Thomas Ogle, photographer, Preston & Grange,
Lancashire, 1813-1882
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Thomas Ogle (1813-1882) - Parents & Siblings
Thomas Ogle was born in Preston on 23rd December 1813 and was
christened at the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Freckleton, near Preston. He was the son of Andrew
Ogle (1764-1845) and Anna Ogle (1774-1821) (nee Walker).
Joseph had two brothers and four sisters:
John Ogle 1795–1872; he became a printer, bookseller, bookbinder & stationer
in Bolton, Lancashire.
Mary Ogle 1797–1812; died aged 14.
Elizabeth Ogle 1799–?; ran a private school in Preston with her sister, Mary
Martha Ann Ogle 1801-?; married William Brown, Wesleyan preacher & Commercial
traveller for a paper mill.
Joseph Ogle 1806–1878; draper and silk mercer of Preston.
Mary Walker Ogle 1810–1893; ran a private school in Preston with her sister,
Elizabeth.
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Thomas Ogle (1813-1882) - Wife & Children
Thomas married Hannah Burton (1822-1901) in 1842, they had at least six children:
Joseph Ogle b.1843
Mary Ogle b.1846
Elizabeth Ogle b.1850
Sarah Ogle b.1856
Fanny Ogle b.1859
Constance Ogle b.1864
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Thomas Ogle (1813-1882)
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Thomas was the youngest of seven children and his mother died
when he was just eight years old. He served an apprenticeship as a bookbinder
and in 1834 he went into partnership with Isaac Bland to form 'Ogle
& Bland, bookbinders' with premises in Chapel Walks, behind
103, Fishergate, Preston.
In October of the following year they moved the business to 38,
Avenham Street. The partnership was dissolved in January 1837; Thomas continued the
business at Avenham Street until 1850 whilst Isaac Bland opened a shop elsewhere in
Preston.
In the 1841 Census, Thomas is listed as living at
the house of his brother Joseph, (silk mercer & draper) in Cross Street,
Preston. The following year he married Hannah Burton of Kendal and in 1843
their first child, Joseph was born. In 1844 they were living at 13, Bow Lane (near
the present L.R.O.).
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1834

Advert for Ogle & Bland,
Bookbinders, Preston, 1834 (Up the Court, near Messrs. Pilkingtons' Office, Chapel
Walks).
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1851

Advert for Thomas Ogle, 'Bookbinder, Woodcutter & Bookseller', 126, Fishergate,
Preston, 1851(near present-day
W.H.Smith's).
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Thomas' father, a
successful corn merchant with a warehouse and other property, died in
1845. Thomas may have inherited a reasonable sum of money after
the estate was settled about 1849.
By March 1850 Thomas
had sold his business in Avenham Street to a Joseph Thompson. A year
later, 31st March 1851 (Census
Day) Thomas & Hannah were living in two properties
converted into a shop in North Road, Preston, with three children, a
servant and a nursemaid.
In April 1851 Thomas opened
a bookshop (see advert to the left) at 126, Fishergate.
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Thomas was also teaching landscape and figure drawing
at two evening classes per week in 1854-5, at the Institution for the
Diffusion of Knowledge, Avenham. It was perhaps here that he developed an interest
in the new art of photograpy.
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Institution for the Diffusion of
Knowledge, Avenham, Preston, 1854. Click on the image to enlarge.
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1855

Advert for Thomas Ogle, 'Portrait Painter and Photographic Artist', 28, Great
Avenham Street, Preston, 1855.
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It was probably in 1855 when he moved away from bookbinding
and set up as a Portrait Painter & Photographic Artist. His
studio was at 28 Great Avenham Street Preston which was in a
middle-class residential area, near to Avenham Park.
Avenham Park, Preston, in the 1850s. Great Avenham Street was two streets to
the right of this picture. Click on the
image to enlarge.
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Portrait
photograph taken by Thomas Ogle of Thomas Batty Addison
(1787-1874); Recorder of Preston, appointed in 1832, J.P. for Lancaster
from 1821 and chairman of the Preston Quarter Sessions.
Photo ©
courtesy of the Harris Museum, Preston.
Harris Museum
Website
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Thomas had some important commissions from local worthies
for portrait photographs and the business appears to have been a
success.
He started experimenting with stereographic photography and
about 1857 went into partnership with Thomas Edge.
Thomas Ogle stereoview of Raglan Castle
c1857.
Click on the image to enlarge.
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Two young girls with a
stereo viewer c1860.
Click on the image to enlarge.
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Ogle & Edge began to specialise in scenic views, especially
those of the Lake District, but also Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales. The stereoviews
were sold all over the country and they produced several hundred different views.
Ogle & Edge stereoviews are well-known to modern-day collectors.
A Victorian stereoviewer.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Stereoviews were becoming an increasingly popular branch of photography. Pairs
of photographs taken from a slightly different angle were mounted onto a single
card; when viewed through a stereoscope, they give a three-dimensional effect.
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Advert for the sale of Thomas
Ogle's home, in 1862. I think this building later became a childrens'
home and is now NSPCC offices.
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The partnership with Thomas Edge ended in January, 1860 by which
time they had produced several hundred, if not several thousand stereoviews which
were still being sold all over Great Britain and abroad.
He left Preston to live in the Lake District about
1861.
Advert (left) for the sale of Thomas Ogle's home, Crow Hill House, (now no.125),Oxford Street, Preston in
1862.
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Thomas and Hannah moved first to Penrith, and then to
Grange-Over-Sands, living at 4 Eggerslack Terrace. He continued as a photographer and ran
a 'fancy repository.' His were amongst the first photogaphs to be used to
illustrate books - they were pasted in by hand and include:
'The Lady of the Lake' by A.W.
Bennett 1863. 'Our English Lakes, Mountains
and Waterfalls as seen by William Wordsworth' 1864.
'Ruined abbeys and castles of Great Britain and
Ireland.' W. Howitt 1864.
There are some examples of his work taken in the Lake
District and Scotland at the British Library which can be viewed online here.
Thomas Ogle died aged 68 in 1882; he left a legacy of
marvellous photographs which are admired and much sought after to this
day.
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For more information on Ogle & Edge photographs click here.
If anyone can help with information or photos then please contact me via email.
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