Williams' Pioneer Studios Ltd

Address: 118 High Street Kingsland E8, 82 Seven Sisters Rd, 772 Holloway Road and multiple other Greater London addresses - see below

Possible Practitioner: Ernest Williams, trading as Williams Pioneer Studios Ltd

Operating dates: 1907 to as recent as 1957 in at least one location

Information and references: Below is a portrait in postcard format of Ethel Strong. (This could possibly be Ethel Strong b 1898 Southwark, confectioner, living in 1911 at 99 St Peters St Islington) This postcard sized portrait, probably from the early 1920s, has a reverse which is simply divided in two by the printed information with the name and addresses of the studio (Williams Pioneer Studios. 118 High Street Kingsland, 82 Seven Sisters Rd, 772 Holloway Road). The subject appears to be poorly lit by a single light source giving a rather dramatic appearance. The image contains details of the job number "43" written onto the negative and printed above the sitter's image. Also shown is "6 Bevel", which could be instructions for the number and style of prints ordered. Printing this information on the face of the image allowed the studio to quickly match prints with a sitter's ticket on collection. This demonstrates that the firm was, at least at one point, involved in cheap work. Thanks to Ron Cosens for permission to reproduce this image from his collection www.cartedevisite.co.uk. By way of contrast and probably more representative of the quality of the firm's work overall, is the the second postcard below by Williams Pioneer Studios. This is probably from the late 1930s, and is a head and shoulders portrait of an unknown lady. The photograph has been very competently hand tinted and the colours remain as fresh and accurate as when applied.

Michael Pritchard in his "Directory of London Photographers 1841-1908" lists Ernest Williams as a photographer at 22 Chaple Street Edgware Rd NW 1907-8 and 82 Seven Sisters Road 1908- . A 1910 PO Directory lists Ernest Williams Photographer at 82 Seven Sisters Road. The 1911 Census also has Ernest and his family residing in three rooms at 82 Seven Sisters Road. The 1912 PO Directory lists him at 74 High Road Wood Green. A 1915/16 Directory lists Ernest Williams as a photographer at 210 High Street Stoke Newington and 326 Mare Street Hackney. A 1921 directory lists Williams Pioneer Studios with a head office at 82 Seven Sisters Road and branches. In 1932 Williams Pioneer Studios were listed at 118 High Street Kingsland E8, 772 Holloway Road N19, 67 Upper Street N1.

The firm advertised in the Daily News (London), Saturday 14 February 1931 p11, "Postcards enamelled 3 for 6d from any one film, 3 for 9d copied from any photograph. Hand coloured each 3d extra. Enlargements 8in x 6in 3/- each Mounted on plate sunk mount 10in x 8in 1/6 each from film or photograph. Extra postcards 2d each. Send a trial order. Money returned if not satisfied. Write your name and address in block letters, Enclose 1 1/2d stamp for return postage. POs to be crossed /&Co/ and made payable to Williams' Pioneer Studios Ltd. Head Office 118 Kingsland High Street London" In the Daily Mirror, Saturday 8 December 1934 p8 they offered Photographic XMas cards from any film, snap or photo 3 for 1/-. Surviving postcards suggest that the firm also offered outdoor work as well as studio portraits.
The firm expanded during the 1920s and 30s and in the Middlesex County Times, Saturday 6 May 1939 p22 claimed to be London's largest photographers with branches everywhere. Pinning down precise dates for all their different addresses would be a major task. The following addresses in various combinations have been found on the reverse of their postcards (dates are very approximate):
82 Seven Sisters Road and branches (earliest)
Holloway, Wood Green, Stoke Newington, Tottenham and Hackney (1920s)
118 Kingsland High Street and 772 Holloway Road. (Early 20s?)
118 Kingsland High Street and 82 Seven Sisters Road. (Early 20s?)
118 Kingsland High Street, 133 High Street Deptford, 1 A High Street Tooting (1935)
118 Kingsland High Street, 67 Upper Street Islington, 133 High St Deptford, 199 Upper Tooting Road, (1935-37)
118 Kingsland High Street, 133 High Street Deptford, 213 Walworth Road, 74 Tower Bridge Road (1937-40)
118 Kingsland High Street, 133 High St Deptford, 213 Walworth Road, 30B Fife Road Kingston on Thames, 118 Uxbridge Road Shepherds Bush , 118 Uxbridge Road West Ealing (opened in May 1939) , 197 High Street Sutton, 68 High Street Acton, 19A High Street Tooting, 111 The Broadway, Burnt Oak, 41A Hare St Woolwich, 214 High Street Eltham, 14 Broadway Catford, etc etc. (late 1930s)
83 Stretham High Rd added to above list (1940)

A printed list, from an unknown advertisement, believed to be from the 1940s, in the possession of descendants of the family, lists the firm at the following 15 addresses: 529 Oxford Street, Marble Arch, 118 Kingsland High Street E8, 133 Deptford High Street SE8, 213 Walworth Road SE17, 30B Fife Road Kingston on Thames, 118 Uxbridge Road Shepherds Bush, 118 Uxbridge Road West Ealing, 14 Broadway Catford, 197 High Street Sutton, 68 High Street Acton W, 19a High Street Tooting, 111 the Broadway Burnt Oak, 41A Hare Street Woolwich, 214 High Street Eltham, 83b High Street Streatham. (Thanks to Samantha Williams for this information)

The firm was still trading at least into the 1940s when the Liverpool Echo, Thursday 07 March 1946 p4, reported on a court case involving the alleged sale of regulated goods above the permitted price. One of the witnesses at the trial was Alec Squirrel Weeks (1905-1988), director of Williams Pioneer Studios Ltd, who said that, with his co-director Williams, he met one of the defendants, Levine, three times in 1944 at the Cumberland Hotel London when he bought from him photographic materials for £209, £463 and £500. Weeks does not appear to have been with the firm for very long. He left the army in 1942 and by the 1950s had moved to Hunstanton, where he was working for photographer E E Swain.

No trace has been found of Williams Pioneer Studios Ltd at Companies House or in the Gazette.

The lease on the premises at 195/197 High Street Sutton, let to Williams Pioneer Studios at £500 pa until 1971, was offered for sale in 1959 (Vol 173 p110 The Estates Gazette). Two portraits on Flickr from Williams Pioneer Studios 124 Rye Lane Peckham have been dated in an album from May 1957.

The photographic family who were the "Williams" behind the firm were: Ernest Williams photographer b 8/10/1881 d.26/12/1943, his son Ernest Henry Williams, photographer manager, b 4.10.1903 d. 19.12.1980, and his son Gerald E Williams photographer b 26.6.1929 d 19.12.1995. Gerald, we understand, ran the last of the firm's Studios in Tooting. We are most grateful to Peter and Lin Burgess and to Samantha Williams for information about the Williams family.

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