| David Robert Everest was
born at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1852, the son of Mary and David Everest, a
piano tuner, piano repairer and music seller. David Everest senior
(born c1814, Ashurst, Kent) had married Mary Ockenden (born 1814,
Epsom, Surrey) at the Old Church, St Pancras, London on 18th January 1836.
During the early years of their marriage, David and Mary Everest lived in
Camberwell, London, where their first two children were born - Mary
Jane Everest (born c1837) and Elizabeth Isabella Everest (born
1840). By 1845, David and Mary Everest had moved to Tunbridge Wells, Kent,
the birthplace of their first son Thomas Henry Everest [The birth of
Thomas Henry Everest was registered in the district of Tonbridge during 3rd
Quarter of 1845]. David Robert Everest, the couple's second son, was
born in Tunbridge Wells during the 2nd Quarter of 1852. By 1855, David Everest senior, a pianoforte tuner and piano repairer by trade, had established a "music warehouse" in Chapel Place, Tunbridge Wells. Kelly's 1855 edition of the Post Office Directory of Kent, lists David Everest as a pianoforte tuner, pianoforte repairer and music seller at Chapel Place, Tunbridge Wells, and Melville's Directory of Kent, published in 1858, records David Everest as the proprietor of a music warehouse in Chapel Place. By 1881, David and Mary Everest's children had grown up, married and left home. At the time of the 1881 census, David Everest senior and his wife were living at 7 Nevill Terrace, Frant, Sussex. Although living across the county border in the Sussex village of Frant, David Everest and his wife Mary, who worked as a stay maker, continued to conduct their business in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Kelly's 1882 Directory of Kent, records David Everest senior as a pianoforte tuner at 7 Montacute Road, Tunbridge Wells. Mrs Mary Everest is listed as a "stay maker" at the same address. Mrs Mary Everest died in Frant in 1882, aged 67. David Everest senior carried on working as a piano tuner until his death in 1887 at the age of 73. [The death of David Everest senior at his home in Frant was registered in the district of Ticehurst during the 4th Quarter of 1887]. David Robert Everest - Photographer in Tunbridge Wells David Robert Everest (born 1852, Tunbridge Wells), David Everest senior's youngest son, had trained as a hairdresser, but by the early 1870s he was also working as a photographer. David Robert Everest is recorded as a photographer at 20 Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent from around 1871 until about 1875. In 1874, David Robert Everest married Fanny Winnifrith (born 1855, Tunbridge Wells) in their home town of Tunbridge Wells. [The marriage of David Robert Everest and Fanny Winnifrith was registered in the district of Tunbridge during the 4th Quarter of 1874]. The couple's first child, Catherine Fanny Everest was born in Tunbridge Wells during the 4th Quarter of 1875. David and Fanny Everest's second child, a son named Herbert Robert Everest was born in Tunbridge Wells in 1878. [The birth of Herbert Robert Everest was registered in the district of Tunbridge during the 3rd Quarter of 1878].
Around 1880, David Robert Everest acquired the Alpha Studio at 40 Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells, the former photographic portrait studio of Edward Sims (born c1837, Swansea), a photographer who had been working in Tunbridge Wells since 1864. At the time of the 1881 census, David Robert Everest was recorded as a "Photographer & Hairdresser" at 40 Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells. The young photographer is shown living with his twenty-five year old wife, Mrs Fanny Everest, and their two children - Catherine, aged 5, and two year old Herbert. In 1881, twenty-eight year old David Robert Everest was employing three people - William Frugley (born c1855, Buckfastleigh, Devon), an assistant hairdresser, a young photographer's apprentice named Charles Rogers (born c1863, Leamington, Warks.) and Elizabeth Harbour, a teenage house servant from Tunbridge Wells. Sometime in 1881, David Robert Everest sold his hairdressing and photographic business at 40 Grosvenor Road to Henry Jenkins (born 1838), a photographer and hairdresser from Wallingford, Berkshire. ( Henry Jenkins was assisted in his business by his seventeen year old daughter Annie Jenkins, a "Photographer & Hairdresser's Assistant" who, six years later, married Walter James Gardiner. In 1893, Walter and Annie Gardiner were to establish a photography business in Bath Place, Worthing). Towards the end of 1881, David Robert Everest arrived in Worthing and established a photographic portrait studio at Connaught House, 53 Chapel Road, Worthing. |
[ABOVE] The trade plate of the photographer David Robert Everest of Connaught House, 53 Chapel Road, Worthing, taken from the reverse of a carte-de-visite photograph (c1881). During his time in Worthing, David Robert Everest dropped his first name and traded under the name of "Robert Everest".
[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite showing a hairdresser at work (c1880). David Robert Everest combined his skills as a hairdresser and photographer between 1870 and 1881.
[ABOVE] The trade plate of the photographer David Robert Everest of the Alpha Studio, 40 Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells (c1880). |
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