Sepia Saturday 97: Geo W Holden, Brother of the more famous Jack

I've long enjoyed the catchy title of Barbara Trapido's book, and this is an excellent opportunity to appropriate it for my own use. The glimpses into the life and career of this elusive photographer that I've unearthed are intriguing, albeit sporadic and far too brief. However, they pale into medocrity beside the bizarre trail of tall tales left by his older brother.

I don't wish to distract either the reader or myself by the adventures of John Watkins Holden (1844-1917), Imperial prestidigitateur - I've taken a small liberty here in calling him "Jack" - so if you wish to read more of him, please visit Old Crone's fascinating account of The Mad Magician. Suffice to say, he was a man of many talents, not the least of which were a keen sense of self-aggrandisement and a tendency to accrue wives and children.


Pennoyre Mansion, near Battle, Brecon, c.1895
© Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery Courtesy of Culturenet Cymru
This account concerns the younger of the two brothers: George Watkins Holden was born on 3 September 1846 at Peckham in Surrey and baptised on 15 November at Christchurch, Camberwell. Although his brother was born two years earlier at Albany Terrace, Claines, Worcestershire, both were illegitimate sons of Emma Holden (1817-1887), and most likely fathered by the Welsh Liberal politician and Lord Lieutenant of Brecon, militia Colonel John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins (1802-1865). Watkins may well have provided for his mistress and her children - the 1851 Census shows them visiting a house in King Street, Laugharn, Carmarthenshire, and Emma is described as an annuitant.


King Street, Laugharn, Carmarthenshire
Image © and courtesy of Google Maps
There doesn't seem to be much chance that George or John ever saw much of either their father or his grand residence, the mansion of Pennoyre near Battle in Brecon, built c.1846-1848. The colonel's wife Sophia Louisa Henrietta née Pocock, daughter of a baronet, remained ensconced there with her two sisters, childless but attended by a retinue of fourteen servants, until her death in May 1851. By this time Lloyd Watkins' attentions had strayed again, and he had fathered further illegitimate children by another woman.

By 1861 they had moved back to London, Emma described herself as a house proprietor and George, then aged 14, was working as a miniature painter. He disappears from view for a decade or so, although a girl he later claimed as his daughter was born at Ashburton, Devon in late 1866.


Unidentified family, possibly in Yorkshire, c.1874-1878
Carte de visite by G.W. Holden of Windsor
Image © and courtesy of John Rivis
Then in December 1871, a report in The Era described a "portrait of [a] Welsh bullock ... from a photograph by Mr. George W. Holden of Portmadoc." This is the first evidence I have found of his photographic career, and a trade directory confirms that he was operating a studio in the High Street, Portmadoc, North Wales in 1874. The engaging carte de visite portrait of a large, but as yet unidentified family, probably taken somewhere in Yorkshire in the mid- to late 1870s, is by George W. Holden. By this time he was based at 12a William Street, Windsor, Berkshire, but clearly travelling widely in search of clients.


St Andrew's Middle Class School, Litchurch, Derby, c.1877
Carte de visite by G.W. Holden of 12a William St, Windsor
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
As early as 1877, when this school photograph including my great-grandfather was taken at St Andrew's Middle Class School in Litchurch, Derby, Holden had identified the niche of scholastic photography as one in which he could specialise.


The card mount is very similar, although not identical, to John Rivis' family group portrait. Judging by the remnants of Holden's output that I have found on the net, schools would be his main clients for at least the next two decades.


Class 1, unidentified group of school girls, c.1881-1883
Carte de visite by "Pen aur" G.W. Holden of London, Paris, Bristol & Swansea
In April 1881 George was in Oxford with his daughter Ada, aged 14, and a young wife Emily Ann, aged 21. It seems unlikely they were there for long because, from the evidence of several carte de visites from the early, mid-, and late 1880s, he appears to have been at least partly based at 42 City Road, Bristol. He operated under the "registered title" of Pen aur, an obvious reference to his father's former estates. The fact that his father died virtually penniless in 1887 was, of course, irrelevant from the point of view of self promotion.


