Hastings Photographers -Godbold
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Professional Photographers in Hastings - Henry J. Godbold
Henry James GODBOLD (born 1842, Islington, London)
[ABOVE] A portrait of the Hastings photographer Henry James Godbold (1842-1927). This photograph was taken at Godbold & Co.'s studio at 25 White Rock Place around 1891, when Henry Godbold was approaching fifty. [PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield]
[ABOVE] Trade plate of Messrs. Godbold & Co. taken from the back of a carte-de-visite portrait photographed at Edwin Whiteman's Bookshop, 52 High Street, Hastings. ( c1866)
[ABOVE] Trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist-Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea (c1873)
[ABOVE] A portrait of the Hastings photographer Henry James Godbold (1842-1927), a detail from a group portrait of the Godbold family photographed around 1893. [PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield] |
Henry James Godbold
was born in
Islington in North London on 14th May 1842, the son of John Godbold
and
Lucy Eyles. Henry's father John Godbold was born in London in 1815 and
had married Lucy Eyles in Islington in 1838. Henry James Godbold was John and Lucy Godbold's third
child. Henry's siblings included Charles Thomas (born 1839, Islington),
Elizabeth (born 1840, Islington), Lucy Jane Lucretia (born 1844,
Islington), Mary Ann (born 1846, Islington - died 1846), George William
(born 1847, Islington) and John Godbold (born 1850, Camberwell, London).
At the time of the 1881 census. Henry's father John Godbold is recorded as a "Broker's Agent" and
is shown
living with Mrs Sarah Godbold (born c1837 Hertford), presumably
his second wife. When the 1861 census was taken on 7th April, eighteen year old Henry Godbold was residing at 5 Barnsbury Street, Islington and working as a photographer. On 6th May 1864, at Christ Church, Highbury, Henry James Godbold married Emma Matilda Cross (born 1838, Clerkenwell, London), the daughter of Hugh McIntosh Cross, a London bookseller. At the time of his marriage, Henry Godbold was living at 4 Barnsbury Street, Islington and was employed by The London School of Photography, a large and successful firm of portrait photographers with a half dozen studios in London and branch studios in Liverpool and Manchester. The proprietor of The London School of Photography during this period was Samuel Prout Newcombe (1824-1912). Samuel Prout Newcombe's younger brother Charles Thomas Newcombe (born 1830, Hoxton, London, Middlesex) was a professional photographer who ran two portrait studios in London. In May 1863, Charles Thomas Newcombe opened a branch establishment at 22 White Rock Place, Hastings. Charles Newcombe's decision to establish a branch studio in Hastings might have encouraged Henry Godbold to move from London to Hastings.
By the Summer of 1865, Henry Godbold and his wife were living in Hastings, where their first child, Edith Emma Godbold was born during the 3rd Quarter of 1865. Around this time Henry Godbold took over an established studio at 2 Robertson Street, Hastings. (The photographic studio of H. J. Godbold at 2 Robertson Street is listed in R.Simpson & Co.'s Hastings & St Leonards Directory of 1865 ). By September 1866, Henry Godbold had formed the firm of Godbold & Co and was operating a branch studio at the business premises of Edwin Whiteman (1834-1876), a bookseller who ran Whiteman's Library at 52 High Street, Hastings.
