Harry William Harold, photographer, No1 Bridge Road, Stoke Ferry

THE PERIOD BETWEEN 1902 AND 1924 IS OFTEN CALLED THE ‘GOLDEN AGE’ OF POSTCARDS.

STOKE FERRY IS FORTUNATE IN HAVING MANY IMAGES OF ITS PAST, RECORDED ON POSTCARDS.

THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO COLLECTIONS OF THESE POSTCARDS IN THE VILLAGE. ONE IS HELD BY JANET TAYLOR. ANOTHER IS HELD BY OUR HISTORY GROUP.  

IN 2007 JANET STOCKING (NOW TAYLOR) AND PAT HOLDEN PUBLISHED AN EXCELLENT 52-PAGE, ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET, “STOKE FERRY THROUGH POSTCARDS PAST”. THIS BOOKLET IS STILL ON SALE IN STOKE FERRY AT BONNETT’S, LYNN ROAD or can be ordered through ourselves.

Harry William Harold (1863-31st December 1939) was a professional photographer. He lived and had a shop and garden studio at Number 1, Bridge Road, Stoke Ferry from c1885 – c1935.

During this period of commercial activity, Harry W Harold was responsible for producing many individual portraits. He also depicted numerous scenes of daily life in Stoke Ferry, nearby villages, and the surrounding countryside.

Harry contributed images to different postcard ‘series’. These included the ‘Hinde’ series, most probably published by Ernest Lionel Hinde MPS (see more here). Ernest Hinde was a near-neighbour and a chemist at The Old Chemist’s Shop on the High Street. No doubt Harry purchased his photographic chemicals through Ernest, and each sold the postcards through their respective shops in the village, as well as elsewhere. Harry also sold larger sized photographs, cartes de visite, and personal portraits from his Bridge Road premises.

The image below of The Hill, Stoke Ferry, is part of our Group’s Community Archive Collection. It measures 9.5″ x 7.5″ and comes with its original mounting that has the embossed wording, ‘H.W. Harold, Stoke Ferry’.

In 1907, Harry took a series of photographs of nearby Oxborough Hall. At least some of these were published by Hinde’s series and seven are held in the National Archives. As late as 1934, aged 71, he was working; taking a group photograph of John Harwood Catelugh, Mayor of King’s Lynn, with his family.

At his studio, Harry took portraits of local people. He was also an ‘Agent for Richford’s Prize Medal Rubber Stamps Ltd.”. He obviously used the rubber stamps himself as part of his marketing strategy…see below.

And finally, a little context to Harry’s endevours:

• The Norfolk Annals that in December 1843, “The first person in Norwich to advertise ‘patent photographic portraits‘ was Mr. Beard, of the Royal Bazaar.  These likenesses were stated to be ‘surprisingly correct,‘ and severe chemical tests proved that they would ‘last to infinity‘.  The prices ranged from one to two guineas.”¹
• The earliest cameras were often formed by two rigid boxes, one inside the other. Later, bellow type cameras were made, mostly of wood, quite often lacquered and often had square cut corners. By the early 1900s, cameras were predominantly the folding type constructed of wood. Metal parts were usually brass, or occasionally nickel-plated. The bellows were often a fashionably maroon colour. ²

Footnotes

1. Norfolk Annals, A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 1, Charles Mackie. ↩︎
2. The Living Image, website. ↩︎