Hastings - Pearson

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Professional Photographers in Hastings & St Leonards

George Pearson and William Weeks Pearson

George Pearson (born 1859 Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent)

 
George Pearson was born in Great Chart, Kent in 1859 [birth registered in the district of West Ashford during the Third Quarter of 1859]. In 1877, at the age of 18, George Pearson married Eliza Weeks (born c1851, Egerton, Kent), a twenty-six year old woman with a seven year old son named William James Weeks. After their marriage, Eliza's boy was known as William Weeks Pearson. While living in Ashford, Kent, George and his wife produced three children - Lizzie Pearson (born 1878), George Pearson (born 1880), and Arthur Pearson (born 1881).

George Pearson was a baker and corn dealer by trade. The 1881 census records George Pearson, his wife Eliza, and their three children (including 10 year old stepson William Weeks ) living at a "Baker's Shop" at 40 New Street (aka "New Rents"), Ashford. Eliza Pearson was expecting her fourth child ( Arthur) when the census was taken. George Pearson is recorded in the census return as a twenty-two year old "Baker & Corn Dealer". Pearson is also listed as a "corn & flour dealer" and a corn chandler at 40 New Rents, Ashford in local trade directories during this period.

By 1884, George & Eliza Pearson and their three children, plus George's step-son William Weeks, had settled in Hastings. George was possibly working as a photographer by this date. We know George Pearson was very interested in photography in the 1880s because he was a founder member of the Hastings & St  Leonards Photographic Society, which was formed in 1888. George Pearson attended the inaugural meeting of the Hastings & St  Leonards Photographic Society, which was held at the School of Art in Claremont on Monday, 22nd October, 1888.

George Pearson set up home at 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings. During their first six years in Hastings, George and Eliza Pearson produced four more children - Rose Beatrice Pearson (born 1884), Percy Frederick Pearson (born 1886), Leonard Sidney Pearson (born 1888), and Albert Edward Pearson (born 1890).

In 1889, George Pearson's stepson William Weeks Pearson married Sarah Elizabeth Ades (born 1872, Ore, Hastings), the youngest daughter of Mary Ann and Gabriel Ades, a stone sawyer. William was probably assisting his step-father in his photography business during this period. William Weeks Pearson later established his own photography business, working mainly as a beach or seafront photographer.

The 1891 census records George Pearson as a "Photographic Artist", living with his wife and seven of his children at 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings. When the 1901 census was taken, George Pearson is entered on the census return as a "Photographer (own account)", aged 41. This means, George Pearson was a self-employed photographer. However, during this ten year period George Pearson is not listed as a professional photographer in Sussex trade directories. George Pearson is recorded at 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings in Sussex street directories during this decade, but only as a private resident. In 1901, both George Pearson and his stepson William Weeks Pearson were residing at 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings. William Weeks Pearson, like his stepfather, is described as a "Photographer (own account)".

George Pearson was active as a photographer in Hastings from the mid 1880s onwards, but rarely advertised the fact that he was a photographer. It appears that George Pearson did not start advertising his photographic studio at 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings until around 1905. The following advertisement appeared in Pike's Hastings & St. Leonards Directory of 1905 :

 

GEORGE PEARSON - Artist Photographer
30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings

At Home Portraits, Family Portraits, Groups, Schools and Weddings taken at Short Notice at popular Prices.

Copying & Enlarging - Speciality

George Pearson is listed as a photographer in the trades section of Pike's Hastings & St. Leonards Directory of 1905 and he was still listed as a photographer at 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill in a street directory published in 1920. George Pearson was still listed as living at 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings in a street directory published in 1933.

[ABOVE] An illustration taken from the Illustrated London News (6th August 1892), showing beach photographers at work. Both George Pearson and his stepson William Weeks Pearson are known to have worked as photographers on Hastings beach. In the 1890s, George Pearson was working mainly as an "outdoor photographer", taking his camera to his customers. As this picture shows, it was easier for the beach photographer if he had an assistant who could, with the aid of a large cloth, control the amount of light falling on the subject. It is likely that William Weeks Pearson assisted his stepfather in this way when George Pearson was taking photographs on Hastings beach. In this illustration by Chambers Haldane McFall (1860-1928), the beach photographer is using his bowler hat to shade the camera lens.

[ABOVE] In this photograph from the 1890s, a photographer is shown taking a portrait on Hastings beach on a bright sunny day. The beach photographer is about to use his hat to shade the lens of the camera, while his assistant screens out the glare of the sun with a cloth.

George Pearson - The World's Photographer in the small world of Hastings.

