J. Burton's Galerie Francaise of Aston Road, Birmingham

Angela Barrett recently sent me scans of four cartes de visite identified on the reverse as having been taken by J. Burton of Aston Road, Birmingham, wondering if this was the same photographer as the John Burton & Sons who operated a branch studio in Birmingham in the 1860s, and who I featured in a previous Photo-Sleuth article. The photographs were in a purchased leather bound, gilt-edged album with brass clasps identified as having belonged to one George Ernest Nind (born 1869).


The collection of cdvs is an interesting lot. Three of them depict two or three small children, possibly aged between one and four years, while the fourth shows a woman perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties. Three of the portraits have been taken in what appears to be a standard studio setting, with the same chair, painted backdrop, curtain and carpet. The remaining portrait is outdoors on the grass. Two of the pictures show a couple of the smaller children seated in a perambulator, or early pram.


I believe that the portraits were taken in the early to mid-1870s, say between c. 1871 and 1875, deduced from a combination of several factors, including the woman's hair, the style of her clothing and the "studio" setting, all of which are typical of this period.

I managed to find a birth record for George Ernest Nind in the GRO indexes transcribed and presented online by FreeBMD, showing a registration in the Registration District of Cleobury Mortimer, spanning the boundaries of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire, in the March quarter of 1869. His family also appears in the 1871, 1881 and 1891 Censuses (available online by subscription from Ancestry), with which I was able to draw up the following family outline:

John Smith NIND b. 1840 Sedgeberrow WOR d. 1924 Worcester WOR m: 1864 Elizabeth Mary SHERRARD b. 1843 Bromley St Leonard, London MID d. 1899 Martley WOR
|- John Sherrard NIND b. c.Aug 1864 Cradley HER
|- Eleanor Mary NIND b. c.Nov 1865 Cradley HER
|- William Charles NIND b. c.Nov 1866 Cradley HER
|- Frederic Augustus NIND b. c.Nov 1867 Cradley HER
|- George Ernest NIND b. c.Feb 1869 Kinlet SAL
|- Henry Edward NIND b. c.Nov 1869 Kinlet SAL
|- Elizabeth Ellen NIND b. c.Nov 1870 Kinlet SAL
|- Florence Emily NIND b. c.Feb 1872 Kinlet SAL
|- Percy NIND b. c.1873 Kinlet SAL
|- Edmund Robert NIND b. c.Aug 1874 St John Worcester WOR
|- Archibald Ralph NIND b. c.Nov 1877 St John Worcester WOR
|- Francis (Frank) Horace NIND b. c.Aug 1879 St John Worcester WOR
|- Son NIND b. c.1881 St John Worcester WOR
|- Marguerite Louise NIND b. c.Nov 1883 St John Worcester WOR
|- Daughter NIND b. c.1887 St John Worcester WOR

George Nind was one of fifteen children of a farmer and haulier/contractor John Smith Nind (1840-1924) and his wife Elizabeth Mary née Sherrard (1843-1899). They lived in Cradley, Herefordshire (1864-1867), Kinlet, Shropshire (1869-1873) and Worcester, Worcestershire (1875-1891). If these portraits depict members of this family group, and that is by no means certain, then there are a large number of children to choose from.


One of Angela's correspondents had suggested that the perambulator might have been a photographer's prop, and probably not affordable to the ordinary family. However, I think it more likely to have belonged to the family who were photographed. I found an engraving of a permabulator of very similar design from this period on the Smithsonian Institution Libraries web site and the following reference from the book, A Manual of Domestic Economy by John Henry Walsh, published in 1874 [the full text of this book is available online at Google Books]:

The Perambulator is one of the most extraordinary investions of the day, and chiefly from its extreme simplicity. Any one who has attempted to draw the old-fashioned child's carriage will have felt its weight and the disagreeable nature of the duty; and yet, until within the last quarter of a century, although very nearly the same principle had been adopted for Bath chairs during more than a century, no one thought of extending it to that for the child. They are now made so extensively, and at so low a rate, that they may be procured in every village; but they are not always manufactured in the best possible way.

