Directory of Early Photographers, Studio Folder, Sawyer and Bird, Norwich and Elsewhere

Timeline: W S Bird

Walter Strickland Bird (1828-1912)

(This timeline does not claim to be a full biography of Bird. It simply presents some accumulated information and sources in chronological order. It represents work in progress and may be amended or augmented in the future. Where primary sources have been used, references are given; where no references are given, information should be regarded as subject to verification. For records of him that relate to his work in partnership, see the Sawyer and Bird timeline.)

1828

Date not known

Born in Yoxford, Suffolk.

1841

June 6 (Census: HO107/1017/25/5)

He was the fourth of six children living with their mother, Emma Bird, aged 45, stationer, in Yoxford, Suffolk. His siblings were James (20), Catherine (15), Charles (15), Paul (6) and Laura (4). (Ages of 15 and over were rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5 in the 1841 census.)

1851

March 30th

In Norwich. Recorded in census as chemist and stationer.

July-September quarter (Civil registration marriage index: Norwich, v3, p466)

Married Catherine Cappe.

1854

No specific date (White’s Directory of Norfolk)

Chemist and druggist of Market Street, Shipdham.

1861

April 7 (Census: RG9/1213/96/36)

He was a drug warehousemen living at Miss Perowne’s Farm House, Pockthorpe, Norfolk. With him were his wife, Catherine, and a niece, Emile Moreau, aged 4.

1864

No specific date (White’s Directory of Norfolk)

Lived at St Swithin’s Villas, Norwich.

1871

Date not known

Became a member of the London Photographic Society (Royal Photographic Society from 1874).

April 2 (Census: RG10/764/57/5)

He was a photographic artist, living with Catherine and one servant at 27 Dacre Park, Belmont Hill, Lewisham.

1881

April 3 (Census: RG11/170/57/44)

‘Photographic publisher’, living at 44 Belsize Park Gardens, Hampstead, with his sister Laura, single, 43. One of their four servants, Sarah Lambert, 21, came from their birthplace, Yoxford in Suffolk.

1882

Date not known

Became Treasurer of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), and continued to hold the post until 1892)

October 9 (Exhibitions of the RPS, http://erps.dmu.ak.uk)

Member of judging panel for RPS annual exhibition.

1887

November 5

RPS hosted a dinner in his honour at the Holborn Restaurant, shortly before he visited his brother in Sydney, Australia (for health reasons).

1891

April-June quarter (Civil registration marriage index: Islington, v1b, p724)

Married Mary Boggis.

April 5 (Census: RG12/146/89/24

Census: Living at 13 Hornsey Rise, Islington, with wife, Mary, and one servant. Described as manufacturer of photographic materials.

1893

c.1893

Retired from the Autotype Company.

1895

Date not known

Became a Fellow of the RPS.

November 14 (Exhibitions of the RPS, http://erps.dmu.ak.uk)

A portrait of W S Bird was shown by the Autotype Company at the RPS annual exhibition,

1901

March 18

J Sawyer’s will proved; co-executors: Walter Bird and Charles Sawyer.

1911

April 2 (Census: RG14PN7864 RG78PN393 RD145 SD1 ED1 SN10)

Aged 83, retired, and once again a widower. Living with his nephew, Henry Harwood-Yarred, and family at Coombe Lodge, West Wycombe Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

1912

February 5 (London Gazette, 19 March 1912) Impressed by light

Died, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

March 19 (London Gazette)

The Gazette carried a notice that his will was proved on March 12th (executor: Charles Sawyer, son of John Sawyer).

1913

June 17 (London Gazette)

Previously unlocated potential beneficiaries of Bird’s will were required to make their claims by 20th October. Otto Dauber, a son of his sister Catherine, who had emigrated to America, was specifically mentioned.

Sawyer and Bird index

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