William Cobb (photographer)

Advert in William Hunt's Descriptive Handbook of Ipswich, the River Orwell, Harwich, Dovercourt, & Felixstow: A guide-book for visitors (1864)

William Cobb was a pioneer of photography in Ipswich, Suffolk. He subsequently moved to Woolwich in southeast London where he continued to work.

He married Eliza Read on 26 June 1858 in the New Chapel, St Nicholas Street, Ipswich.[1]

Cobb had his premises in 1 Clarkson Street, Ipswich[2] and also supported Richard Dykes Alexander, an amateur photographer who lived nearby.[3] Cobb left Ipswich in 1868, his departure marked by a valedictory note in the Ipswich Journal which remarked that he had made a significant contribution to the development of the photographic art in Ipswich.[4]

After taking over the business of William Heathman, 77-78 Wellington Road, Woolwich in 1872,[5] Cobb took photographs of members of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich for use in Carte-de-visites. He used his photograph of Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial to promote his business.[6]

He contributed several articles to the British Journal of Photography in 1880, including a paper he delivered to the South London Photographic Society (SLPS) on "Ballooning from a Photographic Point of View" in which he suggested that the SLPS obtain a balloon of its own.[7]

  1. ^ Gobbitt, David (16 April 2024). "Advertisement of Ipswich photographer W. Cobb, 1862". Flikr. David Gobbitt. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  2. ^ Mayon-White, W. M. (1966). "From Out the More Distant Past: A Sixth of Holden's, 1865-66". The Ipswichian. XXVII (306).
  3. ^ Pols, Robert. "William Cobb leaves Ipswich". Early Photographic Studios. Robert Pols. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Valedictory". Ipswich Journal (26th December 1868). 1868.
  5. ^ "William HEATHMAN". Photographers 1840 - 1940 Great Britain & Ireland. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Portrait of Louis Napoleon (1856-1879) Prince Imperial, from the Royal Military Academy | Cobb, William | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections. V&A. 12 October 1880.
  7. ^ Cobb, William (1880). "Ballooning from a Photographic Point of View". The British Journal of Photography. XXVII (1075). London : H. Greenwood: 593–4. Retrieved 8 January 2023.