Lombardi & Co. - Brighton Studio

 

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Lombardi & Co. - Photographers in Brighton and London

Antonio Martinucci (c1830-1880) - Eugenio Martinucci (1849-1920) - Robert Hatt (1843-1918) - Burt Sharp (1852-1913)

Richard Webber (born 1867, Brighton) - Otto Pfenninger (born 1867, Switzerland)

Antonio Martinucci and Eugenio Martinucci  (Lombardi & Co.)

The Lombardi photographic studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton was opened around 1863. The Lombardi studio had been established by Antonio Martinucci (c1830-1880), an Italian professor of languages who had settled in Brighton ten years previously. Antonio Martinucci was later joined in the business by Eugenio Martinucci (1849-1920), a photographer who later became the senior partner in the firm of Lombardi & Co. of Brighton and London.

Antonio Martinucci (c1830-1880)

Antonio Martinucci, who was born either in Como or Chiavenna in Italy about 1830, arrived in Brighton around 1853. Early in 1854, Signor Antonio Martinucci was publicizing his services as a teacher of modern languages, literature and mathematics at an address in Brighton's King's Road. Between January and April 1854, Signor Martinucci was advertising in local newspapers as a "Professor of Modern Languages, Literature & Mathematics". W. J. Taylor's Original Directory of Brighton, which was compiled before June 1854, records Antonio Martinucci as a "Professor of Literature & Mathematics" at 14 King's Road, Brighton. Martinucci was operating from the business premises of Joseph Silvani, an Italian goldsmith and jeweller, whose shop spanned No. 13 and No.14 King's Road. Joseph Silvani (born c1800, Italy) might have been a friend or relative from the "old country" (Italy). Interestingly, Eugenio Martinucci later named one of his sons John Silvani Martinucci, possibly after John Silvani (born 1837, Brighton), the son of Joseph Silvani, the Italian jeweller.

On 26th June 1856, at Hove, Sussex, Antonio Martinucci married Mrs Catherine Nichols Monro, a twenty-nine year old widow. Antonio's wife was born Catherine Nichols Field on 28th November 1827 in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of Henry Field and Sophia Anne Hughes Hewitt. On 3rd September 1844, in Glasgow, Scotland, Catherine Nichols Field, then aged only sixteen, had married Alexander Donald Monro (1822-1849), a young Scotsman. This union produced three children - Donald Hugh Monro (born 1845, Wandsworth), Charles Edward Monro (born 1847, Wargrave, Berkshire - died 1891, Croydon) and Kenneth Monro (born 1848, Durley, Hants - died 1867, Brighton). Catherine's husband Alexander Donald Monro died at Nursling, Hampshire, on 27th April 1849 at the age of twenty-six. Mrs Catherine Nichols Monro was left as a young widow of twenty-one with three children under five years of age. Catherine, however, had inherited some property from her late husband. At the time of the 1851 census, the young widow and her three children were residing at a house in High Street, Bognor, Sussex. Mrs Catherine Monro is described on the census return as a "Proprietor of Houses". Around 1855, Mrs Monro was running a boarding house at 19 Waterloo Street, Hove. It was around this time that Mrs Catherine Monro made the acquaintance of Antonio Martinucci, a young Italian teacher in his mid-twenties. By 1856, Antonio and Catherine had married and Signor Martinucci had established himself as a "Professor of Languages" at 19 Waterloo Street, Hove, where he was based for the next four or five years.

Antonio and Catherine Martinucci's first child was a son named Herbert Joseph Martinucci, who was born in Hove early in 1857. [The birth of Herbert Joseph Martinucci was registered in the Sussex district of Steyning during the First Quarter of 1857 ]. The couple's second child, a daughter named Augusta Maria Martinucci was born in Brighton at the beginning of 1861 and baptised at St Nicholas Church, Brighton a few days later on 6th January 1861. Antonio Martinucci had to wait another ten years for the arrival of his third child, a son named Cecil Oswald Martinucci, who was born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, during the 3rd Quarter of 1871.

For a dozen years, Antonio Martinucci worked as a modern languages teacher in Brighton. Melville's Directory & Gazetteer of Sussex, published in 1858, lists Antonio Martinucci as a "professor of languages" at 19 Waterloo Street, Hove. Nine years later, Kelly's 1867 Directory of Sussex was still listing Antonio Martinucci as a "professor of languages", but with a new business address in New Steine, Brighton. When the 1861 census was taken, Antonio Martinucci was recorded at 163 North Street, Brighton, with his wife Catherine and their two young children - four year old Herbert and baby daughter Augusta. Antonio Martinucci is described on the census return as a "Professor of Languages", aged 29, and his place of birth is given as Como, Italy. Between 1862 and 1867, local commercial directories list Antonio Martinucci as a "Professor of Languages" at 23 New Steine, Brighton.

Antonio Martinucci and the Lombardi Photographic Studio in Brighton

Although he earned his living chiefly as a teacher of modern languages, Antonio Martinucci was interested in a wide range of subjects. When he first arrived in Brighton, Antonio Martinucci was offering to instruct his pupils in Mathematics and Literature, as well as Modern Languages. Martinucci was also an inventor. On 12th August 1858, together with John Scott of Shoreham, a Commander in the Mercantile Marine (Merchant Navy), he filed a patent for the invention of "an improved steam engine". Antonio Martinucci then became interested in the art and science of photography and around 1863 he established a photographic studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton under the name of Lombardi & Co. Antonio Martinucci continued to earn an income as a "professor of languages" under his own name and it appears that he adopted the name of "Antonio Lombardi" for his photographic activities. Page's General Directory for Brighton & Hove, published in 1864, lists "Lombardi & Co., photographers" at 113 King's Road and Signor Martinucci as a Professor of Languages at the same address.

Antonio Martinucci's studio at 113 King's Road was established under the name of Lombardi & Co. For a brief time, "Antonio Lombardi " (Antonio Martinucci) was joined by a photographer named Fox and the photographic portraits produced at 113 King's Road carried the name "Lombardi & Fox". Signor Martinucci's business partner could have been Edward Fox junior (c1823-1899), who had been taking photographs of buildings in and around Brighton since 1851.The partnership of Lombardi & Fox was brief, probably lasting less than a year. Around 1865, Mr Fox was replaced by Mr Fry and for a few years the studio went under the name of Lombardi & Fry. It is possible that Martinucci's partner was one of the sons of Edmund Fry (1811-1866), a former bookseller and Quaker peace activist. Fry was the father of photographers Clarence Edmund Fry (1840-1897), Walter Henry Fry (born 1841), and Allen Hastings Fry (born 1847). I do not know which of the Fry brothers, if any, was Martinucci's business partner, but of the three, the most likely candidate is Walter Henry Fry. [ Allen Hastings Fry was employed by the firm of Hennah & Kent up until 1867 and in 1863, Clarence Edmund Fry had entered into a partnership with Joseph John Elliott (1835-1903) to form the famous London photography firm of Elliott & Fry ].

[ABOVE ] Advertisement for Lombardi & Fry, Photographic Artists, 113 King's Road, Brighton. This advertisement appeared in H. &  C. Treacher's Advertising Sheet in 1865.

The business partnership between Antonio Martinucci and Mr Fry ended before 1870. ( In 1867 Walter Henry Fry established the firm of W. & A. H. Fry with his younger brother Allen Hastings Fry and opened a photographic studio at 68 East Street, Brighton).

