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| George
Watterson was
born at Wirksworth and baptised there on 15 September 1844, second son
of a dyer James Watterson (1812-1846) and his wife Elizabeth Roe
(1815-1888).
His father died in 1846, when George, an older brother and a younger
sister
were still very young, and their mother went to work in a tape
manufacturing
warehouse. George became a clerk to a grocer and spirit merchant
in his teens, and continued working as a commercial clerk until 1891,
when
he described himself in the census of that year as an unemployed
bookkeeper.
George Watterson married Fanny Clarke at West Derby, Liverpool in early
1871. They eventually had five children, including a son James,
who
was born in early 1878.
It was
probably shortly
after 1891 that George Watterson started working as a photographer,
because
the 1895 Kelly's trade directory shows him with a studio at Bailey
Croft
terrace in Wirksworth. In 1899 he was also proprietor of the
Cheshire
Cheese Public House at North end. However, by April 1901 his son
James Watterson, then aged 23, appears to have taken over the
photographic
studio, while George was the caretaker of the Town Hall. |
 Advert from a local
Western Derbyshire newspaper, dated 1900
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| James
was obviously working in the trade a little earlier than this, as a
second edition of the book "Wirksworth and Five
Miles Around," by R.R. Hackett, containing six photographic views
by James Watterson, was published in 1899 (John Palmer, pers. comm.). A 1900 advertisement (see above) and Kelly's 1912 directory shows James as a musical instrument dealer on Coldwell street, Wirksworth, suggesting that photography was perhaps not his primary occupation. A picture of Crich Cliff and Stand (built in 1923) by him on the Picture the Past web site shows that he was still operating in the early 1920s. |
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| Portfolio |
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Elizabeth
Potter
(1903-1993) taken by James Watterson at the New Studio, Wirksworth, Undated, but probably c. 1906 Format: Cabinet Card Image © & courtesy of Graham Robinson Notes: Elizabeth Potter was a daughter of Edward Robinson Potter and Annie Maria Street, and married Ernest Butlin in 1925. |
| References Image & information kindly provided by Graham Robinson 1851-1901 Census of Wirksworth by John Palmer on his Wirksworth web site Hackett, R.R. (1899) Wirksworth and Five Miles Around (2nd Edition), courtesy of John Palmer and his Wirksworth web site. Wirksworth Parish Registers & Memorial Inscriptions by John Palmer on his Wirksworth web site FreeBMD International Genealogical Index - online from the LDS church North East Midland Photographic Record - Picture the Past 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 (1899) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Kelly & Co. Limited, London. University of Leicester's Digital Library of Historical Directories Anon (1912) Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, Kelly & Co. Limited, London. University of Leicester's Digital Library of Historical Directories 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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