Henry Peach Robinson was a pioneering Victorian photographer born in 1830 who established one of the first photographic studios in Leamington, England in 1857. He experimented with innovative photographic techniques and was renowned for his large composite prints composed of multiple negatives. Robinson's business prospered in the 1860s with the rise of cartes de visite but declining health forced him to sell the studio in 1864 and relocate to London. He later reopened studios in London and Tunbridge Wells, continuing to produce acclaimed photographic works until his death in 1901.

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A Leamington History Group slide show
Henry
Peach
Robinson
Pioneer
Victorian
Photographer

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Henry Robinson was born in Ludlow in 1830 where his father was Master of the National School. In his youth he was a talented artist and illustrator. He painted this watercolour of Denham Bridge near Ludlow in 1850.

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He developed a keen interest in the new science of photography and came to Leamington in 1857 to set up a photographic studio at 15 Upper Parade.

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Before the invention of the electric light, portrait photographers relied entirely on daylight as a means of lighting. This is a typical studio set up of the 1860’s. Exposure times were long and some studios as here had a caged bird above the camera as a focal point for the sitter, hence the oft- repeated entreaty ‘watch the birdy.’

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The opening of the Robinson studio was announced in this issue of The Courier in January 1857. One of his early patrons was this man, Birkenhead shipping magnate John Laird.

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Henry Peach Robinson built a temporary daylight studio with large windows similar to this in the rear garden at 15 Upper Parade.

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This is Henry Robinson outside the small oilcloth darkroom that he built onto the rear wall of the Parade house in which he developed and printed his photographs.
The little girl sitting on the wall is Sarah Cundall the daughter of a Regent Street grocer who Robinson used as a model for many of his later large-scale photographs

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When he set up the business in 1857, there were only two other photographers in Leamington
W & J Bullock at the Royal Assembly Rooms, on the corner of the Parade & Regent Street and a Mr Apps at 41 Upper Parade
H P Robinson self-portrait

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In the early days, the portrait business was not very brisk and Robinson bought a pony and had a travelling darkroom van made. He toured south Warwickshire with his van and made a collection of negatives of the scenery round Leamington. The rustic scene (left) is a typical example.
He also took many photographs of local landmarks and buildings and these were used to illustrate a book ‘Warwickshire Illustrated: a History of some of the most remarkable places in the County of Warwick’ which was published in 1858 by Henry Peach Robinson and Nathaniel Merridew a Leamington bookseller.

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This photograph circa 1862 was taken by H P Robinson in the rear garden at 15 Upper Parade backing on to Bedford Street and shows his wife Selina and small daughter Edith. On the right are prints in printing frames in contact with negatives using sunlight to develop the image.
In the mid 1860’s photographs became affordable to most of the population due to the introduction of small prints mounted on card which came to be know as cartes de visite so called because they were about the same size as a calling card.
Robinson’s business prospered catering to the huge demand for these cards which were collected by just about everyone.

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These are original cartes de visite by H P Robinson are from the compiler’s collection, the cards are slightly larger than a modern credit card

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This is an enlargement of one of Henry Robinson’s small cartes de visite photographs of Sir John Blois from the compiler’s collection.
Considering the original print was made about 150 years ago, it is still amazingly crisp and sharp and a testament to HPR’s skill as a photographic printer.
It was at this period that Robinson developed an interest in the Pre- Raphaelite movement in art and the views of John Ruskin. In his
Pre-Raphaelite phase he attempted to realise in his pictures moments of timeless significance which in a short time led to him being widely acclaimed and patronised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

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The best known of Robinson’s Leamington images is this picture ‘Fading Away’ taken in 1857. It was printed from five negatives and shows a young girl (portrayed by Sarah Cundall) dying from consumption (tuberculosis). Although the subject matter was very controversial for the time, one of those who purchased a copy of the print was
Prince Albert.

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Another of Henry Robinson’s large composite prints made in 1860, this was titled ‘A Holiday in the Woods’ . Henry recalled that 1860 was one of the wettest Summers of the century and having shot the first picture in woods at Kenilworth he had to wait five months for the next fine day when he could complete the shoot.

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Titled ‘Bringing Home the May’ this 1862 print was one of Robinson’s most ambitious pictures made from nine separate negatives. Large numbers of prints were sold by Robinson at the unprecedented price for a photograph of 20 guineas. His studio was so busy that he didn’t have time to fulfil all of the orders for large prints so he issued the picture on a smaller scale for a guinea.
The early 1860‘s were years of great success for Henry Peach Robinson. In 1862 he moved next door to larger premises at 16 Upper Parade and was elected to the Council of the Photographic Society. Prince Albert invited him to submit one of his photographs each year for the Royal Collection and he became the most celebrated photographer of the age.
UNFORTUNATELY THINGS WERE ABOUT TO CHANGE

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The constant inhalation of fumes in the confines of a small darkroom coupled with the hard work and strain involved in running the business had a detrimental effect on Henry Peach Robinson’s health.
At the age of 34 he reluctantly put the
studio up for sale and with
his wife and four children
moved to London

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We don’t know how he managed to support his family during the next three-and-a-half years after leaving Leamington but we do know that in time he regained his health and his enthusiasm for photography.
He set up a studio in Canonbury Park South and concentrated on genre portraits of girls in country costume photographed in his studio against appropriate backdrops.

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The family subsequently moved to Tunbridge Wells in Kent where Henry again set up a studio and continued to produce large
composite prints like this titled Dawn & Sunset.

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The Tunbridge Wells business prospered and Henry was
awarded numerous medals
for his pictures.
He wrote many
articles for the photographic
press and gave many lectures.
He also wrote a number of
text books on aspects
of the craft of picture
making and was elected
Vice-President of the
Photographic
Society of London
in 1870.

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Henry Peach Robinson
died on 21 February 1901
at the age of seventy.
In her biography of him the late Margaret Harker a former President of the Royal Photographic Society had this to say of Henry .......
Above all else Henry Peach Robinson was a kind and generous man who freely gave his time to help others. He would have appreciated the comment made by the writer of the Obituary Notice which appeared in Photographic News of
1 March 1901 that he was ‘a charming conversationalist, full of quiet fun, memory stored with amusing anecdote, quotation and facts that render an
evening a pleasure to be looked back upon’.
The Robinson headstone in the Ben Hall Road Cemetery, Tunbridge Wells was designed and carved by Henry himself.

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This slide show was compiled by Alan Griffin
for the Leamington History Group
The largest archive of work by Henry Peach Robinson is now held in the Gernsheim Collection in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre, University of Texas, Austin USA and I acknowledge the use of images from this archive in this presentation
The definitive and most beautifully illustrated biography of
Henry Peach Robinson was
written by the late Margaret F Harker
sometime President of the Royal Photographic Society
published by Basil Blackwell (Oxford 1988)
and I acknowledge images from
this volume.
The Robinson carte de visite images on pages 11 and 12 are from
the compiler’s own archive of early photographs.
acknowledgements