Design and Art Australia Online

professional photographer, was born near Croydon, London on 14 October 1835, of an old Scottish family, according to his obituary in the British Journal Photographic Almanac 1904 . Already an innovative (although apparently not well-paid) photographer at the age of fifteen, he left England for Australia in search of gold. His prospecting was unsuccessful, so he set up as a photographer in rural New South Wales. Although no extant photographs have been identified, he was advertising his availability to take portrait photographs in the Yass Courier on 18 December 1858. Co-incidentally, that same month a series of his stereoscopic photographs showing 'the sacking of a Jew’s house’ were mentioned in the London Art Journal : 'These works are thus novelties to the art as a consecutive series which tell a story’. The set was also noted in the Photographic News (24 December 1858).

After returning to England in 1859, Elliott married a sister of Clarence E. Fry, a professional photographer who had learned his trade from George Washington Wilson. The two men founded the firm of Elliott & Fry in 1863. It was very successful. Elliott was said to have had the business skills while Fry was the chief camera operator. They manufactured and sold their own plates and paper and in 1886 opened a South Kensington (London) branch operated by Fry. Both were wealthy men before the partnership was dissolved in 1893.

Elliott continued to travel widely and was also a noted art collector. He died in London on 30 March 1903.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011