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| Frank
Birch was born at Litchurch, Derby in 1859, the second of eleven
children of an iron moulder George Birch (1831-1915) and Emma Oakley
(1836-1882). Like his father, he worked as an iron moulder as a
young man. The 1891 Census, however, describes him as an "artist
- crayon." A decade earlier, he had been living at 17 Babington
Lane, and it is possible Frank Birch worked as a photographer in Derby from 1894 until at least 1903. Initially, he worked briefly from a studio at 52 Friargate (1894) but, according to Adamson (1997), took over a studio at Bramble Street from Edwin/Edward Smith later that year, and remained there until about 1898. He then moved to premises located at Nag's Head Yard, 64 St Peter's Street. He is shown at this address in Kelly's Trade Directory for 1899 (probably compiled in larte 1898) and in the 1901 Census. In 1903, Birch became manager of the Derby Stereoscopic Company, located at 36 Victoria Street, and appears to have ceased trading under his own name from this time. |
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Unidentified
young woman by Frank Birch of St Peter's St, Derby Undated, but probably taken c. 1899-1901 Format: Cabinet Card Size: Mount 63 x 102 mm Image © & courtesy of David Lamb Notes |
| References
Images kindly provided by David Lamb 1841-1901 UK Census - online from Ancestry.com FreeBMD International Genealogical Index - online from the LDS church Anon (1891) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Nottinghamshire, Kelly & Co., London. University of Leicester's Digital Library of Historical Directories Anon (1895) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Kelly & Co. Limited, London. Anon (1895) History, Topography, and Directory of Derbyshire, T. Bulmer & Co. - by kind courtesy of Sonia Addis-Smith Anon (1899) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Nottinghamshire, Kelly & Co., London. University of Leicester's Digital Library of Historical Directories Anon (1912) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire 1912, Kelly's Directories Ltd., London. Derby Electoral Registers 1868-1900 Adamson, Keith I.P. (1997) Professional Photographers in Derbyshire 1843 - 1914, The PhotoHistorian, No. 118 Supplement, September 1997, ISSN 0957-0209. Courtesy of John Bradley. Craven, Maxwell (ed.) (1993) Keene's Derby, Breedon Books, Derby, pp. 200-202. - by kind courtesy of Sonia Addis-Smith |
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