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Hertfordshire Postcard Artists, Publishers, etc. Christopher Irving Shaw Photographer of Watford and Hemel Hempstead |
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Hertfordshire Postcard Artists, Publishers, etc. Christopher Irving Shaw Photographer of Watford and Hemel Hempstead |
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Christopher Irving Shaw was born in Aylesbury in about 1826, and was living in Walton Street, Aylesbury, in 1851, when he was working as a printer. In 1860 he married Maria Jackson and the following year he was lodging in Luton, and was described as a gentleman. Three Children were born in Aylesbury - Christopher Jackson Shaw in 1862, Agnes Maria Jackson in 1864 and Edwin Irving Shaw in 1868. (This is the period when Samuel Glendenning Payne was establishing himself as a photographer in Aylesbury and it is interesting to wonder if Christopher Shaw learnt the trade working for Samuel Payne, perhaps having previously worked for Samuel's cousin, Robert Gibbs as a printer.)
By the time of the 1871 census he was living in Station Road, Watford, and trading as a photographer. At this time, or shortly afterwards he also opened a a studio in the High Street, Hemel Hempstead, as the back of the following carte de visite shows.
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This Carte de Visite has a name which looks like "McParty" on the back, The sitter probably came from Hemel Hempstead or Watford. Can you identify him? |
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By 1878 the trade directory shows he was now operating from the High Street and Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead - and apparently was no longer working in Watford. He was living in Marlowes in the 1881 census, and listed at the two Hemel Hempstead addresses in 1882, but died in the latter part of that year. The following carte de visite must come from this later period.
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This Carte de Visite has no name for the subject but came from the same dealer as the above and may have come from the same family. Can you name her. |
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Barbara has suggested the "McParty" might be a mistake for "McCarthy" and that a family of greengrocers, headed by a John Mc Carthy, were living at Park Street in the 1881 census. I am not sure whether the ages are right for a match. Other suggestions welcome.