It was during this period that Holden started to advertise his "instantaneous portraits of children with a new patent apparatus." Amongst the numerous extravagant and unverifiable claims made were that he was "under the patronage of several members of the Royal family, colleges, yacht clubs, 'Graphic' &c &c," and that he had studios in London, Paris, Bristol and Swansea. His firm of Holden & Co., described as scholastic group and landscape artists, were able to take "views,groups, machinery &c. ... from C de V to life size, in any part of the Kingdom or France at the shortest notice."

While I have little doubt that he was kept a busy man, I view with some suspicion his claims of such a widely distributed branch studio network, supported by a printing works in Bristol. He stated categorically that he used "no agents," and I suspect that, as was common amongst travelling photographers, he listed the locations that he frequented as "studios." Roger Vaughan, in his extensive list of Bristol Photographers, makes no mention of Holden. On one of the carte de visite mounts displayed on Roger's web site, Holden warns, "As the negatives of this photograph is not kept copies should be ordered without delay," an unusual statement among photographers who normally tried to encourage their customers to make return visits.


Class 1, at Horninglow, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, c.1888-1892
by Geo. W. Holden, Manager of The Elementary Schools Photographing Co. of Leeds & Hull
Image © and courtesy of Sophie Dickerson
An 1887 trade directory suggests that he was operating from "Pennoyre House" in Castle Street, Swansea. Sophie Dickerson sent me this school photo which includes family member Amelia Francis (born c. 1880), probably taken in Horninglow, Burton-on-Trent in the late 1880s or early 1890s. George Holden was by this time probably based in Hull. At least that's where two daughters were born in 1888 and 1889, and card mounts showed him as manager of the The Elementary Schools Photographing Co. at Leeds and Hull, but also visiting an exhausting list of 22 other towns throughout the England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. There is no mention of Burton!


Class 1, at Plymouth, Devon, c.1895
by Geo. W. Holden, Manager of The Elementary Schools Photographing Co. of Leeds & Hull
Image © and courtesy of Stephen Cook
This portrait sent to me of Maud Eva Pike (born 1888) and her class was sent to me by her grandson Stephen Cook, who believes it was probably taken around 1895 in the vicinity of Lipson Vale, Plymouth, Devon, where they lived at the time. Plymouth, for once, is included in the list of places visited by Mr Holden. In the census of early April 1891 his "family" were living in Hull, although he was recorded as a visitor in South Bishop Wearmouth, Durham.


Class 6, Mt Street School (?), unidentified location, c.1896-1898
by Geo. W. Holden, The Home & Colonial Photo Co. of Plymouth & Johannesburg
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
The last two examples are from my own collection, purchased on eBay and their provenance is unknown. The first has the locations "Plymouth & Johannesburg S.A." printed on the front and is inscribed in pencil on the reverse, "about 1899 Mt Street Scool [sic]." George Holden married Maud Louise Warnes at Plymouth in early 1894, and a son George Ernest was born at Belfast, Ireland the following year. It seems likely that they returned to the south of England soon after, as I estimate that this class photo is from the late 1890s.


Class 11, Gendros School, Swansea, Glamorgan, c.1900-1904
by Geo. W. Holden, The Home & Colonial Photo Co. of Cardiff & Johannesburg
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
In mid-1898 George Holden married Alice Norman, his previous wife's former "mother's help," 24 years his junior, settling in Cardiff, where they were living at the end of March 1901. This example is a slightly larger format mounted print, and has "Cardiff & Johannesburg S.A." printed on the front. The name of the school at which this portrait was taken is written on a large blackboard held up by the children in the front row: "YSGOL Y GENDROS (MORGANWG)" translates, I believe, to "Gendros School, Glamorgan."


Gendros Primary School, Swansea
Gendros Primary School, in Swansea, built in 1897, is still going and, from the look of the buildings seen over the wall in this Google StreetView, may have many of the original buildings - perhaps even the ones that formed the backdrop to my 110 year-old class photo.

