Photographers

Photography

One of the earliest photographs printed on paper. William Collie's picture of Jersey market women taken in 1847

Photography arrived in Jersey in the 1840s and grew rapidly in popularity. A plethora of visiting and resident professional photographers cashed in on an enormous demand from a population growing in affluence to record their own images, and those of their families and properties, for posterity. In so doing they helped create a valuable record of an important period in the island's history.

The first postcard known to have been sent from Jersey - in 1895

French invention

It is generally acknowledged that the first permanent photograph was produced by Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. He then collaborated with Louis Daguerre, to whom his notes passed when he (Niepce) died of a stroke in 1833. Daguerre announced the invention of his process called the daguerreotype in 1839, at the same time that Englishman Willam Fox Talbot was inventing the calotype process, which produced a photograph on paper.

Jersey was very quickly involved in both forms of photography. On 9 May 1840 the newspaper Chronique de Jersey announced that an exhibition would take place that day "at one o'clock precisely, at No. 3, Bond street, when the whole process of this invention will be developed, from the preparation of the silvered plate to the production of the picture thereon by the action of the rays of light only, and afterwards making it visible by submitting the plate to the fumes of mercury. A view of the Old Church will be taken. - Admittance, One Shilling British". This is believed to be the first demonstration of the daguerreotype in Jersey, although history does not record whether the view of the "Old Church" was successfully taken and whether it survived. It is also not known how many attended the demonstration, but the charge of 'One Shilling British' would have been beyond the means of all but the more affluent islanders.

Itinerant photographers

It was not long before itinerant French photographers were active with their daguerreotype cameras in Jersey. The first was a Monsieur Roemhild, who was in the island in 1842, working from St Saviour's Road, and again three years later in Belmont Road.

Alfred Barber was in Jersey between September 1843 and September 1844 based at Lozey's Hotel de Paris. Others of his countrymen who visited the island professionally in the first decade of daguerreotype photography were Le Feuvre (1846), Roze (1848) and Bouillards (1850). Bouillards operated from 16 Mulcaster Street and a recently discovered advert for a portrait business there in 1860 suggests a longer stay than previously understood.

One of the first Jerseymen to experiment with photography was the famous artist Philip Ouless, who took daguerreotypes in 1845 and 1846 and then went into business with his son, Clarence, who was active in New Street from 1871 to 1914.

From the collection of La Société Jersiaise, a daguerreotype picture believed to have been taken by Jersey artist Philip John Ouless in about 1845. It has been suggested that it may be a self-portrait but it cannot be, because Ouless was 28 years old at the time and all portraits of him show him as thin in the face.

William Collie

One of the first photographers to use Fox Talbot's calotype process in Jersey was William Collie. Some of his previously unpublished photographs featured alongside those of Fox Talbot,among others, in an exhibition at the Musée Dorsay in Paris in 2008 of the first photographs taken on paper in Britain from 1840 to 1860. Collie was born in Scotland in 1810 and was in business in Jersey in Belmont Road and Bath Street from before 1850 until 1878. A picture of Market Women in St Helier taken in 1847 and printed on salted paper survives in a private collection.

Thomas Sutton

At the same time as Collie first came to Jersey, Thomas Sutton was setting up his photographic studio in St Brelade's Bay, after leaving Cambridge University in 1846. Sutton was one of the pioneers of photography. He took the world's first colour photograph, invented a panoramic camera and also the single lens reflex camera, whose basic design persists in the top quality amateur and professional cameras of the 21st century.

Société collection

La Société Jersiaise has an extensive collection of over 60,000 photographs by prominent local photographers dating from the mid 1840s to the present day and is the principal Jersey collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century photography. Over half of these images can be viewed on line. The archive can be searched by subject, photographer, names and places, or by a random text reference.

The subjects represented in the collection are as diverse as the multitude of formats and processes within which they are formed. Examples range from the earliest daguerreotypes and calotypes through the Collodion, Albumen and Gelatin process advancements of the Victorian era. Interspersed with the most prevalent processes, are the many variant techniques conceived, adopted and abandoned throughout the growth and maturity of the medium leading to the present day.

