Photographer and watercolourist who was born in St Paul’s Deptford, United Kingdom to Frederick an auctioneer’s clerk and his wife Jessie. He worked as a copying clerk but probably had some art training. In 1904 he married Kate Sillitoe and arrived in Western Australia in 1912 with his wife and three children. He worked first of all as a surveyor’s assistant, then a draughtsman. His copperplate handwriting saw him commissioned to design the writing copybooks used by children in Western Australian Schools until the 1960s. He also undertook illuminated scrolls. In 1919 West Australian Newspapers employed him as an artist in their process engraving division preparing advertisements. In the 1920s the company bought him cameras and later a car and he developed his photographic skills becoming their second full-time photographer. His photographs of the 1920s employed a soft focus as he captured the images required by the paper. His best work was seen in the Christmas editions of The Western Mail in the 1930s and 1940s. He became a member of the van Raalte photographic club and exhibited with them. In the 1930s and 1940s he also exhibited internationally in Paris, Poland, United States of America, Uruguay and other places.

Writers:
Erickson, Dorothy (Dr) Note: primary biographer
Date written:
2011
Last updated:
2011