James S Catford 

James Stoyle Catford Jr was born 15th February 1846 and WikiTree[1] has an interesing account of his life. He was the son of James Stoyle Catford and Mary Ann Baker and married Mary Dendle in Ilfracombe Parish Church on 5th June 1869. The family lived in Castle Terrace (1851) and Portland Street (1861 census) but James and his wife had moved to High Street, Ilfracombe certainly by 1891. Alfred, the elder son, was also listed as Photographer.

By this time he had six children but the family eventually had eleven children. It may be that he took over a studio begun by his father but he was not only an active photographer but an innovative one. WikiTree reports that he was the main organiser behind an album of photographic views presented to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 1887. He is also credited with being the first to introduce landscape postcards into England and travelled extensively to take photographs. At some time before 1896 he moved to London and later to Kingston, Surrey and he died in February 1916, aged 70, apparently as a result of injuries after being knocked off his tricycle.

Catford seems to have been a direct competitor of Twiss as both had premises in the High Street, Ilfracombe but while Twiss had his circulating library, Catford was a fine art and photographic depot Wholesale and Retail. Both of them were selling very similar albums of views at about the same time. Both of their North Devon Views were actually printed in Germany, and the views contained in Catford's Eclipse Album of Ilfracombe and North Devon Views were imported by Edwin Osborne of Red Lion Square in London. Both albums consisted of glazed photo-lithographic engraved views mounted on one concertina-like sheet. Whereas Twiss included a map of Ilfracombe, Catford included a map of the northern coast pasted inside the back cover opposite an advertising page for his services.

 


The cover design and the style of the two albums are virtually identical but were not produced as a universal cover. The Catford album is slightly larger, the pictures are not the same and they have slightly different frames etc. The assumption is that the albums were printed and bound for specific customers who could have their name entered in the title (Catford) or have their address added (Twiss). Dating is difficult and the only guide is that the Catford map, which shows the northern coast, shows neither the railway to Lynton nor the line to Northam. These were completed in 1898 and 1901 respectively, and one supposes that if work had begun on either line then this would have been added on the map, or alternatively, one of the views would include a scene of railway activity outside Ilfracombe. In all probability neither Twiss nor Catford drew the map themselves and it is possible that many books of views were put together with these maps. Milligan & Co.s’ reissue of Tugwell contained an advert for John Catford, Artist and Photographer at Hotel Road, and offering views of Ilfracombe and the neighbourhood.

 

 

 Size: 130 x 200 mm.                     Scale of (20 = 95 mm) Miles. 

Plan of the COAST OF NORTH DEVON. The simple sketch map shows the coast from Bude in the southwest around the coast as far as The Foreland and Glenthorn. Only coastal towns and important places on connecting roads are named. Reference (Be) and scale (Ce-Ee). 

1. 1892       Catford's Eclipse Album of Ilfracombe and North Devon Views      Ilfracombe. Catford. (1892). [2]                       KB, [BL].


[1] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Catford-150. Illustration of business card from collection of Roger Vaughan – rogerco.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk (no longer accessible).

[2] Date is taken from BL copy (10352.1.27).

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