By 1870, Antonio Martinucci was exhibiting photographs under the name of "Antonio Lombardi". Mathieson's Brighton & Suburban Directory of 1870, lists Antonio Lombardi as an "artist & photographer" at 113 King's Road, Brighton. From 1871 until 1879, a photographer identified as Lombardi of Brighton showed photographs at the annual exhibitions of the Photographic Society of London (later known as the Royal Photographic Society). At the Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of 1871, Lombardi of Brighton was represented by a single portrait. The following year, Lombardi of Brighton exhibited three individual portraits, each one entitled "Portrait of a Lady". By 1879, Signor A. Lombardi was a member of the Photographic Society and at the Twenty-fourth Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great Britain, "A. Lombardi" showed several photographs. Although one exhibit was described simply as an "Enlargement", all the other photographs were portraits and the sitters were mostly identified. Those portrayed included Charles Reade, Esq., Mr Biddulph, Samuel Holland Esq., Lady Gilford, and Mrs H. V. Macdonna.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Signor Lombardi's Studio, 113 King's Road, Brighton. This advertisement appeared in the Hastings & St Leonards Independent newspaper throughout 1874 and 1875. This particular advert appeared in the newspaper on 2nd November 1875. "Signor Lombardi" was either Antonio Martinucci, the original owner of the studio, or Eugenio Martinucci, a professional photographer.After

Although it is accepted that Antonio Martinucci established the studio of Lombardi & Co. in Brighton around 1863, he does not give his occupation as "photographer" in the 1871 census. At the time of the 1871 census, Antonio Martinucci was residing with his pregnant wife Catherine and his daughter Augusta at his villa in Hurstpierpoint, a Sussex village less than ten miles from Brighton. Antonio Martinucci is recorded on the census return as a "Professor of Languages", aged 40. However, David Webb, who has made a comprehensive study of photographers active in London in Victorian times, lists Antonio Martinucci (1830-1880) as a photographer in the The Database of 19th Century Photographers and Allied Trades in London: 1841-1901 featured on the photoLondon website. Although Antonio Martinucci was the senior partner in the firm of Lombardi & Co., the census return recording the occupant of Lombardi & Co.'s premises at 113 King's Road, Brighton in 1871 indicates that the day-to-day work at the photographic studio was carried out by Eugenio Martinucci. The census enumerator has written an approximation of Eugenio Martinucci's name ( it appears as "Ugene Martinici") and has recorded him as a "Photographer", aged 22. In the 1870s, the proprietor of the photographic studio at 113 King's Road is referred to as "Signor Lombardi" and it is not clear whether the person referred to is Antonio Martinucci or Eugenio Martinucci.

Antonio Martinucci became a Naturalised British Subject in April 1873 [ Nationality and Naturalisation Certificate A979 issued 16 April 1873 ]. After twenty years as a language teacher and a number of years as the proprietor of a fashionable photographic portrait studio, Antonio Martinucci died in Brighton in 1880 at the age of fifty. It seems that Antonio Martinucci was the driving force behind the Lombardi studio in the early years of its existence ( Eugenio was only 14 years of age when the Lombardi studio was established around 1863 ), but his involvement in the firm of Lombardi & Co. might have been primarily financial and although he appears to have been the original proprietor of the Lombardi studio, he probably employed the services of professional photographers at his King's Road studio. Given that Antonio Martinucci is generally recorded as a "Professor of Languages", rather than a "Photographer", he probably relied on the expertise of the professional photographers who joined him in his firm, such as Mr Fox and Mr Fry, for the day-to-day running of the studio in Brighton's King's Road. From around 1870, Antonio Martinucci could call upon Eugenio Martinucci (born 1849, Chiavenna, Italy) to operate the Lombardi photographic studio in Brighton. At the time of Antonio Martinucci's death in 1880, Eugenio Martinucci was the senior partner in the firm of Lombardi & Co. and was in charge of the Lombardi studio in London.

[ABOVE ] An early trade plate of the photographic firm Lombardi & Co. of 113 King's Road, Brighton, founded by Antonio Martinucci around 1864.

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of an unknown man, photographed at the studio of Lombardi & Fry. 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1867)

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Fox of 113 King's Road, Brighton as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1864).

PHOTO: Courtesy of Ron Cosens

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a man holding a bowler hat, photographed at the studio of Lombardi & Fry, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1867)

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, of 113 King's Road, Brighton as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1864). Beneath a royal crown is a belt or garter carrying the words "Honi soit qui mal y pense", the ancient motto of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. Translated into English from Old French, the motto reads "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it".

[ABOVE] A reference to "Signor Lombardi, our famous photographer"' which appeared in the "Brighton Gossip" column of the Cliftonville & Hove Mercury on 27th December 1878. It is not clear whether "Signor Lombardi, our famous photographer"' refers to Antonio Martinucci or Eugenio Martinucci.
 

Carte-de-visite Portraits from the Lombardi Studio in Brighton (1864-1870)

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a man seated in a chair holding a white pointer or conductor's baton, photographed at the studio of Lombardi & Co., 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1864) [ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a seated woman and her son photographed at the studio of Lombardi & Fox, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1864) PHOTO: Courtesy of Ron Cosens [ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman holding a book and standing by a table at the studio of Lombardi & Fry, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1865) [ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a man standing by a table, photographed at the studio of Lombardi & Co., 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1869)

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Co. of 113 King's Road, Brighton as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1864).

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Co., Artists & Photographers, of 113 King's Road, Brighton as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1864).

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Fry, Artists & Photographers, of 113 King's Road, Brighton as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1865).

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi Co., Artists & Photographers, of 113 King's Road, Brighton as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1870).

Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (1870-1874)

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton, as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1870). [ABOVE ] A vignette portrait of a bearded man, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1870) [ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young woman standing by a chair, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1870) [ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman holding a book and framed by a window,  photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1870)

 

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a middle-aged man in an oval frame, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1872)

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of  Cecil Frederick Holmes (1828-1887), Assistant Master of Harrow School, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1873)

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of an unknown woman in an oval frame, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1872)

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of an unknown young man in an oval frame, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1872)
 

Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci (c1849-1920)

[ABOVE ] A portrait of Eugenio Martinucci (c1849-1920). This likeness was taken in the London studio of Lombardi & Co. around 1883, when Eugenio was in his early thirties. PHOTO: Courtesy of Heather Holford

[ABOVE ] A portrait of  a young woman, probably photographed by Eugenio Martinucci during the time he was the sole proprietor of the Lombardi studio in Brighton. This carte-de-visite photograph was produced at the Lombardi studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton around 1872. As "Signor Lombardi", Martinucci showed similar portraits at the Annual Exhibitions of the Photographic Society of Great Britain held between 1871 and 1879.

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Co. Photographers to the Royal Family, 79 West Street & 113 King's Road, Brighton and at 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W. as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1878).
Eugenio Martinucci, was born at Chiavenna in the Lombardia region of Northern Italy around 1849. ( Sometimes, Eugenio's full name is given as Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci or Eugenio Martinucci Lombardi ). Although Antonio Martinucci is recorded as a resident in the English seaside resort of Brighton in 1854 and is registered in the English census of 1861, the date of Eugenio Martinucci's arrival in England has not been noted.

When the census of Brighton was carried out on 2nd April 1871, Eugenio Martinucci was recorded at the Lombardi studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton. Eugenio Martinucci ( wrongly entered as "Ugene Martinici" on the census return), is described on the census return as an unmarried man of twenty-two working as a "photographer". It appears that Eugenio had been recruited by Antonio Martinucci to operate the Lombardi photographic studio in Brighton's King's Road. Antonio Martinucci was possibly Eugenio Martinucci's father. When Eugenio Martinucci married in 1875, he declared that his father was "Antonio Martinucci, merchant ".