Cartes de visite

Photographic portraits on a card backing, known as Cartes de Visite (visiting cards with photographic images about 6cm x 9cm) became enormously popular in Jersey in Victoria times and many photographic studios opened to provide this service, and individual and family portraits of larger sizes. At last people who could not afford to have paintings created could enjoy the benefits of the craze for photography. Thousands of these photographs still exist in albums, boxes, envelopes and drawers and are a major aide to those researching their family history. Sadly, far too high a proportion of these family treasures are handed down a generation with no notes to identify them and are eventually thrown away. Even if a name is written on the back, without a date it is sometimes impossible to tie in a photograph with a particular family member.

A picture of St Helier Harbour in 1895 by an unknown photographer. This was one of the first postcards of Jersey

Sometimes knowing the photographer - usually printed on the back of the photograph - can help in pinpointing the time when the picture was taken, and there are experts in clothing style and other factors who can help date photographs.

It is beyond the scope of this article, at this time, to list dates for sequences of negative numbers for particular photographers, but Jerripedia's comprehensive list of over 140 photographers who were active in Jersey from 1840 onwards, together with the addresses they operated from within certain dates should help identify the approximate date when many of their photographs were taken.

Jerripedia users are invited to provide information to expand this section, either with the names of photographers not yet on our list, or by providing more detailed information about their lives and their photographs.

• List of photographers 1840-1940

Postcards

Another form of photographs of inestimable value to the historian is the postcard. Many of the photographs from the late Victorian era and the early part of the 20th century which survive today were printed as postcards. They are very collectible items and many suppliers have catalogue listings on line.

• An example of the difficulty in dating photographs/postcards
• A gallery of photographs from the 1850s - or are they?

A photograph of women in the fish market by Samuel Poulton, a society portraitist from London known to have worked in Jersey in the 1850s and '60s

Prominent photographers

These are some of the most influential photographers in Jersey in the early days of photography:

• Asplet and Green
• George and James Bashford
• Ernest Baudoux
• William Collie
• Hamilton Toovey
• Edwin Dale
• Francis de Faye
• Percival Dunham, photojournalist
• Francis Foot
• Philip Godfray
• Gregory and Eddy
• Emile Guiton
• Victor Hugo, the first amateur known to have taken photographs in Jersey, although most of the images attributed to him were probably taken by his son Charles
• Mc Dougal
• Philip Morel-Laurens
• Henry Mullins
• Clarence Philip Ouless
• Thomas Price
• Thomas Singleton
• Mr and Mrs Slater
• Albert Smith
• J R G Stroud
• Thomas Sutton
• Le Brocq and Le Clercq

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  This 1855 daguerreotype photograph of an unknown woman appeared on a Canadian auction site in 2023. The photographer was previously unknown to us but given that there was an E R Cook in business at 10 The Parade in 1857, it seems probable that the two were related
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  It is likely that Mr Angel, a dyer, in Bath Street was an agent for William Cook's photographs

Further articles

• Collecting Jersey postcards, an article from the 2006 Annual Bulletin of La Société Jersiaise
• The beginnings of photography in Jersey, an article from the 2002 Annual Bulletin which explains how the absence of patent rights helped early photographers to establish their businesses in Jersey
• Pictures of mid-19th century Jersey in remarkable album
• Jersey's earliest photographs - a timeline
• How old are these photographs?, searching for the oldest photographs taken in Jersey
• Photographs of Jersey in the '60s and '70s by Pierre Mette
• 1858 stereo pair of Jersey fisherwomen
• Gallery of 19th century pictures by Ernest Baudoux
• A collection of Victorian cartes de visite by a variety of Jersey photographers
• 19th century photographs by Anjoux, a photographer from Paris
• An album of 1879 Channel Island photographs from the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris
• An album of 1880s Jersey photographs from the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris
• More photographs from the Bibliotheque Nationale collection
• A set of 1890s Photochrom pictures
• Hand-tinted Victorian slides
• Four 150-year-old photographs
• From a French photographer's 1896 album
• A collection of 1890s photographs

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  This early 20th century still-life of a vase of flowers was claimed in 2019 to be the earliest colour photograph taken in Jersey, which seems unlikely given that colour photography dates back to 1861, and although possibly not taken in Jersey, there is a surviving colour photograph from that year taken by Thomas Sutton, who had a business in the island from 1847
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  Children in a Jersey park, a 1911 colour photograph by Emile Guiton

