 |
Derbyshire
Photographers' Profiles by Brett Payne, of Tauranga, New Zealand William Godber of Matlock Bath |
|
||
| William Godber worked as a photographer in the late
1880s and early 1890s. |
||||
|
|
|
| William Godber was born in 1853
at Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, son of a locomotive engine fireman Robert
Godber (1833-1861) and his wife Elizabeth Barnes. In early 1861,
the family was living in Litchurch, south of Derby, but later that year
Robert Godber died. In 1871, William was working as a grocer and
living with his maternal grandparents Thomas & Emily Barnes at 8
Liversage Street, Derby St Peter, while his widowed mother was working
as a domestic servant for a retired Indian Army officer in Alvaston,
near Derby. In 1874, William Godber married Edith Crookes at
Chesterfield. The 1881 Census shows William working as a photographer in Hammersmith, London; he may already have been working in the profession for a few years. By early 1882, when their son James Orton Godber was born, they were in Salford, near Manchester. In the late 1880s, it seems likely that Godber was working in Matlock Bath, as CDVs marked "The Rink Studio, Matlock Bath" dating from approximately this period are known. Trade directories show the Matlock Bath Skating Rink in operation in 1887 and 1891. By April 1891, however, they were back in Litchurch, living at 14 Yale Street, and with William still working as a photographer. A daughter Elizabeth Ellen was born at Sunny Hill, Normanton in late 1893. The 1901 Census shows William Godber and family living in Newgate Street, Carlton, Nottinghamshire; he and his son James were both working, on their own accounts, as photographers. It is possible they moved away from Derbyshire a couple of years earlier - Wright's Directory of Nottingham for 1898-99 shows a Robert William Godber, photographer of 300 Radford Road, Nottingham. |
| Portfolio |
 |
Unidentified young man by William Godber of The Rink Studio, Matlock Bath Undated, but probably taken c. 1887-1890 Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 64.5 x 104 mm Photo 59 x 92 mm Padded cameo frame 50.5 x 75 mm Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes |
 |
 |
Group
of unidentified young men in bowler hats with dog by William Godber of The Rink Studio, Matlock Bath Undated, but probably taken c. 1887-1890 Format: Carte-de-visite Size: Mount 64.5 x 104 mm Photo 61 x 95 mm Image © & collection of Brett Payne Notes |
 |
| References
Images kindly provided by Brett Payne 1841-1901 UK Census - online from Ancestry.com FreeBMD International Genealogical Index - online from the LDS church Wright C.N. (1874) Directory of South Derbyshire, Third Edition, October 1874, Derby. 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 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 (1904) Kelly's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1904, 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. Craven, Maxwell (ed.) (1993) Keene's Derby, Breedon Books, Derby, pp. 200-202. - by kind courtesy of Sonia Addis-Smith |
|
|
|
|
|
|