The Hall at Lockers Park School, Hemel Hempstead

The Hall at Lockers Park School

Yet another view of this interesting school, published by P. A. Buchanan in the 1930s

Update of Hertfordshire Photographers & Post Card Publishers

One of the activities that is slowly continuing is the update of information on Victorian  photographers in Hertfordshire and also early post card publishers.  In the last couple of months changes have been made to the following pages - ranging from a revised date to new examples of their work and additional biographical information. Some of the pages are "work pages" in that when I get perhaps half a dozen references I will then consider adding biographical details.

Pages with Updates

George Avery (1839-1911) of Hitchin (1864-1870) & Kent

John Barnard (1841-1894) of St Albans (1878-1894)

Athelstane Basebe (1853-1909) of Hertford, Hemel Hempstead & Watford (and elsewhere)

Ernest Bedwell of Bedford - Bedwell & Bedford Series of Hertfordshire post cards circa 1903/4

Percy Alex Buchanan - School posts cards nationally (Also Photo Tourists Association)

Michael Chadwick of Tring - post card publisher

Atlas Church (father & son) of St Albans (c1881) and London

Julianna Dunn (1853-1935), photographer of Hemel Hempstead (c1886-c1916)

Thomas Benwell Latchmore (1832-1908) and son of Hitchin from 1864

Daniel Barton Skillman, post card publisher of Harpenden of Herpenden

J J & W F Southwood of Watford (c1900-c1930)

Valentine of Dundee - dated example of Hertfordshire post cards

More High Resolution Post Card Images

Post Cards

Over the last few weeks I have been adding additional post cards to the web site and updating information about others.

• I have collected some more data on cards by the school photographer Percy Buchanan, including a card of Queenswood School which may well have been taken by him circa 1904 when he was working for the Photo Tourists Association.

Ickleford

• A Frith post card of Ickleford posted in 1939 has a number suggesting it was taken in 1902 - but the image is the same as one published circa 1906 by Blum & Degan - suggesting some business arrangement between the firms. - But what?
• I have posted an attractive view of Watford High Street, by Hartmann, published circa 1903.
• I have posted two additional "Children" cards by the Misses M & A Austin of St Albans



High Leigh House

• I have posted a view of the North Front of High Leigh House, Hoddesdon, (no publisher identified) with an interesting frank mark advertising the use of telephones.

• The post card of Ludgrove School, Handley Common  is now known to have been in circulation in 1910 - so cannot be later.
• I have recorded that the post card of Aston village with two girls was also issued in a tinted form.

Click here to see all recent post card images.

Queenswood School, Hatfield - PCs provide useful dating clues

Post Cards

I recently purchased a post card by Percy Buchanan of Beechwood school, Hatfield, and decided to put up a page about it. The research ended up, after some additional searching online, by providing some very useful information for dating Buchanan school cards.

Old News

Queenswood School started in Clapham and moved into Sheepwell House, on the border between Potters Bar and Hatfield, which had previously been occupied by (and possibly built by) Lieut-Colonel Lord Alfred Eden Browne, D.S.O., R.F.A. who died in action in 1918. I have located newspaper advertisements for the time the house was put on the market in 1923 and the expensive furniture sold off in an auction in 1924, and after some building work, became Queenswood School, Hatfield, in 1925.

What I found was that when it was in Clapham Park, Queenswood School has post cards produced by Photographic Tourists Association - which is the organisation that Percy Buchanan is believed to have worked with up to 1907.  Within a few years Percy had published post cards of the school (1911 or sooner) followed by a second batch in/by 1912.

Garden Front, Queenswood - published by P. A. Buchanan

Schools

This picture, of the school in Hertfordshire, cannot be earlier than 1925, when the school relocated, or later than 1930 (when a copy was posted). Because it is clear the school regularly had post cards it seems very likely that this picture was taken in 1925 or 1926. As soon as the school had moved to Hatfield a building programme was started - and another card, with a higher reference number, suggests that the photographer returned a few years later to take pictures of the new buildings.

Not only were all the cards I examined numbered, but they all had slightly different publisher address details, and four were posted. The result is a significant improvement in the publication timeline for numbered cards, and I have reworded the wording. 

This shows the importance of looking at the address side of cards for possible dating information.

Another Buchanan Card helps in dating school photographs.

Old Post Cards

Percy A Buchanan was a photographer who went around schools and similar institutions, from about 1907 until the 1930s, typically providing the schools with a set of perhaps a dozen different post cards. I have been collecting information on the Hertfordshire Schools he photographed with a view to more precise dating based on changes in the company name and address and the negative numbers on some of the cards.

