George Henry Swift of Chapel-en-le-Frith

George Henry Swift was one of those for whom photography was merely one of many talents. Looking at it from a slightly different perspective, his career as a photographer probably didn't last very long.

Although he was born in 1846 in the village Gamesley, near Glossop in Derbyshire, Swift grew up in Lockwood, near Huddersfield in Yorkshire, where his father and older brothers worked as stone masons. At the age of fifteen, by which time his father had died, George was an accountant's clerk. In 1868, however, he married Maria Penelope Whiteley. They moved to Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1870 or 1871 and George became landlord of the Shoulder of Mutton Inn in Townend.

Probably commencing some time in the mid-1870s, George Swift tried his hand at photography, and by the time of the 1881 Census was described as a photographist, although Kelly's trade directory for that year indicates that he was also secretary to the agricultural society and a rates collector. His wife died in late 1880, a couple of years after the birth of their fifth child. He remarried at Stockport in 1886, to Sarah Ann Harrison, and appears to have moved to Belper shortly after, as Kelly's trade directory for 1887 shows him as a Conservative registration agent, living in Campbell Street. It is interesting to note that photographer Jacob Schmidt, who had only recently moved to Belper from Bristol, was living next door in 1891. Swift, however, appears not to have returned to the photographic business, describing himself as a political agent in 1891 and a musical instrument dealer in 1901.


This carte de visite, sent to me by Ann Taylor, was taken by G.H. Swift, probably some time in the late 1870s. It shows, a church, churchyard, low wall and street. Unfortunately the location is not specified. It would be tempting to assume that it is the parish church of Chapel-en-le-Frith, in the Peak District of Derbyshire, dedicated to St. Thomas-a-Becket, "a stone edifice in the later English style." [Source: The National Gazetteer (1868), courtesy of Rosemary Lockie's GENUKI Derbyshire web site] However, modern images of that church (example) show some siginificant differences and I have my doubts.


St Edmund, Castleton, Derbyshire
Image © and courtesy of John Stanbridge (Flickr photostream)
In my view, a much more likely candidate is the parish church of St. Edmund in Castleton, situated a few miles to the east of Chapel-en-le-Frith, a photograph of which I first found in my copy of "The Old Parish Churches of Derbyshire" by Mike Salter (Folly Publications, 1998, ISBN 1 871731 33 X). A much better recent photograph by John Stanbridge, shown above, is included as part of his Flickr photostream.

The reverse of the card mount shows a hand stamp with the photographer's details, "G.H. Swift, Photographer, Chapel-en-le-Frith."


This carte de visite portrait of an unidentified elderly woman from my own collection is probably from a similar era, i.e. the late 1870s. It has an identical back stamp, suggesting that Swift may not have been in business for long enough to have had his own card mounts printed.

Remains of a Celtic Cross in Matlock

William Potter was mid-Victorian Derbyshire's equivalent of a postcard publisher, postcards having been introduced in the dying years of the 19th Century and only popularised in the early 1900s. Based in Matlock Bath from the mid-1870s until his death in 1909, Potter was probably the most prolific Derbyshire-based producer of cartes de visite with scenic views of Derbyshire. Most of his work has the following simple design on the reverse, often (although not in this particular case) with a pencilled inscription relating to the subject of the photograph.


However, he had initially started off in a completely different trade; census records and trade directories list him as an apprentice marble worker and a "manufacturer of spar, marble and malachite ornaments." The latter was clearly aimed at the burgeoning tourist trade, and it may have been the contact with visitors to the area that persuaded him to become a photographer in the late 1860s or early 1870s. The 1871 Census shows him working as a photographic printer - presumably as an employee - in Trentham, Staffordshire. He returned to Matlock soon after, and by 1881 was described as a "draper's traveller & photographer." I'm not aware of any portraits by Potter, and I believe it likely that he confined himself to landscapes. Nor does he appear to have produced any stereoviews, which also became very popular in the late 1800s.


Remains of Saxon cross and Gravestone in All Saints churchyard, Bakewell
Photographed by William Potter, probably in the mid-1870s
The example of Potter's work that I have decided to reproduce here, although still aimed at the tourist market, is more of an archaeological curiosity than a memento of the picturesque landscape. I picked it up on eBay recently, not knowing anything about the subject, but thought it would make a nice addition to the other images by William Potter in my online portfolio. The photo was obviously taken in a churchyard. The tall stone decorated with spiral patterns looked to me like the remains of a Celtic/Saxon cross, but my initial investigations picked up no sign of any such relic in Matlock churchyards. I then turned to the gravestone:


In
Memory of
Mary Ann
Daughter of
...es and Maria Leedham:
..ho died Jan: 30 1853 [or 1855?]
Aged 59 years.
A search of the 1851 Census, using Ancestry.com's indexed images, quickly turned up the following household:

1851 Census: Matlock St, Bakewell DBY PRO Ref. HO107/2149/51/14/50:
Mary Ann LEEDHAM Head U F 54 Confectioner DBY Bakewell
Maria LEEDHAM Sis U F 52 Confectioner DBY Bakewell
Elizabeth ROBINSON Sis U F 45 DBY Bakewell
Sarah PLEASANT Serv U F 15 House Servant DBY Beeley
Leedham KIRK Cousin M 13 LAN Manchester
James KIRK Cousin M 11 LAN Manchester

Using Bakewell as the location, I very quickly found other mentions of the "cross", evidently of Saxon origins, including some great pictures by Pete Howard on Rosemary Lockie's Wishful Thinking Derbyshire Index, linked to from her meticulously maintained GENUKI pages for Bakewell.


Saxon Cross, All Saints, Bakewell
Photo © 2005 Pete Howard & courtesy of Rosemary Lockie's Wishful Thinking
Although there is some dispute about where the Saxon cross - one of several at the church - came from exactly, when it was relocated to the All Saints churchyard, there is a nice legend that accompanies it, and may have helped in selling William Potter's cdvs. The Peak Experience web site relates that the Saxon cross dates from the 8th Century A.D. and once stood at the crossroads one mile to the south of Hassop. In 1501 Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VII was visiting Sir Henry Vernon at Haddon Hall:

Beneath the Saxon cross now in All Saints churchyard, he saw a woman in white who predicted an early marriage and early death for him. When the Prince returned to Haddon he heard that his Spanish bride-to-be was in England and he was to be married immediately. Four months later he became ill and breathed his dying words: ‘O, the vision of the cross at Haddon!’

Mary Ann Leedham was born in 1796, one of seven children of James Leedham (d. 1830) and Maria Bestall (d. 1840) of Bakewell. She and her two unmarried sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were confectioners in Bakewell in 1841. By 1851, Elizabeth had married, leaving Mary Ann and Maria to run the business. The GRO Death Index (presented online by FreeBMD) confirms that Mary Ann died in 1855. Stuart Hill very kindly confirmed (via the DerbysGen Mailing List) that she was buried at All Saints four days later, on 3 February 1855.