Edward Gordon Smith
Edward Gordon Smith (15 June 1857 – 30 May 1906) was an English photographer and postcard publisher.[1]
Smith grew up in a family with a photography business. The census described his father as a “Fancy Goods Warehouseman & Photographer Master Employing 7 men and 4 women.”[2]
Smith began publishing postcards in about 1903 from 68 Allerton Road, Stoke Newington. In 1905 he moved his business to 15 Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park. His early cards depicted London and the countryside of Hertfordshire and Essex.[1][2]
The photographs taken by Edward Gordon Smith were often marked simply “G. Smith”.[1]
The Gordon Smith firm produced a wide variety of postcard series depicting views of London, events, and railways. The “Pinachrome” series included reproductions of paintings by the artist Walter Hayward-Young (“Jotter”).[1]
Smith died on 30 May 1906. His wife Elizabeth and daughters Dorothy and Ethel continued the business after his death, which remained active until about 1916. Further series including “Beauty Spots of the British Isles” and “Gems of British Scenery” were produced later. [1][2]
Legacy
Smith’s photographs and postcards are preserved in institutional and local collections.
The Historic England Archive’s Nigel Temple Collection contains historic postcards attributed to E Gordon Smith. The Canterbury Museum collection also attributes three London postcards to Edward Gordon Smith: views of the Tower and Mint, London Bridge and Victoria Embankment. The London Transport Museum likewise catalogues multiple postcards attributed to Smith. [3][4][5]
Local-history resources, including The Finchley Society’s and Basildon History Online feature postcard collections containing Gordon Smith postcards depicting the local areas. [6][7]
His photographs have also been reproduced in later local-history works, including B. Girling's Westminster's Villages (1996).[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Coysh, Arthur Wilfred (1984). The Dictionary of Picture Postcards in Britain, 1894–1939. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 0907462553 – via Internet Archive. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Postcards by Gordon Smith". Hertfordshire Genealogy. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ↑ "Nigel Temple Collection". Historic England Archive. Historic England. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
- ↑ "Edward Gordon Smith". Canterbury Museum. Canterbury Museum. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
- ↑ "LTM Collections". London Transport Museum. London Transport Museum. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
- ↑ "The Andrew Forsyth postcard collection". The Finchley Society. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
- ↑ "Vange Postcards". Basildon History Online. B. Cox. 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
- ↑ Girling, B. (1996). Westminster's Villages. Chalford. Search this book on
External links
Media related to Edward Gordon Smith at Wikimedia Commons
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