Thomas Edge, photographer, Preston & Llandudno.

Thomas Edge was born in Preston c1821; little is known of his early life but he was probably a cotton weaver and may have attended evening classes at the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge. Local artist Thomas Ogle was teaching there and they were partners in a photographic business in the late 1850s.

Thomas Edge married Jane Innerdale¹ in July 1859 and the partnership with Thomas Ogle was dissolved in January 1860. This was probably because Ogle was moving to the Lake District. Thomas Edge retained the studio at 28, Great Avenham Street and in 1861 was living at 15 Deepdale Terrace Preston.

Ogle & Edge had already produced a series of stereoviews of Llandudno in the late 1850s and Edge was fond of the resort. Each summer he migrated to Llandudno with his family and ran a photographic studio there. He took portraits and sold carte de visites and stereoviews.

By 1871 he was living at 51, Great Avenham Street, Preston, with Jane and their six children.

In March, 1875 he closed his studio in Preston and spent the rest of his life at Llandudno. He died in 1900, aged about 79.

^{1 Jane Innerdale was the son of James Innerdale 'Supr BR Segt & Chelsea Pensioner' at Preston Barracks in the 1851 Census.}

Elizabeth Brown Arminson 1867-1933. A carte de visite photo taken by Thomas Edge. Elizabeth was the daughter of Dr. John Arminson 1835-89, a G.P. in Preston for nearly 30 years. Elizabeth later became a school governess in Preston. Photo © courtesy of the Harris Museum, Preston.

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