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David John Eddy

postcard

Hastings Pier on fire, July 15, 1917

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Photographer, at 41 Norman Road, St Leonards from 1895 or earlier to at least 1909. By 1911 he moved to 6 Grand Parade, St Leonards, where he remained until 1922 or later. By 1927 he had taken over the Memorial Studio at 72 Cambridge Road in Hastings, vacated by Archibald Breach and also had premises in the Memorial Buildings in Robertson Street. He seems to have given up photography and left Hastings (perhaps to return to his native Cornwall) between 1934 and 1936.

Eddy was mainly a studio portraitist and does not seem to have published many postcards. One of the earliest is a sepia-tinted real photographic card of the SS Lugano on fire off Hastings Pier in April 1906. The photograph has no caption, but is signed "D.J. Eddy". Better known is the sepia-tinted real photographic card reproduced above that Eddy published showing the spectacular fire destroying the pavilion and theatre at the end of Hastings Pier in July 1917. Once again, the card lacks a caption, but is blind stamped (impressed) with a facsimile signature. In addition, Eddy issued cards without captions showing building interiors, which are often very difficult to identify. Although still in business in the 1920s, he was probably no longer producing cards.

Eddy was born in 1867 near Penzance. His father was another David Eddy. When the 1891 census was taken, he was lodging at a house at 40 Kings Road in Hastings. No profession is recorded, but it is likely that he was already working as a photographer. In June 1893 at St John's Parish Church in Eton he married Elizabeth Sarah Moore, who had been born in Chelsea in 1868, and was the daughter of John William Moore, a "gentleman". David Eddy described his father as a hotel proprietor.

When the 1901 census was taken, David and Elizabeth were living at 41 Norman Road in St Leonards, and had three children: Doris aged 5, Cyril aged 4 and Victor aged 2. David's brother, William Eddy, who was a grocer, shared their home.

David Eddy died at St Leonards in 1935, aged 68.

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