William Hanson

William Hanson was born in about 1831 in the Yorkshire market town of Hedon, in Holderness, eight miles east of Hull ¹. He was the son of Castleford born William Hanson, senior, and his wife Mary ¹. The couple and their children left the pleasant, well-built, town of Hedon, situated on a creek, called Hedon Haven, which lay two miles off the Humber River, sometime after 1836. The fortunes of the town had declined over time with the choking of the harbour which lay nearby; and the greater and growing facilities at Hull, further diminished Hedon’s trade.

By 1841 the Hanson family were living in bustle of Leeds, where William Hanson, senior, was victualler of the Rockingham Arms ^2,3, on Rockingham Street. There were four children in the Hanson family, the eldest, a daughter, was Frances, followed by three sons, William, Randall, and John2. By 1851 Frances was no longer living at home, her brothers that remained were: William, junior (hereafter simply referred to as William), who was working as a lithographer, Randall who was an engraver, and John who was training as a medical student¹.

Although at home in the early 1850’s, William was working a lithographic business from 18, Park Row, Leeds ⁴. In about early 1854 William married milliner Mary Rodgers Carr⁵, who had been born in Wakefield in 1825, the daughter of John Carr and his wife Sarah, nee Saxon⁶. His younger brother, Randall, married Mary Frances Oliver the following year⁷.

Although Randall had joined his elder brother in his work, and the business was advertised as W. and R. Hanson, French lithographers, engravers, and general printers, on the 1st October 1857, the partnership that had existed between the two brothers was dissolved by mutual consent ⁸. Randall continued the printing business on his own account. Around this time William lived at a house on Pleasant Dairy with his family, and Randall and his family had a home at 7, Warwick Terrace, both addresses were in Leeds ⁹. After 1851, with the invention and availability of Frederick Scott-Archer’s Collodion photographic process, many more people began practising the art of the photographer, freed as the process was from commercial restrictions that had applied to Daguerreotype photography. So in 1860, perhaps as a natural extension to his work as a lithographer, William Hanson began working as a photographer from 18, Park Row, Leeds ¹⁰.

Two early portraits from the studio at 18, Park Row, Leeds taken during the first part of the 1860s

In June 1855 the property at 18 Park Row was put up for sale, it is referred to at the time as a Tenement with Photographic Studio, outbuildings and garden adjoining. (Ref Leeds Intelligencer 9th June 1855 ) Amongst the occupants were Messrs Hanson and J W Ramsden along with many others. The Royal Photographic Societies list of Victorian Photographers in Leeds has J W Ramsden operating from 18 Park Row between 1857 and 1876 and states that he was also in partnership with Thomas Henry Briggs operating as Ramsden and Briggs at 18 Park Row in 1856. However according to the advertisement Ramsden was operating from Park Row a little bit earlier than this, in 1855. So the period would have been about 1855 to 1876. William Hanson is also shown in the list of photographers, at the same address, from 1861 to 1864. This would all seem fairly straight forward but there is also information in another advertisement dated September 1860 which describes William's business as 'William Hanson successor to J W Ramsden' (Ref Leeds Intelligencer 15th Sept 1860). It would seem from this evidence William Hanson may have taken over Ramsden's operation during the early 1860s until Hanson moved out in 1866 at that point Ramsden may have returned. As this would seem quite an unusual situation further research is required in order to uncover more details about these moves. Perhaps Ramsden had other priorities at the time, his wife in fact did have six children in six years from 1859-1865.

The building at 18 Park Row was eventually replaced by one of the most impressive buildings in Leeds. The new building known as Kenneth Hodgson House, formally known as Abtech Hose, was designed by Oliver and Dodgshun in 1900 and has an incredible frieze by scuptor Joseph Thewlis commemorating International Banking. The scenes depict everyday work in countries across the globe.

The date at which William Hanson moved out of Park Row is confirmed by this advertisement. In early July, 1866, William announced in the pages of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer that he had set up a new venture ¹¹:

(LATE OF 18, PARK ROW)

HANSON’S PHOTO-ATELIER

Opposite St. George’s Church and the New Infirmary, Leeds

Mr. H. executes the NEW CABINET PORTRAIT, and every kind of large

vignetted or full length portrait, exquisitely coloured in the brightest style of art.

N.B. Miniatures, Paintings, Drawings, Carte-de-Visite or other Photographs

carefully copied to any size.

In 1868 advertisements in the same newspaper recorded that Hanson’s was open from 8am to 7pm, six days a week ¹². His studio was also referenced in White’s 1870 Directory of Leeds & the West Riding, and shown to be on Great George Street, between Park Street and Leighton Lane ¹³. Hanson’s carte-de-visite photograph mounts of the period bear the following printed details –

FROM

HANSON’S

PHOTOGRAPHIC ATELIER

OPPOSITE ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH AND THE

NEW INFIRMARY, GREAT GEORGE STREET,

Leeds.

The New Infirmary, referred to in Hanson’s advertising and on his carte de visite mounts, was the building upon which work had begun in 1863 to the designs of George Gilbert Scott (later Sir). The infirmary was officially opened on the 19th May 1869 by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). Hanson’s carte mounts also informed patrons that his cartes could be had at 4s. per Dozen, which was also recorded in Hanson’s newspaper advertisements of the time.