I have pondered on the mention of Johannesburg, South Africa on Holden's later card mounts at some length, without coming to any firm conclusion. It is possible he visited South Africa at some stage, perhaps even intending to cater to the large number of troops heading out there during the Boer War. His brother John claimed, in his fanciful book A Wizard's Wanderings from China to Peru, to have travelled widely, and I think it likely that Johannesburg may also have been the the result of George's lively imagination.

George Watkins Holden continued to operate his photographic business out of the family home at 55 Tudor Street, Cardiff from 1907 until his death in 1921, aged 75, probably the longest settled period of his very busy life. He had five children, at least two of them illegitimate, by three different women, and lived for a time with a fourth. All of his partners were a good deal younger than him. They say that apples don't fall far from the tree.

Many thanks to John Rivis, Sophie Dickerson and Stephen Cook for the use of images from their personal collections.

If you, like me, have a penchant for old school photos, I can thoroughly recommend a visit to this edition of Alan Burnett's Sepia Saturday, where this week's charming image prompt depicts a group of young lads on a break from class, being asked to "Look up" by the photographer. A couple of them did! The rest ... well, they did what all school boys do when asked en masse to pose for a school photograph.

References

Alderman, Mari (2006) Victorian Professional Photographers in Wales, Sept 2006, GENUKI

Anon (2007) The Mad Magician (Old Crone Holden), The Family Tree Forum.

Vaughan, Roger (2003) Bristol Photographers 1852-1972.

Derby Photographers: Pollard Graham

Barker Pollard Graham, like many photographers of his day, went through several "boom and bust" cycles during his lengthy career. Some of these phases of activity were in the form of partnerships, often with local businessmen who would have provided financial backing to his various schemes. It's difficult, perhaps impossible, to assess now how much his failures were due to poor business sense, and how much to unfortunate turns of events - most likely a bit of both.


Carte de visite portrait of John Hunter, junior, September 1880
by Pollard Graham of New Road, Belper & North End, Wirksworth
Images © and courtesy of Ron Cosens
His first venture appears to have been started around 1878 - I don't yet have a firm date - working as a photographer and gelatine dry plate manufacturer at New Road in Belper, but also operating in Wirksworth. Reports of financial difficulties in mid-1881 assert that he traded as "Pollard Graham & Co." Although I have yet to see any other evidence for use of this name at this early stage, I suspect that the "& Co." referred to his brother-in-law Michael Charnock, also a photographer, who was living him on census night in April 1881. In February 1886 there is another report of court proceedings between the "Derby Photographic Dry Plate Company" and "Pollard Graham & Co." but no details of location or are given. To my knowledge the suffix "& Co." never appeared on any of his card mounts or trade directory entries during this period.


Carte de visite portrait of unidentified woman, c.1886-7
by Pollard Graham of New Road, Belper & The Zoological Gardens, Southport
Images © and courtesy of Ron Cosens
Around 1886-1887 Graham replaced his Wirksworth sideline with one at The Zoological Gardens, Southport, as shown only by the addresses on several carte de visites. It seems probable that his visits to Southport were merely seasonal, catering to the zoo's summer visitors, and he is unlikely to have occupied permanent premises there.

In early 1887, together with several Derby businessmen, he registered "Pollard Graham and Company, Limited" in the business of gelatine bromide photographic dry plate manufacturers. In that year he was operating from premises in Agard Street, Derby. Again it appears that the business did not thrive, and three years later, in March 1890, the "stock in trade and working plant" of Pollard Graham & Co., Ltd., Agard Street, Derby was offered for sale. A liquidation notice for Pollard Graham & Co., Ltd., Derwent Dry Plate Works, Agard Street, which had been operating since 1886, appeared in June 1890. As I've not seen any card mounts with the Agard Street address, I'm not sure whether he ever operated a studio from there.