[ABOVE] Portrait of a woman standing outside her house, photographed by George Pearson of 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings. Cabinet format photograph.(c1895). Pearson rarely gave the full address of his residence/studio on his photographs and usually only provided the general location of "West Hill, Hastings".

[ABOVE] The design on the reverse of the cabinet portrait shown at left. George Pearson's billing as "The World's Photographer" and the Middle Eastern scene, complete with camels and palm trees seems at odds with the rather mundane domestic setting featured in the photograph on the other side of the card mount. (see left).

Cabinet Portraits by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings

[ABOVE] Portrait of a couple in a studio setting, photographed by George Pearson of 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings. Cabinet format photograph (c1905). A number of Pearson's photographs were taken outdoors, on location, but the portrait above and the cabinet portrait of the two children (RIGHT) were obviously taken in a conventional photographic studio with a painted backdrop and studio props, such as potted plants. Street directories show George Pearson residing at 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings as a private individual between 1890 and 1911, but his address was rarely listed as a photographic studio in trade directories.

 

[RIGHT] Portrait of  two children in a studio setting, photographed by George Pearson of 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings. Cabinet format photograph (c1905). The children stand in front of a painted backdrop and have been provided with studio props. The girl holds a doll and the little boy has been provided with a wooden horse on wheels.

Carte-de-visite Portraits by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young woman by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings (c1900) [ABOVE] The design on the reverse of the carte-de-visite portrait by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings, shown on the left. George Pearson bills himself as "The World's Photographer", but his travels were mainly restricted to the villages around his home town of Hastings. [ABOVE] An outdoor portrait in carte-de-visite format by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings.

George Pearson - Beach Photographer

It is thought that George Pearson started his professional career as a beach photographer in Hastings in the late 1880s or early 1890s. Up until 1905, George Pearson did not advertise his home address of 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings as a photographic studio and it appears that the majority of his early portraits were taken on location, either at his customer's home or on the beach at Hastings.

The cabinet portrait on the left, believed to have been photographed on Hastings beach in 1907, is a late example of George Pearson's work as a beach photographer. The sitters in this photographic portrait were Charles Worrall and Dora Grant. Charles Thomas Worrall was was born in Rotherhithe, south-east London on 28th August, 1884, the son of Elizabeth and Charles Worrall, a waiter from London. After serving his apprenticeship, Charles Worrall junior worked as a bricklayer. Dora Grant, the daughter of a licensed victualler or pub landlord, was from Nunhead, a neighbouring district in south east London. Charles Worrall married Dora Grant in the Camberwell district of London in February 1907. They were both aged 22 at the time of their wedding. In this beach photograph by Pearson, Charles and Dora are both wearing wedding rings and it is thought that the couple were pictured on honeymoon in Hastings or on holiday not long after their marriage. Charles and Dora Worrall went on to have two children - Dorothy and Leonard Charles Worrall (born 1914, Nunhead, London).*


* Thanks to Kate Cowin of Tyneside (Charles Worrall's grand daughter) for providing family history details relating to this beach photograph.

 

[LEFT] Portrait of a couple, photographed on Hastings beach by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings. Cabinet format photograph (c1907). The pair featured in this beach photograph are Charles and Dora Worrall , who married in the London district of Camberwell in February 1907. On the reverse of the cabinet mount is the negative number  "24750" and the abbreviation "Cab" for Cabinet format. The high negative number indicates that Pearson had been taking photographs professionally for a number of years. Inscribed in ink on the back of the photograph are the words "on holiday".     [Photo courtesy of Kate Cowin of Tyneside ]

Photographs of Holidaymakers in Hastings

[ABOVE] Holidaymakers on the pleasure yacht "New Skylark", photographed at Hastings by George Pearson of West Hill, Hastings (c1900). The "New Skylark" was built in Worthing in 1886 and proved so popular with holidaymakers that she had to be lengthened by six feet the following year.

[Above] A detail from the photograph of  "The Yacht Skylark " by George Pearson, showing a group of holidaymakers on board one of the many pleasure boats that could be hired in Hastings.  In this close-up view, the name of the the pleasure craft ,"New Skylark", can be seen beneath the assembled group of trippers. In the early 1890s, holidaymakers were charged 6d per person for each one hour voyage. By 1906, each single ticket was fixed at one shilling.

[ABOVE] Holidaymakers disembarking from two pleasure yachts on Hastings beach, photographed in the 1890s by the well-known amateur photographer George Woods (1852-1934 ).The large yacht on the right is the "New Albertine", a pleasure craft which was built in 1891. The pleasure yacht on the left is probably the "New Skylark", the subject of George Pearson's photograph illustrated opposite.

