Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Earliest Photographs & Photographers

This was another first for Port Elizabeth. By all accounts, the first photographic studio in the Cape Colony was established in Port Elizabeth using the first viable photographic process. This was known as the Daguerreotype process, introduced worldwide in 1839. For the following nearly twenty years, it was the most commonly used photographic process internationally. The first photograph using this process in Port Elizabeth was on the 17th October 1846.

Main picture: The Beach at South End in 1878

Monsieur Jules Léger of Paris, a daguerreotypist, arrived in Algoa Bay [Port Elizabeth] from India on October 14, 1846 aboard the schooner Hannah Codner after first making a sea voyage to India some time prior to 1846. Léger disembarked, intending at first to demonstrate his photographic skills while the ship lay at anchor. Legend has it that this is where he met William Ring, a local bookdealer and stationer and together they decided to set up South Africa’s first photographic studio in Port Elizabeth. Three days later, Léger was taking “photographic likenesses (a minute’s attendance)”, in Mr. William Ring’s book and stationery shop. Together they set up a studio in Ring’s premises in Jetty Street. Very soon Léger exhibited a handful of settler portraits and some colonial scenes which were described in the Grahamstown Journal in November 1846 as “beautiful, wonderful, interesting.”

Oldest photo of Port Elizabeth taken circa 1858.

The earliest photograph of PE
I based the decision on the oldest photograph taken of Port Elizabeth upon an article in a slim volume entitled Port Elizabeth of Yesteryear: A Concise Pictorial History by Margaret Harradine in which it is stated that a photograph of Main Street in 1858 was the oldest photograph of Port Elizabeth. In reviewing my blog, the Technical Editor, Blaine McCleland, made an observation that as the photograph was taken from an elevation, the only building from which the photograph could have been taken was the Town Hall. But as construction of the building was incomplete, the more likely date on which the photo was taken was 1860.

William Ring
Accompanied by his wife and three children, William Ring left London on the barque, Prince Albert, on the 21st April 1841, being one of a number of families intending to emigrate to New Zealand. The ship, however, whilst calling at Cape Town for supplies, was wrecked in Table Bay on 4th September 1841. All the passengers were saved but the emigrants lost all their possessions and most of them were compelled to stay in in Cape Town due to their financial plight. How Ring made a living during the next four years is not known but in 1845 he was in business in Uitenhage as a bookseller and stationer. He moved to Port Elizabeth in May 1845 and rented premises in Jetty Street. To augment his income, he started the “P.E. News Society” loaning newspapers and periodicals for a fee and later added a few books to his stocks. The “News Society” rented a room in the Commercial Hall which was adjacent to the Herald Chambers. Ring’s innovative venture came to an abrupt end in 1848 when the Public Library was set up.

William Ring’s advert in the EP Herald in 1846

In the meantime, Ring, the ever-adaptive entrepreneur, had commenced his photographic career. A month after Leger and Ring had set up their business, they decided to relocate to Grahamstown where they set up a studio in Bathurst Street. With all due respect that was a highly irrational move as Port Elizabeth had a growth momentum whereas business in Grahams-town at that stage was economically sluggish at best. Moreover, there was more potential in Port Elizabeth what with the town expanding rapidly. In November 1846, they held a photographic art exhibition in the small town where the daguerreotypes were displayed. This, in all probability, was the first photographic exhibition ever held in Africa.

Very soon thereafter, Leger relocated to Cape Town but ultimately went back to Paris. These two moves by Leger begs the question of what was motivating him to make such apparently irrational moves. William Ring purchased all of Leger’s equipment and continued to carry on business in Grahamstown until 1847 when he returned to Port Elizabeth. The demand for portraits must have been restricted and the prospects meagre as photography was merely a sideline to his other two businesses. Casting further doubt upon the viability of the original businesses, Ring advertised himself as a “book and music binder” It had probably been a long time coming but Ring was declared insolvent in October of that year. Surprisingly he was somehow able to continue in business as a photographer and as a stationery business.