The suggestion is that by the second half of the Eighteenth Century permabulators had indeed become affordable to many families.


A fifth carte de visite with a view of an unidentified church, also by J. Burton of Aston Road, was pasted on top of the frontispiece of the album.


The firm of John Burton & Sons operated a branch studio on the corner of New Street and Bennett's Hill in central Birmingham from 1862 until 1866. The card mount above is from this period, although probably taken at the Derby branch. From what I can tell, they never had a branch on Aston Road, Birmingham, and for this reason, I think it unlikely that these portraits were by the rather more famous Burton firm which had its origins in Leicester, as they appear to have been taken several years after the closure of the New Street branch.


The reverse of the card mount used for all five photographs, shown above, is very interesting. It uses a style of design which became popular in the early 1870s, as displayed in Roger Vaughan's excellent and very useful analysis of designs through the decades. However, it is also very similar to the design which had been used some years earlier by Burton & Sons when at their Birmingham studio. It may be that the "Aston Road" Burton was trying to get some spin-off of trade from this association.


I have as yet been unable to find any details of another "J. Burton" operating as a photographer in Aston or Birmingham, but have little doubt of his existence since, apart from your five examples, I was able to find several others on the web. Two of these are displayed in Roger Vaughan's large collection of Victorian cartes de visite. They are reproduced above by Roger's kind permission. The portrait of the two girls has the same chair, back wall, curtain and carpet as seen in the previous portraits, although the painted backdrop has changed, and there is an additional circular side table, upon which one girl rests her right elbow. Roger believes the vignetted portrait of the boy may be a copy of another photograph. Unfortunately neither are dated or have further details of the subjects or the studio, but all have an identical card mount design to Angela's, and appear to date from approximately the same time period, i.e. the early to mid-1870s.


I also found this carte de visite view of a church by J. Burton of Aston Road posted in a thread entitled "Identifying a church" by Colin Baker on the Birmingham History Forum, later identified as the Holy Trinity church, located on the corner of Trinity and Birchfield Roads in Aston (Satellite view of location from GoogleMaps).

There are a several pointers which lead me to think that this "J. Burton" may have been something of an itinerant, travelling or fairground practitioner, in spite of - or perhaps even because of - the "Aston Road" address shown on his printed card mount. The photographer has not taken a great deal of trouble over his "studio" background, demonstrating some inexperience. Although there are three parts to it, the right-hand edge of the painted backdrop is rather badly tacked onto the plain "wooden" wall. In a more established studio, I would have expected this join to have been hidden by some sort of strip to disguise it, and at least present the illusion of a doorway to an outside view. In one of the portraits, there is a significant gap between the carpet and the "skirting board." The presence of the skirting board, presumably fixed to a solid wall of some sort, rather than another canvas sheet, suggests to me that it was at least taken indoors, although probably in a photographer's van.


The subject of the painted backdrop interests me even more, as it appears to depict a fairground tent/stall. A woman and child are looking at the wares on display, while a seated woman points to items on the table. Some pots and pans are hanging at the front of the tent and I think I can see some bottles on the table. The writing on the side of the tent reads, "JOUETS D'ENF..." which has been interpreted by one of Angela's correspondents (the Curator of Costume at the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood) as Jouets d'Enfants or "children's toys". This illustration of what may be a scene at a carnival or fair strongly suggests to me that the photographer himself might be a frequenter of such events.

In Pauline Gashinski's notes about showman Randall Williams on her British Fairground Ancestors web site, she states:

"When new regulations prohibited the showmen from exhibiting at Birmingham’s Onion Fair, Randall was instrumental in establishing a new fair at Aston on the border of Birmingham on some waste land known as 'The Old Pleck'. Randall took on the role as lessee of the new venue for a number of years - calling it [the] 'Birmingham Fair'."

She includes the following advertisement from The Birmingham Gazette from 1875:

"Birmingham Pleasure Fair
Aston Road
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday next
30th September, 1st and 2nd October.
Applications for ground to Randall Williams
18 Summer Street, Birmingham
Fireworks on Thursday Evening"

On the same web page, in a report from The Era dated 11 November 1893, there is a mention of a J. Burton, one of a group of van-dwellers and other travellers attending a meeting with Randall Williams at the Rotherham Statutes Fair. While it may be a simple coincidence, it seems quite possible that this J. Burton was the same person who had operated a travelling photographic booth in the early to mid-1870s.


