Horsham Photographers ( R-T )

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Professional Photographers in Horsham  ( R - T ) 

T. S. Robinson - Russell's of West Street - Herbert Salmon - W. H. G. Tate

 

Thomas S. ROBINSON (born 1856, Biddenham, Bedfordshire)

active as a photographer in Horsham from 1878 to 1882

 

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of T. S. Robinson Photographer of East Street, Horsham (c1882)

Thomas Stimpson Robinson was born in the small village of Biddenham, near Bedford, on 1st August 1856, the fourth child of Frances and Henry Robinson, a ropemaker. Thomas Robinson's baptism was recorded in Biddenham, Bedfordshire on 2nd August 1857. The baptism record gives his full name as Thomas Stimpson Robinson. (Stimpson was the maiden name of his mother). Some time before 1860, Thomas S. Robinson and his family moved to Cuckfield in Sussex.

By 1878, Thomas S. Robinson was living in Horsham and operating a photographic studio in Denne Parade, near East Street, Horsham. Kelly's 1878 Post Office Directory for Sussex lists Thomas Simpson Robinson as a photographer at 4 Denne Parade, Horsham. The 1881 census records Thomas S. Robinson at 1 Park Terrace West, Horsham. Thomas S. Robinson is entered as the Head of the Household and he is described in the census return as an unmarried photographer, aged 24. Also living at Thomas Robinson's house in Park Terrace West was Thomas's younger brother Joseph Arthur Robinson (born 1864, Cuckfield), who is described in the census return as a "Photographer's Assistant", age 16.  Thomas S. Robinson's mother, fifty-three year old Mrs Frances Robinson and his nineteen year old sister Frances Rosila Robinson (born 1861, Cuckfield), were staying at his house in Horsham at the time of the 1881 census. In Kelly's 1882 Directory of Sussex, T. S. Robinson is listed as a photographer at 1 Park Terrace West, Horsham. Details on the reverse of two cartes-de-visite indicate that T. S. Robinson also operated a studio in East Street, Horsham around 1880.

Thomas S. Robinson appears to have moved on to London to pursue his photographic career. In 1888, a photographer named Thomas Robinson is listed at 203 Shoreditch High Street. In the 1901 census, Thomas S. Robinson is shown as a "Photographer" in Hackney, East London. His place of birth is given as Bedford and his age is recorded as 45. Apparently, Thomas S. Robinson was based at 185 & 187 High Street, Homerton, East London and according to the East London History Society, "the photographer T. S. Robinson ... took many group photographs in the open spaces of East London." The East London History Society website features one such photograph - a group of forty women (and one child) arranged in a formal group in an unknown East London Park.

Click here to view the group photograph by T. S. Robinson on the ELHS website  Featured Photograph No 11

 

The Photographic Work of Thomas S. Robinson of Horsham

[ABOVE ] The trade plate of T. S. Robinson of East Street, Horsham, which appears on the reverse of the carte-de-visite portrait on the far right.

[ABOVE ] Oval portrait of a woman wearing a hat. A carte-de-visite photograph by T. S. Robinson of East Street, Horsham (c1881). The sitter has been identified as Frances Rosila Robinson, the sister of the photographer Thomas S. Robinson. Frances Rosila Robinson married Arthur Charles Pratt the eldest son of Arthur Alfred Pratt, Head Constable of Chichester, in 1886. [ABOVE ] Oval portrait of a young man A carte-de-visite photograph by T. S. Robinson of  Horsham (c1882). [ABOVE ] Oval portrait of a woman. A carte-de-visite photograph by T. S. Robinson of East Street, Horsham (c1880)

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Sue Buckler for providing further information on Thomas Stimpson Robinson the Horsham photographer. Thomas Stimpson Robinson is Sue Buckler's great uncle. Sue was also able to identify Frances Rosila Robinson, her grandmother, as the subject of the middle photograph by T.S. Robinson, illustrated above.

 

 RUSSELL'S PHOTOGRAPHIC ROOMS of West Street, Horsham

Russell was taking photographic portraits in Horsham in 1861

In January 1861, a notice appeared in the West Sussex Gazette advertising "RUSSELL'S PHOTOGRAPHIC ROOMS, WEST STREET, HORSHAM". The advertisement promised "First-class PORTRAITS only, either Plain, Tinted, or fully Coloured" and detailed prices that ranged from one shilling to fifty shillings.

