Philip Godfray

Philip Godfray's 19th century photographs

La Corbiere lighthouse

Philip Godfray had a long career as a professional photographer in Jersey, and his business moved several times. He started out in the Royal Square, from 1858 to 1862; moving to 61 New Street from 1863 to 1873; 16 Bath Street from 1873 to 1881; and then 35 Belmont Road, 18 Hill Street and 12 Market Arcade from 1882 to 1898.

In the days before postcards became the principal means by which those who did not own a camera themselves could purchase island views, Godfray sold carte de visite size prints and also stereoview image pairs, which offered a form of three-dimensional view when looked at through a stereoscope. Godfray was particularly active in the late 1860s and through the 1870s, and prints of his photographs sold well at the time and frequently come up for sale today. We have brought together on this page some of the Godfray photographs which have been in Jerripedia for some time, in a variety of galleries, and added a selection of images new to the site, scanned and sent to us in 2017 by a collector.

Jersey's first purpose-built public market, off Halkett Place. It was demolished in 1880 and a new market was built to replace it, opening in 1882. This picture is believed to date from 1870

• 
  Swimming competition in St Helier Harbour
• 
  Packing potatoes for export. No 1 of a series of images
• 
  Gorey coastline viewed from the end of the pier
• 
  The Royal Square between 1859 and 1900

1882 album

This selection of Godfray's photographs is in an album assembled in 1882 and now in the collection of Bibliotheque Nationale Francaise (the French national library). Godfray produced a large selection of prints of island views for sale to visitors, much as they would later buy postcards as a souvenir of their holiday.

Trinity Church

• 
  Albert Pier before the construction of abbatoirs
• 
  St Helier Harbour with Fort Regent behind
• 
  The Weighbridge
• 
  Imperial Hotel
• 
  The Weighbridge
• 
  Gorey
• 
  Gorey
• 
  Anne Port
• 
  Ivy Well
• 
  Rozel
• 
  Bonne Nuit
• 
  Bouley Bay

Grosnez Castle. This photograph was not included in the album but was also taken in 1882

• 
  Bouley Bay
• 
  Vinchelez
• 
  L'Etacq
• 
  Corbiere
• 
  St Brelade's Bay
• 
  St Brelade's Bay
• 
  St Brelade's Church
• 
  St Brelade's Church
• 
  Portelet
• 
  Saint Aubin
• 
  Saint Aubin
• 
  St Helier Harbour

St Lawrence tramway, built to carry quarried granite from the north of the island to the south

Hamon's album

These photographs are contained in an album held by Jersey Heritage. They were mainly taken by Philip Godfray, but there are another ten taken by Ernest Baudoux. Perhaps because the inside front cover has the imprint of Baudoux's studio, the album has been attributed to him in the Jersey Heritage catalogue.

Some of the pictures have the stamp of King Street drapers Hamon's on the back and it is possible that they assembled the album, although exactly why is unclear.

The photographs have all been rather crudely hand-tinted, with an overall pink hue. We have removed this and just left a limited amount of colouration.

• 
  St Helier Harbour, Philip Godfray
• 
  Imperial Hotel, Philip Godfray
• 
  Victoria Pier, Philip Godfray
• 
  West Park, Philip Godfray
• 
  St Aubin, Philip Godfray
• 
  North Coast, Philip Godfray
• 
  North Coast, Philip Godfray
• 
  North Coast, Philip Godfray
• 
  Corbiers, Philip Godfray
• 
  L'Etacq, Philip Godfray
• 
  Portelet, Philip Godfray
• 
  St Lawrence tramway, Philip Godfray
• 
  Bouley Bay, Philip Godfray
• 
  Bouley Bay, Philip Godfray
• 
  North Coast, Philip Godfray
• 
  Greve de Lecq, Philip Godfray
• 
  Plemont, Philip Godfray
• 
  Plemont, Philip Godfray
• 
  Granville, Philip Godfray
• 
  French coast, Philip Godfray

• 
  Bouley Bay
• 
  St Lawrence lane
• 
  Vinchelez
• 
  Bonne Nuit Bay
• 
  St John lane
• 
  Les Vaux, St Lawrence
• 
  Le Pinacle, St Ouen
• 
  Greve de Lecq
• 
  Corbiere
• 
  Corbiere

• 
  St Helier Harbour between 1886 and 1894
• 
  Gathering vraic at Le Hocq
• 
  The dining room of Pooley's Grand Pavilion Hotel at Greve de Lecq in 1890
• 
  Another view of the dining room
• 
  Gorey: An albumen print
• 
  Gorey: An albumen print
• 
  Ivy Well, Trinity
• 
  Bouley Bay
• 
  Havre des Pas, 1860s
• 
  Pirate's Cave at La Rosiere
• 
  La Corbiere
• 
  St Lawrence Valley, which became known as Waterworks Valley when the island's first public water supply reservoirs were built there
• 
  Don Monument
• 
  Cattle are loaded on the Albert Pier to be shipped to Denmark
• 
  Smuggler's Cave, La Rosiere
• 
  A Rozel lane
• 
  Fliquet in 1891
• 
  Mont Orgueil Castle
• 
  The Esplanade
• 
  Havre des Pas
• 
  The Weighbridge
• 
  The Hamon family of Sark
• 
  Harbour Hill, Sark
• 
  Bonne Nuit Bay
• 
  A Jersey cow in Sark
• 
  The coast of Sark
• 
  Brecqhou, viewed from Sark
• 
  The Royal Square in the 1880s
• 
  Aster 2nd, a champion Jersey cow in 1883
• 
  La Coupee, Sark
• 
  Granville
• 
  Coutances Cathedral
• 
  Dinan
• 
  Dinan
• 
  Buildings at the top of the Albert Pier before the Abbatoirs was built
• 
  Somerville Hotel
• 
  Vallee des Vaux
• 
  Wesley Chapel
• 
  Rozel
• 
  St Thomas' Church
• 
  Elizabeth Castle
• 
  Jersey's main roads were like this in the 1860s
• 
  St Brelade's Bay
• 
  1881 advert

Only the most well-to-do families in the Victorian era could afford either to own their own camera or to have family photographs taken by a professional. This super picture of an unidentified family was taken by Philip Godfray, which dates it to between 1848 and 1898, although the clothes suggest that it was taken at the end of that period, just inside the 19th century. Quite why this family chose to pose for their group photograph on the beach is not clear, but the picture has the appearance of a commissioned photograph, rather than one taken by an itinerant photographs during a group charabanc outing. If only we knew who these people were - but as with many family photographs, there were no names written on the back!