All of this points to the five photographs from Angela's album having been taken by a travelling photographer in the early to mid-1870s, possibly not far from their home. During the period in question they moved from Kinlet in Shropshire to Henwick Road in the parish of St John-in-Bedwardine, Worcester, and it seems likely that the church shown in the fifth carte de visite (detail above) might be the parish church from one of these two places.


Parish Church, St John-in-Bewardine, Worcester, Worcestershire
Image © and courtesy of Sally Lloyd
It looks similar, but not identical, to the Parish church of St John-in-Bewardine, Worcester [Satellite image from Google Maps], shown in this sample from a series of recent photographs by Sally Lloyd on Flickr. I wondered whether perhaps there was some significant rebuilding in the late 19th Century, but I may be completely off track.


Parish Church, St John the Baptist, Kinlet, Shropshire
Image © Gillian Palmer and courtesy of William LaMartin
The parish church of St John the Baptist at Kinlet has a similar crenellated tower, but quite a few significant differences which, I think, rule it out completely.

My investigations into the identity of this church are rather inconclusive, so I am hoping that some readers will be able to help in due course. Likewise, I'm also hoping that further sightings of, and perhaps portraits by, J. Burton of Aston Road will surface in due course. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you can help.

Fairground folk at the Wirksworth Tap Dressings (2)

Wirksworth Town Center - Market Place, West End & St John's Street
Click image to see on Google Maps
The third photograph in the series of the Wirksworth Tap Dressing festivities appears to have been taken from somewhere in front of Coldwell House, on Coldwell Street, looking roughly eastwards across St John's Street onto the Market Place, with Dale End disappearing off to the right. This facade, although it has been somewhat modified over the intervening years is still recognisable from the elevation drawing of numbers 6 to 11 Market Place on John Palmer's Wirkworth site, in particular the semi-circular window on the top storey of the tallest building.


Image 3 - Wirksworth Market Place
Click for more detailed version
In the right foreground, the iron railings appear to be in front of Coldwell House, immediately adjoining the corner of The Red Lion (e), which is the tall brick building on the right. Most iron railings in Derbyshire were removed during the War for the manufacture of munitions (at least this is what my father told me some years ago). None are shown on the elevation drawing of The Red Lion and Coldwell House, or are apparent on the satellite images, so presumably they have indeed gone.

The two young women walking towards the photographer are dressed fairly typically for the mid-1880s. One of them appears to have noticed the camera, and is unsure whether she should be posing or not; the other is still deep in animated conversation, or perhaps she is fascinated with whatever is on offer at the stall on the other side of Coldwell Street, in the left foreground of the photo.


Detail of two young women from Image 3
(f) Up against the buildings on the far side of Market place are the frames of the swings. At first I thought they might be "swing boats," which were popular fairground attractions at the time. However, the poles of the frames don't seem to be substantial enough to hold swing boats and, besides, if one looks carefully at an enlargement of the photograph, it is possible to just make out a boy, presumably standing on some type of platform, and about to set off on the swing.


Detail of boy on swing from Image 3
Immediately in front of the swings, and directly behind the head of the dappled white horse, is the end of one of the show people's caravans, and what looks to be some kind of water tank, although the platform on which it sits is hidden, partly behind a tent, and partly by the horse. To the right of the horse is a parked cart or wagon, perhaps used for transporting the fairground stalls or rides.

The tent situated behind the horse and cart (g) is a shooting gallery, as shown by an enlargement of the sign in the entrance, but I've not been able to make out the name of the proprietor - perhaps it is something like "..OLE SHOOTING ..."? The 1891 Census list of showpeople on the Morledge, given in a previous post includes several shooting galleries, including one owned by Charles Warwick's mother-in-law, Emma Sketchley (and Arthur Ashmore, William Howell & Frederick Pemberton), and a "travelling rifle saloon" operated by Albert Hall.


