This photograph of Sheringham fishermen wearing ganseys was taken by Hellis and Sons around 1901. Sheringham Museum Trust holds two mounted enlarged copies of the group image.
It is a studio portrait showing the men posed standing and seated, dressed in their ‘Sunday best’ ganseys and hats.
The photograph may have been taken at one of the London studios founded by Robert Hellis (1835–1895) in 1870, whose main studio was on Regent Street, or at one of the firm’s travelling or temporary studios outside London. The exact location is not known.
The 1871 census records Robert Hellis in London as a photographer, living with his wife Gertrude and their five children. Photography remained his main profession throughout his life, although he was also described as a professor of magic and séances. By 1878, the business was trading as Hellis & Sons. In 1887, it was recorded as a partnership between William Henry Hellis, William Edward Morgan and Robert William Hellis; this partnership was dissolved on 1 January 1928.
Source: Science Museum Group collection entry for Hellis & Sons.
When Dorothy Martins, a relative of the photograph’s original owner, donated the image to the museum, she recalled being told that someone had paid for the men to travel to London to have the photograph taken, although this has not been substantiated. Two of the men in the image are known to be her relatives: Jacob Martins and his son Jack Martins. What can be said with certainty is that all the Sheringham men were photographed together in a Hellis and Sons studio, although the exact location remains unknown and may have been one of the firm’s temporary studios.
- The men shown in the photograph, from back left to right, are as follows:
- ‘Jack’ John Benjamin Martins
- George ‘Salter’ Farrow
- William ‘Billy’ Little
- Unknown – possibly a West
- Robert ‘Elmer’ West
- George ‘Potter’ Hardingham
- Charlie ‘Old Chicken’ Grice
- John ‘Rook’ Reynolds
- Jacob Martins
- Charles ‘Chicken’ Grice
- Robert Henry ‘King Kong’ Grice