Early in 1867, Henry and Emma Godbold's second daughter, Adela Jane Godbold was born. [Birth registered in Hastings during the First Quarter of 1867]. The following year the couple became parents to a baby boy, Arthur Douglas Godbold [Birth registered in Hastings during the 2nd Quarter of 1868]. Henry and Emma Godbold's fourth child, a daughter named Winifred Maud Godbold arrived during the 3rd Quarter of 1869. The arrangement whereby a photographer from Godbold & Co. took photographic portraits at Whiteman's Library lasted until the early summer of 1868. By June 1868, Edwin Whiteman was employing the services of Mr J. T. Lane, a photographer from the London firm of Gush & Ferguson, to manage the photographic portrait studio situated in his bookshop. From the middle of 1868 to 1869, Godbold operated solely from his studio at 2 Robertson Street, Hastings. In addition to cartes-de-visite and cabinet photographic portraits, Godbold produced stereoscopic and album views of Hastings, St. Leonards, and the surrounding neighbourhood. Henry Godbold also took his camera to special outdoor events, making a pictorial record of public meetings, sporting events and civic celebrations. ( See H. J. Godbold's Outdoor Photography below) Charles Thomas Newcombe operated a branch studio at 22 White Rock Place, Hastings until the end of 1865. A few doors away from Newcombe's Hastings studio in White Rock Place was a "Fancy Bazaar" run by William Ashdown and his wife, assisted by their son Henry and daughter Margaret. William Ashdown's son, Henry William Ashdown (born 1844, St Pancras, London) took over Newcombe's photographic studio in 1866. Less than three years later, Henry William Ashdown left Hastings for London. Ashdown established a studio at 1 Waverley Place, St John's Road, in North West London and over the next twenty years pursued his photographic career in London. In 1869, Henry Godbold closed his studio in Robertson Street and moved into Charles Newcombe's former studio at 22 White Rock Place, which had recently been vacated by Henry Ashdown. The studio at 22 White Rock Place was well situated on the seafront near Hastings Pier, but in 1869 Godbold was flanked by the studios of a number of competing photographers - Frederick Treble at 21 White Rock Place, James Bayfield at 25 White Rock Place and the fashionable studio of Boning & Small at 10 Verulam Place. In 1870, Henry Godbold decided to move further along the coast to the neighbouring seaside resort of St. Leonards-on-Sea.
In April 1870, Henry Godbold placed a "Notice of Removal" in the local press, announcing that "Mr. Godbold, Artist Photographer, has removed from White Rock Place to 8 GRAND PARADE, ST. LEONARDS," adding that "all Negatives taken by Messrs, Ashdown and Newcombe are removed to Grand Parade, where copies can be obtained." Henry Godbold was to operate a photographic portrait studio at 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards for the next twenty years. |
Carte-de-visite portraits by Henry James Godbold of 2 Robertson Street, Hastings
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[ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite portrait showing the trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist Photographer, 2 Robertson Street, Hastings. Negative No.8507. ( c1866) | [ABOVE] A full-length portrait of an unknown woman by Henry J. Godbold, 2 Robertson Street, Hastings. Negative No.1193. ( c1865) | [ABOVE] The reverse of the carte-de-visite portrait pictured on the left, showing the trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist Photographer, 2 Robertson Street, Hastings. Negative No.1193. ( c1865) |
H. J. Godbold's Outdoor Photography
[ABOVE] A photograph by Henry J. Godbold showing the Liberal Party hustings at the Central Cricket Ground in Hastings during the General Election of 1865. The candidates for the parliamentary election were nominated at these large public meetings and the prospective Members of Parliament addressed the electors from the covered wooden platform or "husting". Following these open-air hustings, the Liberal candidate George Waldegrave-Leslie (1825-1904) was elected M.P. for Hastings and served the town until his retirement in 1868. | [ABOVE] Nomination Day in Hastings at the time of the General Election of 1865, photographed by Henry J. Godbold. The above photograph shows the Conservative Party hustings which took place in another part of the Central Cricket Ground. The gathered voters nominated the sitting M. P. Patrick Robertson as the Conservative candidate. Patrick Robertson entered Parliament in July 1852 and served as M. P. for Hastings until 1868. |
[ABOVE] Henry J. Godbold's photograph of the prize giving at a meeting of the Society of St Leonards Archers (The Queen's St Leonards Archers) in the Summer of 1865. The Society of St Leonards Archers was founded in August 1833 by two sisters, Eliza and Charlotte Mackay. The Mackay sisters were friends of James Burton (1761-1837), the creator and builder of the St Leonards seaside resort, who provided an Archery Ground in the garden area behind the original St Leonards parish church. The Society of St Leonards Archers became known as The Queen's St Leonards Archers on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Archery was one of the few sporting activities in which women could participate alongside men. A Grand Prize Meeting was held at the Archery Grounds each year in August, when members of the archery society could shoot for special prizes and banners. In 1865, Henry Godbold was present to record the Annual Grand Prize Meeting of the St Leonards Archers. According to reports in the local press, five hundred spectators gathered on the Archery Grounds to watch over forty archers compete at the Annual Grand Prize Meeting of 1865. The site of the Archery Grounds is now occupied by Hastings College of Arts & Technology in Archery Road, St. Leonards.