Detail of sign above shooting gallery from Image 3
(h) The teenage boy driving the horse and cart are great fun. He is using the weight of his body to pull back hard on the reins, trying to keep the horse going in the right direction, or to prevent it from going too fast; you can almost hear him crying out, "Whooooaa boy!!!" Also of interest is the cart itself. From the presence of rivets along all the edges, most easily visible immediately below the driver's seat, my interpretation is that it is made entirely of metal. A rectangular metal box of this size suggests to me a water cart, and indeed one can see what appears to be water spraying out of the back of the cart onto the road, presumably to keep down the dust.


Detail of boy driving cart from Image 3
(i) There is another stall to the left of the shooting gallery, complete with awning, but I've only been able to make out what appear to be two large oval mirrors, and little else.

(h) The stall in the left foreground of the photograph, at which two men are browsing, is also difficult to make out in much detail, apart from the three drums at the front.

The remaining two photographs will be discussed in post number three of this series.

Fairground folk at the Wirksworth Tap Dressings

The previous posts about fairground photographers made me think more about fairgrounds and fairground folk in general. I recalled seeing some marvelous images of old photographs of fairground stalls on John Palmer's Wirksworth web site, and contacted both John and the original submitter of the images, Brenda Pearson. They have kindly given their permission for me to reproduce the images here. Brenda's photographs actually come from an album which belonged to Elizabeth Nowell-Usticke née Wright, daughter of a Wirksworth wine and spirit merchant, who was married there in 1889. They are a series of albumen prints, possibly taken by an amateur photographer, and labelled with the date 1886.

The festivities in Wirksworth were described in an article which appeared in The Derby Mercury on 23rd June 1886. They appear to have been centred around the Wirksworth Tap Dressing festival, which is featured in two of the photographs, and appears to be similar to the well dressings which still take place elsewhere in Derbyshire.

WIRKSWORTH TAP DRESSINGS.This ancient festival, a popular gathering with Derby people as affording an opportunity for an agreeable holiday, took place as usual on Whitsun-Wednesday. The custom is one that springs from the Romans, who dressed their springs in adoration of the God of water, and its celebration appears to be peculiar to Derbyshire, as in no other county that we are aware of is the ceremony kept up. As far as more modern days are concerned the Wirksworth Tap Dressings is one of the oldest festivals on record. The celebrations were discontinued for some years, but about 18 years ago the custom was revived, and now forms one of the "red letter" days in the calendar of many Derbyshire people. Of course a great deal depends on the weather, and a cloudy and threatening sky after the many variable days we have lately experienced, prevented numbers of people from taking advantage of the reduced fares offered by the Midland Railway Company as an inducement to enjoy an outing, but in spite of that three or four long trains, heavily laden, landed their living freight at Wirksworth, all from Derby. This was exclusive of excursions from Nottingham, Sheffield, and Burton, besides visitors from the neighbouring villages. On the whole, however, the number of visitors was put down as rather less than usual - wholly on account of the atmospheric conditions. A casual visitor, however, would be unable to draw these invidious comparisons. Crowds of visitors thronged the old-fashioned little town, and made it wear an animated appearance, such as is only observed once a year. The inhabitants themselves appear to view the festival more as a matter of business, and everybody seems prepared to turn an honest penny in some form or other. Providing tea for visitors was the favourite mode, but this business was sadly overstocked, judging by the flaming red and yellow bills in the window of almost every other house setting forth that "accommodation for tea and hot water" was to be had within. The band of the E (Wirksworth) Company D.R.V., and the Wirksworth Brass Band, furnished music during the day, and conducted visitors round the town. The grounds at the Lees were kindly placed at the disposal of the committee by Mr. W. Sealy Fisher, and there a gala was held, the amusements consisting of selections of music by the Wirksworth United Band, performances by a troupe of minstrels, known as the Black Diamond troupe, and dancing on the tennis court, to the music of Mr. Hollins's (Derby) string band. This proved a great source of attraction at the gates. In the Market-place were assembled the usual contingent of shooting galleries, shows, &c. With regard to the dressings, Mrs. John Cooke, of the West End, again suceeded in carrying off premier honours, being awarded the first prize of 10l. for an elaborate erection, of a much more pretentious character than any of the others. In the foreground was a small covered fountain, standing on a square base, having four pillars at the angles, each dressed in moss, with moulds of blue pansy petals, supporting four arches in daisy chaff. On the top of the arches lay a tablet in dark moss, on which was a vase with a square base in moss, with stem in scarlet geranium petals and circular bowl in white daisy chaff. At the back was a large Gothic drinking fountain, consisting of right and left bays, with centre piece on which was worked an Oriental design, with a large stork in white daisy chaff, standing amongst herbage and foliage worked on a ground of sarlet geraniums. Over the centre might be seen the words - "Bless ye the Lord," in letter of red berries on a wite ground, and in each bay a large vase in yellow everlastings, containing lilies and sunflowers worked on a green ground of parsley. Mr. A. Hawley, Dale-street, obtained second prize, 8l., for a well-executed representation of an Oriental fountain; Mr. L. Hardy, Tissington, was third with his North-street decoration, for which he received 6l.; and Mr. John Clough fourth, 4l., for a design in oldwell-street. Prizes were also offered this year for the best street garland, and after a strong competition, the first and second prizes fell to J. Yates, West End, and W. Macdonald, Market-place.

