Ambrotype portrait of a seated woman in a blue dress and lace holding a daguerreotype case. Sydney, New South Wales, circa 1861.

Sixth plate ambrotype photograph with applied colour, 80 x 70 mm; housed in a nonpareil brass mat stamped ‘CROFT’ at l.r., in a leather case with embossed ‘vase of flowers’ motif (case separated along the cloth hinge, but with a working clasp); the ambrotype is in exceptionally fine condition.

This enigmatic studio portrait of a strikingly beautiful young woman is a masterly example of an overpainted ambrotype. It is also exceedingly rare, with only one ambrotype by the Sydney photographers Croft Brothers traced in Australian institutional collections. 

There appears to have been limited research undertaken on the photographic firm of Croft Brothers; consequently, errors in their dates and movements abound in both printed and online sources. Indeed, available evidence suggests the firm may have been a father-and-son team – not brothers at all.

We know that William Croft (jnr) was born 1834 in Dartmouth, Devon. Prior to becoming a photographic artist, William was a painter – as was his father, William Croft (snr). William (jnr) married Harriet Marsh in 1856 and they had four children, the first born in Devon and the second (named Harriett, after her mother) in February 1862 in Sydney, Australia, where the Crofts lived between December 1860 and July 1865 before returning to England permanently.

William (jnr) and his family, along with William (snr) had emigrated to New Zealand at the end of the 1850s. We know that William (jnr) was working as a professional photographer in Auckland during 1860, under the business name ‘Croft’s Photographic Establishment’. The following advertisement appeared in the Auckland newspaper, the Daily Southern Cross, on 20 July 1860:

‘THE STEREOSCOPE. “Wonderful instrument.” – Times. “Everything grand and beautiful in the world, brought to our own firesides.” – Morning Advertiser. W. CROFT, Junr., has just received a large collection of Stereoscopes and Views, comprising the Great Eastern, Crystal Palace, English Views, Statuary, Groups, Views of Paris, America, and Australia. TO EVENING PARTIES. W. C. in order to give the public a facility of seeing his collection will lend Stereoscopes and Views for the evening at the low charge of 5 per cent on value taken. CROFT’S Photographic Establishment, Shortland Street, Auckland.’

Keith Giles’ research on the pioneer Auckland photographer Hartley Webster suggests that Webster may have influenced the Crofts to relocate to Sydney: he notes that ‘the photographers William Croft (snr) and William Croft (jnr) were also on board’ when Webster arrived in Sydney from Auckland on the Lord Worsley, which cleared quarantine on 12 December 1860. (Giles, Keith. Hartley Webster, Auckland’s first resident professional photographer. 2008, NZ Legacy, footnote 75, p. 9).

The Sydney dates for Croft Brothers of 1863-65, as stated not only in the DAAO biography but also in Davies & Stanbury (The Mechanical Eye in Australia), and repeated in the catalogue entries of some public collections, are thus patently incorrect. Furthermore, a Croft Brothers ambrotype in the SLNSW (MIN 584) – a copy of a portrait of Sydney merchant Samuel Cohen made shortly after his death – is dated 12 November 1861, and has the partnership’s first Australian studio address of 154 South Head Road – not the later and more commonly known 33 South Head Road address.

In fact, the earliest mention of ‘Croft’s Photographic Establishment’ in Sydney newspapers is to be found in the classifieds section of the Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 1861:

‘WANTED, EMPLOYMENT House or ship painting, graining, writing, gilding, bronzing, paper hanging, distempering, sash, or leaded light glazing, map stretching, staining, varnishing, picture framing, mounting, cleaning, &c. Workmanship warranted. Testimonials the best. Information at CROFT’S Photographic Establishment, 154, old South Head Road.‘

It is not clear precisely who was seeking employment: perhaps it was William Croft (snr), hoping to earn extra income while the new business got off the ground? A little earlier, on 4 January 1861, it had been reported in the Sydney Empire that ‘2 cases paperhangings, W. Croft and Son’ had cleared customs. This would appear to relate to the April 1861 advertisement.

Later in the year, on 14 June, the Empire announced that ‘One case of photographic goods, Croft and Sons’ had cleared customs. Is the word ‘Sons’ a typographical error, for ‘Son’? Or had another brother joined the two Williams in Sydney?

The first newspaper advertisements under the name ‘Croft Brothers’ were published in the classified section of the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 September 1861. These appeared as a sequence of four consecutive notices, all with the 154 South Head Road address. The advertisements emphasised the democratic nature of the studio, offering ‘Portraits in every style, size and price’; one even spruiked the studio as ‘The People’s Portrait Rooms’, probably to set them apart from their main competitors, Freeman Brothers and Hetzer, whose studios tended to attract a clientele drawn from Sydney’s social elite.

In 1863 the business moved a short distance to new premises at 33 South Head Road, at the very bottom end of what is today Oxford Street, opposite Hyde Park.

In late 1864 this studio was completely refurbished. A notice in the SMH, 27 January 1865, announced:

‘CROFT BROTHERS, New Photographic Studio, being now replete with every new accessory, they beg to state that they are accepting appointment for sittings as usual. 33, South Head Road.’

It was, therefore, a sudden and surprising announcement the Crofts made in March 1865 when they signalled their intention to close their successful business in Sydney and return to England ‘in consequence of health’ – whose health exactly was not made clear. From the Empire (Sydney), 4 March 1865:

‘PHOTOGRAPHIC BUSINESS FOR SALE. A Rare Opportunity to Persons Competent, with Early possession. THE well-known, extensive, and successful business of the Messrs. Croft Brothers, 33, South Head Road, Hyde Park, Sydney, is now open FOR SALE, as they are about to return to England. The business will be sold by tender. Inventories and all particulars may be obtained on application to CROFT BROTHERS, 33, South Head Road, Sydney.’

The studio and business was sold at auction some three months later. From the SMH, 13 June 1865:

‘Photographic gallery and Goodwill of the Business carried on by Messrs. Croft, Brothers. We are requested to direct special attention to Messrs. Bradley and Newton’s sale this day, at 11 o’clock, on the premises, South Head Road….’

Following the successful sale, the Crofts thanked their clients in a chivalrous notice in the SMH, 6 July 1865:

‘MESSRS. CROFT, BROTHERS, Photographic Artists, in retiring from business, beg to return thanks to their patrons for their liberal support, and to solicit a continuance of their favours to their successors, Messrs. Moore and Parkes, who will supply copies of all pictures taken by the late firm – having purchased all the negatives.’

The Crofts returned to England, where from 1866 William (jnr) continued in business as a professional photographer in Torquay, Devon. In 1870, at the Newton Abbot Art and Industrial Exhibition ‘Mr Croft of Torquay contributed some clever views taken in Australia’ (Totnes Weekly Times, 4 June 1870). In the 1871 census William Croft, ‘artist photographer’, still appears with his wife Harriet and family at Torquay; however, by 1881 we find the Crofts have moved to Lewisham, southeast London, where William’s occupation is now recorded simply as ‘artist’.