[ABOVE] This advertisement for Henry Godbold, Photographer of 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea, which appeared in the 1870 edition of The Post Office Directory of Sussex, clearly states that Godbold would attend "any part of the Kingdom to take photographs of Wedding and Family Groups; Gentlemen's Houses and Estates ; Horses, Cattle, Dogs, &c." |
H. J. Godbold's Outdoor Photography Although photographic portraits taken at his studios in Hastings and St Leonards provided Henry Godbold with his main source of income, he did occasionally venture outside his studio to take photographs on location. When he first arrived in Hastings in 1865, Henry Godbold attended a number of important public events with his camera, including the political hustings during the General Election of 1865 and the Grand Prize Meeting of the Society of St Leonards Archers (See the photographs above and at left). During this period, Henry Godbold also took a number of photographic views of Hastings, St Leonards and the surrounding area and published these scenes as stereoscopic slides and album photographs ( See H. J. Godbold's Views of Hastings & St Leonards below ). The publicity on the reverse of his stereoscopic views issued in the mid-1860s states that H. J. Godbold photographed "Views, Country Houses, Wedding and other Parties". Later advertisements and surviving examples of his work show that Henry Godbold practised "outdoor photography" over his thirty-five year career in Hastings and St Leonards. [ABOVE] An outdoor wedding group photograph produced by the firm of Godbold & Co. of Hastings in 1897. This wedding party was gathered together to celebrate the marriage of Henry J. Godbold's youngest son, Percy Reginald Godbold (born 1872) to Dora Harris. [PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield] |
Carte-de-visite portraits by Henry James Godbold of 22 White Rock Place, Hastings
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[ABOVE] The reverse of the carte-de-visite portrait pictured on the right, showing the trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist & Photographer, 22 White Rock Place, Hastings. Negative No.9276. (c1869) | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a seated woman holding a book by Henry J. Godbold, Artist & Photographer, 22 White Rock Place, Hastings. Negative No.9276. (c1869) | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young woman reading a book by Henry J. Godbold, Artist Photographer, 22 White Rock Place, Hastings. Negative No.8974. (c1869) |
Henry J. Godbold's Studio at 22 White Rock Place, Hastings White Rock Place is situated on Hastings seafront between Eversfield Place and Verulam Place in the west and Robertson Street and Carlisle Parade in the east. Originally, 'The White Rock' was a natural feature on the seafront and was used as a gun emplacement during the Napoleonic War. Between 1834 and 1835, the cliffs near White Rock were levelled and a new coast road was made, including a stretch which became known as White Rock Place. Given the prime location of White Rock Place, the buildings that overlooked the seafront were soon populated by seaside lodging houses and businesses that catered for visitors and holiday makers. Unsurprisingly, White Rock Place became a favourite location for portrait photographers. In April 1863, Charles Thomas Newcombe, a well known London photographer with studios in London's Regent Street and Fenchurch Street, opened a photographic portrait studio at 22 White Rock Place, Hastings. A few years later, in 1866, C. T. Newcombe closed his Hastings branch and sold the studio at 22 White Rock Place to Henry William Ashdown, the twenty-two year old son of William Ashdown, the proprietor of a 'fancy bazaar' at 29 White Rock Place. Newcombe's former studio manager, Robert Nayler, opened his own establishment next door at 21 White Rock Place, Hastings. When Henry Ashdown left Hastings in 1869 to set up a photographic portrait studio in St John's Wood, London, the studio at 22 White Rock Place, Hastings was acquired by Henry James Godbold. Flanked by a number of competitors in White Rock Place, Henry Godbold, after only a year at the White Rock studio, decided to sell his business at No. 22 to Ainslie Harwood of the Hastings Photographic Company. Henry Godbold moved further along the coast to the neighbouring seaside resort of St. Leonards-on-Sea, where he established a new studio at 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards.
[ABOVE] The trade plate of Henry J. Godbold' Artist Photographer of 22 White Rock Place, Hastings (c1869). |
[ABOVE] White Rock Place, Hastings, photographed around the time Henry James Godbold was operating a photographic portrait studio at No.22 White Rock Place. Henry Godbold's studio premises is at the far end of this parade of shops , immediately to the right of the group of men in the left-hand corner of the picture. In 1869, this parade of buildings contained a number of photographic portrait studios, including Frederick Treble No. 21, Henry J. Godbold at No.22, and James S. Bayfield at No. 25 White Rock Place. In 1870, Henry Godbold left White Rock Place for 8 Grand Parade, St. Leonards-on-Sea. Around 1889, Henry Godbold returned to White Rock Place to take over the photographic portrait studio at No.25 White Rock.
