Crowborough Area Villages

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Photographers in the Villages around Crowborough

ERIDGE - FRANT - JARVIS BROOK - ROTHERFIELD

[ABOVE] An old map of Sussex showing the villages which surround Crowborough. Two members of the Sims family, Edward Sims and William Edward Sims operated as professional photographers in Rotherfield in Victorian and Edwardian times. George Arthur Howard, who worked as a valet at Eridge Castle, was active as a photographer in the area of Eridge between 1890 and 1893.

PHOTOGRAPHER

LOCATION

DATES

     
George A. HOWARD

ERIDGE

1890-1892

     
John R. D. MITCHELL

JARVIS BROOK

1907-1914

     
Edward SIMS

ROTHERFIELD

1878-1881

     
William Edward SIMS

ROTHERFIELD

1905-1907

     
 

Eridge

George Arthur HOWARD (1864-1932)
George Arthur Howard was born at Great Ayton, Yorkshire, in 1864, the son of Eliza and Henry Howard, a bricklayer and builder who was based in Middlesbrough. George Arthur Howard who was baptised at Great Ayton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, on 18th September 1864.

Henry Howard, George's father, had married Eliza Wilson in the district of Stockton in 1856. The couple produced at least 9 children - Mary Ann Howard (born 1858, Hartlepool, Co. Durham), Alfred Howard (born 1860, Great Ayton, Yorkshire), William Henry Howard (born 1862, Middlesbrough), George Arthur Howard (born 1864, Great Ayton, Yorkshire), Anna Louisa Howard (born 1867, Middlesbrough), Catherine Emily Howard (born c1871, Yorkshire), Edwin Howard (born c1874, Yorkshire), Lily Howard (born 1876, Ormesby, Yorkshire) and Edith Howard (born 1879, Ormesby, Yorkshire).

After leaving school, George Arthur Howard entered domestic service. At the time of the 1881 census, sixteen year old George Howard was working as a "Footboy (Domestic)" at Ormesby Hall in Ormesby, near Middlesbrough. George Howard was employed by members of the Pennyman Family who had owned Ormesby Hall since the time of Charles II.

Sometime in the 1880s, George Arthur Howard moved down to Sussex to work as a domestic servant at Eridge Castle, the country seat of the Earl and Marquess of Abergavenny. The 1891 census records twenty-six year old George Arthur Howard as a "Valet (Domestic)" residing in Eridge Green at The Cottage, the home of George Evan Macbean, the Land Steward to William Neville, the Marquess of Abergavenny.

On 21st October 1891, at Holy Trinity Church, Eridge Green, George Arthur Howard married a 27 year old domestic servant named Emily Brooman (born 1864, Eridge, Sussex), the daughter of Thomas Brooman, a gardener and labourer, and his second wife Sarah Nash. By the time of his marriage to Emily Brooman, George Howard was working as a photographer in the Eridge area.

A few carte-de-visite portraits dating from around 1890 and bearing the photographer's credit "G. A. Howard, Eridge, Sussex" have survived to the present day. A cabinet card photograph showing a hunting party gathering at Eridge Castle in Eridge Green carries a photographer's trade plate which reads; "GEO. HOWARD, Eridge, Sussex". At the time of the 1891 census, George Arthur Howard was employed as a valet at  Eridge Castle and so it is likely that the cabinet photograph dates from this period.

[ABOVE] A coloured postcard depicting Eridge Castle, where George Arthur Howard was employed between 1890 and 1892. Built in 1792, the castle was demolished in 1937.

By the beginning of 1893, George Arthur Howard and his wife had moved to Lincoln, where Howard established himself as a photographer and electrician. (An advertising sheet entitled 'Photographic Scraps', published on 1st February 1893 announced that Howard had opened of a "new dark room" at 24 Silver Street, Lincoln). The trade and street directories for Lincoln published in the mid-1890s record George A. Howard as a "photographer and electrician" at 24 Silver Street, Lincoln. When the census was taken on 31st March 1901, George Howard, his wife Emily and their two sons were recorded at 24 Silver Street, Lincoln. The couple's eldest child, Cecil Arthur Howard, was born in Lincoln during the 4th Quarter of 1893. A second boy, Hubert Edwin Howard had arrived early in 1895. [The birth of Hubert Edwin Howard was registered in Lincoln during the 1st Quarter of 1895].