Carte de visite portrait of unidentified woman, c.1891-3
by Pollard Graham of Rodney Chambers, Corn Market, Derby
Image © and courtesy of Lies Ligthard
The portrait business, however, continued, and it is clear from mentions in the local newspaper that he was taking portraits from premises at Rodney Chambers, Corn Market in August 1890. By March 1891 it is likely that his son James Charnock Graham was working for him. This studio appears to have then remained open, possibly continuously, until his death in 1932. I have no clear, unequivocal evidence for it, but I suspect that the portrait studio operated outside the framework of both of these early "Pollard Graham & Co" businesses, which appear to have been formed specifically for the commercial manufacture of dry plates, presumably for supply to local studios.


Carte de visite portrait of unidentified woman, c.1895-7
by Pollard Graham of Derby & Burton on Trent
Images © and collection of Brett Payne
Pollard Graham's next venture was to open a branch studio in the nearby brewing town of Burton-upon-Trent, probably some time between 1893 and 1895. The entries in trade directories for 1896 and 1900 show him with the addresses 12 and 113a Station Street respectively. I believe this branch remained open until around 1900, but again I don't have a firm date for its closure. It is complicated by the firm possibly using card mounts with both "Burton & Derby" and "Derby" addresses simultaneously during this period.


Carte de visite portrait of unidentified woman, c.1905-7
by Pollard Graham of Burnley, Leigh, Peterboro' & Derby
Images © and collection of Brett Payne
From 1903 until 1910, Pollard Graham also operated several other branches, of varying duration, in other Midland towns. According to my research, these were in Peterborough, Burnley, Leigh and Wigan, and all examples that I have seen from these branches were styled "Pollard Graham," with no suffix.


Large format mounted portrait of Lily May Campbell, c.1910
by Pollard Graham & Co. of Burslem, Longton, Coventry & Northampton
Image © and courtesy of Diane Lilley
Some time prior to March 1915, when the partnership was dissolved, Pollard Graham went into a collaboration with Albert Hutchinson. This firm was styled, "Pollard Graham & Co." and at the time of dissolution was operating "in the trade or business of Photographers" at Friar-gate, Derby. From what I can tell, all of the card mounts with "Pollard Graham & Co." printed on them can be ascribed to this pre-war period of operation, when they had branches in Burslem, Longton, Coventry, Northampton, Rotherham, Luton and Lincoln. From an analysis of the photographs which have the "& Co." suffix - sadly, none are dated - and various trade directory entries, I believe that the partnership between Hutchinson and Graham probably corresponds to the use of the "& Co." title, and commenced around 1910. I have not seen any photograph with "Pollard Graham & Co." printed on it, or a trade directory entry for "Pollard Graham & Co." prior to 1910 or after 1915.


Postcard portrait of unidentified man, c.1914
by Pollard Graham of 108A Friargate, Derby
Images © and collection of Brett Payne
The Great War seems to have had a significant impact on Pollard Graham's business. Apparently all of the branch studios were closed around 1914-1915, with only the "Head Office and Works" remaining open until around 1920. It is not clear what happened to the studio at Rodney Chambers, Corn Market during the War, because it the address is not shown on extant postcard backs from 1915-1920. It may have been closed temporarily until business picked up again in peace time.


Postcard portrait of Caroline Sadler, c.1921-5
by Pollard Graham of Derby & Northampton
Images © and courtesy of Caroline Dean
In about 1920, perhaps sensing business was indeed rejuvenating, he opened a new branch in Northampton.


Postcard portrait of unidentified man, c.1925-6
by Pollard Graham of Derby, Northampton, Kettering & Wellingborough
Images © and courtesy of Rob Jennings
Around 1925, he went into a short-lived partnership with his son James, and they opened more branches, successively, in Kettering and Wellingborough. Postcards and card mounts bear the name "Pollard Graham & Son" and "Pollard Graham & Son's Studios," respectively. This would not last long, however. The partnership was dissolved in October 1926, Pollard Graham keeping the Corn Market studio, and his son retaining the others.