William Ring sought greener pastures. William boarded the “Phoenix” on the 3rd July 1850 with his wife and two children and is recorded as landing at Simon’s Town on the 9th July 1850.

After that, little is known of William except for one advertisement in a Cape Town newspaper offering to make likenesses by the daguerreotype method. He may well have returned to the Eastern Cape later as a farmer, by the name of Ring, is recorded in the Uitenhage district. There is also one Abraham Ring who operated as a photographer in Cape Town in the 1880s.

It was noted that William was less successful than Leger in the photographic business. Notwithstanding this, the adoption of the wet plate process would ensure that photography in South Africa expanded.

Main Street between 1853 & 1858 as there is no Town Hall & the new Church on the right was built in 1853
Main Street between 1853 and 1858 as there is no Town Hall and the new Church on the right was built in 1853

No sources are able to identify who the first persons were to be photographed. The only reasonable assumption to be made is that they were affluent. Moreover, none of these photographs is extant.

The City Hall being constructed: 1858 - 1862
The City Hall under construction: 1858 – 1862

The only extant photographs that I have able to trace, which can be classified as early photographs, are the ones used in this blog. Unfortunately portraits by the two pioneer photographers in Port Elizabeth, Monsieur Jules Léger of Paris and William Ring of England, are not extant.

As regards photographers, according to J.J. Redgrave, one of the first and best was a Mr James Bruton who commenced business as a photo-grapher on 11th February 1859 after being a shopkeeper. In December of that year he opened a studio in Jetty Street, finally moving to Cape Town in 1874. Port Elizabeth owes him a debt of gratitude as it is probably that many of the extant photographs of that period are Bruton’s work.

Amateur photographers

Schedule of Early Photographers in Port Elizabeth
These are the periods/dates on which these photographers operated from Port Elizabeth.

Oliver Lester and the Calotype photographic process
An English scientist and inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot, introduced the calotype process in 1841. This technique uses a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride. When the sheet is exposed to light in a camera obscura, those areas hit by light became dark in tone, yielding a negative image. One of the huge advantages of the calotype process is that it allows the photographer to make an unlimited number of copies, using a simple salted paper process to make contact prints. This is not possible with daguerreotypes.

The setback for this type of photography was that Talbot had strict patent rights and it was fairly expensive. The earliest record of this type of photography being used in South Africa dates back to 1854 when Oliver Lister used it at his Jetty Street studio in Port Elizabeth.

George Otto Bättenhausen (1853 – 1939)
Unlike the other photographer highlighted above, Bättenhausen of German extraction only arrived in Port Elizabeth in 1892. Bättenhausen married Minna Sophie Hochapfel in Kassel (Germany). The couple did not seem to have any children. Minna’s mother was also a Bättenhausen.

Cabinet Card format photographs by Otto Bättenhausen showing some of the different card backs in use by him – circa 1888

The couple seem to have arrived in South Africa during 1892 where Bättenhausen then set up his studio at 27 Parliament Street. This same studio was later taken over by A. Kudielka.

The couple must have returned to Germany, probably during the Anglo-Boer war, in that archival records indicate that they returned to South Africa again in February 1920.

Carte-de-Visite format photographs of unknown sitters by Otto Bättenhausen. Otto named his studio Vienna Photographic Studio.

Otto passed away in Port Elizabeth on 16 December 1939, aged 86. The couple was residing in Philipstown at the time. Minna passed away in Pinelands in November 1980.

Sources
South Africa’s First Professional Photographer by Khitab (Looking Back, 1980)
Silver Images by A.D. Benususan [Cape Town, Howard Timmins, 1966]
Secure the ShadowThe Story of Cape Photography from its beginnings to the end of 1870 by Majorie Bull & Dr J. Benfield
South Africa’s First Professional Photographer by Khitab [Looking Back Volume 20 Page 62]

Related blogs:
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Empire units in P.E. during the Boer War

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Empire units in P.E. during the Boer War

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Defences during the Boer War

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Defences during the Boer War

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Memorials to the Fallen in War

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Fire Damage to the P.E. Advertiser in 1913