This family portrait was taken by Eureka Photographic, which was in business from 1899 to 1903. It started at 25 Royal Parade in 1899, moving later in the year to 1 New Town Buildings David Place. It was a family business, run by L Stein and S M Stein

A striking 1880s portrait of a young woman by Tynan Brothers. As can be seen further down this page, portraits at this time were invariably very formal, and an artistic study such as this is rarely found

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  Pictures of animals as part of a formal portrait in the 19th century are very rare. This young lady with a cat was photographed by E Ogier ...
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  ... and another by W S Knight with a chicken ...
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  ... and a smartly dressed young working man is accompanied by a dog ...
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  ... the photograph was taken by W S Knight, who was not previously on our list of local photographers but was the brother of T S Knight, who was listed

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  American Photo Company portrait of a child
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  A man photographed in costume by Asplet and Green, c 1870
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  Portrait of a man by Asplet and Green - 1870
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  Portrait of a wife by Asplet and Green - 1870
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  By Asplet and Green 1860s
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  Portrait of a gentleman by Asplet and Green, 1860s
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  Asplet and Green carte de visite
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  Asplet and Green carte de visite
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  Asplet and Green carte de visite
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  Asplet and Green carte de visite
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  Asplet and Green, 1870s
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  Asplet and Green, 1870s
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  Asplet and Green, 1870s
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  Asplet and Green CDV
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  Asplet and Green portrait
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  Bashford
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  Bashford
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  Bashford
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  Bashford
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  Bashford, 1860s
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  Mrs Hoop photographed by Bashford
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  Captain Piton by Bashford
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  Alderson of the 97th Regiment by Ernest Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  A portrait of a child by Baudoux in 1870
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  1880 portrait by Baudoux
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  Baudoux Chromotype
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  Baudoux portrait from the 1880s
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux

An informal portrait of an attractive young Victorian lady by Baudoux

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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Baudoux
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  Portrait of a girl by Baudoux in the 1880s
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  Baudoux portrait
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  Portrait by Baudoux
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  It can be very difficult to date early photographs, but Berger and Asplet, who took this one, were only in partnership from 1864 to 1865 ...
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  ...The back of the Berger and Asplet portrait
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  Brothers by Baudoux
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  Billinghurst and Dovey portrait
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  A portrait of a gentlemen by Billinghurst
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst and Downham
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  Billinghurst portrait - 1870s
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  Billinghurst
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  Portrait by Billinghurst
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  Portrait by Billinghurst
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  Billinghurst and Smith CDV
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Victorian man photographed by Billinghurst and Dovey
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  Billinghurst and Donwham
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  Billinghurst and Smith carte de visite
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Billinghurst and Smith
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  Burman
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  Burman
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  1869 Burman family portrait
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  Portrait by Edwin Dale
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  Daly
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  1860 portrait by Daly of Colomberie
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  Daly
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  Daly portrait of an Army officer
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  Daly
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  Daly, 1870s
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  Daly CDV ...
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  ... and back
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  ... and a different back
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  'Mabel' in the 1890s by Francis de Faye
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  A de Faye photograph from around 1900