On the 1901 census return, George Howard is described as an "Electrical Engineer (Employer)", aged 36. Mrs Emily Howard, George's wife, is entered on the census return as a "Photographic Dealer & Shopkeeper", so presumably George Howard was still involved in photography. The following year, Emily Howard died at the age of 38. It appears that George Howard remarried in 1904, but the name of his second wife is not known as she was not at home when the 1911 census was carried out. The 1911 census records George Howard as an "Electrical Engineer (Employer)", aged 46 at  24 Silver Street, Lincoln. Sharing George Howard's home in Silver Street were his two children, who were still at school, Cecil (aged 17) and Hubert (aged 16), and Ethel Brumhead, an 18 year old domestic servant. In 1919, Ruddock's Directory of the City of Lincoln described George Howard as an "electrical engineer, cycle-dealer etc.".

George Arthur Howard died in Lincoln in 1932, aged 68.

[ABOVE] A hunting party assembling at Eridge Castle, Eridge Green, Sussex.; a cabinet photograph by George Arthur Howard of Eridge (c1891). The photographer, George Arthur Howard was employed as a valet at Eridge Castle at the time of the 1891 census. Eridge Castle, the country seat of the Earl and Marquess of Abergavenny, was demolished in 1937.

[ABOVE] The trade plate of the photographer George Arthur Howard as printed on the reverse of the cabinet photograph of Eridge Castle illustrated above. George Arthur Howard worked as a photographer in Eridge for a relatively short period of time. At the time of the 1891 census, George Howard was employed as a domestic servant at Eridge Castle. In October 1891, George Arthur Howard married Emily Brooman, a local woman, at Holy Trinity Church, Eridge Green. By the beginning of 1893, George Howard and his wife had moved to Lincoln, where Howard established himself as a photographer and electrician.

[Cabinet Photograph: Courtesy of Mike Rogers of Lewes]

[ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman holding an open book, photographed by George Arthur Howard of Eridge (c1890). [ABOVE] The photographer's credit "G. A. Howard, Eridge, Sussex" printed on the reverse of the carte-de-visite by George Arthur Howard illustrated on the left (c1890).

[Carte-de-visite Photograph: Courtesy of Mike Rogers of Lewes]

 

Rotherfield

[ABOVE] A photographic view of Rotherfield taken around 1896 by the Crowborough photographer Ambrose Henry Stickells. Rotherfield's Providence Chapel can be seen in the centre of the picture. When the photographer Edward Sims (1837-1906) arrived in the village around 1878, Rotherfield had a total population of over 4,000. Edward Sims' son, William Edward Sims (1884-1950) set himself up as a professional photographer in Rotherfield in about 1905 when the population of the civil parish was round 6,500.

Photograph : Courtesy of Trevor Cornford

 
Edward SIMS (1837-1906) and William Edward SIMS (1884-1950)
 
Edward Sims (born c1837, Swansea) and his son, William Edward Sims (born 1884, Sutton, Surrey) both operated as photographers in Rotherfield, Sussex, but their periods of activity were separated by nearly 30 years. Edward Sims worked as a photographic artist from Mill House, Rotherfield, from around 1878 until about 1881. Edward Sims' son, William Edward Sims, worked as a professional photographer in Rotherfield between 1905 and 1907.
 

Edward Sims (1837-1906)

Edward Sims was born in Swansea, Glamorganshire, around 1837, the son of Thomas Sims, a shoemaker. Edward Sims' elder brother, Thomas Sims junior (born 1826, Swansea) was a pioneer photographer who had set up a photographic portrait studio in Weston-super-Mare around 1847. Six years later, Thomas Sims (1826-1910) established a photographic studio in London and by 1856 he had been joined by his younger brother. In 1857, Edward Sims set up his own photographic studio in Westbourne Grove in the Bayswater area of London.

In the same year that Edward Sims opened his London studio, he took a wife. Edward Sims married a thirty-six year old artist named Letitia Fenner Wilkinson (born c1821, London). [The marriage of Edward Sims and Letitia Fenner Wilkinson was registered in the London district of Kensington during the 2nd Quarter of 1857]. The 1861 census records Edward Sims and his wife Letitia at 13 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, Kensington.

