Elliott & Fry
Encyclopedia
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
photography studio and photographic film manufacturer, founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott and Clarence Edmund Fry. For a century the firm's core business was taking and publishing photographs of the Victorian public and social, artistic, scientific and political luminaries. In the 1880s the company operated three studios and four large storage facilities for negatives, with a printing works at Barnet
Barnet
High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...
.
The firm's first address was 55 & 56 Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, premises they occupied until 1919. The studio employed a number of photographers, including Francis Henry Hart and Alfred James Philpott in the Edwardian era, Herbert Lambert
Herbert Lambert
Herbert Lambert, FRPS, was a British portrait photographer known for his portrayals of professional musicians and composers. In 1923, he published Modern British Composers: Seventeen Portraits in collaboration with Sir Eugene Goossens, and in 1926, he became managing director of the Elliott & Fry...
and Walter Benington in the 1920s and 1930s and subsequently William Flowers. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the studio was bombed and most of the early negatives were lost, the National Portrait Gallery holding all the surviving negatives. With the firm's centenary in 1963 it was taken over by Alexander Bassano
Alexander Bassano
Alexander Bassano was the leading high society portrait photographer in Victorian London.He was the second youngest child of Clemente Bassano, originally a fishmonger of Cranbourne Street, later an oilman and Italian warehouseman of Jermyn Street, London. He opened his first studio in 1850 in...
.
Joseph John Elliott
Joseph John Elliott (14 October 1835 CroydonCroydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
– 30 March 1903 Hadley Heath, near Barnet
Barnet
High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...
) the son of John and Mary Elliott, he married Clarence's sister, Elizabeth Lucy Fry (24 June 1844 Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
– 23 February 1931) , in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
on 20 August 1864, eventually producing 4 sons and 3 daughters. Elliott's partnership with Fry was dissolved on 31 July 1887, Elliott acquiring Fry's interest. Elliott's partnership with his own son, Ernest C. Elliott, was dissolved on 31 December 1892. Ernest went on to compile an album of 50 British sportsmen, Fifty Leaders of British Sport, published in 1904.
Clarence Edmund Fry
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
– 1897) married Sophia Dunkin Prideaux (*1838 Modbury
Modbury
Modbury is a town and parish in the South Hams region of the English county of Devon. It is situated on the A379 road, which links it to Plymouth and Kingsbridge...
Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
), who was a photographic colourist. Clarence Edmund Fry was an early patron of Hubert von Herkomer
Hubert von Herkomer
Sir Hubert von Herkomer , British painter of German descent. He was also a pioneering film-director and a composer. Though a very successful portraitist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered for his earlier works that took a realistic approach to the conditions of life of the poor...
, who in 1873 moved to Bushey
Bushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. Bushey Heath is situated to the south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow.-History:...
apparently to be near his benefactor, and to start the Herkomer Art School.
Clarence was the eldest son of Edmund Fry and Caroline Mary Clarence (1809–1879), both members of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
or Quakers, and related to Joseph Storrs Fry
J. S. Fry & Sons
J. S. Fry & Sons, Ltd. was a British chocolate company owned by Joseph Storrs Fry and his family.This business moved through several names and hands before ending up as J. S. Fry & Sons.- History :*circa 1759 — Joseph Fry starts making chocolate...
, founder of the Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
chocolate factory.
Clarence's siblings were:
- Walter Henry Fry (born 1841, Plymouth)
- Hubert Oswald Fry (born 1843, Plymouth)
- Lucy Elizabeth Laughton Fry (born 1844, Plymouth)
- Allen Hastings Fry (born 1847, Plymouth)
In 1867 the second eldest son, Walter Henry Fry, joined the youngest brother, Allen Hastings Fry, and started the photography firm of W. & A. H. Fry of 68 East Street, Brighton.
External links
- photoLondon
- Lombardi & Co.
- Sussex PhotoHistory Home Page
- Elliott & Fry in the National Portrait Gallery (London)