Edmund and Joseph Wormald

The photograph left is Edmund taken in later life but still with the artist’s pallet and brushes in his hand. Painting was obviously very dear to him. A portrait of Elizabeth Binner is shown right.

The partnership between Child and Wormald lasted for just over three years and ended in November 1859.⁴ During the time they were in business together they advertised in the local press describing the nature of their work. Shortly after opening their studio in July 1856 they were offering to colour their portraits ‘in a superior manner’ with the addition of either landscape or sea view. They offered portraits on glass or paper, exquisitely finished, warranted permanent, portraits, views of buildings, estates, sculptures, taken in town or country. drawings, paintings and photographs copied. They also proclaimed to be photographers to the Queen⁵. In 1857 their prices started at one shilling and upwards and their studio opened between the hours of nine till dusk.

Two hand coloured portraits by Wormald

Once the Leeds Town Hall was finished Child and Wormald were quick to take advantage of this new landmark building. They offered photographs “of this noble edifice” for 5s and mounted on superior card for 6s. The Leeds Times reported that “ We have seen some beautiful photographic representations of the Leeds Town Hall taken by Messrs Child and Wormald: they possess great force and clearness. We should think a complete series of these views, when the hall is complete, would be interesting and valuable ⁶ An example can be seen in the book Early Photography in Leeds 1839-1870 published by the Leeds Art Galleries in 1981. When Queen Victoria visited Leeds to open the Town Hall in September 1858 the architect Mr Brockrick presented her with a series of photographic views of the Town Hall by Child and Wormald ⁷ . The views included one from the south east, south west and the north and one of the Mayors reception room. The partners must have been very proud of the moment their photographs were presented to the Queen and only two years after they had started their business. The following year in their advertising they used the words ‘Photographers to the Queen’

When the partnership between Edmund Wormald and William Child broke up in November 1859 William moved to Wellington Street where he worked as a photographer for many years. Edmund continued his business in Great George Street.

The carte de visite shown above is of Leeds Town Hall and the one below is of the Leeds Infirmary both were produced by Edmund after 1860 when he had taken up business on his own.

Edmund announced the launch of his own studio in the Leeds Times in September of 1860. “E Wormald photographic artist begs to inform nobility, clergy, gentry of Leeds and its vicinity that he is prepared to Portraits, Buildings, views of estates &c in any part of England. Large sizes or for stereoscopes. E.W. has every requisite for taking family groups, miniatures paintings, and drawings accurately copied. Photographs copied and enlarged if required, equal to the originals.”

The Old Leeds Views

Edmund and later his brother Joseph took photographs of many local buildings in Leeds and also street scenes. A collection of some of these photos is held by the Leeds Central Library. The collection has been bound into three magnificent volumes entitled ‘Old Leeds Views’. A number of the photographs are shown on the Leodis website including the one shown here of Knostrop Hall. A man can be seen in the doorway. Wormald used figures possibly to add scale or added interest to his photographs of the buildings. In some ways this also adds a bit of mystery. Who was the person in the photo, was he an assistant, his brother or just one of the locals. There is also a photo of the entrance to Adel Church again with a figure at the entrance. In Volume 1 of the series of albums there is some notepaper entitled ‘Wormalds Photos’ it lists and numbers one hundred and twenty four photographs but not all of these appear in the albums and not all appear on the Leodis website. Another seventy seven photographs are described but not numbered. The notepaper is stamped with the address 25 Caledonian Road, Leeds. It is not known at this stage what the significance of this address is or in fact who donated the photographs to the Leodis Collection. Within the collection are photos of Kirkstall Abbey, Abbey House, The Shambles in Leeds, The Leeds abattoir, The bear pit, The oak tree at Headingley, The post office and several churches, hotels and Inns. Another set of albums exist and these are held by the National Gallary of Canada. This set of albums is incomplete. An exhibition was held in the National Gallery of Ottawa in 2011 where some of these photos were on show. A photograph of Methley Hall attributed to the Wormald Brothers was one of them. Alexandra Gregory of the University of Ottawa had this to say in a publication entitled Moqdoc “ In the same vein, the Wormald Brothers’ silver prints of the imposing and impossibly crenelated Methley Hall is all that remains of a structure completely demolished in 1963. One wonders what our perception of history would be today if photographs such as these did not exist to provide us with a visual memory of time past and thing irretrievably lost.”