In 1864, Edward Sims moved to Tunbridge Wells in Kent, where he established a photographic portrait studio. Edward Sims remained in Tunbridge Wells for the next 12 years. When the 1871 census was taken, Edwards Sims and his wife Letitia were residing in St John's Road, Tunbridge Wells. On the census return, Edward Sims is described as a thirty-nine year old "Photographer" and his wife, Letitia, a forty-nine year old "Artist".

Around 1873, Edward Sims entered into a business partnership with the French photographer Louis Bertin (born c1827, France), but the firm of Sims & Bertin of Tunbridge Wells was short-lived, the partnership being dissolved in May 1874. Edward Sims continued working as a photographer in Tunbridge Wells until after the death of his first wife in 1875. [The death of Mrs Letitia Fenner Sims was registered in Tunbridge Wells during the 1st Quarter of 1875]. The following year, Edward Sims married Eliza Ann Burrows (born 1847, Tunbridge Wells, Kent). [The marriage of Edward Sims and Eliza Ann Burrows was registered in Tunbridge Wells during the 4th Quarter of 1876].

Around 1877, Edward Sims and his wife moved to the Sussex village of Rotherfield. Early in 1878, at Rotherfield, Mrs Eliza Sims gave birth to a baby girl named Constance. [The birth of Constance Mary Sims was registered during the 1st Quarter of 1878]. A second daughter, Eliza Gertrude Sims, was born in Rotherfield during the 1st Quarter of 1880. Both Constance and Eliza Gertrude Sims were baptised in Rotherfield on 8th August 1880. When the census was taken on 3rd April 1881, Edward Sims and his family were recorded at Mill House, Rotherfield. On the census return, Edward Sims is described as a forty-two year old "Photographic Artist".

By 1884, Edward Sims had left Rotherfield and was living in Sutton in Surrey. It was while living in Sutton, Surrey, that Edward Sims' first son, William Edward Sims was born. [The birth of William Edward Sims was registered under the name of "Edward William Sims" during the 1st Quarter of 1884]. A second son, George Sims, was born in Sutton during the 4th Quarter of 1886.

Edward Sims and his family eventually moved to St Briavels, Lydney, near Chepstow. The 1891 census records Edward Sims, his wife Eliza, and their four children at Hill House, The Common, St Briavels, Lydney. On the census return, Edward Sims is described as an "Artist Photographic".

By the time the 1901 census was carried out, Edward Sims was residing with his family at 36 Prospect Road, Southborough, Kent. The census enumerator noted that sixty-three year old Edward Sims was a "Photographer" working on his "own account, at home".

Edward Sims died in Wandsworth, South London, in 1906 at the age 69.

[ABOVE] A daguerreotype photograph of a family group attributed to Thomas Sims (1826-1910), Edward Sims' elder brother. Thomas Sims established himself as a photographic artist in Weston-super-Mare in 1847. The group has been identified as Monsieur Georges Dufaud and family.

Photo: John Wood Collection

[ABOVE] The trade plate of Edward Sims, Photographer, Tunbridge Wells (c1865)

[ABOVE] A photographic view of the village of Rotherfield taken from Cottage Hill around 1910. The photographer Edward Sims (1837-1906) arrived in Rotherfield with his family around 1877. The birth of Edward Sims' daughter Constance was recorded in Rotherfield during the 1st Quarter of 1878.
 

Carte-de-visite Portraits by Edward Sims of Tunbridge Wells

[ABOVE] A portrait of Mrs Manuela Huth and her two children photographed in 1868 by Edward Sims at his Tunbridge Wells studio. [ABOVE] A portrait of an unknown man with dundreary whiskers, a carte-de-visite photograph by Edward Sims of Tunbridge Wells (c1866) [ABOVE] The trade plate of Edward Sims Photographer of Tunbridge Wells as printed on the reverse of a carte-de-visite produced around 1870. [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of an unknown woman photographed by Edward Sims of Tunbridge Wells (c1870)
       
       
William Edward Sims (1884-1950)

William Edward Sims was born in Sutton, Surrey in 1884, the son of Eliza Ann Burrows and Edward Sims (1837-1906), a professional photographer who had previously lived in the Sussex village of Rotherfield. [The birth of William Edward Sims was registered under the name of "Edward William Sims" in the district of Epsom during the 1st Quarter of 1884].