A number of pleasure boats operated from Hastings beach. The pleasure boats ranged in size from small rowing boats, licensed to carry between 2 and 7 passengers, through the sailing boats that carried between 10 and 20 passengers, right up to the large pleasure yachts, which could carry up to 140 passengers. Local fishermen had been adapting their fishing boats to take seaside visitors for trips and fishing expeditions since the end of the 18th century. With the expansion of the tourist trade which followed the construction of the railway lines to Hastings in the 1840s and 1850s, large pleasure yachts were specially constructed to cater for the increasing number of seaside visitors. In 1848, the "British Lion", a 10 ton pleasure yacht, was launched at Hastings. An even larger yacht, the 30 ton "Skylark" was built four years later. In 1886, the original "Skylark" was replaced by a longer and larger yacht named the "New Skylark". In 1891, the "New Skylark" was joined on Hastings beach by the massive 56 feet long "New Albertine" pleasure yacht.

The large pleasure yachts set off from the seafront at Denmark Place, near the Queens Hotel. When the yachts returned to the beach after the sea trip, the passengers disembarked using large wooden step-ladders. The empty yachts were then hauled up the beach by horse-driven capstans and turned round on a turntable ready for the next trip. It took some time for the large yachts to be filled with passengers, giving beach photographers the opportunity to photograph the holidaymakers before the pleasure boats set off on the next sea trip.

 

Photographs on Location

[ABOVE] Portrait of a family group (including their pet cat), photographed outside their home by George Pearson of 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings. Cabinet format photograph (c1910). According to an advertisement of 1905, "At Home Portraits" and "Family Portraits", were a speciality of George Pearson.
 

[ABOVE] The printed details given at the foot of the family portrait group shown above. It was only towards the end of his photographic career that George Pearson gave his full home address on his cabinet portraits. Up until 1908, George Pearson's cabinet portraits are identified by the words "PEARSON - WEST HILL, HASTINGS", which suggests the majority of his photographs were taken outdoors rather than inside his studio at 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings.

George Pearson was primarily an outdoor photographer. An advertisement of 1905 lists his main types of work as "At Home Portraits, Family Portraits, Groups, Schools and Weddings taken at Short Notice". The 1905 advertisement gives details of his home address at 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings, but he rarely promoted his studio work by including this address on his cabinet photographs. The majority of his photographs carry the simple printed inscription ""PEARSON - WEST HILL, HASTINGS". This suggests George Pearson preferred to find his customers rather than expecting them to come to his studio at 30 Vicarage Road.

The cabinet portrait by George Pearson, pictured at left, appears to have been taken outside the home of the family in the photograph. It is possible that George Pearson travelled the streets of Hastings and the surrounding area as an opportunist photographer, knocking on doors asking if the occupants would like to have their photographs taken. To arrange portraits of the whole family, Pearson probably had to take his photographs on a Sunday or a Saturday afternoon. It is likely that he canvassed for customers during the week and returned at the weekend if the whole family were to be included in the portrait. George Pearson's large format photograph of Harvey's Grocery Store in Charing, Kent shows that he was prepared to travel some distance for customers.

[ABOVE] Portrait of a group of employees standing outside Harvey's Grocery Store at 68 High Street, Charing, Kent, photographed by George Pearson of Hastings. Large format photograph. Harvey's Grocery Store in Charing was established by Robert Harvey (born 1839, Chatham, Kent) around 1880. After the death of Robert Harvey in 1888, his widow Mrs Elizabeth Harvey (born c1840, Gillingham, Kent) took over the ownership of the store which retained the trading name of Robert Harvey & Co. From around 1897, the proprietor of Harvey's Grocery Store was Charles Norman Gales (born 1865, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex), a former assistant in the shop who in 1893 had married his employer's daughter Annie Harvey (born 1864, Charing). Charles Gales, the proprietor of Harvey's Grocery Store is probably one of the middle-aged men posing in front of the shop.

[Photo : Courtesy of Debbie Brett]

School Photographs by George Pearson and William Weeks Pearson

George Pearson was primarily an "outdoor photographer", travelling around Hastings and surrounding villages with his camera. The taking of "School Group" photographs was one of George Pearson's specialities. In an advertisement published in 1905, George Pearson lists "Schools and Weddings " as amongst his main categories of photography work. William Weeks Pearson, George Pearson's step son also took school group photographs.  Although they were based in Hastings, both George Pearson and William Weeks Pearson were prepared to travel to neighbouring areas to take "school group" photographs.

