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.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Pedder & Mann's Photographic Portrait Studio at 20 Robertson Street, Hastings, which appeared in local newspapers between 17th April and 10th July 1857. The above advertisement was published in The Hastings & St Leonards News on 10th July 1857.

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. 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 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 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 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 man, a carte-de-visite photograph by Thomas Mann junior, Photographic Artist of 20 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1866). Thomas George Mann established a photographic portrait studio at 20 Robertson Street in the Summer of 1856, but he left Hastings and set up home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent after he married Mary Pace towards the end of 1858. Thomas Mann returned to Hastings around 1863 and resumed his photographic activities at his father's shop in Robertson Street.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of  Thomas Mann junior, Photographic Artist of 20 Robertson Street, Hastings, taken from the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1866).

[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. 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.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Thomas Mann & Co. of 52 Robertson Street & Bohemia Road, Hastings, taken from the reverse of a carte-de-visite (c1872). Trade directories between 1870 and 1874 list the photographer Thomas Mann junior at 52 Robertson Street and Bohemia Road, which suggests Mann operated two separate studios, but as the printed details on this carte-de-visite makes clear, Thomas Mann & Co. had a single studio in Hastings which could be entered either through the main entrance at 52 Robertson Street or by the rear entrance opposite Cambridge Terrace at the tail end of Bohemia Road.

[ABOVE] An 1859 map of Hastings showing the buildings which ran from White Rock Place to Robertson Street. This map shows how Thomas Mann junior's studio at 52 Robertson Street (marked in red) could be approached from the north via the terraced housing at the end of Bohemia Road. The rows of  terraced housing (Cambridge Terrace, Linton Terrace etc ) later formed Cambridge Road.

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