Eugenio Martinucci and Lombardi & Co. of Brighton

In early 1870s, Eugenio Martinucci was the chief photographer of the Lombardi studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton. Around 1875, the year of his marriage to Mary Alice Nye [see below for further details of Eugenio Martinucci's wife and family], Eugenio Martinucci joined forces with two other photographers - Robert Hatt (born c1843, Islington) and Burt Sharp (born 1851, Brighton) - to form the firm of Lombardi & Co. A second Lombardi studio was opened at 79 West Street, Brighton around 1875.

By 1877, Eugenio Martinucci was taking a greater interest in the photographic publishing business he had developed with fellow Italian photographer Leonida Caldesi (1822-1891) at Caldesi's studio at 13 Pall Mall East, London. Under the name of Lombardi, Caldesi & Co., Eugenio Martinucci and Leonida Caldesi published photographic portraits of celebrities and photographic reproductions of works of art ( including exhibits at the British Museum and the Old Master paintings held by the National Gallery in London). Martinucci was also the proprietor of a "new portrait studio" at 13 Pall Mall East, which operated under the name of Lombardi & Co. In 1877, in order to be closer to his business interests in the capital, Martinucci moved to London with his family, leaving Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp in charge of the Lombardi studios in Brighton.

In 1880, the partnership between Eugenio Martinucci and his two English associates came to an end. Martinucci, who was now residing with his wife and children in the St Pancras district of London, had decided to concentrate on his portrait studio and photographic publishing venture based at 13 Pall Mall East in the City of Westminster. In 1880 Martinucci dissolved his partnership with Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp and ended his active involvement with the Lombardi studios in Brighton. Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp remained business partners and continued running the studios at 113 King's Road and 79 West Street, Brighton under the name of Lombardi & Co.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Lombardi & Co., Photographers Royal of 79 West Street and 113 King's Road. Brighton which appeared in the Cliftonville & Hove Mercury on Friday, 2nd May 1879.  By this date Eugenio Martinucci had left Brighton for London and the two Lombardi studios in Brighton were being managed by his two business partners Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp.
 
[RIGHT] A carte-de-visite portrait of two men, photographed at the studio of Lombardi, Artist & Photographer, 113 King's Road, Brighton (c1872). Around 1875, Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci, the proprietor of the Lombardi studio in King's Road, Brighton, entered into a business partnership with photographers Robert Hatt (1843-1918) and Burt Sharp (1852-1913) to form the firm of Lombardi & Co.

Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp were the partners in the firm of Lombardi & Co. of Brighton from 1880 until 1883. Robert Hatt appears to have been in charge of the original Lombardi & Co. studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton, which specialised in studio portraits, while his partner Burt Sharp, who seemed to prefer "outdoor photography", was based at 79 West Street, Brighton.

[ABOVE] An 1882 advertisement for Lombardi & Co., Photographers and Miniature Painters of 79 West Street and 113 King's Road, Brighton. Eugenio Martinucci of Lombardi & Co. had opened the second studio in Brighton's West Street around 1874. When Eugenio Martinucci moved to London in 1877 to operate a studio in Pall Mall East, the Lombardi studios in Brighton were managed by Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp.

 Under the name of Lombardi, Eugenio Martinucci became established as a society photographer in London. Between 1871 and 1879, Eugenio Martinucci exhibited regularly under the pseudonym of "Lombardi" at the annual exhibitions in London organised by the Photographic Society. In 1878, "Signor Lombardi" (Eugenio Martinucci) became a Member of the Photographic Society (later known as The Royal Photographic Society).
 

 

Lombardi & Co. of London & Brighton (1877-1880)

[ABOVE] An advertisement announcing Lombardi & Co.'s "new portrait studio" at 13 Pall Mall East, London, which appeared in the Brighton Herald in March 1877. This advertisement also refers to Lombardi & Co''s two studios in Brighton - the studio at 113 King's Road, which was established around 1864, and 79 West Street, which was opened around 1874.
[ABOVE] A view of buildings on Brighton seafront near the Brighton Aquarium, a carte-de-visite published by Lombardi & Co. of  Brighton around 1878. The firm of Lombardi & Co. had been appointed official photographers to the Brighton Aquarium not long after the attraction was opened in 1872. Views of the interior and exterior of the Brighton Aquarium were published by Lombardi & Co. in the larger cabinet format in March, 1874. Lombardi & Co. also exhibited seven views of the aquarium at the 19th Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Great Britain held in London in 1874.

 

Lombardi & Co. of London & Brighton (1877-1880)

[ABOVE ] A portrait of  an unidentified celebrity, photographed at one of Lombardi & Co.'s studios in Brighton around 1877. As photographic portraits of famous people were often pirated, Lombardi & Co. have placed a copyright on the photograph. [ABOVE ] A portrait of  a Madame Helen Lemmens-Sherrington (1834-1906) the famous opera singer and concert performer, photographed at one of Lombardi & Co.'s studios in Brighton around 1878.
[ABOVE] An 1882 advertisement for Lombardi & Co., Photographers and Miniature Painters of 79 West Street and 113 King's Road, Brighton, which appeared in the 1882 edition of  Daniel B. Friend's Brighton Almanack. It appears that studio portraits were taken at the studio in King's Road, while larger group portraits and "Equestrian Studies" in the "extensive studio grounds" at 79 West Street.  
 

Lombardi & Co. of London

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Co. Photographers to the Royal Family, 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W. as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1878). The printed information concerning the firm of Lombardi & Co. also mentions the branch studios in Brighton at 113 King's Road and 79 West Street, Brighton

[ABOVE ] A portrait of a young woman by Lombardi & Co., 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W. (c1878).

[ABOVE ] From the time Eugenio Martinucci joined Royal photographer Leonida Caldesi in 1874, the photographs issued by Lombardi & Co. in London and Brighton carried the Royal Arms and the claim of "Photographers to the Royal Family. The above example is taken from a carte-de-visite produced at Lombardi & Co.'s studio in Brighton (c1877).
Eugenio Martinucci and Leonida Caldesi

In 1874, Eugenio Martinucci had joined the Italian photographer Leonida Caldesi (1822-1891) at Caldesi's studio at 13 Pall Mall East, London. Leonida Caldesi, who had been born in Florence, Italy, in 1822, had been a photographer in London since the mid-1850s and had opened his studio at 13 Pall Mall East, London on 1st May 1857. Shortly after establishing his business at 13 Pall Mall East, Leonida Caldesi was summoned to Queen Victoria's residence at Osborne on the Isle of Wight to make a series of photographs of her children. In June 1857, Caldesi visited Buckingham Palace to take photographic portraits of the Queen and her eldest daughter Victoria, the Princess Royal. From this date Caldesi could advertise that he was "Patronized by Her Majesty" and he soon became a fashionable portrait photographer. Among Caldesi's famous sitters were William Ewart Gladstone, a Liberal Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister, Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, William Makepeace Thackeray, the novelist, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, the popular Italian military leader. Leonida Caldesi's other speciality was producing photographic reproductions of works of art. Caldesi made photographs of the Raphael cartoons at Hampton Court, exhibits at the British Museum, paintings and drawings from the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace and pictures by Old Masters in London's National Gallery.

Lombardi, Caldesi & Co.

Eugenio Martinucci appears to have joined Caldesi's firm around 1874, as from this date the name of the business  at 13 Pall Mall East changed from Caldesi & Co. to Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. From about 1874 until 1885, Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. operated as a commercial art and photographic firm publishing reproductions of famous works of art and re-issuing some of Leonida Caldesi's famous carte-de-visite portraits from the 1860s in a larger photographic format. It appears that Caldesi had returned to Italy (Leonida Caldesi died in Bologna, Italy, in 1891), but because of Caldesi's reputation as a photographer and his firm's connection with the Royal Family, Eugenio Martinucci's firm continued to be known as Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. until 1885. Caldesi's association with the studio at 13 Pall Mall East allowed Lombardi & Co. to print the Royal Arms and the words "Photographers to the Royal Family" on all the photographs produced at the studio.

