Part
6 : The Seaside Holiday Photograph
Seafront
Photographers
Marine Parade leading to the
Chain Pier in the distance (c1871). In the 1840s, William Constable's
Photographic Institution was situated beyond the large square
building in the centre of the photograph, a short walking distance
to the Chain Pier.
Seafront
Photographers
It
is significant that one of the first provincial photographic institutions
in England was established in 1841 in Brighton - one of England's
most popular seaside resorts. William Constable sited his
daguerreotype portrait studio on the seafront promenade of Marine
Parade, a short walking distance from the Chain Pier,
which in 1841 was one of Brighton's main attractions for visitors.
The
year 1853 saw the end of Constable's monopoly of daguerreotype
portrait taking in Brighton and the introduction of Frederick
Scott Archer's cheaper 'wet plate' process. By October 1853, portraits
produced by "the new process on glass" were being taken
at the Royal Chain Pier Photographic Rooms on or very near
the pier itself.
The
promenade alongside the Kings Road, Brighton, photographed by
Valentine Blanchard in 1864. The promenade was popular with visitors
and so the Kings Road became a prime location for photographic
studios.
During
the 1850s a number of photographic portrait studios appeared on
the Kings Road, the seaside promenade that stretches eastward
from the boundary with Hove all the way to East Street and the
Old Steine. By 1854, the optician Lewis Dixey had opened
a photographic portrait studio at his seaside shop, located at
21 Kings Road. Around the same time, Hennah & Kent
established their Talbotype Portrait Gallery in William
H. Mason's Arts Repository at 108 Kings Road. Edward Collier
had opened a daguerreotype portrait establishment in the Old Custom
House at No 58 Kings Road at the end of 1853. In 1841, William
Constable had chosen to place his high class Photographic
Institution on Marine Parade, the fashionable carriageway that
overlooked Brighton's eastern seafront, but by 1854 the commercial
and social activities of the town had shifted to the Kings Road.
On 28th June 1854, William Constable of the Original Photographic
Institution announced to the public that he had "removed
his establishment from 57, Marine Parade, where he has carried
on his business for the last thirteen years" to No 58
Kings Road, where he entered into partnership with Edward Collier.
By the mid 1860s, there were half a dozen photographic portrait
studios situated on Brighton's Kings Road.
The
Kings Road and seafront promenade running from the West Pier,
captured in a photograph taken in the 1880s. This part of the
Kings Road was well served by photographic studios.In 1867, for
example, there were five fashionable studios between numbers 90
and 113 Kings Road.The high class studio of John
J E Mayall was located at
91 Kings Road , the studio of the Dickinson Brothers was at No.107,
the established studio of Hennah & Kent was at No 108, Lock
& Whitfield were next door at No 109 and the photographic
firm of Lombardi & Co. were situated at 113, Kings Road.
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Photographers on the Pier