Frith, Francis, 1822 -1898 (photographer)
Biography
Francis Frith was born on December 7th 1822 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, to a Quaker family (Sackett 1994). He was educated at Ackworth School and Quaker Camp Hill School in Birmingham (Browne and Partnow 1983, p.212). After serving an apprenticeship with a Sheffield cutlery firm, he began a wholesale grocery firm, Liverpool, and later a printing firm (Sackett 1994). He took up photography in 1850 and in the mid-1850s retired from his successful business career. In 1853 he was one of the founders of the Liverpool Photographic Society (Turner 1995, p794). He made his first photographic visit to Egypt in 1856-57. He travelled on the Nile and photographed from Cairo to Abu Simbel. On his return he published a series of views which were enthusiastically received. He made a second trip with his assistant Frank Mason Good in late 1857. A third photographic trip was made in 1859 when Frith travelled beyond the Sixth Cataract. On his return from this third trip Frith set up as a photographer and publisher. His company produced a detailed record of English villages and towns, eventually becoming the largest mass production company in Europe. For a list of Frith photographic publications see: Gernsheim, Helmut (1984), 'Incunabula of British photographic literature : a bibliography of British books illustrated with original photographs'. London: Scolar in association with Derbyshire College of Higher Education.
In 1860 Frith married Mary Ann Rosling. They had five sons and three daughters. Frith died on February 25th 1898. His sons Eustace and Cyril continued the business (Sackett 1994). The firm survived until the 1960s.
Sources:
Browne, Turner and Partnow, Elaine (1983), 'Macmillian biographical encyclopedia of photographic artists and innovators'. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Sackett, Terrance R. (1993) 'Francis Frith'. In: Dictionary of National Biography [CD-ROM]. [S.l.]: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Turner, Jane ed. (1996), 'The dictionary of art'. Volume 11. New York: Grove.
Found in 35 Collections and/or Records:
The statue of Memnon, Plain of Thebes, 1857
232 x 155 mm. A view showing the two vast seated statues of Amenophis III which were erected in front of the mortuary temple, now disappeared. In the foreground are two Europeans and an Egyptian. The central figure (leaning on a rifle) is identified in 'Creative Camera' (December 1979) in a similar, though not identical view, as being Frith himself.
The statues of Memnon, plain of Thebes, 1857
150 x 224 mm. A view showing a close up of the statues in a vertical formal. There is an European holding a rifle, and a camel, standing in the foreground.
The summit of Gebel Moosa, Sinai, 1860
The temple palace, Medinet Haboo [Habu], 1857
233 x 156 mm. A view showing the ruins of the Palace of Rameses II at Medinet Haboo with an Arab and his horse standing in the courtyard in the foreground.
The Wadee El-Mukattab, Sinai, 1860
Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, 1857
View at Girgeh [Jirja], Upper Egypt, 1857
154 x 226 mm. A view looking towards the Nile with the tower of a ruined mosque standing on the banks and balanced in the composition by two palm trees in the foreground. Frith states that there are also huts in the foreground which were: 'composed of Doura straw, and are the temporary portable homes a troupe of Gawazee, or dancing girls.'
View at Luxor, 1857
View from Philae, looking north, 1857
234 x 152 mm. A view showing the temple colonnades at the left of the print with the Nile winding away through a rocky landscape beyond. The island of Philae lies above the Asswan Dam, completed in 1906, and when the sluices were closed, the island was submerged. With the building of the second dam the problem of the survival of the monuments at Philae became acute and a twenty year project to remove the buildings to Agilkia has recently been completed.
View on the Island of Philae, 1857
229 x 152 mm. A view showing part of the temple of Isis and the colonnade leading up to it, with broken rubble and stone in the foreground.
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Upper Egypt (region) 21
- Qina (governate) 11
- Desert (region) 8
- Thebes (deserted settlement) 8
- Aswan (governorate) 7
- Janub Sina' (governate) 6
- Nile River (river) 6
- Philae (deserted settlement) 6
- Sinai (peninsula) 5
- Asia (continent) 3
- Israel (nation) 3
- Lebanon (nation) 3
- Syria (nation) 3
- Armant (inhabited place) 2
- Dead Sea (salt lake) 2
- Luxor (inhabited place) 2
- Matruh (governate) 2
- Medinet Habu (ruins) 2
- Palestine (historic region) 2
- Pyramids of Giza (ruins) 2
- Upper East (region) 2
- West Bank (occupied territory) 2
- Abai (state) 1
- Aswan (inhabited place) 1
- Gaza Strip (occupied territory) 1
- Jirja (inhabited place) 1
- Kings, Valley of the (burial site) 1
- Musa, Gebel (mountain) 1
- Nubia (general region) 1
- Sawhaj (governorate) 1 + ∧ less