St Neots during the 2nd Quarter of 1849 ]. Although he was born in Swineshead, an exclave of Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire, John Fortescue Mann spent most of his life in London, where his father, the surgeon and physician John Mann, MRCS (1802-1885) had his medical practice. John Mann, MRCS, who was born in 1802, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was a medical practitioner who operated a surgery in Aldersgate Street, London, for many years from 1829. In addition to their son John Fortescue Mann, Dr Mann and his wife Mary (born c1811, City of London) were also the parents of two daughters - Elizabeth Mann (born c1840) and Edith Spear Mann (born 1858, London).

In 1874, John Fortescue Mann married Margaret Mary Grace Eggleton (born 1848, Bedford, Beds.) in the London district of Kensington. John Fortescue Mann and his wife Margaret settled in Paddington, where their five children were born - Elizabeth Jane Mann (born 1875), Henry Wiiliam J. Mann (1877), Reginald Fortescue Mann (born 1881), Leonard Montague Mann (born 1884) and Mary "May" Mann (born c1890).

Some time before 1881, John Fortescue Mann set himself up as a "Stationer" at 48 Elgin Road, Harrow Road, Paddington ( In the 1890s, Elgin Road was re-named Elgin Avenue ). When the census was taken on 3rd April 1881, John Fortescue Mann, his wife Margaret, and their first three children, were residing in living quarters attached to Mann's stationery business at 48 Elgin Road, Paddington, London. On the census return, John Fortescue Mann is described as a thirty-one year old "Stationer". According to London trade directories published between 1881 and 1897, the firm of Fortescue Mann also sold books and manufactured picture frames. By the early 1890s, John Fortescue Mann was also importing and publishing stereoscopic slides from his business premises at 48 Elgin Avenue, Paddington, London.

John Fortescue Mann's career as a publisher of stereoscopic slides was relatively brief. Fortescue Mann began by publishing stereoscopic pictures by British photographers and importing stereoscopic slides from abroad. In the mid-1890s, Fortescue Mann was advertising his "Popular Series of Stereoscopic Slides", which included scenes from Europe, the United States, Egypt and "a series of Photographic Slides of all the principal places of interest in the Holy Land". Fortescue Mann's stationers shop in Elgin Avenue also stocked "best quality" stereoscopic slides which depicted places across the British Isles, including "some of the choicest bits of English, Scotch and Irish Scenery".

It is not clear whether many of the stereoscopic photographs sold at his Paddington store were created by Fortescue Mann's own camera, but in 1896, Fortescue Mann exhibited 10 of his "stereoscopic transparencies" at the Forty-first Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society in London. The stereoscopic photographs shown by Fortescue Mann at the Royal Photographic Society Exhibition in 1896, featured scenes taken in Yarmouth, Norfolk, the Tower of London and Henley-on-Thames. Fortescue Mann also exhibited genre scenes with titles such as "Firm Friends" and "Gathering Pears".

The photographs on display at the Royal Photographic Society's Annual Exhibition in 1896 were presumably the original work of John Fortescue Mann, but many of the stereoscopic views published by Fortescue Mann were created by others. For instance, the stereoscopic slides in Fortescue Mann's Popular Series, entitled "Egypt", used photographs taken some 35 years earlier by Francis Frith (1822-1898). Fortescue Mann is not recorded as a professional photographer, although one of his sons, Reginald Fortescue Mann (1881-1916) did pursue a photographic career. In the London trade directories issued during the 1890s, Fortescue Mann is variously described as a stationer, bookseller and picture frame maker, but he is never listed as a photographer. Fortescue Mann is more generally known as a publisher of stereoscopic slides and as a supplier of stereoscopic equipment. ( In 1892, Fortescue Mann was advertising "The Improved American Hand Stereoscope" at prices ranging from 3 shillings to 5 shillings. Even at 3 shillings, the hand-held stereoscope was posted free, and came with a set of 6 slides. In a classified advert in an 1896 edition of "The Photogram", Fortescue Mann was offering "Opaline Stereoscopic Slides", at 6d each, supplied from his shop at 48 Elgin Avenue, Paddington, London ).