 Eugenio Lombardi & Co., Photographers at 13 Pall Mall East, London

From 1886, the photographic publishing firm at 13 Pall Mall East, London was known as Eugenio Lombardi & Co. From 1886 until 1893, Eugenio Martinucci issued Caldesi's portraits of famous people and celebrities in the larger cabinet format. For instance, a portrait of the British politician William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), originally taken in the 1860s, was issued by Lombardi & Co. as a cabinet portrait in the 1890s. A cabinet portrait of the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) was published in the same series by Lombardi & Co. of 13 Pall Mall East, London, some twenty years after Mazzini's death.

While publishing portraits of famous people originally photographed by Caldesi, Eugenio Martinucci continued to take studio portraits at his London studio in Pall Mall East. The portraits published by Eugenio Lombardi & Co. were registered at the Stationers' Company for copyright purposes. The registration forms submitted to the Stationers' Company provide details of the sitters and Eugenio Martinucci's claim of copyright ownership. The following list provides a sample of the photographic  portraits published by Eugenio Lombardi & Co. in the 1880s :

"Photograph of Comder. Ernest Lucan. Hat in left hand, coat on right arm".
Copyright owner and author of photograph: Eugenio Martinucci Lombardi, 13 Pall Mall East, London. Form completed 16 October. Registration stamp: 16 October 1883.
"Photograph of William Youngman, Mayor of Lowestoft in robes of office."
Copyright owner and author of work: Eugenio Martinucci Lombardi, 13 Pall Mall East, London. Form Completed 19 June 1886. Registration stamp: 19 June 1886.
"Photograph of W E Gladstone sitting, holding paper, nearly full face."
Copyright owner and author of work: Eugenio Martinucci Lombardi, 13 Pall Mall East, London. Form Completed 17 July 1888. Registration stamp: 17 July 1888.
"Photographic group of Mr & Mrs W E Gladstone, Lord Aberdeen Professorr Drummond standing, Lady Aberdeen sitting, Mr Gladstone reading."
Copyright owner and author of work: Eugenio Martinucci Lombardi, 13 Pall Mall East, London. Form Completed 17 July 1888. Registration stamp: 17 July 1888.

Lombardi & Co. at 13 Pall Mall East, London

 In addition to the the celebrity portraits published by Eugenio Lombardi & Co., Eugenio Martinucci operated a conventional photographic portrait studio at 13 Pall Mall East, London, taking likenesses of ordinary members of the public. Although there is no evidence that Lombardi & Co. were ever granted a Royal Warrant during the reign of Queen Victoria, the carte-de-visite and cabinet portraits produced by the company between 1874 and 1893 carry the Royal Arms and the printed inscription " Photographers to the Royal Family". Martinucci probably inherited the claim of being a photographer to the Royal family from Leonida Caldesi's commissions from Queen Victoria which dated back to 1857.

Eugenio Martinucci was quick to embrace new technology to advertise his photographic studio at 13 Pall Mall East. It is reported that the proprietor of Lombardi & Co. engaged Captain Ronald Augustus Scott of the Acton Electric Light and General Engineering Works to use his powerful searchlights to project advertisements for the studio onto the side of the building at 13 Pall Mall East.

In the 1890s, a number of other photographers were working for Lombardi & Co. at the Pall Mall East studio. A copyright registration form submitted to the Stationers' Company in February 1894 gives the "Copyright owner and author of work" as "Madeline Strutt, trading as Lombardi & Co, 13 Pall Mall East, London". Madeline Strutt (born c1859, Hobart, Tasmania) was the daughter of Major Charles H. Strutt of Dedham, Essex. The photographer James Percy Talbot Notcutt (1862-1916) was the Managing Director of Lombardi & Co. between 1892 and 1895.

 

The Lombardi Studios in Brighton and London : The studios of Lombardi (Martinucci), Lombardi & Co, Lombardi et al

 

BRIGHTON

   

NOTES

NAME OF STUDIO

 STUDIO ADDRESS

DATES ACTIVE

PROPRIETOR / PHOTOGRAPHER

   
Lombardi & Co  113 King's Road, Brighton

1863-1864

 Antonio Martinucci    
Lombardi & Fox  113 King's Road, Brighton

c1864

 Antonio Martinucci    
Lombardi & Fry  113 King's Road, Brighton

1865-1869

 Antonio Martinucci    
Lombardi  113 King's Road, Brighton

1870-1874

 Eugenio Martinucci    
Lombardi & Co.  113 King's Road, Brighton

1874-1880

Eugenio Martinucci, Robert Hatt & Burt   Sharp    
   79 West Street, Brighton.

1875-1880

Eugenio Martinucci, Robert Hatt & Burt Sharp    
Lombardi & Co. (Brighton)  113 King's Road, Brighton

1880-1883

 Robert Hatt & Burt Sharp    
   79 West Street, Brighton

1880-1883

 Robert Hatt & Burt Sharp    
   (52 Clarence Square, Brighton)

1880-1883

Robert Hatt & Burt Sharp Frank Hayes / Gertrude A. White  / William A. White Sophia Hemmings, listed as a "Photographer's Assistant" at 51 Clarence Square in 1881
Lombardi & Co. (Brighton)  52 Clarence Square, Brighton

1884-1885

Robert Hatt
Burt Sharp  79 West Street, Brighton.

1883-1894

 Burt Sharp    
Lombardi & Co.  79 West Street, Brighton

1895-1897

 Richard Webber ( & Eugenio Martinucci ?)    
Lombardi & Co. (O. P. Suisse)  79 West Street, Brighton

1898-1903

 Otto Pfenninger  ( & Eugenio Martinucci ?)    
 
 

LONDON

     

NAME OF STUDIO

STUDIO ADDRESS

DATES ACTIVE

PROPRIETOR

PHOTOGRAPHERS  
Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W.

1875-1885

Eugenio Martinucci & Leonida Caldesi,    
Lombardi & Co. 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W.

1874-1885

Eugenio Martinucci    
Eugenio Lombardi & Co. 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W.

1886-1893

Eugenio Martinucci    
Lombardi & Co. 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W.

1894

Eugenio Martinucci Madeline Strutt  
Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. 13 Pall Mall East, London, S.W.

1895-1897

Eugenio Martinucci    
Eugenio Lombardi 27 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge

1897-1898

Eugenio Martinucci    
Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. 27 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge

1899-1900

Eugenio Martinucci    
Lombardi, Weston & Son 27 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge

1900-1904

Eugenio Martinucci & John Weston William Gordon Henley  
   

 

     
 

The Family of Eugenio Martinucci

[ABOVE] A group portrait of Eugenio Martinucci and his family, photographed at Lombardi's London studio around 1883. Sitting in front of Eugenio Martinucci is his wife Alice Mary Martinucci (nee Nye). Leaning on Alice's lap are her twin sons Antonio Lombardi Martinucci and John Silvani Martinucci, who were born in London St Pancras during the 4th Quarter 1877. Standing to the right of his parents is William Eugenio Martinucci (born 1876, Brighton), the eldest child of Eugenio and Alice Martinucci. PHOTO: Courtesy of Heather Holford

6th February 1875 ; Marriage solemnized at the Parish Church of Hurst Pierpoint, Sussex
Name and Surname

Age

Rank or Profession

Residence

Name & Profession of Father

Eugenio Martinucci 23

Artist

13 Pall Mall East, London Antonio Martinucci -Merchant
Mary Alice Nye 22

-

Hurst Pierpoint William Nye - Job Master

[ABOVE] Details from the marriage certificate recording the marriage of Eugenio Martinucci and Mary Alice Nye on 6th February 1875 at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Eugenio's father is given as Antonio Martinucci, merchant. Was this the same Antonio Martinucci who was a Professor of Languages in Brighton in the 1850s and founded the Lombardi Studio around 1863 ?