Postcard portrait of Ada Mary Oxspring, c.1928-32
by Pollard Graham of Rodney Chambers, Corn Market, Derby
Images © and courtesy of Graham Robinson
From late 1926 until his death in 1932, Pollard Graham continued to take portraits at Rodney Chambers, Corn Market.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of those who have kindly contributed both images and information over a period of some years for my revised profile of the Derby photographer Pollard Graham - without them, this study would be very patchy.

Nigel Aspdin, Hilary Booth, Betty Bowler, Boz, Kerrie Brailsford, Pat Cahill, Grace-Ellen Capier, John Copley, Brian Coxon, Helen Cullum, Joss Davis, Caroline Dean, Sophie Dickerson, Chris Elmore, Jack Fletcher, John Frearson, Helen Frost, Gillian Fynes, Angela Galloway, Brian Goodhead, Angus Graham, Clive Greatorex, Carole Haywood, John Hoddinott, Martin Jackson, Rob Jennings, Kim Klump, Lies Ligthart, Diane Lilley, Dorothy Livesey, Marilyn McMillan, Cynthia Maddock, Barry Muir, Sarah Nash, Margaret Page, Graham Pare, Fran Powles, Alan Radford, Kevin Rhodes, Graham Robinson, David Roughley, Robert Silverwood, Derek Smith, Valerie Stern, Lynne Tedder and Andrew Wryobek.

Staffordshire Photographers: Henry Bloomfield of Burton-on-Trent

Unidentified young woman, Carte de visite portrait, c.1880-1884
by Henry Bloomfield, Waterlooo Street, Burton-on-Trent
Henry F. Bloomfield is something of an enigma. He arrived in the brewing town of Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire around 1880, and described himself as an "artist in photography." Although he remained in Burton until his death in 1900, and was listed as a photographer in trade directories from 1888 onwards, few examples of his work appear to have survived. The carte de visite shown above must date from fairly early during his stay in Burton.


H. Bloomfield, artist, photographer, engraver & writer
As well as photography, he advertised his services as artist, engraver and writer, and it is possible he was emplyed by one of the Burton newspapers. Both he and his wife Jane (or Jenny) were born in London around 1830, but nothing further is known about his life prior to his arrival in Burton.

Please do get in touch if you have any further images or information about this photographer.

Staffordshire Photographers: Charles Moscrop of Mayfield

Unidentified young man, Silver gelatin print mounted on cabinet card
by C. Moscrop, Mayfield nr. Ashbourne, c. 1900-1910
Image © and courtesy of John Bradley
Charles Moscrop (1872-1939) spent pretty much all of his 67 years in the town of Mayfield in North Staffordshire, close to Ashbourne and the border with Derbyshire. Born in 1871, he was the eldest of three children of a cotton warper (from Bolton, Lancashire) Henry Moscrop (1850-1913) and his wife Sarah Allsopp (1850-1925). In his twenties Charles also worked in the cotton manufacturing industry as a warper. However, it is clear from the existence of a cabinet card portrait, tentatively dated as from between 1900 and 1910, that he must have operated for at least a short period as a photographer.


Generic art nouveau card mount, c.1900-1910
Image © and courtesy of John Bradley
Gillian Jones, in her Professional Photographers in North Staffordshire 1850-1940 (The PhotoHistorian, No 103, Winter 1994, publ. RPS Historical Group) lists Moscrop at Holmbank, Mayfield in 1918. The decorative art nouveau design on the reverse of the card mount is a generic one, with no photographer's name or location shown.

He married Emily Fletcher (1871-1964) at Ashbourne in 1907, but it is not known whether they had any children.

Any further images or information about this photographer would be appreciated. Many thanks to John Bradley for the images.

Recent additions to the Scarratt postcard archive

In the last month or so I've added some new images of postcards by the Derbyshire photographer Frank Scarratt to the gallery. Several of these were not listed in Rod Jewell's excellent Yesterday's Derby and its Districts, so I thought I'd share these from shortly before and after the Great War, even though they are low resolution images found mainly on eBay. Their appearance in the short time since I started this project demonstrates that there are probably still many more of the "missing" numbers in the catalogue sequence yet to be "discovered."