All five of the photographs displayed here were taken in or near Market place, shown in this recent satellite image from Google Maps.


Wirksworth Town Center - Market Place, West End & St John's Street
The first two photographs in the series are of Market Place, taken in a roughly northern direction, and having numbers 4 to 6 (Market Place) forming the backdrop. John Palmer has a more modern diagram showing an elevation of these buildings here.


Image 1 - Wirksworth, Market Place, 1886 ?
(a) The coconut shy, or "cocoa nut bowling street" as it was referred to in the 1891 Census, is in the foreground, with the coconuts resting in rings affixed horizontally to the ends of sticks. There appear to be two alleys, arranged in an east-west direction, at right angles to St John's Street.

(b) The stalls in the middle ground have presumably been set up to sell something, and have awnings to provide a modicum of shade. It is possible that there are trays on the trestle table, containing something like confectionery. One man and four women, including two with children standing or seated on their laps, are tending to the stalls, with their backs to the photographer, but there don't appear to be many customers. At the right hand end of this line of stalls, a seated man and a standing girl, both wearing hats, appear to be tending the coconut shy. He has his right foot on the rail which marks the throwing position for the further of the two alleys. To the right of this, on the eastern boundary of the coconut shy, is another covered stall, with numerous boxes on a table, tended by a man standing with one hand behind his back. In the right hand background, on the east side of St John's Street, are more covered stalls, and a large crowd of men, women and children who are walking, browsing the stalls, or talking in small groups. The buildings on the east side of St John's Street are those shown as numbers 1 to 13 in this elevation drawing.

(e) In the background, behind the large lamp post, is the charateristic facade of the Red Lion Commercial Hotel, which still forms a backdrop to modern day Wirksworth, as shown in another elevation drawing on John Palmer's site. The building immediately to the left of The Red Lion appears, from the satellite image, to have since been demolished.

(d) To the left of the lamp post, and largely hidden by the presumed confectionery stall, is what we would nowadays term a merry-go-round, but in the 1891 Census was called a "roundabout [with] horses." The conical roof with a circular plan and a ball at the peak can be seen sticking up above and behind the awning of the confectionery stall, and through the stall part of one of the horses can even be seen. The building to the left of the merry-go-round is number 6 Market Place.


Image 2 - Wirksworth, West End, 1886 ?
The fore and middle ground of this photograph shows the top end of the two coconut bowling streets (a). Canvas sheets have been erected to catch errant projectiles, held up by long poles and guy ropes extending back towards the confectionery stall, just visible on the right hand side of the photo (b). A group of five children are sitting, lying, and in the case of the youngest, standing, in the space between the two bowling streets. Presumably they were there to put back coconuts knocked from their perches, but at the time the photographer clicked the shutter, they were far more interested in the brass band playing and marching up Market Place westwards towards West End. The band members (c), partly obscured by five adult onlookers standing immediately to the left of the confectionery stall, are marching from right to left across the photo, with some keen children running alongside. In the background are numbers 4 to 6 Market Place.