In the Summer of 1897, Fortescue Mann published one of his most popular series of stereoscopic slides - "The Diamond Jubilee, 1897", which formed part of his "Modern Series" of Stereoscopic Views. The procession celebrating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee took place on Tuesday, 22nd June 1897 and, presumably, John Fortescue Mann was there with his camera to record each part of the parade. [ The card mounts for  "The Diamond Jubilee, 1897" are printed with the words "COPYRIGHT. F. MANN, LONDON", which suggests that Fortescue Mann might have taken the photographs himself]. The stereoscopic slides which formed the series "The Diamond Jubilee, 1897", were some of the last photographs he took. In the Winter of 1897, John Fortescue Mann died at the age of 48. [ The death of John Fortescue Mann was registered in the London district of Marylebone during the final Quarter of 1897].

It appears that John Fortescue Mann's business at 48 Elgin Avenue was carried on by his widow and grown-up children after his death. The firm of Fortescue Mann is listed as a stationery and bookselling business at 48 & 50 Elgin Avenue, Harrow Road, London, in a trade directory published two years after John Fortescue Mann's death. The shop in Elgin Avenue also still housed a picture- frame manufactory. When the 1901 census was taken, John Fortescue Mann's 52 year old widow, Mrs Margaret Mann, was recorded as a "Stationer and Frame Maker". Two of Mrs Mann's  sons, Henry Mann (aged 24) and (Leonard) Montague Mann (aged 16) were employed making picture frames and her eldest daughter, twenty-five year old Elizabeth Jane Mann, worked as a "Stationers' Assistant".

On the 1901 census return, Reginald Fortescue Mann is described as a twenty year old "Photographer". If Reginald Fortescue Mann did produce stereoscopic photographs, his career was almost as brief as his father's. Reginald Fortescue Mann died in London in 1916 at the age of 35. [ Bertha Jane Maddison (1869-1947), who married the photographer Reginald Fortescue Mann in 1905, is buried alongside her husband at Paines Lane Cemetery in Pinner, Middlesex]. 

A firm of booksellers continued at 48 & 50 Elgin Avenue, Harrow Road, London under the name of "Fortescue Mann" until at least 1910.

[ABOVE] A detail from the publicity which was printed on the backs of the cards which held  J. Fortescue Mann's "Popular Series" of stereoscopic views (c1895). [RIGHT: A detail from the Street Directory section of The Post Office London Directory for 1895.  The stereoscopic slide publisher Fortescue Mann is listed as a "bookseller" at 48 & 50 Elgin Avenue. London, W. In London trade directories produced between 1881 and 1897,  Fortescue Mann is variously described as a stationer, bookseller and manufacturer of picture & looking -glass frames.

[ABOVE: Fortescue Mann listed as a "bookseller" at 48 & 50 Elgin Avenue. London, W. in the Post Office London Directory for 1895.

[ABOVE] Details of the stereoscopic transparencies exhibited by J. Fortescue Mann at the Forty-first Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society, held in London between September and November 1896.

Thomas Mann junior's Photographic Studio in Robertson Street

By 1856, Thomas Mann senior had acquired business premises at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings. As well as working as a carver & gilder, Thomas Mann senior sold artists' materials and ran an Artists' Repository at 20 Robertson Street. Thomas Mann senior also allowed his eighteen year old son to operate a photographic portrait studio in the building. In June 1856, Thomas Mann junior placed the following advertisement in The Hastings & St Leonards News :

Thomas Mann junior opened his photographic portrait studio at his father's business premises at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings * in the Summer of 1856. The following year, Thomas Mann junior entered into a business partnership with a Mr Pedder, forming the firm of Pedder & Mann. Mr Pedder was presumably a veteran photographer as an advertisement for Messrs Pedder & Mann issued in May 1857 mentions "their long experience in the Photographic Art", yet Thomas Mann junior was only nineteen years of age and had been in business as a photographer for a period of only twelve months.

