Thomas Maitland Laws
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Laws describes himself as "Successor to E. Hill"
and has the same address, 41 Darlington Street.
On the back of this card he refers to his premises as an "Art
Studio", a typical Victorian photographer's claim to being an
artist, not a mere technician.
This young lady has a very elaborate dress and a very plain
hair style. A bit odd. |
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Thomas Legge
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Mr. Legge is an"artist photographer" of Walsall Street, Bilston.
At the foot of the reverse he says that copies can be had "as
miniatures, enlarged to life size & delicately finished in oil,
water colours of crayon".
To show his patriotism Mr. Legge uses not only the royal coat
of arm but, beneath it, George and the Dragon. |
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By the time of this photo, the royal coat of arms, George
and the Dragon and the claim to be an "artist photographer" have
all disappeared. The studio looks well equipped, as is the
young lady, with a flowery hat which quite overwhelms the
flowers in the vase. |
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H. Lord & Co.
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This august company was at Owen Road. This is not
a carte and is clearly later than Victorian but is worth
including here for its wonderful incompetence. The
little girl is way out of focus but the twigs behind her are
as clear as can be and you can see them coming into leaf.
Perhaps taking your equipment outdoors and focussing on a
small child balancing on a chair was still not as easy as it
might be. |
H. H. Jones
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Jones was at 194 Newhampton Road. Maybe he set
up there when the new town was being established.
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Jones was also prepared to go out and about and his name
is on this photo of a school group - presumably one in the
Whitmore Reans area. |
E. Mentor & Co.
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This company was in Bristol Chambers, Bilston
Street, Wolverhampton. Note that they are not
photographers but "photographic artists".
David Simkin writes that E. Mentor's full name was Elizabeth
Zilpha Mentor (born in Stepney in 1861). She married
William Hillmer, who had a photographic studio at 43A Ship
Street, Brighton, between 1896 and 1898. Around 1898 the
studio took on the name E Mentor & Co. Eliza Mentor and
her husband settled in Southampton, where their main studio was
based.
Apart from Southampton, Brighton and Wolverhampton, the
company had branches in Newport (IoW), Bournemouth, Coventry,
Southsea, Kidderminster, Barrow in Furness, Birmingham and
Cheltenham. |
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This cdv shows a young lady of some charm - she is
almost smiling. Its back is somewhat crudely printed
and shows branches at Southampton, Cheltenham, Bournemouth,
Southsea and Wolverhampton. Why did they set up a
studio in Wolverhampton, far from the south coast? And
note that at this point they are "Photographers" not
"Photographic Artists". |
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David Murray
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This is a large (9.5 by 11.5 inches) photo.
Printed on the frame is "David Murray, 60 Upper Villiers
Street, Goldthorn Hill, Wolverhampton". It seems to be
Edwardian rather than Victorian in date; but it is an
example of this sort of group photo that became more popular
at that time. So far nothing else is known of Murray's
efforts. |
The photo is probably local to Villiers Street and may show the
Blakenhall Conservative Club bowls club or a local pub team. The
area was developing at the time and was on the border between upper
working class and lower middle class - and the club members are dressed
accordingly. Note that most of them seem to be under 40 - so much
for bowls being an old man's game.
A. W. Osborne
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Osborne's studios were at Wolverhampton Street, Bilston.
Osborne had a nice painted back cloth of a rural avenue -
probably a change from the scenery of Bilston at the time.
This carte is a very unusual one. Why did anyone want a
delivery boy photographed in his working gear? Reg Aston,
the Bilston Historian, suggests that the answer may lie in the
butcher's shop almost next door to the studios. |
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R. Page
R. Page was in Bohemia House, 17 Darlington Street.
As "Bohemia" was a place name which arty people liked, R. Page may have
had some connection with the naming of the building. It still
exists and the words "Bohemia House" are still readily visible.
Thanks to Ian Beach, of Western Australia, for sending
us these scans of an otherwise unknown photographer. The small boy
is Ian's maternal grandfather, William George Yates, who was born in
November 1886. So this photo must date from the early 1890s.
Ian assures me that his grandfather had no objection to his lovely curl.
He also has the distinction of being the only certainly identified
sitter on these pages.
| Ian has also provided us with this fascinating
comparison (right). It is a detail from a group photo by Arcade
Studios in Wolverhampton, of the Wolverhampton Hospitals Carnival
Committee of 1926. By then Mr. Yates was the undertaker in Upper
Gornal and also a Church Warden at St Peter's in Upper Gornal.
Apparently he was on the Committee because he was a member of the
"Sedgley, Upper & Lower Gornal Carnival Committee" which collected money
for the Hospitals. |
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