yeovil PEOPLE

Henry Goodfellow

Photographer

 

Henry Goodfellow was an early professional photographer in Yeovil. He is known from an inscription "Henry Goodfellow, Photographer, Yeovil" on a photograph that has been dated to about 1860 of Kingston Turnpike House and Gates (see below).

He was born in Wincanton in 1810 the son of Thomas Goodfellow (1782-1838) and Esther née Bond (1786-1838). In the 1841 census Henry, a lifelong bachelor, was listed as an ironmonger in Wincanton but by 1851 he had moved to Bourton, near Gillingham, working as a clerk.

He is known to have been in Yeovil working as a photographer from 1867 and placed several advertisements in the Western Gazette regarding his new studios in Kingston, next door to the Red Lion Inn.

By 1871 he had moved to Brighton Place, Clevedon, again working as a photographer. In the 1881 census 71-year old Henry was lodging at Solva Place, Clevedon, and gave his profession as 'Master Photographer'.

Henry Goodfellow returned to Wincanton during the 1880s (when the carte de visite by him above left was taken) and he died there in 1890 aged 80.

 

gallery

 

Kingston Turnpike House and gates at Fiveways, photographed about 1860 by Henry Goodfellow. The house was moved a hundred yards further down Kingston in 1875.

 

This advertisement was placed in the Western Gazette's edition of 29 March 1867.

 

Henry's advertisement in the Western Gazette's edition of 27 December 1867 in which he describes himself as a 'Portrait and Landscape Photographer'. 

 


From “Secure the Shadow, Somerset Photographers 1839-1949“
courtesy of Robin Ansell , Allan Collier and Phil Nichols.

A carte de visite by Henry Goodfellow from the time (between 1867 and 1871) his studio was in Kingston, adjacent to the Red Lion Inn. The lady's full bell-shaped crinoline dress was becoming a little old-fashioned for this time.

 


From my collection

An evocative cabinet card by Henry Goodfellow showing a rural haymaking scene, presumably near Wincanton, during the 1890s.