Advertisements published in the local press between April and July 1857 make it plain that the studio of Pedder & Mann was based at the business premises of "Mr Mann's, Carver & Gilder" at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings. The newspaper advertisements also indicate that Pedder & Mann were employing the collodion photographic process invented by the recently deceased Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) **. The advertisements for Pedder & Mann informed the public that they produced "Photographic Portraits, both on Paper & Glass" and called "particular attention to their mode of taking glass pictures, which they guarantee to be permanent in any climate". This is clearly a reference to the production of collodion positive portraits, a technique perfected by Frederick Scott Archer **. The prices quoted by Pedder & Mann - "Portraits, from 2s 6d ; in case, coloured, from 5s" - are slightly more expensive than those offered by other professional photographers who specialised in the production of "collodion positive" portraits on glass. ( In 1857, the Royal Pelham Arcade Photographic Portrait Gallery of Hastings was charging as little as one shilling for a single small portrait and Bowman's of 43 George Street, Hastings was offering "a faithful and correct Likeness in Frame complete for one shilling").

The business partnership of Pedder & Mann was brief. When F. R. Melville's Directory & Gazetteer of Sussex was compiled in 1858, Thomas Mann junior is listed as the sole proprietor of the photographic studio at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings. Later that year, Thomas Mann junior left Hastings for Tunbridge Wells. It appears that Thomas Mann junior had made the acquaintance of Mary Pace (born 1840, Tunbridge Wells, Kent), the daughter Sarah and John Alliss Pace, a publican and inn keeper. Originally from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, John Alliss Pace had been the landlord of The Carpenter's Arms in Priory Road, Hastings, but by 1858 he was running The King's Head Commercial and Family Inn located in Court House Street, Hastings. [ John Alliss Pace (c1818-1901) later became a furniture dealer and house builder and by 1901 he was recorded as "Living on Own Means" in Brighton ].

Thomas Mann junior married Mary Pace in Tunbridge Wells during the 4th Quarter of 1858. The couple's first child Edith Alice Mann was born in Tunbridge Wells during the 2nd Quarter of 1859 and was christened at St John's Church, Tunbridge Wells on 31st July 1859. Thomas Mann junior appears to have maintained his links with his family in Hastings during his stay in Tunbridge Wells. When the census was taken on 7th April 1861, Thomas Mann junior and his wife and child were residing in the 'St Mary in the Castle' district of Hastings, but by the time his son Herbert Mann was baptised on 29th December 1861, Thomas and his family were back in Tunbridge Wells. Thomas Mann junior returned permanently to Hastings sometime before 1863. Thomas and Mary Mann's third child, Frederick John Mann was born in Hastings during the 2nd Quarter of 1863.

[ABOVE] Advertisement for Thomas Mann senior's Arts Repository at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings published in the Hastings & St Leonards News on 18th January, 1856. Thomas Mann senior had worked as a carver & gilder in Hastings since the late 1830s and was probably the junior partner in the picture framing firm of Ross & Mann at 6 Castle Street & 34 High Street. By 1851, Thomas Mann senior was running his own picture framing business at 70 High Street, Hastings. Mann relocated his business to 20 Robertson Street, Hastings around 1854.

[ABOVE] A coloured lithograph of Hastings Beach with Carlisle Parade and the Hastings Castle ruins in the background, published as a print by Thomas Mann senior in 1854. The original artwork was by John Thorpe (born 1813, Fairlight, Sussex), an artist who painted works in the Hastings & St Leonards area between 1850 and 1863. Thomas Mann senior managed an Artists' Repository at his business premises in Robertson Street, the shopping parade which can be glimpsed in the gap to the left of Carlisle Parade in the print above. Thomas Mann sold artists' materials and exhibited works of art at his shop at 20 Robertson Street. Thomas Mann senior was still working as an art dealer in Hastings at the time of the 1901 census.

[ABOVE] Advertisement for Thomas Mann junior's photographic studio at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings. ( Hasting & St Leonards News, 8th August, 1856)

[ABOVE] Portrait of a seated woman with three children, a carte-de-visite photograph by Thomas Mann junior, Photographic Artist of 20 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1868).