[ABOVE] A nineteenth century map of Hastings showing White Rock Place at the western end of the seafront and Robertson Street, where Henry Godbold's first studio was located, running diagonally across the centre of the town. [Detail from an 1859 map of central Hastings]. |
H. J. Godbold's Photographic Views of Hastings & St Leonards and the Surrounding Neighbourhood |
[ABOVE] A stereoscopic view of St Helen's Wood by Henry J. Godbold, Photographer, 2 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1865) [ABOVE] The reverse of a stereoscopic view by Henry J. Godbold of 2 Robertson Street, Hastings, listing the subjects available as stereoscopic slides and album photographs (c1865). The full list of subjects is reproduced in the table on the right. |
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Carte-de-visite portraits by Henry James Godbold of 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea |
[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman with a flower basket, photographed by Henry J. Godbold, Artist-Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea . Negative No.13,568. (c1876) | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a girl and a younger child photographed by Henry J. Godbold, Artist Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. (c1877) | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young child photographed by Henry J. Godbold, Artist - Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. Negative No.14,983. (c1877) |
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[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young child photographed by Henry J. Godbold, Artist Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea . Negative No.15,796. (c1878) | [ABOVE] The reverse of the carte-de-visite portrait showing the trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist- Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. (c1875) | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young man photographed by Henry James Godbold, Artist-Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. Negative No.13,438. (c1876) |
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[ABOVE] The reverse of the carte-de-visite portrait pictured above showing the trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist- Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. Negative No.15,796. (c1878) | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman holding a flower, photographed by Henry J. Godbold, Artist-Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. (c1880) | [ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite portrait showing the trade plate of Henry J. Godbold, Artist-Photographer, 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea. Negative No.16,924. (c1880) |
Henry James Godbold at St Leonards-on-Sea
[ABOVE] An advertisement for Mr. Godbold, Artist Photographer of 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea, which appeared in the Post Office Directory of Sussex, published in 1870. |
[ABOVE] A Victorian photograph showing the seafront at St Leonards-on-Sea. Henry James Godbold operated a photographic studio from his private residence at 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea for twenty years between 1870 and 1890. |
1871 CENSUS : 8 Grand Parade, ST LEONARDS-ON-SEA, SUSSEX |
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NAME |
OCCUPATION |
AGE |
PLACE OF BIRTH |
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Henry James GODBOLD |
Head |
Artist. Watercolours. Photography |
28 |
Islington, Middlesex |
Emma GODBOLD |
Wife |
30 | Islington, Middlesex | |
Edith GODBOLD |
daughter |
5 | Hastings, Sussex | |
Adela GODBOLD |
daughter |
4 | Hastings, Sussex | |
Arthur GODBOLD |
son |
3 | Hastings, Sussex | |
Winifred M. GODBOLD |
daughter |
1 | Hastings, Sussex | |
Charles Henry GODBOLD |
son |
8 months | Hastings, Sussex | |
Lucy GODBOLD |
Sister |
Photographer's Asst. (Photographic Painter) |
25 |
Islington, Middlesex |
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Henry James Godbold - Photographer at 8 Grand Parade, St Leonards-on-Sea |
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Henry James Godbold moves back to White Rock Place, Hastings
Henry James Godbold at 38 White Rock, Hastings |
[ABOVE] A photograph showing the business premises of Hastings photographer Henry James Godbold at 38 White Rock, Hastings(c1900). Henry Godbold's photographic studio was situated above Elias David Cima's Swiss Creamery & Restaurant. Elias Cima, who was born in Switzerland around 1855, ran the Swiss Restaurant at White Rock with his English wife Mathilda from the late 1890s until about 1910. Next door, at No. 39 White Rock, was the shop of John Atterbury, Manufacturing Jeweller & Siversmith. On the left hand side of this photograph is The Bolshaw Arcade, named after Albert Ernest Bolshaw, a homeopathic chemist who had a store at No.37 White Rock. [PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield] |
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Henry James Godbold at 38 White Rock, Hastings
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The Photographic Studios of Henry James Godbold and Arthur Douglas Godbold |
