THE WAY WE WERE A CENTURY AGO
MARIA PEPPER LEAFS THROUGH THE PAGES OF A FASCINATING NEW BOOK FEATURING 523 PORTRAITS OF LOCAL PEOPLE FROM THE COLLECTION OF EARLY WEXFORD PHOTOGRAPHER CHARLES VIZE
MORE than 500 portrait photographs taken by the legendary Wexfordman Charles Vize who travelled the county with his camera in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, have been taken from their original glass plates and captured in a fascinating book which will be launched this week.
‘Historic Portraits from the Charles E. Vize Collection’ has been compiled by history writer John Power of Kilmore Quay from glass plates owned by Billy Roche of Grantstown, Wellingtonbridge, whose parents John and Peggy discovered them during renovations to a Main Street fruit and vegetable shop which they established in the early 1950’s.
The premises beside the former Joyce’s Hardware had been lying uninhabited for a number of years and when a rear building was being refurbished, the family discovered a lean-to with a glass roof on the top storey which they learned was a studio used by the photographer and Cinema Palace manager Charles Vize before he was tragically killed in a car accident in July 1927 at the age of 50. All the photographs were on glass plates and stored in a cupboard on the ground floor.
Born in August 1876 to bank manager Joseph Edward and Mary Elizabeth (nee Stamp), Charles Vize lived with his parents and four younger siblings in Rowe Street Lower. In 1902 he married Greta Donohue and went to live in Upper King Street with the Donohue family. The couple had nine children.
Charles started his career as a photographer in the late 1890’s, spending 30 years engaged in ‘ high-class portraiture’, according to an advertisement in a Wexford Corporation booklet in 1900 which offered his services for ‘wedding, school, football and every description of outdoor groups’ and promoted him as ‘unsurpassed for style and finish in all branches of photography’.
He was not the first person to take photographs commercially in Wexford town - a Messrs Gardland & Co were operating in 1858, Mrs. S. McCabe in 1862 and William Andrews in 1864 but he was probably the best known and his memory lives on today.
The preserved photographic plates feature portraits of adults and children from Wexford town and the general areas of Kilmore, Enniscorthy, Rosslare, Taghmon, Ferns, and Gorey, including members of notable families of the time along with members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Wexford Confraternity Band. Many of the captioned names are still associated with the areas.
The Yates family of Blackstoops, Enniscorthy are featured along with many clergymen, including Fr. Thomas Busher of Tomhaggard, former Vicar General of Enniscorthy who built local schools and oversaw an enlargement of the the FCJ Convent school in Newtownbarry (now Bunclody).
During his research John Power, the author of ‘Wexford: A Maritime History’, discovered that Charles Vize could not have taken all the photos in the collection as some of the people involved had died in the 1870’s and 1880’s and he was born in 1876. They included Reverend Dean Laurence Kirwan, parish priest of Piercestown, who died in 1880 and John Kellett of Clonard House, who died in 1886. It is thought that Vize may have received some of Mrs. McCabe’s or William Andrews’ plates.
John received 600 plates from Billy Roche and managed to save 523. The remainder were too damaged to rescue. To safeguard the plates, Charles Vize had placed a slip of paper between each one for protection. But in some cases, the paper became damp and stuck to the glass plate and the image.
The book, which took over eight years to complete, will be officially launched at the Wexford library in Mallin Street this Thursday, August 6 at 7 pm by Dubliner John Mcgrath, a relative of the Vize family. Some of Charles’ grandchildren will also attend the launch.
As well as being a photographer, Vize was manager of Wexford’s first purpose-built cinema, the Palace Cinema in Harpur’s Lane, which opened in December 1915. Its first film was ‘ The Old Maid Baby’.
He was also a talented clarinet player who appeared with the St. Patrick Juvenile fife and Drum Band and the Men’s Confraternity Brass and Reed Band. He was secretary of the local branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
On July 17, 1927, Wexford was plunged into shock and sadness when news reached the town that one of their bestknown inhabitants Charles E. Vize, had died in a car accident while motoring down to Rosslare Harbour Regatta to take photographs.
He was a passenger in a two-seater Morris Crowley car driven by his life-long friend Hugh McGuire, who also lived in Rowe Street. The car had just passed three young men cycling in the direction of Rosslare: Thomas Pitman and John Walsh of Bride Street and John Crosbie of Roche’s Terrace, who later became important witnesses at the inquest.
As the car neared Cottage, Tagoat, the tube of one of the back wheels burst causing the vehicle to swerve across the road and strike a tree and a wall before landing on its side, throwing both men onto the grass margin. Mr Vize died shortly afterwards. Mr McGuire was injured in the accident but survived.
Charles’ widow Greta died at her residence in Northumberland Avenue, Dun Laoghaire in February 1932 at the age of 48, five years after her husband’s death. She was buried alongside Charles in Wexford.
John Power researched the Vize family history and has included interesting newspaper clippings and advertisements from the time, including Charles and Greta’s marriage announcement and a write-up about their wedding, a family notice marking the first anniversary of Charles’ death, an advertisement for the regatta he was due to attend on the day he died and a photograph of the Vize family headstone in Crosstown.
‘Historic Portraits from the Charles E. Vize Collection’published by C&R Print is a rare and precious glimpse into Wexford’s past through the faces and fashions of its inhabitants over 100 years ago. In keeping with the old tradition of photography being a serious business, there is not one smiling photograph in the entire collection.
The 235-page book is on sale in Wexford Book Centre, Byrnes of Enniscorthy and Brady’s Supermarket, Kilmore Quay and will also be available at the launch for €15 per copy.