It is likely that Thomas Mann junior resumed his career as a photographic artist at his father's business in 20 Robertson Street, Hastings around 1863, but he is not recorded as a photographer at this address in local trade directories until 1866. Kelly's Post Office Trades Directory of Sussex, published in 1866, has an entry for "T. Mann junior" of 20 Robertson Street, Hastings in its list of 'Photographers'. Kelly's 1867 edition of the Post Office Directory for Hastings lists Thomas Mann junior, Photographer, at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings. In the same trade directory, Thomas Mann, Thomas junior's father, is listed as a "carver & gilder & artists' colorman" at the same address. Mathieson's Hastings & St Leonards Directory for the period 1867-1868 indicates that Thomas Mann junior had opened a second photographic studio at 4 Kentish Place, Hastings in the centre of the town between Castle Street and Denmark Place. After a year or so, Thomas Mann junior closed his Kentish Place studio and moved out of the photographic portrait studio based at his father's workplace at 20 Robertson Street. Around 1869, Thomas Mann junior moved into a relatively new photographic studio at 52 Robertson Street, Hastings (see Thomas Mann junior at 52 Robertson Street, Hastings, below).

Shortly after returning to Hastings in 1863, Thomas Mann junior's wife gave birth to a third child, Frederick John Mann [Frederick's birth was registered in Hastings during the 2nd Quarter of 1863]. It appears that Frederick and Mary Mann might have produced at least three more children ( Kate, Anna and Henry ***) between 1863 and 1874. The couple's youngest child, a girl named Annie Mann, was born during the 2nd Quarter of 1870.

At the time of the 1871 census, Thomas George Mann and his family were living at Granville Villa, Vale Road in the Silverhill district of Hastings on the boundary with St Leonards.

[ABOVE] A photograph of Robertson Street, Hastings as it appeared in Victorian times. In the 19th Century, Robertson Street was one of the most fashionable shopping parades in the town and was described as the "Regent Street" of Hastings, where "the shops are of the best and the wares so tastefully displayed". Although taken during a downpour of rain, this photograph shows how Robertson Street was crowded with shoppers, even in poor weather. This view of  a busy Robertson Street is supported by a passage in a Hastings & St Leonards guide book published in the 19th Century which observed that "during several hours of the day the roadway (of Robertson Street) is filled with carriages, and the side walks thronged with pedestrians.”

Sometime before 1870, Thomas Mann junior acquired a photographic studio at 52 Robertson Street, Hastings. The studio premises at 52 Robertson Street, Hastings had been specially designed and built around 1864 "for photographic purposes" by a Mr Plummer, under " the direction of a skilled practical photographer" named Francis Ross Wells (1834-1893). The building at number 52 was equipped with a north-facing "glass-house" studio which was pronounced " the Best Lighted one on the South Coast ." The photographer Francis Ross Wells occupied the studio at 52 Robertson Street until 1867, when it passed to John Beetham. Around 1869, the studio at 52 Robertson Street passed to Thomas Mann junior.

Thomas George Mann died in Hastings during the 2nd Quarter of 1874 at the relatively young age of thirty-four. After Thomas Mann junior's death, the studio at 52 Robertson Street passed to the photographer Robert Bell Hutchison (born 1850,Tunbridge Wells, Kent), who was based at this studio from 1874 until 1876.

Mrs Mary Mann, Thomas Mann junior's' widow, remarried in 1877. Mary's new husband was Thomas Tidy, a thirty-one year old blacksmith from Southborough, Kent. The union of Thomas Tidy (born 1846, Southborough) and the widowed Mary Mann produced at least two daughters - May Tidy (born 1878, Tunbridge Wells) and Rose Tidy (born 1881, Southborough). Mrs Mary Tidy gave birth to two boys, but neither survived infancy. The first son, born in 1882, was named Thomas Mann Tidy, after his father and grandfather. The following year, Mary gave birth to another boy, who was also christened with the name Thomas ( Thomas Pace Tidy ), but sadly he died before the end of 1883.  At the time of the 1881 census, Edith Mann, aged 21, Kate Mann, aged 16, Anna Mann, aged 13, and Henry Mann, aged 11, were recorded as boarding with their mother and stepfather Frederick Tidy at his home in Holden Road, Southborough, Kent.

