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| Edward Richard Gyde was born in
about 1843, in Painswick, Gloucestershire, son of a farmer Samuel Gyde
(1779-1851) and Mary Ann Arkell (1804-). At the age of 17 he
was
working as a commercial traveller, the 1861 Census showing him at an
inn in Tredegar, Bedwelty, Monmouthshire. By 1871 he had
returned
to Gloucestershire, described himself as a photographer, and was living
with his widowed mother in Gloucester town. Two years later, in early 1873, he married Elizabeth Poole (c1839-1899) in Wales, and fairly shortly thereafter he set up a studio at 28 Pier Street in Aberystwyth. He was certainly established by the time the 1875 edition of Worrall's Directory of South Wales was compiled, which shows him at this address, as do Slater's 1880 Directory of North & South Wales and the 1881 Census. Between then and 1891 he shifted a few doors down, to 24 Pier Street, where he remained until 1920. Elizabeth A. Darlington, in her article, "High Street Photographers in Aberystwyth 1857 - c1900," published in the National Library of Wales Journal (1988, Winter. Volume XXV/4), provides an interesting account of Gyde's career:
Adamson (1997) shows Gyde as having taken over The Babington Studio, at 39 Babington Lane, Derby, from J.W. Price and operated for only one year, in 1889. In 1891 and 1892 Edmund Hopkins appears to have briefly operated a studio in Babington Lane, as did Carr, Gilbert & Co. at number 39 from 1895 until 1913. |
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Unidentified young man with
moustache
& sideburns by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the early 1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 64.5 x 103.5 mm Photo 57.5 x 89.5 mm Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes |
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Unidentified
young woman by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the early 1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 64.5 x 103.5 mm Photo 57 x 89.5 mm Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes |
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Unidentified
woman with hat by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the early to mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 62.5 x 103 mm Photo 57.5 x 88 mm Negative No. 2917 Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes |
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Unidentified
woman with young child by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the early to mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Charlie
Brown by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Dated 1882 Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 72 x 113 mm Image © & courtesy of Jon Payne Notes by JP: My partner and I
came across your webpage on the Derbyshire photographers whilst trying
to identify why an old carte was retained by my partner's grandmother -
given that she destroyed many photographs and the sitter is not
family. While this is still a mystery, we found out about E R
Gyde from your site and thought you might like to have a
copy.
The carte bears on the reverse the message "Charlie Brown. 1882. To
his friend Tiny
Powell." It was
taken at the Aberystwith studio.
"Tiny" Powell was my partner's great grandfather. |
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Unidentified
young girl by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified girl by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified
young girl by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified trio of girls by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified
young woman by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified man with bow tie by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth & Babington Studio, Derby Undated, but probably taken in the mid- to late 1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 62.5 x 103.5 mm Photo 58 x 89.5 mm Oval Cameo 50 x 68 mm Negative No. 7759 Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes |
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Unidentified
young woman by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth & Babington Studio, Derby Undated, but probably taken in the mid- to late 1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Negative No. 8121 Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified
young woman by E.R. Gyde of Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1880s Format: Carte-de-visite Negative No. 8122 Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands Notes |
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Unidentified
young man by E.R. Gyde (late Price) of The "Babington" Studio Derby Undated, but probably taken c. 1889 Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of Leonie Cousin Notes |
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Mrs Anne Jones of Llangybi,
knitting in Welsh dress by E.R. Gyde of 22 & 24 Pier Street, Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the 1860s and copied in the late 1880s or early 1890s Format: Carte-de-visite Image © Ceredigion
Archives &
courtesy
of Culturenet
Cymru Notes |
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Group of young women in Welsh
national dress by Gyde of Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the mid-1890s Format: Postcard Size: Mount 215 x 165 mm Photo 203.5 x 144 mm Image © & courtesy of Jeri Bass Notes: See Photo-Sleuth
article |
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Unidentified woman by E.R. Gyde of Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken in the early 1900s Format: Cabinet card Size: Mount 109 x 163.5 mm Photo 102.5 x 145.5 mm Image ©
& collection
of Brett
Payne Notes |
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Group of young women in Welsh
national dress by Gyde of Aberystwyth Undated, but probably taken c. 1910-1914 Format: Postcard Image © & courtesy of David Rowlands |
| Notes by DR: (From L to R) Mary Williams (1884-1966, in the glasses, my grandmother); Elizabeth Ellen Jones (known as 'Nellie'); Catherine Anne Williams (1880-1953, known as 'Kate'); and Eva Page. The first three were from Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, North Wales, and emigrated to Australia aboard the Royal Mail Steamer Osterley in August 1914, at the outset of the Great War. This photo came into my possession by an amazing route - I got the photo from the middle girl's younger sister, STILL ALIVE now aged 106! It was retrieved from her niece in Anglesey, apparently. I have no idea why but they are all clearly clad in what is usually regarded as Welsh national dress. Perhaps it was a popular pose at the time. I am told that all four girls were 'in service' together in London before emigrating. My informant, ultimately, is Nellie Jones' younger sister, Enid, who has just turned 106 and still lives in Penrhyndeudraeth. When I checked the passenger list for the Osterley, I found the first three girls together, all shown as Welsh. The next person on the list has the consecutively next ticket number and is called 'Eva', but she is 'Eva F Rallison', and shown as English. So the different name makes me hesitate to say with certainty that all four emigrated together though it remains a possibility because all the other data seems to match! (I did check the NSW BMDs and it seems that an Eva F Rallison married a Daniel Douglas in Sydney in 1916!) | |
| References
Images and information kindly provided by Brett Payne, Jeri Bass, David Rowlands, Jon Payne, Ceredigion Archives, Culturenet Cymru, David Rowlands and Leonie Cousin 1841-1901 UK Census - online from Ancestry.com FreeBMD International Genealogical Index - online from the LDS church Anon (1887) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Kelly & Co., London. Anon (1891) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Nottinghamshire, Kelly & Co., London. University of Leicester's Digital Library of Historical Directories Darlington, Elizabeth A. (1988) High Street Photographers in Aberystwyth 1857 - c1900, National Library of Wales Journal, 1988, Winter, Vol XXV/4, online courtesy of GENUKI Wales 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. |
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