On 6th February 1875, the Italian-born Brighton photographer Eugenio Martinucci married Mary Alice Nye at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Mary Alice Nye (born 1852, Brighton) was the daughter of Mary Ann Silverthorne and William Nye (1811-1885), a job master and livery stable keeper. ( Mary Alice Nye was generally known as "Alice" to distinguish her from her mother Mrs Mary Nye).

 Born in Brighton in 1811, William Nye had married Mary Ann Silverthorne (born c1820, Brighton) on 22nd March 1836. Between 1866 and 1878, William Nye had run a series of livery stables in Brighton. Sometime after 1866, William Nye had moved out to the village of Hurstpierpoint with his wife Mary Ann and his three youngest daughters, Alice (born 1852), Gertrude (born 1855) and Katie (born c1858). At the time of the 1871 census, William Nye and his family were residing at Warwick House, Hurstpierpoint. Also living in Hurstpierpoint in the early 1870s was Antonio Martinucci and his family. Eugenio Martinucci was probably introduced to Alice Nye around this time.

Eugenio and Alice Martinucci's first child, a son named William Eugenio Nye Martinucci was born in Brighton during the First Quarter of 1876. At this time Eugenio Martinucci was in partnership with two photographers - Robert Hatt (born c1843, Islington) and Burt Sharp (born 1851, Brighton). In the early 1870s, Eugenio Martinucci was the main photographer at the Lombardi studio. Antonio Martinucci probably still had a stake in the business, but Eugenio was effectively in charge of the studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton. Around 1874, Eugenio Martinucci had opened a second studio at 79 West Street, Brighton. Eugenio Martinucci was now obliged to bring photographers Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp into the business to manage the two Lombardi studios in Brighton. In the early 1870s, photographs from Martinucci's studio in the King's Road carry the trade plate of "Lombardi, artist & photographer", but around 1874, with the addition of Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp, the name of the firm became once again "Lombardi & Co, artists & photographers", in the plural.

 In 1877, Eugenio Martinucci joined fellow Italian photographer Leonida Caldesi (1822-1891) at Caldesi's studio at 13 Pall Mall East, London. Leaving Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp in charge of Lombardi & Co.'s studios in Brighton (113 King's Road & 79 West Street, Brighton), Eugenio Martinucci moved to London with Alice and baby William. Eugenio Martinucci and his family settled in the St Pancras area of London. Towards the end of 1877, Alice Martinucci gave birth to twin boys - Antonio Lombardi Nye Martinucci and John Silvani Nye Martinucci [ the births of Antonio and John Silvani Martinucci were registered in the London district of St Pancras during the 4th Quarter of 1877 ].

When the census was taken on 3rd April 1881, Eugenio Martinucci and his family were residing at 60 Lady Somerset Road, St Pancras, London. Eugenio Martinucci is entered on the census return as a "Photographic Artist", aged 31. Also recorded at the house in Lady Somerset Road is Eugenio's twenty-seven year old wife Alice, their three-year old twin boys and Alice's nephew Edward Albert Nye (born 1864, Brighton), who is described as a "Photographic Operator", aged 17. [ Eugenio and Alice's eldest boy, five year old William Eugenio Martinucci, then known as Eugene, was staying with his grandparents William and Mary Ann Nye at Warwick House, Hurstpierpoint ].

Ten years later, Eugenio Martinucci and his family were back in Brighton. The 1891 census records Eugenio Martinucci as a self-employed photographer ("neither employer nor employed"), living with his wife and three sons - William, aged 15, and thirteen year old twins Antonio and John - at 5 Eastern Quadrant, Brighton. The forty-two year old photographer still had a financial interest in the London firm of Eugenio Martinucci & Co., but the day-to-day running of the the business was in the hands of company's managing director James Percy Talbot Notcutt (1862-1916). When James Notcutt left Lombardi & Co. to pursue a new career in music as a concert promoter, Eugenio Martinucci returned to London. The firm of Eugenio Lombardi & Co was wound up on 16th December 1893 and a new company called Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. was set up at 13 Pall Mall East. Eugenio Martinucci had been operating a second studio under his own name at 27 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, but by around 1898, this studio was also under the control of Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. Around 1901, Martinucci formed a new partnership with London photographer John Walter Weston (1857-1936). From 1901 to 1904, the studio at 27 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge carried the name of Lombardi, Weston & Son.

   
 

Mary Alice Nye / Mrs Alice Martinucci

Mary Alice Nye was born in Brighton in 1852, the daughter of Mary Ann Silverthorne and William Nye, a job master and livery stable keeper. Although christened "Mary Alice", William Nye's daughter was generally known as "Alice".

William Nye (born c1811, Brighton) had married Mary Ann Silverthorne (born c1820, Brighton) on 22nd March 1836. Between 1866 and 1878, William Nye had run a series of livery stables in Brighton. Sometime after 1866, William Nye had moved out to the village of Hurstpierpoint with his wife Mary Ann and his three youngest daughters, Alice (born 1852), Gertrude (born 1855) and Katie (born c1858). At the time of the 1871 census, William Nye and his family were residing at Warwick House, Hurstpierpoint. Also living in Hurstpierpoint in the early 1870s was Antonio Martinucci and his family. Eugenio Martinucci (either Antonio Martinucci''s son or cousin) was probably introduced to Alice Nye around this time. Alice Mary Nye married Eugenio Martinucci at the Sussex village of Hurstpierpoint on 6th February 1875.

Mrs Alice Martinucci became the mother of three children - William Eugenio Nye Martinucci (born 1876, Brighton) and twin boys, Antonio Lombardi Nye Martinucci and John Silvani Nye Martinucci (born 1877, St Pancras, London). It appears that Alice's marriage to Eugenio Martinucci was not a particularly happy one and in her late forties Alice became mentally ill. At the time of the 1901 census, Alice Martinucci was a patient at the City of London Asylum in Stone, Kent. Alice petitioned Eugenio Martinucci for a divorce in 1903.

Mrs Alice Martinucci died in the Sussex district of Lewes in 1912 at the age of 59.

 

 

[ABOVE] A portrait of  Mary Alice Nye (1852-1912), the wife of the photographer Eugenio Martinucci. This photographic portrait of  (Mary) Alice Nye, was taken by Eugenio Martinucci around 1875, when Alice was in her early twenties. This particular portrait was transferred to porcelain using the carbon print transfer process. Alice Nye married Eugenio Martinucci on 6th February 1875,

PHOTO: Courtesy of Kenneth Alfred Martin

 

 The Lombardi Studios in Brighton after 1877

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of Lombardi & Co. Photographers to the Royal Family, 79 West Street & 113 King's Road, Brighton and at 13 & 14 Pall Mall East, London, S.W. as printed on the reverse of carte-de-visite portrait (c1877).

[ABOVE] A newspaper advertisement for the Brighton studio of Burt Sharp, "Formerly Partner in the firm of LOMBARDI and Co." This advertisement appeared in the Brighton Herald on 10th April 1886. Burt Sharp had acquired the former Lombardi studio at 79 West Street in 1883. This newspaper advertisement points out that Burt Sharp had taken possession of all the photographic negatives taken by Lombardi & Co. of 113 King's Road, Brighton.

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Burt Sharp, Photographer & Artist of  of 79 West Street, Brighton, which appeared in the 1886 edition of  Daniel B. Friend's Brighton Almanack. Burt Sharp, who was a former business partner of Eugenio Martinucci and one of the proprietors of  the Lombardi studios in Brighton in the early 1880s, took over the former Lombardi studio at 79 West Street in 1883. As this advertisement shows, Burt Sharp retained all the negatives taken by Signor Lombardi since the West Street studio was first opened in 1874.

