professional photographer, was born in London and came to Melbourne on board the Gloriana in 1853. Early in 1866 he photographed landscape views at Koriot, Woolsthorpe, Dunmore and Tower Hill in the Western District of Victoria. In April he was appointed general manager of the photographic studio of William Vazie Simons in Swanston Street, Melbourne, an appointment apparently necessitated by the departure of Simons’s partner, Alexander Fox . The following month Soden was accused of 'having forged and uttered a number of bank notes’ and remanded at the Melbourne Police Court before being committed for trial. Investigations had discovered photographic negatives of pound notes at Simons’s photographic premises and a forged pound note was found in Soden’s South Yarra residence. Soden served a year in Pentridge Prison, during which time some of his photographs were exhibited at the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition.
On 18 October 1879, a Mr Soden reappeared as proprietor of a new photographic salon in High Street, Kyneton, stated by the Kyneton Guardian to be the most up-to-date studio in any country town in Victoria. His predecessor Henry Glenny had by then left the district so there was no resident competition. It is not known how long he stayed at Kyneton or in other Victorian towns, but in 1881-82 Soden had a studio at 10 Park Street, Sydney. He died in Sydney on 24 October 1884.
- Writers:
- Fox, Paul
Note: Primary.
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