799. Wirksworth Road, Duffield
Sepia postcard, F.W. Scarratt, 1913
Frank Scarratt's bicycle is parked at the kerb and he has managed to capture several residents attending to their daily business, as in so many of his shots from this period.


Wirksworth Road in Duffield hasn't changed much in the last century, apart from the removal of a couple of large trees. I guess there are far fewer bicycles and prams, and a few more motor vehicles (Click the image for Google Maps' Street View).


902. Barton-under-Needwood Church
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1914
Three girls happily pose for Frank in this pre-war view of Barton-under-Needwood, in adjacent Staffordshire. Perhaps they were even relatives, as his father was born in Barton and he still had a cousin living there in 1901.


The parish church of St James in Barton-under-Needwood is still surrounded by substantial trees, which makes for a pleasant environment but renders Google's Street View car a little hampered.


1241. Tank, Normanton Recreation Grounds, Derby
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1925
This must be a rare one, because it fetched a pretty good price. In the Bygones section of the Derby Evening Telegraph, republished here, a staff member of the Derby Museum and Art Gallery asked readers for information about a First World War British Mark IV tank presented to Derby in recognition of the town's "fund-raising efforts to help pay for the production of Britain’s new secret weapon." Leslie Simnett of Belper recalled its arrival at the Normanton Recreation Ground on a warm sunny day in 1919 or 1920:

I cannot recollect any ceremony taking place but I do clearly remember an invasion of little and not-so-little boys, all eager to fight mock battles, happy to bang their heads and graze their bare knees on this new-found plaything.

Reg Ward of Sinfin, a former resident of Normanton, had more information about its removal:

I watched the military cutting it up with acetylene welders for scrap metal just before or in the early years of the Second World War. I used to live in the Normanton area and spent a lot of time on the park.

1403. Tennis Courts, Osmaston Park Road, Derby
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1929
I couldn't locate this scene with any certainty. I'm not even sure whether it was in Derby or at Osmaston Park, but perhaps a Derby resident can help. No doubt the tennis courts are long gone.


1481. Shardlow Road, Derby
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1931
With all the development that has taken place to the south and south-east of Derby in recent years, it will probably be difficult to locate this image, but I suspect it was somewhere near Alvaston.


1730. 5x-multiview, Castle Donington
Sepia postcard (Multiview with palette, narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1936
One of the popular multiviews, this contained five scenes at Castle Donington just across the county border in Leicestershire, several of which were also published as individual postcards (1537 - Hall with Deer; 1809 - Key House).

If you have any Scarratt postcards that you'd like to share, I'd be very happy to add medium to low resolution images to the gallery. (Email)

Frank Scarratt and his Derbyshire postcards

I'm a devotee of postcards. It's that simple, really. Whether a modern multi-view showing where a friend spent theirs summer holiday, a scene displaying a historically significant building, an "arty" photograph, or a "real photo" posed studio postcard portrait, of the type that feature strongly in my Derbyshire Studios portfolios, I have always enjoyed both sending and receiving them.

It is sad that, over the last decade or so, postcards have been overtaken by the universal ease of text messaging and email. As most of us know, it wasn't long ago that they were the quickest cheap method of letting your family back home know that you were okay and enjoying yourself, or perhaps merely maintaining a "between Christmas cards" correspondence with old friends.


128. Victoria Avenue, Borrowash
Sepia monochrome colour wash postcard, F.W. Scarratt, 1907
Although I have featured scenic postcards previously on Photo-Sleuth, the articles have dealt largely with the subjects of the images, rather than the postcards themselves and the publishers or photographers. In this article, I'd like to discuss a Derby man whose name has become synonymous with postcards of Derbyshire. F.W. Scarrat is the subject of Yesterday's Derby and its Districts, Rod Jewell's excellent book published in 1995 by Breedon Books, featuring a wide variety of examples from his own collection. While he is arguably less well known than W.W. Winter and Richard Keene, the prolific Scarratt's postcard views spanned a period of over three decades.