[ABOVE ] A carte-de-visite portrait of a man, photographed by "O. P. Suisse" (Otto Pfenninger) at the studio of Lombardi & Co., 79 West Street, Brighton (c1902).
[BELOW] Detail from a carte-de-viste portrait showing the inscription at the foot of a photographic portrait taken at the studio of Lombardi & Co., 79 West Street, Brighton (c1902). "O. P. Suisse" was the pseudonym or nom de plume of the photographer Otto Pfenninger (born 1855, Switzerland).

 

[ABOVE] An advertisement for Messrs. Lombardi & Co.'s two Brighton studios which appeared in the Brighton Examiner newspaper on 11th January 1881. Eugenio Martinucci had left Brighton for London in 1877 and three years later he passed the Brighton studios to his former partners, Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp. The studio at 113 King's Road, which had been established around 1863, appears to have been managed by Robert Hatt, and the new studio at 79 West Street, which opened its doors about 1874, became the responsibility of Burt Sharp.

Around 1874, Eugenio Martinucci entered into a business partnership with two English photographers, Robert Hatt (born c1843, Islington, London) and Burt Sharp (born 1851, Brighton). Consequently, the studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton changed its name from Lombardi to Lombardi & Co. About this time, Lombardi & Co opened a second studio at 79 West Street, Brighton. When in 1877 Eugenio Martinucci moved to London to join Italian photographer Leonida Caldesi (1822-1891) at Caldesi's studio at 13 Pall Mall East, London, he left the two Brighton studios in the hands of his two partners Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp.

Robert Hatt (1843-1918) had previously run his own studio in the New Cross area of London, and it appears that he took charge of the original Lombardi studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton. The new studio at 79 West Street, Brighton probably became the responsibility of the less experienced photographer Burt Sharp, who was then in his mid twenties. Burt Sharp (1852-1913) was the son of Mary and David Sharp, a Brightonian who had previously worked in the woollen trade and let out furnished apartments in Brighton.

In 1880, Eugenio Martinucci, who had settled in London with his wife and family, dissolved his partnership with Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp. Martinucci had decided to give up his studios in Brighton and concentrate on his photographic publishing business at 13 Pall Mall East, London. The Lombardi studios in Brighton passed into the hands of Martinucci's former partners Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp, who retained the firm's name of Lombardi & Co.

[ABOVE ] The back and front of a carte-de-visite portrait taken around 1880 at one of  Lombardi & Co.'s Brighton studios. At the time this portrait was taken Eugenio Martinucci had left Brighton for London and the firm of "Lombardi & Co. Brighton" was in the hands of photographers Robert Hatt (1843-1918) and Burt Sharp (1852-1913).

At the time of the 1881 census, both Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp were residing in the village of Preston on the outskirts of Brighton. Robert Hatt, who is entered on the census return as a thirty-seven year old "Photographic Artist", was living at Preston Farm Cottage, South Road, Preston, with his wife Elizabeth and their five year old son, Robert Aspland Hatt, who had been born in Brighton in 1876. Sharing Robert Hatt's home was his twenty-four year old niece Gertrude White, described as a "Photo Retoucher" and presumably employed at the Lombardi & Co. studio in King's Road, Brighton. Burt Sharp, an unmarried man of twenty-nine, who gave his occupation as "Photographer", was living with his parents and three siblings at the family home of "Cherrington" in Clermont Terrace, Preston. Burt's father David Sharp, the Head of Household, is described as a "Superannuated Woollen Buyer", aged 62.

On 1st January 1884, the partnership between Robert Hatt and Burt Sharp ( trading as Lombardi & Co., Brighton) was dissolved. The long established Lombardi studio at 113 King's Road, Brighton closed in 1884. ( When the building at 113 King's Road was occupied by the Institution for Trained Nurses in 1885, it retained the name of "Lombardi House" ). For a brief period between 1884 and 1885, Robert Hatt continued as a photographer at 52 Clarence Square, Brighton using the trading name of "Lombardi & Co." The second Lombardi studio at 79 West Street, Brighton was was operated by Burt Sharp under his own name. Between 1884 and 1886, Burt Sharp placed advertisements in the press to inform the public that he was now the proprietor of the studio at 79 West Street and had taken possession of all the photographic negatives of Lombardi & Co. of Brighton. In an advertisement placed in the 1886 edition of Daniel B. Friend's Brighton Almanack, Burt Sharp publicized his studio at 79 West Street, Brighton and announced that he now held all the negatives previously taken by Lombardi & Co. at the West Street studio, including "those taken by Signor Lombardi (Eugenio Martinucci)".

[ABOVE] The notice in Daniel B. Friend's Brighton Almanack, published in 1886, which announced that Burt Sharp now held all the negatives previously taken at the Lombardi & Co. studio at 79 West Street, Brighton since the opening of the studio in 1874.

After the final dissolution of the Brighton firm of Lombardi & Co. in 1885, Robert Hatt went to work for his former business partner Eugenio Lombardi at the firm of Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. at 13 Pall Mall East, London. (According to David Webb, the London photo historian, the firm of Lombardi, Caldesi & Co. was primarily involved in photographic publishing, but there is evidence to show that standard studio portraits were also taken at the Pall Mall East studio).

Burt Sharp operated his studio at 79 West Street, Brighton until the end of 1894. However, shortly after Burt Sharp vacated the studio at 79 West Street, it was once again operating under the name of Lombardi & Co. It appears that Eugenio Martinucci had entered into a business partnership with Brighton photographer Richard Webber (born 1867, Brighton) and had restored the studio name of Lombardi & Co. From 1895 until 1897, served as a partner in the firm of Lombardi & Co. and managed the Lombardi Studio in West Street. Richard Webber ended his association with Lombardi & Co. when he established his own studio at 23 Ship Street, Brighton, around 1897. Webber's position as chief photographer for Lombardi & Co. at 79 West Street, Brighton was filled by Otto Pfenninger (born 1867, Switzerland). Towner's  Brighton and Suburban Directory of 1898, lists the proprietor of the studio at 79 West Street as LOMBARDI & Co. (O. P. Suisse). The signature of "O. P. Suisse" also appears on the carte-de-visite portraits produced at the Brighton studio of Lombardi & Co. between 1898 and 1903. The pseudonym of "O. P. Suisse" is not difficult to unravel - the initials "O. P." represent Otto Pfenninger and the surname "Suisse" indicates the photographer's nationality. Towner's Brighton Directory listed "O. P. Suisse" (Otto Pfenninger) at Lombardi & Co.'s premises in West Street until 1903. By the time the 1904 edition of Towner's  Brighton and Suburban Directory appeared, the Lombardi & Co. photographic studio at 79 West Street, Brighton had closed.

   

Members of The Martinucci Family

 

 

The Family of Antonio Martinucci after 1880

When the 1881 census was taken, Antonio's widow Mrs Catherine Martinucci was living with her two sons and residing at The Grove, 34 Clapham Road, Lambeth, Surrey, in South London. Herbert Martinucci (born 1857, Hove, Sussex) is described on the census return as a twenty-three year old medical student. Herbert's younger brother, Cecil Oswald Martinucci (born 1871, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex), is listed as a scholar, aged 9. Mrs Catherine Martinucci's daughter was no longer living at home. In 1879 at Hurstpierpoint, Antonio Martinucci's daughter Augusta Maria Martinucci, working as a "painter on china", had married Llewellyn Urquhart Burt (born c1854, Pentonville, London), an artist and picture dealer. In 1880, Augusta had given birth to a son, who was named Llewellyn Charles Urquhart Burt after his father. Augusta's mother, Mrs Catherine Nichols Martinucci died in Croydon, Surrey, in 1894 at the age of 69.

