The Flint Family

The ‘Flint’ photographic portrait studio at 28 Station Road, Redhill, Surrey which was in business during the period 1898-1899. Operated either by the professional photographer Nicholas William Albert Flint (1865-1944), who usually traded under the name of ‘Albert Flint’, or his father, Nicholas Edward Flint (1835-1902).

Nicholas William Albert Flint was born in Bermondsey, South-East London, on 13th July 1865, the son and eldest child of Mary Ann Catherine Cox (1838-1892) and Nicholas Edward Flint (1835-1902), an ‘Engineer’s Pattern Maker”. Nicholas Flint senior had been born in the Reigate/Redhill area on 13th July 1835 and baptised at Reigate’s Non-Conformist Independent Chapel on 21st September 1835. His father, John Flint (1788-1864), had run a grocer’s shop in Redhill. Nicholas Edward Flint left the Reigate/Redhill area for London as a teenager, and eventually settled in Bermondsey, where he married Mary Ann Catherine Cox on 8th October 1864. Nicholas William Albert Flint, their first child, was born nine months later. The couple went on to produce 8 more children. Three became professional photographers in adult life.

When the 1881 Census was taken, Nicholas William Albert Flint was living with his parents and eight younger siblings at 89 Southwark Park Road, Bermondsey. By this time, 15-year-old Nicholas W. A. Flint was already working as a “Photographer’s Assistant”.

Early in 1891, at Greenwich, Nicholas William Albert Flint, a self-employed photographer, married Isabella Kellaway (born 1866, Gravesend, Kent), a 24-year-old ‘School Board Assistant Teacher’. At the time of the 1891 Census, Nicholas W. A. Flint and Isabella, his new bride, were residing at 68 Church Street, Camberwell, South London, where, under the name “Albert Flint”, Nicholas William Albert Flint operated a photographic portrait studio. By July 1893, Nicholas William Albert Flint was running two photographic studios in London, one at 68 Church Street, Camberwell, South London, the other at 211 Clapham Road, Stockwell, South-West London, both under the trading name of “Albert Flint”.

In August 1894, shortly after giving birth to their second child, Nicholas Flint’s wife, Isabella, died at the age of 28. On 18th May 1896, at Bristol, the photographer Nicholas William Albert Flint, a 30-year-old widower, married Elizabeth Emily Harvey (born 1871, Clifton, Gloucestershire). In the marriage register, Nicholas William Albert Flint states that his father Nicholas Edward Flint was a “Photographer” by profession. At the time of his second marriage, Nicholas William Albert Flint was residing at 165 The Grove, Camberwell, South London.

The 1899 edition of Kelly’s Directory of Surrey lists Nicholas Flint as a photographer at 28 Station Road, Redhill. This studio had previously been occupied by the photographer John Joseph Merrett (born 1851, Mickleham, Surrey). Merrett died in the district of Reigate in 1902, aged 51. The Flint photographic studio at 28 Station Road, Redhill, appears either to have been a branch studio of Nicholas William Albert Flint [who traded under the name “Albert Flint” at 68 Church Street, Camberwell, South London, from around 1891 until 1906] or, perhaps more likely, his father, Nicholas Edward Flint, who would have been in his sixties in 1899. At the time of the 1901 Census, Nicholas William Albert Flint was recorded as a 35-year-old “Photographer” residing with his second wife, Elizabeth, and their three children at 2 College Road, Camberwell, South London. All three of Nicholas Flint’s children had been born in Camberwell viz. Amy (born 1892, Camberwell), Isabel (born 1894, Camberwell), and Albert Edmund Flint (born 17th July 1899 in Camberwell).

When working as a photographer, Nicholas William Albert Flint went by the name of ‘Albert Flint’. When Nicholas W. A. Flint married Elizabeth Harvey in 1896, he stated that his father Nicholas Edward Flint was a “Photographer” by profession. It is possible that it was Nicholas W. A. Flint’s father, Nicholas Edward Flint, who operated the studio in Redhill, either independently, or on his son’s behalf. If Nicholas W. Albert Flint was based in Redhill his youngest son would have been born there rather than Camberwell. In 1898, Nicholas Edward Flint was in his sixties. When the 1901 Census was carried out Nicholas Edward Flint was residing at 13 Erlanger Road, Deptford, London. He informed the census enumerator that he was a “Retired Engineer’s Pattern Maker.” Nicholas Edward Flint died at 7 The Terrace, Camden Square, London, Middlesex, on 15th February 1902, aged 67.

By July 1905, under the trading name of “Albert Flint”, Nicholas William Albert Flint was not only operating a photographic portrait studio at 68 Church Street, Camberwell, he was also publishing from this address, black & white, coloured, and ‘real photo’ picture post cards. Flint produced photographic views in the postcard format and claimed in his advertisements that his stock of 200,000 post cards was the largest and finest selection in South East London.

For a brief time, during the early 1900s, Nicholas William Albert Flint was in partnership with his younger brother, John Mountford Flint (1867-1955) in a photographic firm named ‘A. & J. Flint’, which was based at 321 Stanstead Road, Catford, South-East London. The partnership between (Nicholas William) Albert Flint and his brother, John Mountford Flint was dissolved in October 1907. After the partnership was dissolved, John Mountford Flint continued as a photographer at 321 Stanstead Road Catford,. Another brother, Harold Flint (born 1872, Bermondsey) was also a professional photographer. Harold Flint operated a photographic portrait studio at 2 Clayton Terrace, Upper Tooting Road, S. W. London.

It appears, that Nicholas William Albert Flint sold his photographic studio at 68 Church Street, Camberwell, to John Robert Jeffs Pearson (1881-1968) sometime between 1907 and 1910. John Robert Jeffs Pearson, a photographer and fine art publisher, trading as “Albert Flint & Co.” at 68 Church Street, Camberwell, South London, was declared bankrupt in 1911.

By the time the 1911 census was taken, ‘Albert Flint’ (Nicholas William Albert Flint) was working as an ‘Art Dealer’ and ‘Picture Framer’ at 158 Church Road, Hove. His wife Elizabeth, and his two daughters, 19-year-old Amy and 16-year-old Isabel, were assisting in the business. His 11-year-old son, Albert E. Flint, was still at school.

Mrs Elizabeth Flint, Nicholas Flint’s second wife, died in Steyning in 1929 at the age of 57. Nicholas William Albert Flint married for the third time in 1930. His bride was Mary Blamire (born 1887).

When the General Register of 1939 was compiled, Nicholas W. A. Flint was recorded as an “Antique Dealer” at 104 High Street, Steyning, in the Chanctonbury district of Sussex. Nicholas William Albert Flint died at 104 High Street, Steyning, Sussex, on 4th April 1944 at the age of 78.