The Esplanade photographed by Edwin Dale

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  Militiaman photographed by Dovey
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  Dovey
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  Walter Dovey portrait
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  Walter Dovey Portrait
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  Dovey portrait of two women
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  Dovey wedding portrait, circa 1890
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  Dubreil CDV ...
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  ... and the back of the photograph
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  A portrait by Dubreuil, taken between 1869 and 1880, when he was in business at 52 New Street. He earlier operated from 2 Peter Street between 1862 and 1868, and then at 23 Colomberie from 1881 to 1882
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  An early carte de visite taken by P Dubreuil in about 1870
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  A portrait by E Duguey, who was in business at New Town Studio, David Place, from 1909 to 1912
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  A shepherd photographed by R Eager
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  Portrait of a woman by R Eager
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  A group of men by R Eager
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  Woman knitting by R Eager
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  Portrait of a boy by R Eager
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  CDV by Eager
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  The back of an Eager CDV
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  An Eager portrait
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  An Eager portrait
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  An Eager portrait
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  An Eager portrait
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  An Eager portrait
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  An Eager portrait
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  Eager CDV back
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  Eager group portrait
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  Eureka CDV ...
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  ... and the back of the card
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  Another Eureka portrait
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  Francis Foot's photograph of his wife Margaret and children Dora and George
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  Young boys often wore sailor suits for a formal portrait in the late Victorian era, but was this a real matelot?...
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  ... the back of the portrait, a rare example by Gee's of Peter Street, in business from 1874 to 1890
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  Green
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  This portrait by John Green can be dated to between 1876 and 1882
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  Siblings by Gregory
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  Siblings by Gregory
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  Gregory portrait of three unknown men in the 1870s
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  Gregory carte de visite from the 1870s
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  Gregory carte de visite - 1880s
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  Godfray carte de visite - 1870s
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  A Godfray carte de visite from the 1860s
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  Godfray carte de visite - 1870s
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  A girl with her bicycle photographed by E Hopkins between 1912 and 1916, picture courtesy of Facebook group Jersey Temps Passe
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  Jones carte de visite -1860s
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  Jones of Beresford Street
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  Jones of Beresford Street
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  1870s carte de visite by Jones of Jersey
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  A rare photograh by A Koeppen, who was at Don View Studio, 36 Royal Parade, from 1891 to 1893
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  Another Koeppen portrait
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  A rare carte de visite by J Lacolley, who was in business at 45 Bath Street from 1877 to 1879
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  A group photograph by J Lacolley
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  A portrait by J Lacolley
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  A bride photographed by A Laurens, probably in the 1900s
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  Laurens portrait of two children
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  Laurens carte de visite
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  Laurens
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  Laurens
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  Portrait by A Laurens
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  Portrait by Laurens
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  A family group portrait by A Laurens in 1910
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  A Laurens portrait
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  1919 portrait by A Laurens

A Laurens was a very popular portraitist in the first half of the 20th century. His studio was at 6 York Street from 1899 to 1946

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  A 1930 portrait by A Laurens
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  A Laurens portrait
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  A Laurens
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  Laurens portrait
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  Laurens portrait of two ladies with a swan
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  A Laurens portrait of a young boy. Would you have your son photographed with a gun today?
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  A charming Laurens portrait of a young girl

The Harbour by Edwin Dale

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  A rare surviving portrait by W Le Bas, about whose work in Jersey little is known
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  Another rare Le Bas portrait
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  A family group photographed by Julian Maguire. Outdoor portraits from the 1880s are very rare
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  Maguire
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  Maguire
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  Maguire, 1880s
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  Twins photographed by Julian Maguire
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  Julian Maguire carte de visite
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  Maguire portrait
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  Maguire portrait
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  Maguire portrait
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  Maguire portrait
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  Maguire portrait
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  Maguire portrait
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  Girl with doll by Maguire
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  Mrs Mahoney photographed by Mullins in 1865
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  1860s portrait by Mullins
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  Mullins
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  Mullins 1860 portrait
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  Mullins
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  Mullins
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  Mullins carte de visite 1870s
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  Eunice Seaton in 1863 by Mullins
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  Portrait by E Ogier
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  Another Ogier portrait
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  A C P Ouless portrait
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  Girl with violin by C P Ouless
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  Ouless carte de visite - 1880s
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  CDV by Ouless
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  CDV by Ouless
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  A portrait by Ouless from the 1880s
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  Ouless portrait from 1886
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  Laurie Mc Latchie photographed by Ouless, a rare CDV with the subject's name on
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  Ouless portrait
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  Powell carte de visite
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  Price Edwardian portrait
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  Price portrait
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  A Price portrait of a Victorian family

The wedding of an unknown soldier returned from fighting in the Second Boer War, photographed by A Laurens

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  Price and Sons CDV taken between 1893 and 1896 ...
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  ... and the back of the photograh
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  Thomas Price portrait taken in 1882 or 1883 ...
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  ... and the back of the photograph
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  Price Edwardian portrait
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  Price Edwardian portrait
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  Price portrait
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  Price portrait
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  Price portrait
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  T Price portrait of a Grenadier
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  A girl and her nanny photographed by Price
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  A portrait of two ladies by Price
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  Price
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  Price
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  A Price portrait of a soldier returned from serving in India
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  Price
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  Price
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  Price
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  Price carte de visite from the 1890s
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  Three sisters photographed by T Price
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  Baby and pram by Price
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  Price
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  Price carte de visite
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  Price
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  Price confirmation portrait