William's father, Edward Sims, a photographer who had previously operated studios in London and Tunbridge Wells, married Eliza Ann Burrows, his second wife, in 1876. This union produced four children -  Constance Mary Sims (born 1878, Rotherfield, Sussex),  Eliza Gertrude Sims (born 1880, Rotherfield, Sussex), William Edward Sims (born 1884, Sutton, Surrey) and George Sims (born 1886, Sutton, Surrey). Between 1877 and 1881 Edward Sims had worked as a photographer in Rotherfield, but by 1884, he had left the village and was living in Sutton, Surrey. Edward Sims later moved to St Briavels, a village near Chepstow, but by 1901 he had returned to the Tunbridge Wells area.

The 1901 census records Edward Sims, a 63 year old "Photographer", living with his wife and three of his children at 36 Prospect Road, Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells. In 1901, William Edward Sims, Edward Sims' eldest son, was in domestic service and living away from home. The 1901 census records William E. Sims as a 17 year old "Footman" boarding with a widow in Speldhurst, Kent.

By the early 1900s, William Edward Sims had left domestic service and was working as a photographer, like his father. At one stage, William Edward Sims was based in Church Road, Rotherfield, but by the time Kelly's Directory of Sussex was published in 1905, he was listed as a professional photographer at 7 Brecon Terrace, Rotherfield.

In 1906, Edward Sims, William Sims' father, died. William Edward Sims, a professional photographer in his early twenties, joined his widowed mother and two unmarried sisters in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. [It appears that George Sims, Edward Sims' younger brother, had died in his teens]. The Trades section of the 1907 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex listed William Edward Simmons as a "photographer" at High Street, Hurstpierpoint.

The 1911 census records William Edward Sims at his widowed mother's house at The Cottage, Hassocks Road, Hurstpierpoint. The head of the household was Mrs Eliza Ann Sims, the 63 year old widow of Edward Sims. William Edward Sims is described on the census return as a twenty-seven year old "Photographic Artist"  working at home on his "own account". Also listed on the census return are William's two unmarried sisters, Constance Sims and Eliza Sims, both described as photographer's assistants.

William Edward Sims is recorded as a professional photographer working from his mother's house in Hassocks Road, Hurstpierpoint from 1911 until 1938.

William Edward Sims died in Brighton in 1950 at the age of 66.

[ABOVE] A photographic view of Church Road, Rotherfield, as depicted in a 1920s postcard. When the photographer William Edward Sims was based in the Sussex village of  Rotherfield during the early 1900s, he rubber-stamped the credit "W. E. Sims, Church Road, Rotherfield" on the reverse of his photographs.

[ABOVE] An extract from the 1905 edition of Kelly's Directory of Sussex showing William Edward Sims listed as a photographer at 7 Brecon Terrace, Rotherfield in the Commercial section of the directory entry for Rotherfield. Previously, William Edward Sims worked as a photographer from an address in Church Road, Rotherfield.

 

Real Photograph Postcards by William Edward Sims of Rotherfield

The delivery van of Lester & Sons Steam Bakery, Mayfield, by W. E. Sims.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sussex Postcards Info.

During the time that William Edward Sims was a professional photographer in Rotherfield, he produced a number of 'real photograph' postcards depicting scenes and events in the village and the surrounding area.

Rendel Williams has created an excellent website devoted to Sussex picture postcards called Sussex Postcards Info.

To view a selection of picture postcards produced by William Edward Sims, visit Rendel Williams' Sussex Postcards Info website via the following link:

William Edward Sims - Photographer of Rotherfield and Hurstpierpoint

 

John Richard Daniel MITCHELL (1891-1959) - an amateur photographer active in Jarvis Brook between 1907 and 1914

John Richard Daniel Mitchell was born in Rotherfield, Sussex, in 1891, the youngest son of Sophia Hoadley (1865-1927) and John Mitchell (1863-1942), a farmer who operated farms in Rotherfield and Jarvis Brook.

