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Derbyshire
Photographers' Profiles by Brett Payne, of Tauranga, New Zealand George Henry Swift of Chapel-en-le-Frith |
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| G.H. Swift operated a studio in
Chapel-en-le-Frith for
a few years in the late 1870s and early 1880s. |
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| George
Henry Swift was born at
Gamesley, near Glossop, in 1846, one of six children of stone mason
John Swift and his wife Sarah. He married Maria Penelope
Whiteley
(1847-1880) at Huddersfield in 1868, and they settled in the town of
Chapel-en-le-Frith, where George was a licensed victualler, owning the
Shoulder of Mutton Inn. They had six children before Maria
died
in 1880. George remarried in 1886, to Sarah Ann Harrison, who
bore him another two sons. In his early teens George worked as an accountant's clerk in Lockwood, Yorkshire. However, by the time of the 1871 Census, he was an innkeeper and victualler. In 1881, by which time he was widowed, the census shows that he briefly worked as a "photographist" and the carte de visite shown below is probably from a few years earlier. By 1887, however, he had become a political agent (directory entries show him as a Conservative registration agent) living in Belper, and then in the 1901 Census, he described himself as a musical instrument dealer. In the 1881 Kelly's trade directory, G.H. Swift was listed as "secretary to the agricultural society, & rate collector" - he was, no doubt, a man of many talents. It is interesting that in 1891, he was living in Campbell Street, adjacent to photographer Jacob Schmidt. |
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Unidentified
elderly woman by G.H. Swift of Chapel-en-le-Frith Undated, but probably taken c. 1875-1878 Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 63 x 103.5 mm Photo 56 x 94.5 mm Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes: The clothing worn by this
elderly woman is characteristic of the early 1870s, but the rounded
corners suggest a slightly later date, perhaps in the middle of the
decade |
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| Parish
church & churchyard of St Edmund, Castleton, Derbyshire by G.H. Swift of Chapel-en-le-Frith Undated, but probably taken c. 1875-1878 Format: Carte-de-visite Image © & courtesy of Ann Taylor Notes: see Photo-Sleuth article |
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| References
Images provided by Ann Taylor & Brett Payne 1841-1901 UK Census - online from Ancestry.com FreeBMD International Genealogical Index - online from the LDS church Anon (1881) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Kelly & Co., London. 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 |
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