Debenham & Gould: Edwin Alfred Debenham (1844-1925) and Chalkley Gould (1853-1906), photographers
by Alwyn Ladell
Edwin Alfred Debenham (1844-1925), was a member of a family of photographers who specialized in portraits of royalty, statesmen, and artists, as well as less illustrious clientele. Founded by Edwin Debenham’s father near the very dawn of photography, the family photography business bridged the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and eventually produced three generations of Debenham photographers.
Edwin Alfred Debenham was born on 7 June 1844 in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, where the Debenham family was long established and well known. He was the seventh of eight children born to Samuel and Salome Debenham (nee Warren). Recognizing the opportunities stemming from the recent advancements in photography and with something of an artistic flair of his own, Samuel Debenham had moved his family to London in 1846 to pursue a career as a photographer. By 1860, he was well established with his own studios, having learned much about the new art form, which he then taught to his sons.
By 1862, Edwin and his younger brother Arthur were working for their older brother, William Elliott Debenham (aged twenty-three), who had already set up a successful studio at 158 Regent Street, London. In 1867, Edwin and Arthur formed a partnership and set up a studio of their own in Ryde, Isle of Wight. Within a year, though, Arthur had married, and Edwin agreed to withdraw from the partnership, though not without a cash settlement. The Isle of Wight became the centre of Arthur’s business and an opportune site for advancing the Debenham slogan of ‘Photographer to Royalty’. Indeed, Arthur was a favorite photographer of King Edward VII and H.R.H. Queen Alexandra when they resided at Osborne House, their summer home, or went sailing on the Royal Yacht ‘Victoria’. In addition, Arthur produced a family portrait of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandria, taken during the Russian royal family’s last visit to England in 1910.
Edwin’s older brother, William Elliott, preferred to operate mainly from his Regent Street studio, which was an ideal location for attracting such high-profile clients as members of the royal family, prime ministers, poets, and artists. Edwin chose a decentralized approach, expanding his operations around England, especially (but not exclusively) along the southern coast. Among his locations: an early studio in Reigate, Surrey, as well as E. Debenham (later Debenham & Gould), Glen View Studios in Bournemouth, opposite the Wilts & Dorset bank in the Square. The most famous client of Debenham & Gould at the Glen View Studios may have been Oscar Wilde, who posed for the photographers in 1887. Two photographs from that appointment are owned by the Clark Library at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the mid twentieth century the studios relocated to Old Christchurch Road, between the Arcade and Beales. E. Debenham (later Debenham & Smith) in Southampton, E. Debenham’s ‘Royal Portraits Studio’ in Weymouth, Debenham & Co. in York, and the Debenham studios in Torquay and Gloucester. The Debenham studios also reached north to Edinburgh, where Edwin had a studio that would later belong to his son and namesake, Edwin Holford Debenham (c. 1872 -1936).
A number of calling cards and cabinet cards produced at the studios of Edwin, his brothers, and their sons may still be found among collectors. Edwin married Marie Lachenal, a professional concertina player, on 7 April 1868. A particular passion of Edwin was the pleasure of photographing Marie and their children. In addition to portraits of Marie with her Lachenal concertina, Edwin produced a cameo-mount portrait of her at age seventy in 1919.
In 1869, with Marie at his side, Edwin opened his studio in Reigate, Surrey. At the same time, the family began to grow with the arrival of their first child, Lucy Alice. Their first son, Arthur Jules, was born in late 1870, and seven more children arrived during the next twelve years: Edwin Holford (c. 1872-1936), Leonard (b. 1874), Frederick William (1876–1956), Philip Eugene (b. c. 1877), Leonard Coleman (b. c. 1879), Josephine (b. 1880), and Elsie Linda (1882-1967), their places of birth seemingly following the path of Debenham studios across England.
The 1871 census shows that Marie and Edwin’s residence was in Reigate. A decade later, the family was located in Holford, Holdenhurst, near Bournemouth, whereas the 1891 census has the family at 24 Newton Lane, Castlegate District, York, and records Edwin and Marie as ‘Photographer[s]’. The 1901 census places Marie , Edwin, and three of the children in Gloucester; by 1920, Marie and Edwin were residing in Nottingham.
Isaac Chalkley Gould (1853 – 1906) Married Ellen Matilda Vivian in 1879. 1901 census has him living at “Bourneville” Surrey Road, Bournemouth, a photographer. Born in Epping, Essex, he moved his family to Bournemouth after the registration of the birth of his son Horace in 1882 but before 1888 when the birth of his son Alfred Kenneth was registered in Bournemouth. 1906 probate says he lived at “Florida”, Surrey Road South, Bournemouth and died at Llandudno on 27 June 1906. Probate was granted to his widow, Ellen Matilda and two of his sons, John Cecil Gould and Horace Gould, photographers.