At least three of Edmunds photographs were on display at the annual conversazione of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society in 1869 and these were amongst other examples of photography and works of art. The photographs were of Doncaster Church, Temple Newsam and the ‘Grand old Norman porch of Adel Church” ⁸ . At the same event Mr J W Swan had submitted a number of photographs printed using his Patent Autotype or Carbon process including one by Holroyd of Harrogate. Swan was the inventor of this process and many of the photographs printed using this method are still as good today as they were when they were printed. No doubt the comparison between Swan’s prints and Edmund’s more traditionally produced prints would have created a great deal of discussion.

From his early advertising it can be seen that Edmund had an interest in buildings and architecture and there is evidence that he worked for, or had an association with Bedford Lemere & Co, possibly during the 1870s. Bedford Lemere and later Henry (Harry) Bedford Lemere established probably the most important architectural photography businesses of the 19^th Century. The company were based in The Strand in London. A considerable amount of material on Lemere is held by English Heritage at Reading including Lemere’s daybooks. There is one reference to E Wormald in the Bedford Lemere daybooks and it is in relation to a photograph taken of Exeter Cathedral around 1874. ⁹ Another reference exists on the Courtauld’s Institute of Art website and is a photograph of the Tympanum, Chapter House at Southwell Cathedral in Nottinghamshire. The photographer is described as Edmund Wormald (Bedford Lemere & Co)

1861 - 1872 Edmund at 13 Great George Street.

The 1861 census shows Edmund now aged 31 living at 12 Boynton Street, occupation Photographic Artist, together with Elizabeth and their two Children Thomas and Emily. There was also the domestic servant and nurse maid Sarah Ann Dobson, aged just 9 years. Edmund had been born in Leeds on the 1^st October 1829, Elizabeth was also from Leeds. Edmund and Joseph’s father worked in the textile industry, his occupation was Cloth Dresser.

On the 6^th Jan 1864 Edmund advertised for an active youth …. apply to E Wormald Photographer Great George Street. In November he closed his studio so that alterations and improvements could be made and in July 1865 it was announced that the studio had re-opened for business.

Another Leeds Photographer John James Hobbiss operated in Leeds between 1866 and 1870. He had a studio at 15 Park Place which had previously been occupied by Oliver Sarony and in 1866 Hobbiss moved to 1 Commercial Place. ¹⁰ In August of 1870 he announced that he had moved again, this time to the corner of Portland Crescent and Great George Street which was the same address as Edmund. In September he advertised a large room at Portland crescent was to let and in December it was announced that Edmund had bought the negatives of the Hobbiss studio. This would have been a useful asset for Edmund to have as he could take orders for reprints and it would tend to bring the Hobbiss clientele to him rather than anyone else. The reason Hobbiss took these steps is not known but it could be that he was just moving on to pastures new as he previously occupied a studio in Birmingham and after Leeds moved on to Carlisle .¹¹

Leeds Fine Art Exhibition.

A National Exhibition of Works of Art took place in Leeds in from May until October 1868, approximately 500,000 people attended the exhibition at the New Infirmary and the financial details were published in the local press. The receipts from the exhibition were over £34,000, which was for the sale of tickets, catalogues, refreshments and a whole host of other things. Some smaller sums were received by way of privileges including £50 from Messrs Dancer & co of Manchester for the sale of opera glasses, £ 420 for advertising from Messrs J M Johnson & co of London and £10 from Mr E Wormald for photographing. ¹² The construction of the Infirmary started in 1863. It cost £100,000 to build and was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, based upon the Pavilion style recommended by Florence Nightingale. The exhibition was a prestigious event which the Mayor and others would have been proud of, the idea behind it was partly to raise funds towards the cost of the Infirmary. It was planned to use the Infirmary building just after the construction phase, whilst preparations were being made for services to be moved from the old infirmary. A similar exhibition had been held in Manchester in the 1850s and the Mayor of Leeds and his appointed officers took advice and some ideas from the organisers of the Manchester exhibition. The Manchester Exhibition didn’t make any money, although it was said perhaps jokingly, that it made two shillings and sixpence. But the Leeds Event was no joke and the Leeds Mayor and his officials were taking a great risk putting on this event as it was not guaranteed to be successful, although it was backed by guarantors.