More in the next post ...

Charles Warwick, Fairground photographer (2)

Fair Day in Morledge, 1882, by C.T. Moore
I was in the process of examining the 1882 painting of the Easter Fair at the Morledge in Derby, by C.T. Moore (see my previous posting here), when I spotted the words "CARTE DE VISITES" written on a sign hanging from one of the tents, situated directly in front of the colour works.


Detail from Fair Day in Morledge showing photographer's tent
The tent is a fairly large one, big enough to accomodate the basic accoutrements of the travelling photographer - he is unlikely to have owned many studio props, at least in the way of furniture, and would have made the most of backdrops, perhaps painted, and carpets - and has several windows to let in sufficient light for the potraits to be taken. It is possible that there were skylight-type windows in the tent, although they are not visible in the painting. If the day was fine, and the artist suggests that it is, perhaps he would have taken advantage of the extra light, and had some of his subjects sit for their portraits in an open space outside the back of the tent. He may have developed the pictures in a shrouded, dark area of the tent, or in a purpose-built and kitted out section of his caravan. There is a small caravan parked to the left of the tent, which may belong to the photographer.

Interested in what photographers' tents and booths looked like in that and later eras, I did a little searching on the net and found several examples. None, however, were clearly identifiable as fairground artists. The photographers Case & Draper of Skagway, Alaska had an elaborate setup, with a large studio tent, as well as a separate darkroom building.


Case & Draper photography studio tent, Skagway, Alaska
taken in the late 1890s or early 1900s
Photo © & courtesy of Alaska's Digital Archives
This one in Steele, Missouri, dated August 1938, might be a little more familiar to those of us who have seen, or even visited, such establishments in our youth.


"Photos That Looks [sic] Like You"
Itinerant photographer's tent, Steele, Missouri, Aug 1938
Photo © & courtesy of USDA Historical Photographic Collection
Naturally, this discovery also set me off on a mission to see if I could find out who the photographer was, peddling his wares in the Morledge on that particular 1882 Easter Weekend.

On census night in 1881, which was Sunday 3rd April, two weeks before Easter, Charles Warwick senior had his travelling van parked on a plot of unoccupied land at 50 Normanton Street, Derby. His son Charles, then working as a confectioner, was with a large group of other showmen and women, including the Sketchley family - and more specifically his future wife Harriet Sketchley - at a fair in Market Place and Guildhall Street, Grantham, Lincolnshire. It seems likely that many of the fairground people would have travelled the forty or fifty miles from Grantham to Derby shortly after, in order to be set up and ready in the Morledge for the Easter Fair.

The following article, which appeared in a local newspaper, The Derby Mercury, on Wednesday 14 December 1881, probably referes to Charles Warwick junior (as later newspaper excerpts also report to such unruly behaviour):

ALLEGED OBSCENITY. - Charles Warwick, travelling photographer, was summoned for using obscene language in the Morledge, on the 4th inst., to the annoyance of Elizabeth Doyle, fried fish dealer. - Mr. Briggs appeared for the defence, and as it appeared that nothing was said in the public street the case was dismissed.

In the following year 1882, Easter weekend was from Friday 7 April to Sunday 9 April. I found another report in The Derby Mercury, dated Wednesday 19 April:

SUICIDE IN THE FAIR. - A shocking suicide took place in the Morledge on Saturday afternoon. A travelling photographer named George Frederick Whitaker, and his wife attended the Easter Fair, which was held there last week. Mrs. Whitaker, who was a woman of intemperate habits, had been drinkinh heavily during the past week. Her husband, in order that bhis business should not be interfered with, suggested that she should keep out of sight of the public. An altercation ensued between them, and whilst it was going on the husband stopped outside his aravan to hang up a picture. On his return his wofe told him that she had taken some cyanide of potassium - a most active poison, extensively used by photographers. Mr. Borough, of Full-street, was sent for, and administered the usual atidotes, and then ordered the removal of the woman to the Infirmary, but before that institution was reached death took place. An inquest was held on Monday by Mr. Coroner Close, and a verdict was returned of "Suicide whilst in an unsound state of mind."

