Collection BA/004 - The Ernest Baudoux Photographic Studio

Ernest Baudoux opened a photographic studio at 56 New Street, Saint Helier in 1869. His business developed quickly, by 1870 he was already placing adverts in the local press for staff to produce prints and retouch portraits.

1875 was a significant year for Baudoux's Studio. The business advertised its relocation from 59 New Street to a new premises just round the corner at 11 Craig Street. The new studio had been especially fitted by Baudoux himself. In the advert announcing to his 'many' clients, the new premisses on Craig Street, he stated that the new facilities would be impossible to compete with, suggesting he had made a significant financial investment. 59 New Street continues to be listed as the address of the business through the 1870s and 1880s as Baudoux expanded into an adjacent property with the entrance 'relocating' to Craig Street.

Later that year the business also acquired exclusive rights to use new processes for enlargement, retouching and carbon printing; invented and patented by Claude Léon Lambert. Baudoux states in an advertisement that patents have been registered in the Channel Islands under the names Lambertypie (which was process of enlarging images) and Chromotypie (a variant of the carbon print process highly regarded for its image permanence), for which he was the exclusive owner. He was likely referring to the purchase of exclusive licences to use Lambert's patented processes in the Channel Islands. Like Baudoux, Lambert was from Paris, and he registered at least three patents for retouching, carbon printing and photographic equipment in Britain in 1874/75. Securing the exclusive rights to these processes would have been a significant competitive advantage to gain for a studio operating in Jersey, and it understandably becomes the main focus of their marketing.

In 1878 Baudoux received a bronze medal for photography at the Exposition Universal in Paris, he was the only photographer from Jersey represented and was listed with the English photographers. The catalogue lists his contribution as: views and portraits, transparencies and stereoscopic views. This international recognition would have further enhanced the reputation of the business.

In 1879, Baudoux posted adverts in the press, not to advertise his patented services, but warning the public of individuals falsely using his name in order to gain clients. Additionally from 1879 and through the early 1880s several businesses begin to advertise their the location of their premises in reference to Baudoux's Studio. Demonstrating that Baudoux's Studio was now a well established and central part of Island life.

Marketing for Baudoux's general portrait services drop off as the 1880s begin. Instead we see opportunistic marketing strategies reacting to current events, such the sinking of the ship Caledonia or a captured walrus at Greve-de-Lecq; and the targeting of successful sectors such as farming specifically use photography to promote cattle for sale and breeding. Baudoux was clearly not content to rely on his reputation, but constantly seeking new and lucrative sales opportunities.

The first references for Baudoux working with his son appear in the press in 1883. How much influence his son had on operations is uncertain, but the following year brings notable developments for the business. It is advertised as being at 59 New Street, 7, 9, and 11 Craig Street in 1884, evidencing further expansion of the studio space. They offer an instant photography service for the first time, possibly referencing the use of the silver gelatin-bromide process invented by Richard Leach Maddox. Perhaps most notably they received a gold medal at the International and Universal Exhibition at Crystal Palace, for their Chromotypie photography.

Whilst the business continued to expand and international recognition grew through 1884, in 1885 Baudoux and Son are forced to refocus on arguably their core business portrait photography due to competition in the carbon printing market. An advert for J. B. Maguire of the Rembrandt Studio, caught Baudoux and Sons attention by claiming to be introducing a system of permanent carbon printing In Jersey for the first time. Baudoux objected to this in the following weeks edition of the same newspaper. Informing the editor and readers that he had introduced the Chromotypie 10 years earlier. Obviously Baudoux's exclusive licence for the Chromotype process didn't prevent photographers from using other carbon printing processes, but Maguires claim to have introduced carbon printing clearly causes Baudoux and Son to reassert their position in the market.

Admittedly Baudoux and Son had not actively marketed carbon printing services or their exclusive licences anywhere near as much in the 1880s as they had between 1875-1879. In response Baudoux and Sons immediately re-introduced carbon printing services into their marketing materials, stating that they introduced it to Jersey in 1875, and that they hold exclusive rights to us the Chromotype process in the Channel Islands.

Baudoux's objection to Maguire's claim is particularly important as in it he states that Baudoux and Son alsoi introduced the Chromotype to Guernsey that year. Evidencing further drive to expand the business, and the opening of operations in Guernsey at least in some form by 1885.

Guernsey does not feature in any of Baudoux and Sons known marketing materials before or after this statement so there is nothing to evidence the scale of this expansion into the Guernsey Market. However, the business was sold on two years later to the photographer John R. G. Stroud, who did regularly reference operating in both Jersey and Guernsey. Whilst thanking their clients in the press in 1887 after the sale of the business Baudoux notes John Stroud's credentials as being known to photographic scenes in London and Paris. Stroud seems to have been keen to lean into Baudoux and Sons legacy his products clearly state that he is the successor to Baudoux. Stroud would him self sell up after only four years, selling his business to Albert Smith.