The example of Pearson's school photography illustrated on the right shows pupils and staff of an elementary school situated in Hooe, some ten miles from Hastings. John Newport, (the grandson of John Newport, the Head Teacher of Hooe School between 1895 and 1920) has discovered an entry in the Hooe School Logbook dated 24th November 1904 which reads : "The scholars were photographed this afternoon by W. Pearson, Hastings".

 

[ABOVE]  The boys of the Public Elementary School in Hooe, Sussex, probably photographed around 1905 by William Weeks Pearson of Hastings.

[Photo ; Courtesy of John Newport]

 
To view larger versions of these school photographs by Pearson of Hastings, click on the link below:

School Photographs by Pearson of Hastings 

[ABOVE] Children and staff of the Public Elementary School in Hooe, Sussex, photographed around 1905 by Pearson of Hastings.

[Photo ; Courtesy of John Newport]

[ABOVE] The girls of the Public Elementary School in Hooe, Sussex, photographed by Pearson of Hastings (c1905).

[Photo ; Courtesy of John Newport]

William James Weeks Pearson (born 1870, Ashford)

William Weeks Pearson was born William James Weeks, the son of Eliza Weeks (born c1851, Egerton, Kent). William Weeks was born in Ashford, Kent in 1870 [birth registered in the district of West Ashford during the Second Quarter of 1870]. I have not discovered any details about William's natural father, but in 1877, when William was seven, his mother married George Pearson, a young baker and corn dealer of Ashford. William's mother and stepfather went on to produce at least seven further children of their own, so William, who was Eliza's only child, acquired five half-brothers and two half sisters.[ See above under George Pearson ]. William adopted his step-father's surname and in adult life he was known as William Weeks Pearson.

Until about 1883, the Pearson family lived in Ashford, where George Pearson worked as a baker and corn chandler. By 1884, William Weeks Pearson was living in Hastings with the rest of his family. George Pearson was no longer working as a baker and dealer in corn and appears to have become a man of independent means. Sometime in the late 1880s, George Pearson started to earn a living as a photographer, working from an address of 30 Vicarage Road, West Hill, Hastings. It appears that as a teenager, William Weeks Pearson assisted his father in his photography business.

In 1889, nineteen year old William Weeks Pearson married seventeen year old Sarah Elizabeth Ades (born 1872, Ore, Hastings), the youngest daughter of Gabriel Ades and Mary Ann Merchant. [The marriage of William James Weeks and Sarah Elizabeth Ades was registered in Hastings during the third quarter of 1889]. Gabriel Ades (1850-1903), Sarah's father, was originally from Brede, Sussex, but after marrying Anne Merchant (1831-1907) in 1850, he settled in the Ore district of Hastings, where he worked as a stone sawyer.

William and Sarah's first child, William George Weeks (Pearson) was born in Hastings during the third quarter of 1890. William George was followed by Eva Isabel (born 1892, Hastings), Ethel Beatrice (born 1893), Edmund Ernest (born 1896), and Edith Elizabeth (born 1898, Hastings). All five children were born with the legal surname of Weeks, but, like their father, they were generally known as Pearson or Weeks Pearson. When the 1901 census was taken, William Weeks Pearson and his family were living at the same house as his stepfather, George Pearson, at 30 Vicarage Road, Hastings. William is entered on the census return with the surname Pearson, as were the other members of the family. William Pearson is described in the census return as a "Photographer (own account)", aged 30. In the years that followed the 1901 census, five more children were born to William and Sarah - Gladys Bathsheba (born 1903), Reginald Percy (born 1904) Hilda Mabel (born 1907), Leslie James (born 1910) and Stanley Weeks.

By 1905, William Weeks Pearson had moved around the corner from Vicarage Road to 22 Whitefriars Road, West Hill, Hastings and he is listed as a photographer at this address in Pike's Hastings & St. Leonards Directory of 1905. Although he was based at 22 Whitefriars Road, Hastings, William Weeks Pearson worked mainly as a beach photographer on Hastings' seafront. William Weeks Pearson is recorded as a photographer at 22 Whitefriars Road from around 1905 to beyond the First World War period. In the 1920s, William Weeks Pearson specialised in producing group photographs taken on the beach and issued them in the popular postcard format. These group photographs were appropriately known as "Pearson's Popular Post Cards" (see below). William Weeks Pearson was still living at 22 Whitefriars Road in 1933.
 