The exhibition was an ambitious undertaking. The large central hall some 150 ft by 65 ft was to be used along with ten galleries 110 to 120 feet long by 28 feet wide. The galleries would house old masters, oil paintings of the English school, water colour drawings, a gallery of portraits of deceased ‘Yorkshire Worthies’, marble sculptures, tapestries and a whole host of other items of interest. Even the chapel was used to house old ecclesiastical works.¹³ Works of art by Leonardo Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Holbein, Rubens, Raphael, Titien, Vandyke, Landseer and others were exhibited. Some were paintings from the Royal collection at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Hampton Court and others from the Nobility, private collectors and Institutions. ¹⁴

The exhibition finished in October 1868 and in May 1869 the new Infirmary was completed and ready for its first patients.

This stereo photograph was taken by Edmund, the wording on the back is “Leeds Fine Art Exhibition, Central Hall… View No 19. E Wormald (Photo) Great George Street, Leeds, Registered”. The Central Hall was known later as the Winter Gardens. It is fair to assume that this card formed part of a set perhaps all views of the exhibition and the art on show and this is probably why Edmund paid his £10 fee for permission to take the photographs. Processing the photographic plates would have meant that either he would have had to set up a portable dark room at the exhibition or he would have had to send a boy back to his studio with each negative for processing. This wouldn’t have created much of a problem as his studio was only a few hundred yards away.

By 1871 the Census showed Edmund and Elizabeth to have six children 3 Boys Thomas, Charles E (Edmund or Edward), and Harry, and 3 Girls Emily, Kate and Mary, in addition there was Anne Booth servant aged 15 and nurse maid Elizabeth Coley aged 9 living with the Wormalds. They were living at the Victoria Hotel, Great George Street. The Census also shows Joseph occupation as Photographer. He was living at 72 Hyde Park Road, prior to him taking up photography he was a school master.

In 1872 Edmund moved into a property at 26 Great George Street a four storey building which was between the Victoria Hotel and No 24 the Masonic Hall. All three buildings still stand today at the back of the Town Hall. Number 24 and 26 were designated as Grade 2 listed buildings in 1974. Details can be found on the British Listed Buildings website. A number of other businesses occupied the building at No26 alongside the Wormald studio. In 1872 there was a Boot Manufacturer, The Globe Advertiser and refreshment rooms . By 1888 there was a Music school run by William Spark, The Leeds Chess Club, George Danby Architect and a carver and gilder.

Portrait of Major Butler

A presentation was made to Major Butler by the 1^st West Yorkshire Artillery Volunteers in June 1873. The Leeds Times reported “The presentation consisted of a finely executed photograph of the subscribers, with Major Butler and the adjutant of the Corps Captain Shields as the central figures. The group had been photographed in the drill ground in front of the guns, by Mr Wormald of Great George Street; and Mr Stephen Lumley, of Peak Crescent, until recently a sergeant major in the Corp, had enclosed it in an appropriate frame of carved oak, the group itself having a gilt setting. This setting was ornamented at the head with Major Butler’s crest, at the sides with various implements of war used by the artillery, and at the bottom with the rose, shamrock, and thistle. The sides of the frame were carved in the castellated style out of massive blocks of oak, and the frame was surmounted with a carved representation of a field piece.” The Corp was formed in 1859 and Major Butler had joined in 1861. The Brigade consisted of some 600 men in eight batteries. ¹⁵

John Fowlers Steam Plough Works

Edmund and Joseph worked for John Fowler who manufactured Steam Ploughs and other types of engines at his works in Hunslet, Leeds. They took photographs of the wide range of products being manufactured by Fowler, some are simple records of the engines themselves and others of the machinery at work in the field. Many of the photographs are shown in the book ‘The Story of the Steam Plough Works’ by Michael R Lane. A collection of these photos is held by The Museum of English Rural Life in Reading. The photographs date from the 1860s through to the mid 1880’s and are an invaluable record of one of Leeds’s great Victorian manufacturers. Fowlers shipped their products all over the world. An example of one of the photos is shown on the Getty Images website, others are shown on Leodis and here, these are from the collection at the Leeds Library and Information Service along with the

photos of Knostrop Hall and Leeds Bridge shown above. In 1864 John Fowler died as a result of a riding accident and a memorial fund was set up which raised £981. Edmund prepared a large portrait of John Fowler and each of the subscribers was given a copy.¹⁶

The 1881 Census shows that Edmund and his family had moved to Pool to a property named Woodlands. He was now 51 years of age, Charles Edward one of his sons aged 18 and Kate one of his daughters aged 16 were also involved in the business and are described as Photographic Assistants. Joseph aged 45 and his family were still living at Hyde Park Road in Headingley, but had moved to No17.

