Hastings:  Pea-Per

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Professional Photographers in Hastings & St Leonards (Pe)

B. Pearce - Robert Pearce - George Pearson - William Weeks Pearson - Pedder & Mann - Alfred Peplow - Permanent Portrait Co. - Samuel Perrett - Arthur Robert Perry

Robert Pearce

active as a photographer in St Leonards during the period 1897-1900

The Royal Victoria Studio makes its first appearance as a photographic studio in St Leonards in a trade directory of 1896. Robert Pearce was recorded as a photographer at the Royal Victoria Studio, St Leonards from around 1897. Kelly's Directory of Hastings & St Leonards published in 1897 lists "B. Pearce" as a photographer at 6 Royal Victoria Buildings, Marina, St Leonards. The photographer's full name of Robert Pearce appears under the heading of "Photographers" in the commercial section of Kelly's 1899 Directory of Sussex. Kelly's Hastings & St Leonards' Directory for 1900, again lists the photographer as "B. Pearce". By the time Kelly's 1903 Directory was produced, the Royal Victoria Studio at 6 Royal Victoria Buildings, Marina, St Leonards had passed into the hands of the photographer Alfred C. Price (born 1865, Kilburn, London). Alfred Price is recorded as a "Photographic Artist (own account)" in the 1901 census for Hastings & St Leonards, so we can assume that Pearce had left the Royal Victoria Studio by 31st March 1901. The only "Robert Pearce" that appears in the 1901 census for Hastings & St Leonards is twenty-seven year old Robert Pearce (born c 1873, Wiltshire) who gives his occupation as "farrier".

[ABOVE] The trade plate of the Royal Victoria Studio, St Leonards, operated by Robert Pearce between 1897 and 1900.

 

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of three unknown girls by Robert Pearce of the Royal Victoria Studio, St Leonards (c1897). [PHOTO: Courtesy of Alison Stone of Leicester]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT : Thanks to Alison Stone of Leicester for supplying the Pearce photograph and for providing additional information.

Three Girls in an Attic : A Mystery Photograph by Pearce of St Leonards

The photograph on the left was found in the attic of a house at 48 Eastleigh Road, Leicester. The photograph was brought to my attention by Alison Stone, the present occupant of the house.

The photograph appears to be a group portrait of three sisters aged between 10 and 18. This cabinet portrait was taken at Robert Pearce's Royal Victoria Studio around 1897, but the house where the photograph was found was not built until around 1903. In 1906, the occupant of 48 Eastleigh Road, Leicester was a cashier named Harry Arthur Chitham, who appears to have moved into the house shortly after his marriage in 1905. Harry Arthur Chitham was born in Leicester in 1879, the son of Caroline Judith Polhill  (born 1855, Wolverton, Buckinghamshire) and Joseph Chitham (born 1843, Nuneaton, Warwickshire), a button merchant. Harry Arthur Chitham married Christiana Marlow [born 1881, Desborough, Northants.] in Kettering, Northamptonshire during the Fourth Quarter of 1905. Christiana Marlow was the daughter of Mary Ann and Samuel Crick Marlow [born 1843, Desborough, Northants.], a boot manufacturer. After his marriage Arthur Chitham returned to live in his native city of Leicester.

There is a possibility that the three girls pictured in this photograph were connected to the Chitham Family or the Marlow Family, but, of course, the group portrait could have been left behind by any of the families that occupied 48 Eastleigh Road, Leicester between 1903 and 1998.
 

If anyone viewing this photograph can help identify the sitters, please contact me and I will pass on the information to Alison Stone
 
 

[ABOVE] A cabinet portrait of a mother and child by Robert Pearce of the Royal Victoria Studio, St Leonards. A date of  "September 1898" is Inscribed in ink on the reverse of this cabinet photograph.

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

William Weeks Pearson (born 1870, Ashford)

 

To view a more detailed account of the careers of George Pearson and William Weeks Pearson click on the link below:

 George Pearson and William Weeks Pearson

Pedder & Mann

Thomas George Mann (born 1838, Hastings, died 1874 Hastings)

 

[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.

Alfred Peplow

   

Permanent Portrait Co.

   

Samuel Perrett

   

Arthur Robert Perry