In 1883, John Mitchell senior (born 1863, Rotherfield), John R. D. Mitchell's father, had married Sophia Hoadley (born 1865, Rotherfield), the youngest daughter of Emily and James Hoadley of Yew Tree Farm, Rotherfield. John Mitchell senior was the son of a farmer and by 1890 he was running his own farm at Ford Brook in Rotherfield. By the late 1890s, John Mitchell senior had acquired Millbrooke Farm in Jarvis Brook.

The union of John Mitchell senior and Sophia Hoadley produced two sons - Luther James Mitchell (born 1885, Rotherfield) and John Richard Daniel Mitchell (born 1891, Rotherfield).

After leaving school, John Richard Daniel Mitchell was employed as a surveyor to an auctioneer and house agent. While working as a surveyor, John R. D. Mitchell studied for professional qualifications and in September 1911 he obtained a First Class Certificate in Building Construction. It was during his time as a house surveyor that John R. D. Mitchell took up photography.

There is no evidence that John Richard Daniel Mitchell ever worked as a professional photographer in Jarvis Brook, but photographs he took which have passed down through the Mitchell Family are rubber-stamped with his photographer's trade plate. These family photographs were taken between 1907 and 1914 when John Richard Daniel Mitchell was a very young man.

[RIGHT] John R. D. Mitchell's parents John Mitchell senior  and his wife Sophia Mitchell photographed on their motorbike and sidecar in the grounds of Millbrooke Farm, Jarvis Brook, near Crowborough.

This photograph is believed to have been taken by the couple's youngest son, John Richard Daniel Mitchell (1891-1959), a surveyor and amateur photographer who took pictures with his camera in the Jarvis Brook area before the First World War.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Trevor Cornford

During the First World War, John Richard Daniel Mitchell joined the Royal Engineers and served in France. After the war, John R. D. Mitchell moved to Leeds where he had found employment with a railway company. In 1938, at the age of 47, John Richard Daniel Mitchell married Sarah Setchfield in Leeds. The couple had no children. John Richard Daniel Mitchell died in Leeds in 1959, aged 67.
 

Thanks to Trevor Cornford for supplying photographs and family information.

[ABOVE] A studio portrait of John R. D. Mitchell of Jarvis Brook, photographed by A. H. Stickells of Crowborough around 1920. John Richard Daniel Mitchell (born 1891, Rotherfield) was the youngest son of Sophia Hoadley (1865-1927) and John Mitchell (1864-1942), a farmer in Jarvis Brook.

Photograph : Courtesy of Trevor Cornford

[ABOVE] The photographer's credit for John R. D. Mitchell of Jarvis Brook  rubber-stamped on the reverse of a photograph taken in 1907 when Mitchell  was 16.
 

Family Photographs by John R. D. Mitchell of Jarvis Brook  (Photos: Courtesy of Trevor Cornford)

[ABOVE] A family group photographed by John R. D. Mitchell at the family home at Millbrooke Farm, Jarvis Brook, near Crowborough (c1907).  John Richard Daniel Mitchell (1891-1959) was an amateur photographer who began taking photographs as a teenager when he was living with his parents at Millbrooke Farm, Jarvis Brook. [ABOVE] An informal portrait of John Mitchell senior taken by his son John R. D. Mitchell at the family home at Millbrooke Farm, Jarvis Brook, near Crowborough (1907).

[ABOVE] A portrait of Mrs Sophia Mitchell in her sitting room, photographed by her son John R. D. Mitchell at the family home at Millbrooke Farm, Jarvis Brook, near Crowborough (1907). [ABOVE] A family group enjoying a a meal in the open air, photographed by John R. D. Mitchell outside the family home at Millbrooke Farm, Jarvis Brook, near Crowborough (c1907). 
 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Trevor Cornford for providing copies of the Mitchell Family photographs taken by John Richard Daniel Mitchell of Jarvis Brook. The amateur photographer John R. D. Mitchell was the son of Sophia Hoadley and John Mitchell senior, who farmed in Rotherfield and Jarvis Brook. John R. D. Mitchell was the younger brother of Luther James Mitchell, Trevor Cornford's grandfather.

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