Games Pavilion, St Mary's Convent, Bishops Stortford

Jane has kindly provided me with a card showing the Games Pavilion, St Mary's Convent, Bishops Stortford which was posted in 1935. While it has no negative numbers the back suggests that it was printed after the move to printing in France (believed to be after Belgium was invaded in 1914) and the use of "Ltd" but before the use of a Thornton Heath address rather than a Croydon address. While a firm date cannot be given the photograph was probably taken around the time of the First World War.

St Rohan's School, Hadley Wood - Buchanan PC

I have added details of St Ronan's School, Hadley Wood - The view of the School is yet another post card by P. A. Buchanan.

I have also added details of another Buchanan post card, of Christ's Hospital, Hertford. Thank to Anthony for the information.

Better Access to Earlier Posts on this Newsletter

When I started this blog I didn't make use of the labels facility - which allows you to quickly look at other posts which use the same keyword as the post you are currently looking at. 

This is changing and I am now using labels on all new posts (except temporary topics -such as notification of meetings). Each new post will contain the relevant place names as a label, and also the more important surnames. There are also topic labels such as "Football", "Royalty", "Brickmaker" and "Medieval Fields".

I am currently scanning the old posts and have already labelled some 200 posts - with another 200 to go - hopefully by the end of the week.

To use the facility simply click on the desired keyword at the bottom of the post. For many posts you will then need to click through to the main web site to seen even more information.

A Buchanan card of St Mary's Convent, Bishops Stortford

Yet another Hertfordshire school for my collection of post cards published by P. A. Buchanan. This one is of St Mary's Convent, Windhill, Bishops Stortford and appear to have been sent by "Mildred" sometime around 1913 (unfortunately the post mark date is unreadable), but the number and publisher address sugests a publication date of around 1910.

If you can add to my list of " Buchanan" schools in Hertfordshire - particularly if the cards can be dated or have a reference number, I will be delighted to have details and this all helps to construct a time line for dating other school photographs by him.

Some minor photographer/post card updates

I have discovered that John Barnard, Photographer of St Albans, had a studio in the borough as early as 1878. 

I have added a small example of a panoramic school view by Percy Buchanan, who has taken many pictures of Hertfordshire schools (and I am interested in knowing any others he has photographed).

I have added some more negative number information for Edward Bedwell (Bedford Series post cards). While Edward lived in Bedfordshire he published a lot of Hertfordshire post cards circa 1903-4.

Dating Buchanan's School Photographs of Hertfordshire

Yesterday I blogged about Lockers Park School, Hemel Hempstead, and included a photograph of the dining room by Percy A Buchanan. Anthony has helpfully drawn my attention to the fact the Percy married a daughter of Carl Wilhelm Stackemann in 1902.

St George's School, Harpenden
posted 1910

Carl Wilhelm Stackemann was a photographer who specialized in school photography (see the excellent Sussex Photohistory web site). He employed a team of photographers to go round the country photographing schools (are there any examples from Hertfordshire?) and Percy may well have worked in this capacity. However in in 1907 Carl went  bankrupt and sold the business. The earliest school card published by Percy that I have been able to trace dates from 1908 - so it is likely that he set up on his own company following the bankruptcy. More information about this - and updates to help date Hertfordshire school photographs he took can be seen on the Percy A Buchanan page. Any information you can provide to make this page even more helpful will be welcome.

Berkhamsted School - Buchanan Post Card

This picture, of Incents House, Berkhamsted School, fills one of the gaps in the coverage of the school - and also helps the dating of Buchanan's cards as the number (44246) marked a change of address which approximately matches the move of the company from London Road to Queenswood Avenue, Thornton Heath, Kent.

Let me know if you have a numbered Buchanan card of a Hertfordshire school - especially if you can attach a definite date to it.

A Progressive School at Kings Langley

When I saw the advert I thought I was buying just another Buchanan post card of a Hertfordshire school.  

But it was a school I hadn't previously come across. So I started to dig further and discovered a school which, a hundred years ago, believed it was important to bring up children in contact with nature.

The interesting story  of Coombe Hill School, Kings Langley (later called Priory School) starts with three school teacher sisters in Norwich, one of which set up Coombe Hill School in East Grinstead. The school moved to Westerham  and then in 1910 moved into the historic Priory in Kings Langley.  In the 1920s it adopted some of the ideas of Rudolph Steiner, and the old Priory building is now part of the present Rudolph Steiner School.

A new School Photo by Buchanan circa 1914

Rose Garden, Abbot's Hill

Percy Buchanan specialised in post cards of schools and many of his cards are numbered. I am therefore collecting numbered cards of Hertfordshire schools to try and build up a date line to allow his post cards to be dated more accurately. This card, of the Rose Garden, Abbots Hill Schoo;, Abbots Langley, carried the Number 29,674 and was printed in Belgium - presumably in 1914 or earlier.. This suggests that cards with a number below 30,000 are all prior to the First World War.