Hastings - Thomas, JW & WA (2)

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Professional Photographers in Hastings (T)

John Wesley Thomas (1831-1908)

Part Two: 1888-1908

[ABOVE] The reverse of an 1890s carte-de-visite by John Wesley Thomas of 45 George Street, Hastings, featuring a design popular with photographers in the 1890s.

By 1888, John Wesley Thomas had passed his studio at 21 White Rock, Hastings to his daughter Annie and her husband Melancthon Moore. From this date, J. W. Thomas operated his photography business from his former studio at 45 George Street, Hastings.

In 1888, John Wesley Thomas had been in business as a professional photographer for thirty years - longer than any other photographer in Hastings. That same year, John Wesley Thomas, together with another veteran professional photographer Henry James Godbold, was involved in the setting up of the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society. John Thomas was unable to attend the Photographic Society's inaugural meeting on 22nd October 1888 and sent his apologies, but his twenty-one year old son, William Arthur Thomas was there to represent his father. Also present at the inaugural meeting was John Thomas's son-in-law, the photographer Melancthon Moore. The majority of the members of the Photographic Society were amateurs, but amongst their ranks were a few local professional photographers including George William Bradshaw, who had just taken over the Memorial Studio at 51c Robertson Street, Henry Bultz, the chief photographer at the Boning & Small studio in Verulam Place (recently acquired by Mrs Sophia Rogerson), George Pearson, and Charles Ash Talbot, who, within a couple of years, was to establish his own studio in Bexhill. Another founder member, chemist Algernon Brooker, was later to set up a shop in Wellington Place, selling photographic materials.

 

 

[ABOVE]  A portrait of young woman wearing a traditional style dress and holding a tambourine. A cabinet format photograph by J. W. Thomas of 45 George Street, Hastings (c1892). Negative No.2238. [ABOVE]  A vignette portrait of young woman. A cabinet format photograph by J. W. Thomas of 45 George Street, Hastings (c1895). Negative No.5138.

 

John Wesley Thomas had lived and worked at 45 George Street, Hastings since 1865. J. W. Thomas's only surviving son William Arthur Thomas (born 1867, Hastings) had worked as an assistant in the family photography business since he left school and, from the age of twenty-one, William took on a more active role at the George Street studio. By 1891, John Wesley Thomas and his wife Jane, together with their youngest daughter Alice Rachel Thomas (born 1870, Hastings) were residing at 1 Croft Villas, New Croft Road, Hastings, and William Arthur Thomas was based at the studio in George Street. At the time of the 1891 census, William A. Thomas was single and living at the family home at 451/2  George Street, Hastings with his unmarried cousin, forty-three year old Ellen Thomas, who served as his housekeeper.

Around 1899, John Wesley Thomas retired from the photography business and the day-to-day running of the George Street studio became the responsibility of his son William Arthur Thomas [see below]. When the 1901 census was taken, John W. Thomas is entered on the return as a "Retired Photographer", aged 69. By this date, all the surviving children of John and Jane Thomas had married. Their eldest child Annie was the wife of photographer Melancthon Moore and their second daughter Ellen was living in Southborough, Kent, where her husband John Charles Dudeney (born 1862, Southborough, Kent) ran a grocery. The couple's only son William Arthur Thomas had married Agnes Shoesmith (born 1869, Hastings) in 1891. Alice Rachel Thomas, the youngest daughter, became the wife of William John Parker, a Hastings bank clerk, in 1892.

John Wesley Thomas was widowed when Jane, his wife of nearly 50 years, died early in 1905 at the age of seventy. John Wesley Thomas was seventy-seven years old when he died in Hastings in 1908 [ John Wesley Thomas's death was registered in Hastings during the third quarter of 1908].

 

 

[ABOVE]  A portrait of young woman standing by an elaborate cane chair. A cabinet format photograph by J. W. Thomas of 45 George Street, Hastings (c1899). Negative No.6,915. [ABOVE]  The back of  the J. W. Thomas' cabinet portrait of the young woman shown on the left. Note the "Five prize medals" for photography and the negative number of 6,915.

 

Click on the link below to view early examples of the photographic work of John Wesley Thomas

The Photographic Work of John Wesley Thomas

 

William Arthur Thomas

[ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite produced by William A. Thomas at 45 George Street, Hastings (c1902).

 William Arthur Thomas was born in Hastings, Sussex in 1867, the son of Jane and John Wesley Thomas, a professional photographer. [The birth of William Arthur Thomas was registered in Hastings during the second quarter of 1867]. William Arthur Thomas was the third boy born to John and Jane Thomas, but he appears to have been the only one of John Wesley Thomas's sons to reach adulthood.

William Arthur Thomas probably served his apprenticeship as a photographer under his father John Wesley Thomas and we can assume that he assisted his father at his studio at 45 George Street, Hastings until John Thomas retired from the business around 1900, when he was in his late sixties. At the age of twenty-one, William Arthur Thomas was a founder member of the Hastings & St Leonards Photographic Society which held its inaugural meeting at the School of Art, Claremont, Hastings on 22nd October 1888.

When the 1891 census was taken on 5th April 1891, William Arthur Thomas was residing at 45a George Street, the living quarters attached to the photographic studio at No. 45. William A. Thomas, an unmarried man of twenty-four, is entered as a "Photographer" on the census return. William Thomas shared his home with Ellen Thomas (born c1848, Hastings), an unmarried cousin who served as his housekeeper.

Towards the end of 1891, William Arthur Thomas married Agnes Shoesmith (born 1869, Hastings), a daughter of Ann and John Shoesmith, a furniture broker with business premises in High Street, Hastings. In 1894, the couple became the parents of a boy named Arthur Wesley Thomas [ Arthur's birth was registered in Hastings during the second quarter of 1894].

After his father retired from the photography business around 1900, William took over the photographic studio at 45 George Street, Hastings. From 1900, the studio carried the name of "William A. Thomas". When the 1901 census was taken, William and Agnes Thomas and their six year old son, Arthur, were recorded at 45 George Street, Hastings. Interestingly, William A. Thomas is described on the census return as a "Photographer (Professor)", aged 34, working "at home" on his "own account" (i.e. self employed).

The studio of William A. Thomas at 45 George Street, Hastings was still in business in 1918.

 

Click here to go back to  John Wesley Thomas - Part One (1858-1887)

Click on the link below to view examples of the photographic work of William Arthur Thomas

The Photographic Work of William Arthur Thomas

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