Hills & Saunders

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Hills & Saunders
IndustryPhotography
FoundedOxford, England June 1860 (1860-06)
Headquarters
Dorney Reach, Maidenhead
ParentGillman & Soame
Websitewww.hillsandsaunders.co.uk

Hills & Saunders was one of the leading Victorian photographic firms, started as a partnership between Robert Hills & John Henry Saunders.[1] They were social photographers with studios at different times in: London (society), Harrow & Eton & Rugby (locations of leading schools), Oxford & Cambridge (leading universities), Aldershot & Sandhurst (army). They were successful (photographers to the royal family e.g. Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom with many items still in the Hills & Saunders photos in the Royal Collection.[2]), but ultimately unsuccessful at a business level with a number of branches failing and only their two main school branches (Harrow & Eton) continuing well into the 20th Century. Ultimately the Harrow photos remain saved by the school and now in private hands and the images can be seen at Iconic Photographs and the name continues in the Eton branch. In 2019 the historic company was acquired by its Oxfordshire based contemporary, Gillman & Soame, in order to preserve the extensive archives and ensure the future of the prestigious Victorian photographic studio.

Studios[]

London Studios[3]
1868-1869 - 48 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, Kensington
1868-1886 - 36 Porchester terrace, Bayswater, Kensington
1893-1895 - 47 Sloane Street, Chelsea
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists

Harrow Studio
1861 - first recorded date in records
1865 - first advertisement
Closed in the 1980s
Negatives / records still exist - and can be found at Iconic Photographs

Eton Studio 1864-1894
to date.
still going - Hills & Saunders is owned currently by Richard Shymansky ABIPP, AMPA and is now based in Dorney Reach, Maidenhead, but is still the Eton studio.
Negatives / some of the records believed destroyed

Rugby Studio
dates unknown - listed on CDV as a studio
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists

Oxford Studio
1856-1935
Taken over by in Oxford 1931
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists under original name.

Cambridge Studio
Dates unknown but bankrupt by 1892
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists

Aldershot Studio
1865-1879
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists

Sandhurst Studio
Dates unknown
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists

Yorktown Studio
Dates unknown
Negatives / records believed destroyed
Studio no longer exists

Evidence of the existence of the Aldershot & Yorktown and other studios can be found here: http://whowerethey.wordpress.com/category/photographer/hills-saunders/

References[]

  1. ^ Hannavy, John (2008). Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Volume 1. CRC Press. ISBN 9780415972352. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  2. ^ http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/maker.asp?maker=13224 Hills & Saunders photos in the Royal Collection
  3. ^ Pritchard, M, A Directory of London Photographs 1841-1908, PhotoResearch, 1996. See also: http://www.photolondon.org.uk/pages/details.asp?pid=3820

External links[]

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