[ABOVE] The amateur photographer George Woods captured this scene of a beach photographer at work in front of the Hastings Lifeboat House in the 1890s. The beach photographer is about to take a photograph of a large group of working men, presumably on a day trip to Hastings. George Pearson was taking portraits on the beach in the 1890s and early 1900s. George Pearson's stepson, William Weeks Pearson became well known for his group photographs taken on Hastings beach in the years that followed the First World War. (See below)

 
[ABOVE] The trade plate of either George Pearson or William Weeks Pearson, both of whom were photographers based in  Hastings during the early 1900s. This trade plate reads : "Pearson, Photographer, Hastings" and dates from around 1904.
[ABOVE] Another trade plate, this time in a different typeface, which reads : "Pearson, Photographer, Hastings". George Pearson and his stepson William Weeks Pearson might have shared the same stock of photographic mounts.

 

A Mystery Photograph by Pearson of Hastings

George Pearson and his stepson William Weeks Pearson were both primarily "outdoor photographers", travelling around Hastings and the surrounding countryside with their cameras, photographing groups of people in front of their houses or businesses. Surviving photographs carrying the "Pearson of Hastings" trade plate provide evidence that George Pearson and William Pearson journeyed many miles to take their photographs. For instance, around 1900, George Pearson travelled a distance of over 30 miles to the Kent village of Charing to photograph Harvey's Grocery Store in Charing's High Street. Records show that William Weeks Pearson regularly visited Hooe, a village two miles north-west of Bexhill, to take group photographs at the village school.

The photograph on the right was taken by "Pearson of Hastings" around 1905. The original photograph is in the possession of Trevor Cornford and is believed to show members of the Mitchell Family, who originally came from Rotherfield, but lived at various times in Little Horsted, Lower Dicker and Hooe.

Jabez Mitchell (1854-1914) was the elder brother of Trevor Cornford's maternal great-grandfather. Jabez Mitchell was born in Rotherfield in 1854. When the 1881 census was taken, Jabez Mitchell was farming 56 acres at Fordbrook Farm, Fordbrook Hill, Rotherfield. The following year Jabez Mitchell married Esther Wood (born 1861, Nutley). After a period at Fordbrook Farm, Jabez and Esther Mitchell took over Brockwells Farm in Little Horsted, near Uckfield. Jabez Mitchell is recorded as a farmer at Brockwells Farm in a local directory published in 1888. By the time the 1891 census was taken,  Jabez Mitchell was running Coldharbour Farm in Lower Dicker. Around 1898, Jabez Mitchell and his family moved to Court Lodge Farm in Hooe, near Bexhill-on-Sea. Jabez Mitchell remained at Court Lodge Farm, Hooe, until his death in 1914 at the age of sixty.

 

To view photographs relating to the Mitchell Family of Rotherfield click on the link below:

Mitchell Family Photographs

Where was this Pearson photograph taken ?

[ABOVE] Portrait of a family group, photographed outside their home by Pearson of Hastings (c1905)

[Photo ; Courtesy of Trevor Cornford]

 

William Weeks Pearson's "Popular Post Cards"

Post Cards by William James Weeks Pearson

[TOP LEFT] A group portrait taken on the beach at Hastings, a postcard photograph by William James Weeks Pearson. The two signs planted on the beach in front of the group give the following details "PEARSON'S POPULAR POST CARDS" - "SEPT 15. GROUP 2".

[TOP RIGHT] The reverse of the group portrait post card showing William James Weeks Pearson's details rubber-stamped on the back. The stamp reads "W. WEEKS PEARSON, 22, Whitefriars Road, Hastings ".

[BOTTOM LEFT] A group portrait taken at the water's edge on Hastings beach, a postcard photograph by William James Weeks Pearson (1919). The photograph carries the caption "No.4.  3/9/19 ". Printed on the back of the postcard are the photographer's details "W. J. Weeks Pearson, 22, Whitefriars Rd, West Hill, Hastings ". [SEE BELOW]

 

Click on the link below to view school photographs by Pearson 0f Hastings

School Group Photographs by Pearson of Hastings

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Jay Glanville for providing details of the Ades Family on his "Jay's Genes" website. I am also grateful to Dave Shopland for letting me have the names of the ten children of Sarah and William Weeks Pearson. Dave Shopland is married to the grand daughter of Reginald Weeks Pearson, a son of William Weeks Pearson. Thanks also to Kate Cowin of Tyneside for providing the cabinet portrait of Charles and Dora Worrall, photographed on Hastings beach around 1907. Kate also supplied information regarding Charles Worrall, her paternal grandfather. Thanks also to John Newport for providing examples of George Pearson's school group photographs. George Pearson's photograph of Harvey's Grocery Store in Charing, Kent, was kindly provided by Debbie Brett. Thanks to Trevor Cornford for supplying the photograph of members of the Mitchell Family taken by Pearson of Hastings.

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