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Lewis & Randall Ltd - Architectural & Industrial Photographers- later John Whybrow Ltd

Andy1

Andy1

master brummie
Good morning, was just looking for information on the above photographers if possible.
I've been fortunate enough to come by two photographs by the above. They are currently set within separate frames, and I haven't broken the seal on the back of the frames to examine the photos in further detail - i.e, to look for any dates.

They are interesting in that they appear to be now and then photos taken from the same point, looking down New Street, with Victoria House to the right handside of the photos.

The black & white photo shows Christ Church to the left (demolished 1899), and the newer one (Sepia) shows 'Galloways Corner' to the left (demolished 1970).

I've searched the internet for more examples of Lewis & Randall's work and about the company in general, but haven't had much luck on discovering a lot of information. I was wondering if any good people here had any information that could help?

Thank you

Andrea
 
Hi Andrea, there's certainly not much about that company out there, this is all I could find.
 

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Isn't it already mentioned in another thread?

Thomas.Lewis

Although the undated postcard below is not even in the Birmingham area, it was photographed by a "Thos.Lewis, Stratford Road, Birmingham". A bit of Googling allowed me to establish that he was in business at Merton House, 200 Stratford Road. Can anyone add anything to that? As to the subject...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Lewis and Randall Ltd were at 200 Stratford Road at least between 1955 and 1964.
Members of the Institute of Incorporated Photographers.
 
RobT said:
Isn't it already mentioned in another thread?

Thomas.Lewis

Although the undated postcard below is not even in the Birmingham area, it was photographed by a "Thos.Lewis, Stratford Road, Birmingham". A bit of Googling allowed me to establish that he was in business at Merton House, 200 Stratford Road. Can anyone add anything to that? As to the subject...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
Click to expand...
I did search Lewis & Randall before posting, but search results returned nothing. Thanks for the link.
 
mikejee said:
Andy. could you put the photos on the forum, so we could view them
Click to expand...
Andy, I think the Lewis, of Lewis and Randall, was something to do with John Whybrow Photographer at 200 Stratford Road which I believe is still there.
Annie

I was a friend of John Whybrow and remember him telling me about Lewis negatives.
Annie
 
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Jonob said:
Merton House is behind the tram and some of the signage is visible. Thos, Lewis actually died as a result of falling downstairs on a tram, John
Click to expand...
Thank you, what a superb photo. Such a tragic demise for Thom Lewis.
 
Good morning folks, I have searched high and low on the internet for the exact same two photos that I have in my possession. It seems that they are not widely floating around on the internet, so I would prefer to keep them private and dear to me for the time being to be hung side by side in my house. For those that tried to help me find information on the original photographers and relevant info, thank you very much!
Andrea
 
Andy1 said:
Good morning, was just looking for information on the above photographers if possible.
I've been fortunate enough to come by two photographs by the above. They are currently set within separate frames, and I haven't broken the seal on the back of the frames to examine the photos in further detail - i.e, to look for any dates.

They are interesting in that they appear to be now and then photos taken from the same point, looking down New Street, with Victoria House to the right handside of the photos.

The black & white photo shows Christ Church to the left (demolished 1899), and the newer one (Sepia) shows 'Galloways Corner' to the left (demolished 1970).

I've searched the internet for more examples of Lewis & Randall's work and about the company in general, but haven't had much luck on discovering a lot of information. I was wondering if any good people here had any information that could help?

Thank you

Andrea
Click to expand...
The two photos you describe may be two photos that appear in John Whybrow's 'How Birmingham became a Great City' 1976.

The older photo is dated c.1875. Apart from Christ Church other features of the photo include Corbett's Temperance Hotel on the right hand edge; Robert Peel's statue with a metal fence and - on the top floor of the building on the junction of New Street and Pinfold Street - is an ad for Oldham & Cooper, photographers

The more recent photo is dated 6 July 1955. This has Galloway's Corner plus a very black looking central Post Office (now Victoria House). There is a Birmingham Corporation bus outside the Post Office, that on first glance appears to be on the wrong side of the road. In 1955 the sign on the building at the junction of New Street and Pinfold Street is 'DALE FORTY PIANOS, HMV RADIO, TELEVISION.

John Whybrow produced another excellent book of Birmingham architectural photos called 'How does your Birmingham grow?' 1972. That book also contains some history of architectural photos in Birmingham including some information on Thomas Lewis.

Very good used copies of both John Whybrow books are available on the internet.

Hope this helps
 
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Richard McNeill said:
The two photos you describe may be two photos that appear John Whybrow's 'How Birmingham became a Great City' 1976.

The older photo is dated c.1875. Apart from Christ Church other features of the photo include Corbett's Temperance Hotel on the right hand edge; Robert Peel's statue with a metal fence and - on the top floor of the building on the junction of New Street and Pinfold Street - is an ad for Oldham & Cooper, photographers

The more recent photo is dated 6 July 1955. This has Galloway's Corner plus a very black looking central Post Office (now Victoria House). There is a Birmingham Corporation bus outside the Post Office, that on first glance appears to be on the wrong side of the road. In 1955 the sign on the building at the junction of New Street and Pinfold Street is 'DALE FORTY PIANOS, HMV RADIO, TELEVISION.