Herbert Joseph Martinucci married Ada Bertha Clode in Lambeth in 1901. Ada Bertha Clode (born c1871, Argentina) was the daughter of Ada and William John Clode, an international wine shipper. Within two years of his marriage to Ada, Herbert Martinucci died at the age of forty-five. [ The death of  Herbert Joseph Martinucci was registered in the London district of Kensington during the 3rd Quarter of 1903 ]. After Herbert's death, his widow Mrs Ada Martinucci, emigrated to Canada where she remarried twice. Cecil Oswald Martinucci (born 1871, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex) later anglicized his surname to "Martin". At the time of the 1901 census, "Cecil Martin" was working as an insurance agent in Islington, North London.

 
   

[ABOVE] A portrait of Miss Alice Mary Nye (1852-1912), taken around the time she married the photographer Eugenio Martinucci. This portrait on porcelain was made by Eugenio Martinucci around 1875, when Alice was in her early twenties.  Alice Mary Nye was born in Brighton in 1852, the daughter of Mary Ann Silverthorne and William Nye, a job master and livery stable keeper. In 1875, Alice Nye married Italian-born photographer Eugenio Martinucci at the Sussex village of Hurstpierpoint, where Alice's parents had made their home.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Kenneth Alfred Martin

[ABOVE] A portrait of Mrs Alice Mary Martinucci (1852-1912), the wife of the photographer Eugenio Martinucci. This portrait was taken at Eugenio Martinucci's Lombardi Studio in London around 1883, when Alice was in her early thirties. Mrs Alice Martinucci became the mother of three children - William Eugenio Nye Martinucci (born 1876, Brighton) and twin boys, Antonio Lombardi Nye Martinucci and John Silvani Nye Martinucci (born 1877, St Pancras, London). it appears that Alice's marriage to Eugenio Martinucci was not a particularly happy one and Alice became mentally ill. In 1901, Alice Martinucci was a patient at the City of London Asylum in Stone, Kent. Alice petitioned Eugenio Martinucci for a divorce in 1903. Mrs Alice Marinucci died in the Sussex district of Lewes in 1912 at the age of 59.

Eugenio Martinucci and his Family after 1900

When the 1901 census was taken, Eugenio Martinucci was living at 10 Smyrna Road, Kilburn, in the London Borough of Hampstead. Sharing Eugenio Martinucci's home was his twenty-three year old son Silvani Martinucci (John Silvani Nye Martinucci), who was working as an omnibus conductor.

At the time of the 1901 census, Mrs Alice Mary Martinucci, Eugenio's wife, was a patient at the City of London Asylum at Stone, near Dartford in Kent. Alice Mary Martinucci is recorded as "A. M. Martinucci" on the census return and is described as a "lunatic" patient, aged 48. The City of London Lunatic Asylum was established in 1862 as a hospital for paupers suffering from mental illness. From 1892, the City of London Asylum at Stone began to take fee-paying private patients and we must assume that Eugenio Martinucci was paying for his wife's treatment at the asylum.

In 1903, Mrs Alice Martinucci petitioned for a divorce from her husband. [Divorce File No. 3948 ; Appellant : Alice Mary Martinucci ; Respondent : Eugene (Eugenio) Martinucci ].

Two of Eugenio Lombardi's sons remained in the Hampstead district of London. William Eugenio  Martinucci married Emily Newbury in Hampstead in 1903. [The marriage of "Eugene W. Martinucci" and Emily Esther Newbury was registered in the district of Hampstead during the 3rd Quarter of 1903]. Later that year, John Silvani Nye Martinucci married Elley McMillan (born 1875, Bethnal Green, London), the daughter of Alexander McMillan, a Scottish-born policeman. [The marriage of John S. N. Martinucci and Elley McMillan was registered in the district of Hampstead during the 4th Quarter of 1903]. It appears that this union produced at least three children - Alice McMillan Martinucci (born 2nd Qtr of 1904 - died 4th Qtr 1904), John Anthony Martinucci (born 1905, Hampstead) and Elley Mary Martinucci (born 1906, Hampstead). According to Michael Omilon, John Silvani Martinucci married again a few years later. Michael Omilon believes John Matinucci anglicised his surname to Martin and married a woman named Charlotte Cooper. (There is indeed a record of a marriage between "John Martin" and Charlotte Cooper, which was registered in Hampstead during 2nd Quarter of 1909). John Anthony Martinucci, the son of John Silvani Martinucci, legally changed his surname to "Martin" in 1936. Dennis Dollimore, Eugenio Martiucci's great grandson, has reported that John Martinucci's elder brother, William Eugenio Martinucci also anglicised his surname to Martin. William Eugenio Martinucci's son was known as William George Martin.

Mrs Alice Martinucci died in 1912 at the age of 59. [ Death registered in the district of Lewes during the First Quarter of 1912.

After passing his studio at 27 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge to his business partner John Weston in 1904, Eugenio Martinucci emigrated to Canada. Michael Omilon has discovered that Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci died in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1920, when the veteran Italian-born photographer would have been in his early seventies.

[ABOVE] A photographic portrait of three generations of the Martinucci Family taken around . (Left to right) Eugenio Martinucci (born c1849, Chiavenna, Italy ), Elley Mary Martinucci (born 1906, Hampstead), John Anthony Martinucci (born 1905, Hampstead ) and John Silvani  Martinucci (born 1877, St Pancras, London).

John Silvani  Martinucci married  Elley McMillan (born 1875, Bethnal Green, London), the daughter of Alexander McMillan, a Scottish-born policeman, during the 4th Quarter of 1903. Mrs Elley Martinucci gave birth to three children -  Alice McMillan Martinucci (born 1904 - died in infancy during the 4th Quarter of 1904), John Anthony Martinucci (born 1905, Hampstead ) and  Elley Mary Martinucci (born  1906, Hampstead ).

PHOTO: Courtesy of Kenneth Alfred Martin

 
 

[ABOVE] A  portrait of  William Eugenio Nye Martinucci , photographed around 1883, when he was aged around seven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

William Eugenio Martinucci

William Eugenio Nye Martinucci, the eldest son of Eugenio and Alice Martinucci, was born in Brighton during the First Quarter of 1876. Shortly after his birth, William's parents moved to London, where his father Eugenio Martinucci worked as a photographic artist. William's twin brothers Antonio Lombardi Nye Martinucci and John Silvani Nye Martinucci were born in the London district of St Pancras in 1877. After the birth of his twin siblings, William went to live with his grandparents, William and Mary Ann Nye at Warwick House, Hurstpierpoint. When the 1881 census was taken, William, then aged five, was recorded at his grandparents' home in Hurstpierpoint. In the 1880s, William lived with his parents and brothers in the St Pancras district of London, but around 1890 the Martinucci family returned to Brighton. At the time of the 1891 census, fifteen year old William and his thirteen year old twin brothers  were residing with their parents at 5 Eastern Quadrant, Brighton.

In his early twenties, William Eugenio Martinucci began a criminal career as a forger, falsifying bills and cheques to dishonestly obtain sums of money. On 14th September 1897, William Eugenio Nye Martinucci, then aged twenty-one, pleaded guilty to the charge of "forging and uttering a cheque for £500, with intent to defraud". Although witnesses testified to his previous "good character", William Martinucci was sentenced to "Twelve Months' Hard Labour". William Martinucci was released from prison in 1898, but within a year he was in court again, this time facing two indictments for" forging and uttering a bill for £50 and a cheque for £5, with intent to defraud". On 23rd October 1899, twenty-three year old Martinucci received a prison sentence of "Eighteen Months' Hard Labour". Within a year of his release from prison, William Martinucci had returned to his life of crime. On 25th March 1901, Martinucci pleaded guilty to the charge of "forging and uttering a cheque for ₤25, with intent to defraud". Now with two previous convictions proved against him, Martinucci was punished again with eighteen months' hard labour.