From this article, it is obvious that Whitaker - and his unfortunate wife - had attended the fair, but they may not have been the only photographers there, of course. I know, from later reports in The Derby Mercury, that both Charles Warwick senior and junior, remained in Derby. The father died there in late 1889, at the age of 65, and his son was at the Morledge in 1891. I'd be interested to hear of any other sightings of the Warwicks.

Charles Warwick, Fairground photographer

Pat Blackwell recently sent me scans of a couple of entertaining photographs of James Loudon (1863-1931), her husband's grandfather, taken in Derby by travelling photographer Charles Warwick. The first carte de visite shows James (standing) with two friends, dressed in cricketing gear, and prominently displaying two bats and a ball.


The other cdv appears to have been cut or trimmed from a group portrait, and is an outdoor portrait showing James posing in football gear, complete with football. The elbow of one of his team mates is just visible to his left.


Pat provides the following background information on the subject:

"He was born 1863 in Kilmarnock but by 1881 was living in Mansfield Woodhouse, Notts, where he stayed until his death in 1931. He worked for the Duke of Portland all of this time on the Welbeck estate as a clerk and then cashier. From his obituary it states about his cricket 'he played consistently some 40 years ago for Mansfield Woodhouse and the Welbeck tenants.' This would point to him playing cricket in 1891 or thereabouts. My husband believes that [James] played [football] for Notts County as an amateur but we have no proof of that at present. We assume that it would have been about 1883."

It seems very likely to me that James Loudon and his fellow team members had their portraits taken by Charles Warwick on the occasion of a match (or matches) against a team(s) in Derby. The cricket and football photos may have been taken on the same day, but just easily they could have been some days, weeks or months apart. Although the reverse of both cartes state, "from London Road, Derby," I suspect that Warwick operated from a booth or something similar on London Road, as I've not found any evidence that he ever had a permanent studio in Derby. As is common with many travelling photographers, Warwick did not have purpose printed card mounts, but used blank ones, and merely hand-stamped his details onto the reverse. I estimate that the photographs were taken in the late 1880s or early 1890s, which fits well with your statement that he played around 1891. A few years later Warwick did have some card mounts printed for him, as shown by the example in my profile of Charles Warwick and his father, also named Charles.

In early April 1891, Charles Warwick junior was living with his Harriet née Sketchley, a son and a daughter, in a caravan on the Morledge, Derby. Nearby, and living in another caravan, were his younger brother and sister Arthur and Emma, also described as a photographers, and presumably assisting Charles. Examination of the relevant enumerator's schedules using Ancestry's subscription-based census image collection shows a miscellany of fairground people staying on the Morledge:

- Abraham Smith, cocoa nut bowling proprietor
- William Brickstock, proprietor of roundabout horses
- Emma and Charles Sketchley, shooting gallery proprietor (Charles Warwick's mother-in-law and brother-in-law)
- Henry Gaunt, travelling showman
- James Adkin, stall keeper (confectionery)
- Arthur Ashmore, shooting saloon proprietor
- Albert Hall, travelling rifle saloon
- Thomas Twigdon, proprietor of roundabouts (horses)
- William Howell, proprietor shooting saloon
- Thomas Richards, standing engine driver
- Joseph Cox, proprietor of roundabouts (horses)
- Alfred Twigdon, proprietor of switchback
- George Twigdon, proprietor of "Sea on Land"
- Peter, Thomas & Abraham Jerrison, proprietors of swingboats
- Amos Towle, riding donkey proprietor
- John & Frederick Smith, horse dealers
- Ellen Davis, proprietor of roundabouts (horses)
- Charles Tyler, photographer
- Samuel Whiting, swing boat proprietor
- Robert Odeley, cocoa nut bowling street
- John Monk, swing boat proprietor
- George Ware, horse dealer
- Lewis Shaw, proprietor cocoa nut bowling street
- William Hall, confectionery stall proprietor
- Edwin Morris, proprietor of confectionery stall
- Charles Antill, photographer
- Barton Lineker, travelling confectioner
- Frederick Pemberton, proprietor shooting saloon
- John Parker, showman (ghost show)