A portrait of a very smart family by T Price

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  A portrait by Price taken in the 1880s
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  1911 portrait by T Price
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  A portrait by T Price
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  A portrait by T Price
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  A pretty Victorian girl photographed by Price
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  Another portrait by T Price
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  Price and Son portrait
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  Carte de visite by Sharp
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  Simonton
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  A group portrait by Simonton
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  A pair of vicars by Simonton
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  Albert Smith portrait of a lady in furs
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  Stroud carte de visite - 1880s
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  Stroud portrait
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  Twins photographed by Stroud in 1890
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  An unknown Aunt Adelaide photographed by Stroud in 1897
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  Hamilton Toovey
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  A portrait of Sergeant Toovey
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  Portrait of a man by Hamilton Toovey
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  A young girl by Hamilton Toovey
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  A young girl in Red Cross uniform photographed by Hamilton Toovey
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  A woman and her dog photographed by Hamilton Toovey
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  Toovey carte de visite
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  Toovey and Snow carte de visite. Cards with the dual imprint are rare because the photographers' partnership lasted less than a year in 1894, before Hamilton Toovey went it alone ...
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  ... and another rare portrait from the partnership, only the third we have come across
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  1896 portrait of a schoolboy by Hamilton Toovey
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  Portrait of a young woman by Tynan
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  Boy and girl by Tynan Brothers
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  A Tynan Brothers photograph
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  Tynan Brothers portrait
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  Tynan Brothers portrait
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  Tynan
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  A child portrait by Tynan Brothers
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  Mother and child by Tynan Brothers
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  A portrait by Tynan Brothers
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  A portrait by Tynan Brothers
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  A portrait by Tynan Brothers
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  A portrait by Tynan Brothers
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  A group of ladies photographed by Tynan Brothers
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  Tynan portrait
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  Tynan
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  Sisters photographed by Tynan Brothers
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  Portrait of a woman by Tynan Brothers
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  Tynan portrait
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  Another Tynan portrait

Three sisters photographed by Tynan Brothers

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  It might be thought that these two portraits were from the same sitting, but the one on the left was taken by Clarence Ouless ...
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  ... and this one by Tynan Brothers. The photographs date from about the turn of the 19th century and were perhaps taken on the same day

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  Portrait by Vandycke
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  Soldiers photographed by Vandycke
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  Vandycke portrait from the 1890s ...
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  ... and the back of the print
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  Vandycke CDV
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  Vandycke CDV
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  Vandycke CDV back
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  Villiers, 1880s
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  Portraits of children in sailor suits were much in vogue in the 19th and early 20th centuries
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  1860s portrait
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  Portrait of a Victorian baby
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  1850s carte de visite
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  Woman at Greve de Lecq by an unknown photographer
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  Portrait of a woman - 1920s
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  Portrait of a young woman
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  A Victorian family group
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  Julia Hemery in the 1880s
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  A Shropshire Regiment officer's portrait from the 1860s
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  A portrait at La Corbière, taken during the Occupation
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  1870s portrait
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  Traditional Jersey costume
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  Traditional Jersey costume
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  Girl with dog 1908
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  1860 family group
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  A family group in the 1920s
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  A girl and her doll in the 1880s
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  A girl and her doll in the 1890s
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  1870s chromotype
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  1880s chromotype
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  Only the well off could afford to have their dog photographed in 1880
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  Col James Draper
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  Constance Draper
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  January 1860 Ambrotype portrait of three men

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  1880s portrait of an Army officer by Tynan Brothers
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  A mother and her children by Tynan Brothers

Paul Augustus Martin

Six photographs taken in Jersey in 1893 by the renowned French photographer Paul Augustus Martin

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  Ready for shrimping
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  Gathering mussels
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  Cleaning the underside of a fishing boat
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  Burning vraic for fertiliser
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  La Collette
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  Watching a steamer cross St Aubin's Bay