J and T Wormald

There was another Wormald Family who were also in the Photographic Business. Joseph and Tom Wormald were brothers and they had two studios, one at Westgate, Lofthouse and one at Dale Street, Ossett. They traded under the name J and T Wormald. As far as it can be ascertained they were not related to Edmund and Joseph Wormald of Leeds.

The new Municipal Buildings and Free Library

The new municipal buildings and free library shown here was formally opened by Mayor Alderman Woodhouse J. P. in 1884. A report appeared in The Graphic on Saturday 26^th April. They had used photographs by Edmund of the Reading Room and exterior of the building to produce engravings so these could be printed in their publication. They refer to Edmund as being at 46 Great George Street. The Trade directories show that either Edmund had moved from No26 to No 46 or the street had been renumbered sometime between 1872 and 1876.

Partnership Dissolved

1890 was an eventful year not only for the business but also for the family. The Liverpool Mercury reported on the 24^th Feb 1890 that the partnership between Edmund and Joseph, trading as Wormald Brothers, Photographic artists had been dissolved.

A receiving order was announced on the 1^st March 1890, Edmund’s address was 31, Well Close Mount, Leeds. On the March 17^th at 11am the official receivers in Leeds met to exam the case and on March 25^th at 11am the case was brought before the County Courthouse.

Things went from bad to worse as Edmund’s wife Elizabeth died of cancer aged 61 on the 7^th April 1890 and then tragically on the 9th May 1890 Edmunds second son Charles Edmund Wormald died at Coatham near Redcar, aged just 27 years. Charles was staying with or working with Samuel Hoggard, photographer of Grant Villa, Coatham when he died. The cause of his death was tuberculosis. When Elizabeth died her address was shown as 5 Quarry Street, Woodhouse, Leeds and the following year when the census was taken her family was still at this address but without Edmund. Further research is required to determine why Elizabeth and Edmunds addresses were different and what happened to Edmund after 1890, but with the breakup of the partnership, the bankruptcy of the business and the death of his wife and son would have been a very traumatic time for him. We can only speculate as to what led to these events but perhaps Edmund spent a great deal of time looking after Elizabeth during her illness and was unable to attend to his business and the breakup of the partnership with his brother was to protect him from the imminent bankruptcy.

Joseph continued in the photography business along with Edmund’s son Harry and his own son Philip. He died on the 1^st August 1911 and is buried with his wife Ann Aodsley Turver at Lawnswood Cemetery.

Edmunds Studio Portraits

In addition to the commissions that the Wormald Brothers undertook there were many portraits taken of ordinary people in Leeds. Here are a few examples.

These carte de visites probably all date from the 1860s when the designs on the back of the cards were kept simple and the cards tended to have square corners rather than rounded.

References

1 Leeds Times 19^th July 1856

2 Leeds Times 12^th May 1860

3 Leeds Times 27^th Oct 1860

4 London Gazette 25^th Nov 1859

5 Leeds Mercury 9^th April 1859

6 Leeds Times 4^th Sept 1858

7 Leeds Mercury 11^th Aug 1858

8 Leeds Mercury 10^th Feb 1869

9 Research by Ian Leigh, English Heritage.

10 Professional Photographers in Leeds by Adamson and Budge

11 Website Derbyshires Photographers profiles.

12 Leeds Times 29^th Mar 1869

13 London Daily News 9^th Nov 1867

14 Leeds Times 1^st Feb 1868

15 Lancashire Gazette 12^th July 1873

16. Leeds Mercury 26^th March 1868

Special thanks to:

Ian Leith from English Heritage for providing information on E Wormald and the Bedford Lemere Collection.

Barbara Armstrong (nee Wormald) for providing and kindly allowing the use of photos of Edmund and Elizabeth.

Rose Gibson and the team from Leodis and the Leeds Library information service for providing information and granting permission to use the photos from the Leeds Old Views and Fowler albums.

Ancestry.co.uk , Findmypast, The British Newspaper archive and the Google search engine without which this story would not have been possible.