96. Kedleston Road, Showing St Aiden's Church, Derby
Colourized postcard, F.W. Scarratt, 1906
Although invented in the 1870s, picture postcards only started being produced in any appreciable numbers in the United Kingdom in the late 1890s, after they had been authorised by the Royal Mail in 1894. By the time Frank Scarratt (1876-1964), a Derby stationer, started publishing postcards in early 1906 from his shop at 114 Abbey Street, using scenic photographs that he had taken himself, he was entering a well established market. Initially at least, his scenic views were printed in Germany, which perhaps offered cheaper and/or technologically superior options than were available in England at the time.


London Road, Derby
Colourized postcard, Valentine's Series, Postmarked Oct 1905
The first couple of hundred of his colourized and monochrome colour wash scenes followed fairly closely the styles of those already being produced and sold in large numbers by long stablished firms such as James Valentine of Dundee (example shown above). His townscapes generally included a view of a busy urban or quieter suburban street bordered by shops, houses or other notable buildings, trees, electricty lines and lamp posts.


148. Kedleston Road from Five Lamps, Derby.
Colourised postcard (grey frame), F.W. Scarratt, 1907
A large proportion of postcards from this period include a tram somewhere in the fore, middle or background, often accompanied by several other forms of transport, as well as numerous pedestrians, and Scarratt's are no different. The focus on trams is unsurprising considering the rapid expansion of municipal electric tram systems during the 1890s and early 1900s. Several writers have commented on the fact that Frank also managed to include his bicycle within the frame of a good many of his views.


107. Mill Hill, Derby
Colourized postcard (Brown frame), F.W. Scarratt, 1907
In 1907 and 1908 he produced a variety of views with simple wide brown (wood grain finish), white or gray frames, which again followed the trends set by other publishers such as Valentine, AE Shaw (Blackburn), JG Cox (Nottingham), Boots' Pelham Series, and the Grenville and Clumber Series (by unknown publishers), all of whom marketed a variety of Derbyshire scenes. During those first few years he built up a significant portfolio, with about 100 views published in 1906, 52 in 1907, and 108 in 1908, bringing the total to an impressive 260 by the end of his third year in business.


197. Rolleston Hall, Rolleston-on-Dove
Colourized postcard (Scroll frame), F.W. Scarratt, 1908
Then in 1908 he started experimenting with a series of more ornate frames. The first of these appears to have been an oval-shaped scroll type surrounding the picture, and with a brown, wood-grain background, used in at least six different views.


293. Canal Bridge, Weston-on-Trent
Sepia postcard (Ornate frame), F.W. Scarratt, 1909
While the colourized scenes were quickly phased out, the lavishly decorated frames became elaborate and varied, and soon developed into his signature style.

Distribution of Scarratt postcard scenes, 1906-1910
Rings show distance from Derby, at 10 km intervals
As the distribution map above shows, he was also venturing some distance from Derby in search of subjects. The majority of his 400 odd views up to the end of 1910 were taken within 20 kilometres of his home town, but he did on occasion travel a little further afield to places of particular interest, such as Quorn (Leicestershire), Alton and Mayfield (Staffordshire) and Polesworth (Warwickshire). It is possible that these were in response to special commissions. The almost complete absence of views from east of the River Erewash, even well within the 20 kilometre radius from Derby, suggests to me that he faced some significant local competition in that direction, perhaps from a Nottingham-based publisher.


213. The Vicarage, Barton-under-Needwood
B/W postcard (Narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1908
Scarratt made a number of visits to the small village of Barton-under-Needwood, not far from Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, possibly since he was born nearby and still had family living there. The example shown above uses the simple narrow white border style that he employed only intermittently early his career, but which from about 1914 onwards started to dominate his production.


375. Police Courts, Burton-upon-Trent
B/W postcard (Palette style), F.W. Scarratt, 1910
Introduced in 1910 a frame in the form of a painter's palette was perhaps designed to lend a more artistic air to the postcards. It was used in a number of different forms until 1913, so was obviously popular.