After her marriage, Mary's children from her first marriage continued to receive support from her late husband's family. Herbert Mann (born 1861, Tunbridge Wells) trained as a carver & gilder, probably under instruction from his paternal grandfather Thomas Mann senior (1815-1903). At the time of the 1881 census, Thomas Mann junior's youngest son, Frederick John Mann (born 1863, Hastings), was living with his grandparents, Frederick and Harriet Mann, at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings. Nineteen year old Frederick John Mann was training to be an auctioneer in 1881, but he eventually found work as a bank clerk.

 Thomas Mann Gallery of Photographs

Portraits from the studio of Thomas Mann junior at 52 Robertson Street, Hastings

To view a selection of portraits photographed at the studios of Thomas Mann junior and Thomas Mann & Co., click on the link below :

Gallery of Thomas Mann junior of Hastings

Mary Pace / Mrs Thomas Mann (1840-1924)

Mary Pace was born in Tunbridge Wells in 1840, the daughter of Sarah and John Alliss Pace, a publican and inn keeper. In 1858, at the age of eighteen, Mary Pace married Hastings photographer Thomas George Mann (1838-1874), also known as Thomas Mann junior. When her husband, Thomas Mann junior, died in 1874 at the age of 34, Mrs Mary Mann was left as a thirty-three year old widow with four or more children. Mary married three times. In 1877, three years after the death of her first husband, Mary married Thomas Tidy (born 1846, Southborough, Kent), a thirty-one year old blacksmith. The union between Mary and Thomas Tidy produced at least four children - May Tidy (born 1878, Tunbridge Wells), Rose Tidy (born 1881, Southborough), Thomas Mann Tidy who was born in the Spring of 1882, but, sadly, died a few months later, and Thomas Pace Tidy who was born in the Summer of 1883, but died before the end of the year.

In 1891, Mr and Mrs Tidy were running a public house in Brighton, but within a few years, Mrs Mary Tidy was on her own. In 1894, at the age of 53, Mary married Ernest Clifford Dyer, a twenty-four year old pianist who had been lodging at Mr & Mrs Tidy's inn. Together, Mary and Ernest Dyer ran another public house in Brighton's Kemp Town. Ernest Dyer, Mary's third husband, also disappeared from the scene. In old age, Mary went to live with her youngest daughter Mrs Annie Willis (see below). Mrs Mary Dyer died in Brighton in 1924, aged 84.

Annie Mann / Mrs Patrick John Willis (1870-1946)

Annie Mann was born in Hastings in 1870, the youngest daughter of Mary and Thomas George Mann, the Hastings photographer. In 1896, Annie Mann married Patrick John Willis (aka John Patrick Willis), a Scottish-born bus conductor. Annie and her husband began their married life in Islington, London, but the Willis family later moved down to Brighton.

Mrs Annie Willis (nee Mann) died in Brighton on 8th May 1946.

[ABOVE] A photograph taken in Brighton in 1908 showing three generations of the Mann family. Standing on the left is Mrs Annie Willis (Annie Mann), the youngest daughter of Hastings photographer Thomas George Mann (1838-1874). Sitting to Annie's right is her mother Mrs Mary Dyer (formerly Mrs Mary Mann), the widow of Thomas George Mann. Sitting on Mrs Dyer's lap is Frederick Willis (born 1908), Annie Mann's youngest child. Between Annie and her mother sits Annie's husband, Patrick John Willis (born c1872, Scotland). Also in the picture are three of Frederick Willis's six siblings - Thomas, Herbert and Kate Edith Willis (born 1898, Islington). At the end of her life, Mrs Mary Dyer lived with her daughter Mrs Annie Willis and her family in Surrey Street, Brighton.

[Photograph courtesy of John Willis]

Acknowledgements

Thomas A. M. Mann of Hastings