Julius Russell (born c1820, Chiddingly, Sussex) ran a grocer's shop in Horsham's West Street between 1851 and 1866, but there is no evidence that this particular shopkeeper operated "Photographic Rooms" at his business premises in 1861. The photographic method employed appears to derive from Frederick Scott Archer's Wet Collodion process. The fact that Mr Russell was offering "Full Instructions in Photography for 2 Guineas", suggests he was a seasoned photographer and was probably an itinerant who set up a temporary studio in the towns he visited. James Russell junior ( born c1836, Chichester), the eldest son of the well-known photographer James Russell of Chichester, is known to have travelled through Sussex, taking portraits and instructing individuals in the art of photography ( In 1858, James Russell junior was in Lewes and reportedly taught Edward Reeves the rudiments of photography on an earlier visit). William Russell was another photographer who travelled through Sussex in the 1860s.

[ABOVE ] A notice advertising Russell's Photographic Rooms in West Street, Horsham which appeared in the West Sussex Gazette & General District Advertiser on 16th January 1861.

The western end of West Street, Horsham (c1870)

Herbert SALMON (born c1870, Hampton, Middlesex)

active as a photographer in Horsham from 1906 to 1910

Herbert William Salmon was born about 1870 at Hampton, Middlesex, the son of Charlotte Salmon (born 1832, Hampton, Middx.). As a young artist and photographer, Salmon travelled to New South Wales in Australia, where he met and married his wife Mary (born c1869, Sydney, NSW Australia). The couple's first child, Harold G. Salmon, was born in Sydney around 1894, but by 1898, Herbert Salmon and his family had settled in Teddington, Middlesex in England, where their daughter was born around 1898. According to a Middlesex Street Directory of 1899, Herbert William Salmon had a photographic studio in Wolsey Road, Teddington.

At the time of the 1901 census, Herbert Salmon, his wife Mary, and their two children were living in Teddington, Middlesex. Herbert W. Salmon is recorded in the 1901 census as an "Artist Photographer", aged 31. By 1901, Herbert Salmon had two photographic studios in Teddington, one at Hughenden House, Park Road, Teddington, the other in Teddington's High Street. In the early 1900s, Herbert Salmon left Teddington and moved out to Sussex. Kelly's 1905 Directory of Sussex lists Herbert William Salmon as an "Artist" at Lower Lodge, Haven, between Billingshurst and Slinfold, four miles west from Horsham.

Around 1906, Herbert Salmon purchased Edward Walton's studio at 50 North Street, Horsham. Herbert Salmon worked as a photographer in Horsham for a few years and then, around 1910, passed on the North Street studio to William J. Waller.

 

William Henry Gilbert TATE ( born c1850, Islington, London - died 1900, Strand, London)

active as a photographer in Horsham around 1870

[ABOVE ] The name plate of  W. H. Gilbert Tate, photographer of South Street,Horsham and Cheapside, London (c1870)

William Henry Gilbert Tate was born in Islington, London around 1850. Tate established a business partnership with another photographer named Thomson around 1869. The firm of Thomson & Tate established a studio in London at 45 Cheapside and around 1870 Tate established a branch studio in South Street, Horsham. In Kelly's 1870 Post Office Directory for Sussex, William Henry Gilbert Tate is listed as a photographer with a studio at South Street, Horsham and a second studio at 45 Cheapside, London, E. C. Around 1871, W. H. Gilbert Tate's partnership with Thomson came to an end and Tate returned to London to run the Cheapside studio. William Henry Gilbert Tate married Mary Jane Hyatt (born c1848, Paddington) in London during the fourth quarter of 1871. The couple had at least one child, a daughter named Edith Susan Tate who was born in Norwood, Surrey in 1873 [birth registered in Croydon, Surrey during the third quarter of 1873].

The studio at 45 Cheapside operated under the name of W. H. Gilbert Tate from 1871 to 1876. At the time of the 1881 census, William H. G. Tate was living with his wife Mary Jane and seven year old Edith in Chorlton-on-Medlock in Hampshire. William Tate, who gives his age as 30, was now working as a "Theatrical Manager". The death of William's wife, Mrs Mary Jane Tate, is recorded in the Croydon area in 1891. William Tate married for a second time in 1895. There is some evidence that Tate's new bride was a vocalist. William Henry Gilbert Tate died in London in 1900, aged 50.[Death registered in the Strand district during the second quarter of 1900].

 

 

 Edwin AUBREY (aka Cocking)   - Henry AUBREY (aka Cocking)   - Mrs Matilda AUBREY   - Thomas C.  BAYFIELD   - Mrs Elizabeth BAYFIELD   -  William Henry BRIGDEN   - Jesse & Charles BROWN - Ernest CHART   - Mr CLARK of West Street   - James GOLDSWORTHY   - Henry T. HEALEY   - John HICKS   - William HOBBS   - Henry HOCKING   - James LLOYD   - Arthur LYLE   - Henry PADWICK (amateur)  - Louis C. PIERRE -   Arthur PIPER   - Thomas S. ROBINSON   - Mr RUSSELL of West Street   - Herbert SALMON   - William Henry Gilbert TATE - William WALLER - Edward WALTON - John WHEELER