STUDIO NAME |
STUDIO ADDRESS |
DATES |
Henry James GODBOLD & Co. | 2 Robertson Street, HASTINGS | 1865-1868 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 52 High Street, HASTINGS | 1866-1867 |
GODBOLD & Co | 2 Robertson Street & 52 High Street, HASTINGS |
1866-1867 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 22 White Rock Place, HASTINGS |
1869-1870 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 8 Grand Parade, ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEA |
1870-1891 |
GODBOLD & BASEBE | 8 Grand Parade, ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEA |
1878 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 8 Grand Parade, ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEA & 25 White Rock, HASTINGS |
1889-1890 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 25 White Rock, HASTINGS |
1889-1895 |
H. J. GODBOLD & CO | 25 White Rock Place, HASTINGS |
1891-1894 |
Henry James GODBOLD & Co. | 25 White Rock, HASTINGS & 38 White Rock, HASTINGS |
1894 |
Henry James GODBOLD & Co. | 38 White Rock, HASTINGS |
1894-1903 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 38 White Rock, HASTINGS |
1894-1896 |
Henry James GODBOLD | 3 White Rock Gardens, HASTINGS |
1899-1900 |
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Henry James GODBOLD & Son | 74 Baker Street, London |
1903 |
(Arthur) Douglas GODBOLD | 74 Baker Street, London |
1904 |
Arthur Douglas Godbold and Henry James Godbold in London
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Henry James Godbold - The Final Chapter |
[ABOVE] A portrait of Mrs Emma Godbold (1838-1924), probably photographed in the garden of their house in Croydon in the 1920s. [PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield]
[ABOVE] A portrait of the Hastings photographer Henry James Godbold (1842-1927) taken towards the end of his life. [PHOTO : Courtesy of Peter Francis of Lingfield] |
By 1903, Henry James Godbold had
closed his studio in Hastings and moved to London. Henry J. Godbold and his son Arthur
Douglas Godbold entered into a business
partnership and opened a photographic portrait studio at 74 Baker Street, London
under the name of Henry James Godbold & Son. Father
and son worked alongside each other for only a brief period, because
Henry Godbold, who had celebrated his sixtieth birthday in May 1902,
retired from the business the following year.
When the census was taken on 2nd April 1911, Henry James Godbold was recorded with his wife and two children at 6 Loris Road, South Hammersmith, London. Henry James Godbold is described on the census return as a "Retired Photographer", aged 68. Living with Henry was his seventy-year old wife, Emma, who declared she had been married to her husband for forty-six years, his unmarried daughter Jessie Mildred Godbold, a single woman of thirty-two, who was employed as a clerk in a public school, and his forty-three year old bachelor son, Arthur Douglas Godbold, who had abandoned his career as a professional photographer and was now working as the editor of the photographer's magazine, The Photographic Monthly. Henry Godbold's two other sons had left the family home some time ago. Percy Reginald Godbold, Henry and Emma's youngest son, had married in 1897 and had emigrated to South Africa. The other son, Charles Henry Godbold was living in Chorlton district of Lancashire, with his wife Susie and their little boy Charles junior. Living with Charles Godbold in West Didsbury was his eldest sister Edith Emma Godbold, who now styled her name "Edyth" and was working as an artist and miniature painter. The second eldest daughter Adela Jane Godbold had married Mr Darcy Wentworth, an engineer's manager, in 1898 and was living in Epsom, Surrey, at the time of the 1911 census. Jessie Mildred Godbold married Robert H. Paul in the district of Fulham during the 3rd Quarter of 1911. After Jessie left home, Henry and Emma Godbold, together with their eldest son Arthur, moved from Hammersmith to Croydon in Surrey. In 1913, just a couple of years after their removal to Croydon, Arthur Douglas Godbold died at the age of forty-three. Henry and Emma Godbold set up home at a house called "Brundish" at 35 Waddon Park Avenue, Croydon. The Godbolds remained in Croydon for a dozen years. In May 1924, Henry and Emma Godbold received a letter from Buckingham Palace congratulating the couple on their Diamond Wedding Anniversary. A few months later, during the 3rd Quarter of 1924, Mrs Emma Godbold died in Croydon, at the age of eighty-five. After the death of his wife, to whom he had been married for sixty years, Henry Godbold moved to Wiltshire, where some of his relatives lived. Henry James Godbold died in the Amesbury district of Wiltshire in 1927, at the age of 86.
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Acknowledgements |
A special thank you to Peter Francis of Lingfield for providing photographs of Henry Godbold and his Family and for providing additional information about Henry Godbold's wife and children. One of Henry Godbold's daughters married Peter Francis's great uncle and Robert H. Paul, the husband of Jessie Mildred Godbold was Peter's godfather. |