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Fire Damage to the P.E. Advertiser in 1913

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Albany Road

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Albany Road formerly Cooper’s Kloof

Algoa Bay before the Settlers: Sojourn by Henry Lichtenstein in the Early 1800s

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Captain Jacob Glen Cuyler

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Captain Jacob Glen Cuyler – A Man of Many Parts

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Growth of the Population

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Growth of the Population

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Murders most Foul

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Crimes that Gripped the Imagination

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Phoenix Hotel

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Echoes of a Far off War

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Main Street in the Tram Era

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Lost Artefacts of Port Elizabeth: Customs House

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The Great Flood in Port Elizabeth on 1st September 1968

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Great Flood of 1st September 1968

 

A Sunday Drive to Schoenmakerskop in 1922

A Sunday Drive to Schoenmakerskop in 1922

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Horse Drawn Trams

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Trinder Square

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Trinder Square

The Sad Demise of the Boet Erasmus Stadium

The Sad Demise of the Boet Erasmus Stadium

Interesting Old Buildings in Central Port Elizabeth:

Interesting Old Buildings in Central Port Elizabeth

The Shameful Torching of Port Elizabeth’s German Club in 1915: 

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Shameful Torching of the German Club in 1915

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cora Terrace:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cora Terrace-Luxury Living on the Hill

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Grand Hotel:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Gracious Grand Hotel

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Whaling in Algoa Bay:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Whaling-From Abundance to Near Extinction

Port Elizabeth of Yore: White’s Road:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Legacy of Henry Fancourt White

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Slipway in Humewood:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Slipway in Humewood [1903-1939]

Port Elizabeth of Yore: King’s Beach:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: King’s Beach

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Russell Road:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Russell Road-Formerly Burial or Hyman’s Kloof

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Sand dunes, Inhabitants and Animals:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Sand dunes, Inhabitants and Animals

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Horse Memorial: 

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Horse Memorial

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Target Kloof:

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Road through Target Kloof and its Predecessors

 

The Parsonage House at Number 7 Castle Hill Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Parsonage House at No. 7 Castle Hill

 

What happened to the Shark River in Port Elizabeth?

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A Pictorial History of the Campanile in Port Elizabeth

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Allister Miller: A South African Air Pioneer & his Connection with Port Elizabeth

Allister Miller: A Aviation Pioneer and his Connection with Port Elizabeth

The Three Eras of the Historic Port Elizabeth Harbour

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The Historical Port Elizabeth Railway Station

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The Friendly City – Port Elizabeth – My Home Town

Sources:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA/2003-07/1058776733

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA/2003-07/1058693826

http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/journal_archive/02590190/602.pdf

http://www.ancestors.co.za/articles/research-help/photographers-of-the-19th-century-in-south-africa/

Photographers of the 19th Century in South Africa

Pioneer Port: The illustrated History of East London by Joseph Denfield

 

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1 Comment

  1. Have you ever come across anything relating to Sarah Gurney in Port Elizabeth? She started life in Braintree in Essex as Sarah Hornblow married in 1810 to George Moore & had 3 children. 1816 she married again to John Cadle who took the family to Salem Hills as part of the 1820 Settlers( I believe I can show this was bigamous) By Cadle she had 6 more children then he died in 1822 and in 1823 she married James Thomas another settler with a young daughter. They had 2 children before he also died in Port Elizabeth in 1827. Later that year She married Charles Gurney previously a boat owner and smuggler and later the Market Master. She died in 1843. Probably too early for a gravestone to be found.

    Anything about her life in Port Elizabeth would be of interest. I do have a lot about the rest of her life its just the last few years.

    Reply
  2. Hi Dean, is the photographer Nevay in that photograph of the PE photographers at the Jubilee PicNic? He is a relative of mine and am trying to find a photograph of him. Kind regards Bruce Vincent

    Reply
    • Hi Bruce

      I don’t have a photo of Nevay.
      If you find one can you please email me a copy

      Regards
      Dean McCleland
      082 801 5446

      Reply

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