George & Herbert Bunce, Photographers of Caterham & Purley: Order Books, Account Books & Glass Plate

dbf · Aug 18, 2014

Over the years G & H Bunce took many a squad photo at the Guards Depot Caterham. Their company name - along with the printed identities of each individual in the photograph - features on the card mounting frame

It's been an oft posed question: What happened to all the negatives of the photos taken by the firm?

Following a link from here
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_4209
to
http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=B26166

* It appears that the plates relating to Guards depot may have been "dispersed" - to where it does not say, - but the use of the word "surviving" to describe plates makes me fear that some were simply dumped/destroyed. A lead to follow up however.

The following describes the contents of this collection in the Surrey History Centre archives. Find out more about how to see the original documents.

Ref No: 4209

Repository: Surrey History Centre, Woking

Date: 1903-1954

Format: Archives

Description: The surviving glass plates illustrate the breadth of Bunce Brothers' business and contain some notable images. There are fine series of photographs of events and activities at Caterham School, Dene School and Eothen School, in Caterham. The Bunce Brothers recorded carnivals and fetes organised by Caterham Hospital and Caterham Fire Brigade, the activities of Caterham Scouts, V E Day and Coronation street parties, and local football and cricket teams. Aspects of World War II were also recorded including photographs of ARP and Home Guard personnel and the results of bomb damage. There are fascinating views of the RAF base at Kenley.

Admin History: In 1875 James Bunce moved from Hertfordshire to Caterham with his wife, Mary Ann, to take up employment at the newly opened Asylum as a tailor and they stayed in Caterham for the remaider of their lives. The 1901 census shows their sons, George (born 1877) and Herbert (born 1881), to be photographers lodging at 7 Clarenden Road, Croydon. In 1903 the Bunce brothers established themselves as professional photographers in a wooden hut to the rear of their father's home in Asylum Road. In 1906 they moved across the road to a new building at 26 Asylum Road (a road later renamed as Westway), Caterham. Photographing Guardsmen at the nearby Guards Depot was to become the core of their business but they also photographed many local families, buildings and activities. In the 1927 Kelly's Directory G and H Bunce are also registered as photographers at 1 Pretoria Terrace (now 947 Brighton Road), Purley. They do not appear in Purley in the Directories for 1922 or 1930, and the records suggest they were there from November 1922 to January 1929. The firm closed altogether in 1957 and donated its glass plate negatives, which comprise black and white images only, to the library in Westway, Caterham, together with the order and account books. George Bunce died in 1970 at the age of 93 and in 1975 Herbert died at his home on Guernsey where he had lived since 1957.

Level: Collection

Access Status: Open. There are no access restrictions.

Provenance: Presented by Surrey Local Studies Library, Guildford, in January 1994.

Arrangement: For a number of years staff at the library in Caterham worked to select topographical plates of local interest and index them. In 1965 the selected plates were transferred to Caterham Valley Library and then to Surrey Local Studies Library, Guildford, before their transfer to the Surrey History Centre. * The majority of the plates, either non-topographical or not relating to Surrey, have been dispersed. In 2007-08 the index of the selected plates was enhanced with additional information contained in material published by The Bourne Society. Digital copies of the glass plates have also been made in collaboration with The Bourne Society.

The glass plates were originally stored in numbered photograph boxes (see -/4/2 for a sample retained), and were originally catalogued at the library in this order (see -/4/1). The order of the numbered boxes has been retained in the list below. The numbering system used by Bunce Brothers allows cross-referencing between the order books and the plates, where both survive.

For more information contact: Surrey History Centre Collections Catalogue
- See more at: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_4209#sthash.Mkpst1Ql.dpuf
Click to expand...

Some Guards Barracks related images
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/NTLHC_1016
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/NTLHC_971
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/NTLHC_1940
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/NTLHC_1937
etc

http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/search/?s=guards+barracks&submit.x=-887&submit.y=-20&submit=Search

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George & Herbert Bunce, Photographers of Caterham & Purley: Order Books, Account Books & Glass Plate

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George & Herbert Bunce, Photographers of Caterham & Purley: Order Books, Account Books & Glass Plate

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