The Pioneer Photographer

One of my great-uncles, Christopher Swinbourne, was a pioneer photographer in New Zealand. Christopher Swinbourne (1834-1869), was born in Ireland, and in 1852 emigrated with his parents, Richard and Ann McGrath Swinbourne, to New Zealand [see previous post].  

Christopher arrived in New Zealand at a time when photography was being introduced in Australia and New Zealand. In 1852, the year of his arrival, Australia’s first illustrated newspaper, The Illustrated Sydney News, was published.  In 1858, the tintype process reached Australia and New Zealand. And, in 1859 the carte de visite (a small photographic portrait mounted on a piece of card – 2½”-x-4”) was introduced. 1

 

Google Image: Christchurch, Lyttleton, and Akaroa, New Zealand

I have not been able to find when Christopher Swinbourne started his photography business, but it is believed that he received his training under a Mr. Elsbee. On August 13, 1859, the Lyttleton Times sang the praises of Swinbourne’s photographic abilities:

            We have always had a strong objection to praise or seen to puff the excellencies of anything that is a native product, simply as such; but we cannot refrain, for once, from commending the successful efforts at photographic portraiture exhibited by Mr. C. Swinbourne since his arrival in this town . . . . We have seen specimens of Mr. Swinbourne’s manipulation which speak for themselves of the progress he has made in a very short time, and which really stand well among the ordinary specimens of the art which are current in the colonies. We wish this painstaking gentleman every success.

I was not able to find out when Swinbourne actually started his own business, but he was in business by 1859 in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Here are some his advertisements. 2 You will note that in one he advertises the availability of the carte de visite.

In another article found in the Lyttleton Times, July 7, 1863, Swinbourne had set up a display in his studio window in honor of the royal wedding of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra.

There are no known photographs of Christopher nor are there any known existing photographs taken by him. 3

 

Christopher Swinbourne, my 3rd great-uncle in my adoptive family, is buried at the family plot in the Baradoes Street Cemetery, Christchurch, New Zealand.

1 – “Art Sets. The Photograph and Australia: Timeline.” Art Gallery NSW, Art Gallery of New South Wales, www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artsets/51b88k.

2 – Photography, Early Canterbury. “SWINBOURNE, Christopher.” Early New Zealand Photographers, 1 Jan. 1970, canterburyphotgraphy.blogspot.com/2009/06/swinbourne-christopher.html

3 - ibid.

NOTE: All copies of the newspaper advertisements are from the source cited in footnote 2.