260. 3 Views of Derby
B/W postcard (3x-multiview), F.W. Scarratt, 1908
At the same time Scarratt published postcards in a number of multi-view formats. The early example shown above is slightly unusual, the more common types having four or five panels with rectangular and palette-shaped outlines (below).


380. 5 Views of Derby.
Sepia postcard (5x-multiview), F.W. Scarratt, 1910
The year 1911 brought a move from Abbey Street to Normanton Road; around the same time he opened a shop in the Market Hall, Derby, which quickly became the main trading premises.

Distribution of Scarratt postcard scenes, 1911-1915 (green)
Scarratt's peak production was between 1911 and 1914, when he photographed an average of roughly 140 new scenes each year, so that by the outbreak of the Great War he had almost a thousand in his catalogue. This equates to about a dozen each month, which was no mean feat for a sole operator. The pattern of locations visited during this pre-war period roughly followed that of his first five years, with a few notable additions (Swadlincote, Kegworth, Heanor and Dovedale) and omissions (Belper, Mayfield and Alton).


Postcards published by F.W. Scarratt & Co., 1906-1938
Data from Jewell (1995)
However, output in 1915 was cut by almost half, followed by a sharp decline in production during 1916 and 1917, no doubt due to privations of war and the ensuing reduced demand. The graph above shows the variation in numbers of designs published by the firm over its 33 year period of operation, but it should be emphasized that this may not be an accurate relection of the volume of postcards ordered or sold.


1020. Donington Hall and Entanglements.
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1915
During the war, his scenes on occasion show signs of the times, such as barbed wire "entanglements" around Donington Hall, then being used as a prisoner-of-war camp, and the War Cross in Barrow-upon-Soar (1916, not pictured).


1181. War Memorial, Market Place, Derby.
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1925
After the end of the war, Scarratt's postcard publishing ceased almost completely for a few years. Although he did produce a small number of cards in 1920, including a couple depicting War Memorials in Barton-under-Needwood and Burton-upon-Trent, it must have been a very lean period. When he started up again in 1924, he revisited many of his old haunts, but also started to document the changing cityscape, such as in his view of the new bus terminus at Cheapside, and a couple of the recently erected bronze and stone War Memorial in Derby's Market Place (shown above). His lavishly decorated frames and artist's palette surrounds, once a significant point of difference for Scarratt, were sadly no longer fashionable, and they were almost completely abandoned them in favour of the austere narrow white borders which had already become the norm amongst other postcard publishers.


1537. Donington Hall with Deer.
B/W postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1931
In the late 1920s and 1930s, a steady but much lower level output was maintained, with an average of about 40-50 new views a year. Although still visiting some of the regular locations - such as Donington Hall (shown above) where the entanglements were now replaced with peacefully grazing deer - he concentrated on the larger towns i.e. Derby, Burton-upon-Trent and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and tended not to travel so far afield as he had done previously. Judging by the fewer numbers of these later issues that are sold on eBay, I suspect that they may have been originally published in smaller batches than earlier issues.


1586. Derby in Flood, May 22nd, 1932 (Wardwick).
Sepia postcard (narrow white border), F.W. Scarratt, 1931
When Derby was inundated by floods on 22nd May 1932 Scarratt was quick to record the effect that it had on the city, and his views of a Trent bus nosing its way down a flooded Wardwick (shown above), and very soggy Sadler Gate are probably among his best known images.


762. Halfpenny Lane, Derby.
Sepia postcard (no border), F.W. Scarratt, 1913
The firm of F.W. Scarratt & Co. ceased publishing postcards in 1938, when Frank sold the stationers business to his son-in-law and retired to his home in Mickleover.

I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to Frank Scarratt's Derby postcards. Please visit the profile/gallery on my Derbyshire Photographers web site, where I have compiled a comprehensive catalogue with some further examples of his work. If you happen to have some Scarratt postcards which are not displayed, and would be interested in sharing them with a wider audience, I would be happy to receive some low to medium-resolution scans for inclusion. (Email)