Coincidentally, a look at the September 2006 satellite images of the Morledge, Derby on Google Maps shows a fairground on the nearby Bass Recreation Ground, over a century later:


View Larger Map
A short distance away, to the north-west is a cricket oval - you can see this by zooming out and then back in, or panning to the NW - and a team can be seen playing on the ground. It is tempting to assume that John Loudon played cricket as a member of a visiting team on that same ground, and after the match, he and his friends visited Charles Warwick's booth in London Road. Alternatively, perhaps Warwick took his van to the cricket oval, to take advantage of the potential customers among the crowds who would have been watching the match.

Artist C.T. Moore captured the lively scene of the fairground and market at the Morledge in early 1882, in a painting - kindly brought to my attention by Nigel Aspdin - aptly titled "Fair Day in Morledge" which was exhibited at Richard Keene's "7th Spring Exhibition of Modern Pictures," reported in The Derby Mercury on 21 May that year.


Fair Day in Morledge, 1882, by C.T. Moore
This painting was subsequently purchased by arts patron Alfred E. Goodey, and later became part of the Goodey Collection donated to the Derby Council Art Gallery in 1936. It was one of a series of pictures from this collection published by the Derby Museum & Art Gallery under the title, "Goodey's Derby," in 2003 (Breedon Books, ISBN 1 85983 379 9), and an image of the painting also appears on Picture the Past. It nicely conveys the bustling atmosphere of the annual Easter Fair, to which many travelling showmen from across the Midlands, including itinerant photographers, would congregate ... (continued in Part II)

P.S. Pat subsequently sent me the following:

As far as we know James Loudon won these awards for his performances at Mansfield Woodhouse cricket club, Nottinghamshire:
1885 Highest batting average
1888 Batting and bowling average
1889 Best Bowling average
1889 Best Batting average
1890 Best batting average
1891 Best batting average
1893 Best Average
1893 Highest score
1895 Bowling average

He also won one for Welbeck Tenants Cricket club:
1896 For highest batting average and acting as secretary for a number of years.

Three of the awards are mounted on old cricket balls but the others are not, although they have obviously been mounted on something in the past.

Joseph Roper (1791-1868), Plasterer of Chesterfield

Joseph Roper was born at Brampton, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1791, son of Joseph Roper senior and his wife Sarah. In 1814, he married Anne Heath at St Peter's Church, Old Brampton, and when a son George was baptised there on 1 March 1815, Joseph described himself as a plasterer, living at Ashgate (a hamlet near Brampton). Anne presumably died shortly afterwards because Joseph was remarried at Chesterfield on 4 January 1820 to Anne Heald (1796-); again he described himself as plasterer. Joseph & Anne went on to have another three daughters (Anne, Emma, Elizabeth) and three sons (Wlliam, Charles, Henry/Harry) between then and 1839. The family are shown living at White Horse Yard, West Bars, Chesterfield in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses, and Joseph continued working as a plasterer. He died at the age of 77 at Chesterfield (Regn. Dist.) in the June quarter of 1868.

More detailed biographical and professional notes for photographer Samuel Whiting have been provided elsewhere, but he operated a studio in Chesterfield from at least 1868 until the 1880s. The earliest premises recorded were in Vicar Lane, and it seems likely that Whiting took this portrait of Joseph Roper shortly before the latter's death, possibly between 1866 and 1868.

I purchased this carte de visite on eBay, my interest having been aroused by the fact that it was the only example I had then seen by the itinerant photographer and travelling fairground showman Samuel Whiting, and because the subject was identified on the reverse. However, I subsequently discovered that fellow DerbysGen lister Liz Newbery is descended from Joseph Roper's sister Anne Roper (1796-1872), who married Richard Kirk (1795-1867), Chesterfield's crier. I'm grateful to Liz for sharing her research material, and know that she's enjoying the detailed image of this photo that I sent her. I'd be happy to do the same for any other family members who'd like to get in touch.