John Whybrow produced another excellent book of Birmingham architectural photos called 'How does your Birmingham grow?' 1972. That book also contains some history of architectural photos in Birmingham including some information on Thomas Lewis.

Very good used copies of both John Whybrow books are available on the internet.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for this information Richard! I wasn't aware of the two books you mention, but have made a note of them and I will try and get myself copies of them - they sound very interesting. Thanks again, Andrea.
 
In the book
'Birmingham on old postcards' by John Marks, there is a profile of Thomas Lewis on page 64.
Most of the information you may already know.
I have included the scanned page (64) for your perusal.
 

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Here's a summary of the history of the business, based on the John Mark's source identified by Bob Johnson in post 19 and John Whybrow's 'How does your Birmingham grow'?

The company can trace its history to Thomas Lewis opening his first photographic studio in 1871.
In 1894 Thomas Lewis moved to Merton House, 200 Stratford Road.
In 1919 the company became Lewis & Randall.
Randall retired in 1938 and Sidney Herbert Edward (SHE) Whybrow took control.
SHE Whybrow retired in 1953. His son John Whybrow became managing director.
When SHE Whybrow died in 1968, his son John took over the business and renamed it John Whybrow Limited.
Merton House still stands. Historic England records the occupier of this Grade II listed building as being John Whybrow Limited.

John Mark's mentions that the firm was still in operation in 1982. However, I am not clear what happened to the business since then or who owns the photos / negatives. Anyone know? Otherwise perhaps the family knows.

Sources:
John Marks 'Birmingham on old postcards', 1982
John Whybrow's 'How does your Birmingham Grow?' 1972
 
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Bob Johnson said:
In the book
'Birmingham on old postcards' by John Marks, there is a profile of Thomas Lewis on page 64.
Most of the information you may already know.
I have included the scanned page (64) for your perusal.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this Bob, I shall have a read of P.64 and also put 'Birmingham on old postcards' on my list too, Andrea
 
I started work at Lewis & Randall in 1969 as a 15 yr old. It became John Whybrow Ltd in 1970.
I worked there until 1972 mainly doing b&w darkroom stuff, processing films, printing, glazing, mounting etc.

The old glass plate negatives were kept in the attic accessible by a tiny, narrow, steep staircase. Scary stuff coming downstairs clutching a bunch of negatives for printing!

I eventually left and decided to keep the family tradition of piano tuning alive, me being the 4th generation, father to son.
I remember my first take home wage at Lewis & Randall was £18-16-3d. for the month!

I believe Birmingham Central Library now have the collection of glass plate negatives.
 
Welcome PianoTuner. An interesting post. Do you know if the architectural photographs were a large collection ? Be interesting to find out if the Library still has them in its archives.

Well done for keeping the family piano tuning tradition alive. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Welcome PianoTuner. An interesting post. Do you know if the architw ectural photographs were a large collection ? Be interesting to find out if the Library still has them in its archives.

Well done for keeping the family piano tuning tradition alive. Viv.
Click to expand...
I used to print the popular shots of New St, Victoria Square, Snow Hill Station etc but I guess there were perhaps a few hundred glass plates in total depicting buildings and streets.

I popped into 200 Stratford Rd in 1999 or 2000 and the same cleaning lady who started in 1971 was still there!
The guy running the place said that B'ham Library now has the John Whybrow collection and that they were going to copy the negatives for future photo sales. Probably best to contact them to verify this.
 
Thanks PianoTuner. Ah yes, I remember seeing some of the Wybrow collection. So were the photos mostly originally by Lewis & Randall ? Thanks for telling us the background. Other members will be interested in the photos too. Viv.
 
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Some history of Thomas Lewis which might be of interest. Article is from the Birmingham Post 5/2/1972 and was part of a promotion of an exhibition opened later in that month. There were some of Lewis’s photos to accompany the article but they are poorly reproduced in the digitisation of the newspaper. Viv.13E4F542-A190-4C56-A757-6FDD483A828F.jpeg6E6EF920-DE0C-46AA-9D55-70C2CAAF1B02.jpeg
09B7294D-0DCC-4ED0-8E97-CB2E724626DC.jpegF6B2F093-517E-41A1-AB59-EBEC3C328A31.jpeg
5FE39062-DB7F-4D01-A33A-8867044116BD.jpeg

Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
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Vivienne14 said:
Some history of Thomas Lewis which might be of interest. Article is from the Birmingham Post 5/2/1972 and was part of a promotion of an exhibition opened later in that month. There were some of Lewis’s photos to accompany the article but they are poorly reproduced in the digitisation of the newspaper. Viv.View attachment 166920View attachment 166919
View attachment 166922View attachment 166923
View attachment 166924

Source: British Newspaper Archive
Click to expand...
The book that followed the 1972 exhibition was John Whybrow's 'How Does Your Birmingham Grow?' Although out of print, used copies in a very good condition are for sale on the internet.
 
I have a copy of the book I purchased when it came out. The reproduction of the photos is good but half the photos are ones not from collection the Whybrow, but ones from a similar position in 1971. I would have preferred these to be replaced by extra original ones
 
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