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Henri Victor Leménager, Photographer, Bushey & Watford, 1861-1887 |
December, 2011 |
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Henri Victor Leménager (1822-1912) was born in Paris, France, and at the time of the 1861 census was a French teacher at Bourne House School, High Street, Bushey, run by Henry Biggs. Later the same year he married Mary Jane Braden (niece of Henry Biggs wife, Frances Amelia Braden) in London. They were living in Bushey in 1863 when their first child was born. He is recorded as a French teacher & photographer at Chalk Hill Bushey in 1866 and was still there at the time of the 1871 census, when he was just described as a photographer. However the 1872-1886 trade directories recoded him as a photographer at 16 High Street, Watford.
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Carte de Visite from Chalk Hill, Bushey |
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CDV of unnamed little girl The chair is the same as the one used later in the Watford Studio (D)
H V Leménager Photographer Chalk Hill, Bushey Herts within three minutes of the Bushey Station
No plate number
Date 1861-1871 |
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Painted CDV of an unknown Lady The card backing is identical to the one shown above, except that it has been trimmed to remove the photographer's name on the front, and there is a pencilled number 90 on the back. Particularly in the early day of photography painted photographs were available but never caught on |
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Their children (all born in Bushey or Watford) were Amelia Victoria (1863), Sophie (1865), Henri Victor (1871), Charles Seward (1873), Alfred William (1875) and Alexander George (1877). Amelia Victoria Leménager married John Charles Bruton in St Mary's, Watford, in 1881. I have found no later relevant UK birth, marriage or death certificate entries. This is undoubtedly because Henri and Mary Jane (and possibly other members of their family) emigrated to the United States in 1887. He died in Washington state in 1912, leaving Mary Jane as a widow, and she was still living in Washington, in 1930. She died at Tacoma, Pierce, Washington 15 April 1936. She was 94 years 8 months and 14 days old. This fits with her being shown as a minor on the marriage certificate.
An anonymous comment on the Newsletter (January 2014) reads: My research shows that Henry Sr. died in Tacoma, WA and Henry Jr. died in Washington DC. Henry Jr's first wife and two children died at the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago in 1903.
| Examples of Carte de Visite from 16 High Street, Watford | ||||||||||||||
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CDV of Alexander Pytts Falconer with above back advertised on ebay with date 1873 CDV of gates to Cassiobury Park with above back advertised on ebay with date of 1879 |
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Other Online Photographs St Albans museum has an example of a circa 1870 Lemenager photograph. See a number of views of Watford/Rickmansworth area taken by Lemenager taken in 1870. These may include pictures used as illustrations for the book Historical Sketch of Rickmansworth and the Surrounding Parishes.
There are frequent CDV and other photographs by him advertised on ebay. |
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If you can add to the information given above tell me.