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Churchill Studio & Photo Supplies Stores

postcard

Eastbourne seen from the Downs

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4 Cornfield Road and 56a Terminus Road, Eastbourne. George Churchill founded his Churchill Studio at 4 Cornfield Road in 1870 and became one of Eastbourne's most successful portrait photographers. On his carte de visite and cabinet prints he boasted that he was "Photographer to Her Majesty the Queen and most of the Imperial and Royal families of Europe".

George Churchill kept the studio until 1900, when he sold it to Richard H. Ramsden. In 1907 Ramsden passed it on to a Mr J. Lamont, who kept if for only about a year before making way by 1909 for a Harry H. Churchill, who may have been a relative of the founder, though this remains unproven. No entry for Harry has been found in the 1911 census, but he was still in charge of the studio in 1915.

It appears to have been Harry Churchill who acquired the additional Terminus Road premises in about 1915. Although claiming in Pikes 1920-21 Directory to be "the principal depot in Eastbourne for amateur photographers", the Churchill Studio nevertheless closed down between 1922 and 1925.

The few Churchill Studio postcards that are known are sepia-tinted real photographics with white borders. There is no publisher's label on the back, but the photographs are embossed "The Churchill Studio, Eastbourne" in a circular surround. Captions, when present, are handwritten in a bold, confident style. No postmarks have been reported, and it is unclear whether the cards are the work of Ramsden, Lamont, or Harry Churchill. More research is clearly needed!

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