This image of the Infirmary was part of a series of photographs of local buildings produced by the studio. Unlike other photographers at the time Hanson included some fascinating detail about the building on the back of the card. As follows..

New Infirmary, Leeds

Situated N.W. of the Town Hall

(Architect Geo. G Scott Esq. R.A., London)

Like many other noble Institutions the Leeds General Infirmary had a very humble origin. Dr Whitaker states that in the year 1767 at Michaelmas a convenient house was hired and opened as an Infirmary for the poor and that on the 1st March 1771 the patients were moved to a special erection. (Now the Old Infirmary) which had subsequently to be enlarged by adding to it one wing in 1782, another in 1786, and finally an attic story in 1792 when the number of beds were increased from twenty seven to ninety nine. The present commodious edifice is built in five pavilions, each having two wards, and will accommodate about 300 patients. The foundation stone was laid on Easter Tuesday 1864 by James Kitson Esq. The cost of the building is about £100,000

Hanson Photographic Atelier

Opposite the New Infirmary Leeds

In an attempt to raise funds for the construction of the New Infirmary a National Exhibition of Art was held there just before the Infirmary came into full operation. Art works were brought from all over the country including some from the Royal collection. More information on this can be found in the Wormald story. Edmund Wormald had paid for rights to take photographs at the exhibition.

By 1871 William Hanson who described himself in the census of that year as an artist and photographer, was living with his wife and five children, Ada Mary, Sarah Annie Margaret, Walter Oswald, Cordelia Maud, and Kate Hilda, at 6, Victoria Mount, Leeds ¹⁴. Interestingly, his brother Randall, who lived at 11, Eldon Place, Leeds, was operating as a steam lithographic printer at that same date ¹⁵.

Two portraits from the 1870s. The second portrait is dated 1879 and the two medals on the back of the card dated 1873 an 1872 support this.

In 1881 William and his wife and four daughters were living at 7, Warwick Terrace16, which had formerly been the home of William’s brother, Randall. In 1890 William’s daughter, Cordelia Maud, left home following her marriage to chemist and druggist Herbert Bennett Billington ¹⁷. The couple went to live in Barnsley ¹⁶. The following year William and his wife and remaining three daughters were living at their business premises 71, Great St. George Street, Leeds, the eldest daughter, Ada Mary, worked as an assistant in photography ¹⁹. In about early 1897, William’s youngest daughter, Hilda Kate, who had worked as a school headmistress ¹⁹, married Chartered Accountant John Croisdale Kirk ²⁰, a widower, who had lost his first wife in 1893 ²¹. The couple lived at 39, Clarendon Road, Leeds ²²; they had one child, Mary ²³.

By 1901 William Hanson was in retirement, a widower, and living with his forty-five years’ old spinster daughter, Ada Mary, at 4, Thorpe Terrace, Leeds Road, Outwood, Leeds24. Father and daughter were at the same address in April 1911 ²⁵. However, retired photographer William died on Christmas Eve later that year, at 36, Meadowside, Sheffield Road, Barnsley ²⁶

Notes:

1 TNA 1851 Census HO107/3221, Folio 745, Page 30, Schedule 103.

2 TNA 1841 Census HO107/1349/2, Folio 15, Page 23.

3 UL Special Collections White’s Directory & Topography of the Borough of Leeds, &c., 1842.

4 UL Special Collections White’s Directory of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, &c., 1854.

5 GRO Marriage 1854 March Quarter Hunslet 9b 236.

6 FMP Wakefield and District Baptisms Transcriptions WDP 45/1/3.

7 GRO Marriage 1855 September Quarter Leeds 9b 510.

8 London Gazette, 30th October 1857, Page 3631.

9 UL Special Collections White’s Directory & Topography of the Borough of Leeds, &c., 1858.

10 BL The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 22nd September 1888, gives date of establishment.

11 ibidem, 5th July 1866.

12 ibidem, 6th June 1868.

13 UL Special Collections White’s Directory of Leeds & the West Riding, 1870.

14 TNA 1871 Census RG10/4565, Folio 71, Page 27, Schedule 95.

15 TNA 1871 Census RG10/4560, Folio 136, Page 18, Schedule 75.

16 TNA 1881 Census RG11/4534, Folio 91, Page 29, Schedule 174.

17 GRO Marriage 1890 December Quarter Leeds 9b 801.

18 TNA 1891 Census RG12/3774, Folio 46, Page 7, Schedule 43.

19 TNA 1891 Census RG12/3707, Folios 80-81, Pages 20-21, Schedule 135.

20 GRO Marriage 1897 March Quarter Wetherby 9a 151.

21 GRO Death 1893 June Quarter Leeds 9b 338.

22 TNA 1901 Census RG13/4239, Folio 103, Page 2, Schedule 8.

23 TNA 1911 Census RG14/27021-0729 Schedule 364.

24 TNA 1901 Census RG13/4283, Folio 6, Page 4, Schedule 18.

25 TNA 1911 Census RG14/27420-0027 Schedule 13.

26 BL The Yorkshire Post, 26th December 1911, Page 4.

BL = British Library

FMP = Find My Past

GRO = General Registry Office

TNA = The National Archive

UL = University of Leicester Library

Photographs and additional information relating to these has been added to Mark's original research.