After his third spell in prison, William Martinucci married in his home district of Hampstead. William Eugenio Martinucci married Emily Esther Newbury, the eighteen year old daughter of Louisa and George Newbury, during the 3rd Quarter of 1903. The eldest child of Louisa South and George Newbury, a coach painter from Hitchin, Emily Esther Newbury had been born in Codicote, Hertfordshire early in 1885, but she was not baptised until 25th September 1887. By 1901, sixteen year old Emily had left the family home in Codicote, Hertfordshire and was lodging in the North London district of Hampstead.

For the first few years of his marriage, William Martinucci managed to keep out of trouble, but in 1906 he was arrested on charges of forgery. Martinucci spent five months in the hospital at Pentonville Prison before he appeared in court. On 11th September 1906, William Eugenio Nye Martinucci, aged thirty and with no occupation, pleaded guilty to the indictment of "forging and uttering a request for payment of £210, with intent to defraud, also with forging and uttering an endorsement on an order for the payment of £210, and with forging and uttering a request for the payment of £101 with intent to defraud". Presented with his previous criminal convictions for forgery, the judge sentenced Martinucci to  "three years' penal servitude on each of the four indictments, to run concurrently". 

On his release from prison, William Martinucci found work as a civil engineer, but his honest employment did not last very long. On 16th November 1909, William Eugenio Nye Martinucci pleaded guilty to a string of forgery offences outlined in the indictment  - "forging and uttering, knowing the same to be forged, a certain request for the payment of money, to wit, a banker's cheque for the payment of £10, with intent to defraud; forging and uttering, knowing the same to be forged, certain authorities and requests for the payment of money, to wit, exchange forms for the payment of £45 and £25 respectively, a cheque for the payment of £52 10s., an exchange slip for the payment of £54, and an exchange form for the payment of £15, in each case with intent to defraud; forging and uttering, knowing the same to be forged, a certain authority and request for the payment of money, to wit, an exchange form for the payment of £20, with intent to defraud". The judge, clearly frustrated by Martinucci's recidivism, sentenced the prisoner to seven years' penal servitude.

William Martinucci served his sentence in Dartmoor Prison. The 1911 census records thirty-four year old William Nye Martinucci, formerly employed as an "Engineer - Civil", as one of the convicts incarcerated in His Majesty's Prison at Princetown, Dartmoor in the county of Devonshire. At the time of the 1911 census, William Martinucci's twenty-six year old wife Emily was living under the surname of Martin in the London Borough of Lewisham. Released from prison around 1915, William Martinucci joined his wife, who had apparently returned to her family home in Hertfordshire. After he was reunited with his wife, William Eugenio Martinucci anglicised his name to William Martin. Mrs Emily Martin, William's wife, gave birth to a baby girl early in 1916. (The birth of the baby, the couple's first child, was registered in the district of Hitchin under the name of Mary Martin during the First Quarter of 1916). A son named William George Martin was born the following year and registered in the Hertfordshire district of Hitchin during the 3rd Quarter of 1917.

William Martin's father (Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci) and his two younger brothers (Antonio Lombardi Nye Martinucci and John Silvani Nye Martinucci) had emigrated to Canada. On learning of the death of his father in Winnipeg in 1920, William Martin (Martinucci) travelled to Canada, leaving his wife and children in England.

 
The Martinucci (Martin) Family in Canada

[ABOVE] A double portrait of twin brothers Antonio Lombardi Martinucci and John Silvani Martinucci (born 1877, St Pancras, London). This photograph was taken in 1942 on the occasion of their 65th birthday. The twins, who anglicised their names to Anthony and John Martin, are remembered by family members as "the kindest and warmest gentlemen". Lorraine Martin the wife of  Kenneth Martin, John Martin's grandson, recalls that John  "loved to tease and always had a twinkle in his eye".

PHOTO: Courtesy of Kenneth Alfred Martin

During his years in Canada, Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci worked as a teacher of languages, a profession Antonio Martinucci practised in Brighton during the 1850s.

In 1911, Antonio Lombardi Martinucci married Mary Ellen Halford.

Eugenio Lombardi Martinucci died in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1920. It is reported that a large tombstone, paid for by an overseas organisation, marks his grave.

John Anthony Martin (Martinucci) married Marjorie Ellen Smith. The couple had three children - Kenneth Alfred Martin, Donna Louisa Martin and Marilynn Ada Martin.

 

 

 



 

 

To view a selection of photographs taken at the Lombardi Studios in Brighton and London between 1863 and 1880, click on the link below :

Lombardi & Co. of Brighton and London : Gallery of Photographs

   
   

Acknowledgements and Sources

Thanks to Heather Holford for providing the Martinucci family photograph and material on Eugenio Martinucci and his wife Alice Mary Nye. Heather Holford is a descendant of the Nye family of Brighton and Hurstpierpoint. Alice Mary Nye, Eugenio Martinucci's wife, is Heather's great aunt. Thanks to Dennis William Dollimore for providing information on the Martinucci family. Dennis Dollimore is the grandson of William Eugenio Martinucci, the eldest son of Eugenio and Alice Martinucci. Thanks to Kenneth Alfred Martin and his wife Lorraine Martin for providing photographs and further information on the Martinucci (Martin) family. Kenneth Martin is the grandson of John Silvani Martinucci - a.k.a. Martin (born 1877, St Pancras, London). Thanks to Michael Omilon of Canada who provided the date of Eugenio Martinucci's death in Canada. Thanks also to Bruce Taylor of Airdrie, Alberta, for providing information about Eugenio Martinucci's years in Winnipeg and for advising me about George Gordon Nye's photographic career in Canada. Bruce Taylor's grandmother was Elley Mary Martinucci, the daughter of John Silvani Martinucci and Elley McMillan.

Thanks to Ron Cosens for providing the photograph taken by Lombardi & Fox. Ron Cosens is the author of two websites devoted to Victorian Photographers and the Carte-de-visite Photograph ( see links below). I am grateful to photoLondon for providing The Database of 19th Century Photographers and Allied Trades in London: 1841-1901 (based on the research of David Webb) which is featured on the photoLondon website. Thanks also to Zoe Lubowiecka of Hove Reference Library for her help and assistance.

Thanks to Nicky Gunn of Guildford for drawing my attention to the use made by Robert Hatt and Lombardi & Co. of the auxiliary studio at 52 Clarence Square, Brighton. Nicky Gunn is descended from the photographer Frederick Hatt, a brother of Robert Hatt, one of the partners in Lombardi & Co.

Information about William Martinucci's criminal activities was found on The Old Bailey website http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ )
 

SOURCES : Census returns : 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 [Brighton / Hurstpierpoint / London];  Brighton and Sussex Trade Directories : 1854 (Taylor), 1855 (Kelly), 1856 (Folthorp), 1858 (Melville), 1859 (Folthorp), 1862 (Folthorp / Kelly), 1864 (Folthorp / Page,), 1865 (Simpson), 1866, 1867 (Kelly)................................1878 (Kelly) ; 1896 (Pike) ;1897 (Kelly, Pike, Buff Book); 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903,( Pike, Kelly) ; 1904 (Pike, Bennett); 1905, 1906, 1907,1908, 1909, 1910 (Kelly, Pike); 1911 (Kelly); 1915, 1918, 1922, 1924, 1927, 1930 (Kelly).

Books : "Chronological index of patents applied for and patents granted and index of applicants for patents of invention" by B. Woodcroft (Patent Office, 1859)

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