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| “A peep of Tauranga Harbour, N.Z.” attributed to Mary Humphreys, c. 1900-1906 Polychrome collotype printed postcard, published by T.S. Duncanson, March 1907 (A.G. Series 103C) Collection of Justine Neal |
Mention the name Mary Humphreys to a collector of Bay of Plenty postcards and their eyes will light up. Her output in the roughly two and a half decades that she was in business was nothing like that of ubiquitous nationwide publishers such as Frederick Radcliffe, Henry Winkelmann and Frank Duncan, but a fair number of printed, real photo and hand-coloured cards have survived in private and institutional collections. It is arguably for her postcards that she is best known, but what has hitherto perhaps not been sufficiently researched is her photographic activity prior to joining the postcard frenzy around 1905.
Potential reasons for this relative obscurity emerge when one tries to research these early images. The publication of an article – Mary Humphreys: Aspects of her interesting life – in a November 2015 edition of the Historical Review,[i] a page on the now defunct Tauranga Memories Kete and an online article including an extensive timeline,[ii] provide details of her eventful life. Despite her name appearing intermittently in newspaper reports, her photographs published in newspapers were sometimes left uncredited, many of her photographs were produced under the imprints of other publishers, she rarely advertised, never had card mounts printed with her name – as was the norm of that time – only purchased a handstamp (Mary Humphreys, Photo.) around 1905 and often failed to use it. This creates some significant difficulties in the attribution of her work. Many prints have no such identifying marks, and need correlation with contemporary reports of events from newspapers or other contextual information. It is a painstaking process, but working through extant images in several private and institutional collections has been revealing.
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| Visit of Lord Ranfurly to Tauranga, 25 March 1899 Print mounted on album page, attributed to Mary Humphreys Collection of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 99-354 |
What may be the first known public record of Mary Humphreys taking photographs was during the welcome ceremony for governor Lord Ranfurly when he visited Tauranga on 25 March 1899. The Bay of Plenty Times reported:
“We have had the pleasure of seeing a number of photographs, taken by Mrs T. M. Humphreys, of the Governor's reception at Tauranga and the gathering on the Tennis Club's lawn in the afternoon. They are on sale at Mr Duncanson's and form a pleasant memento of the memorable event, being well taken and nicely finished.” [iii]
The photograph shown above is a print mounted in an album owned by Mary Humphreys, and was therefore almost certainly taken by her. A week later on 1 April Mary travelled to Auckland on board the steamer Waiotahi, and then on 8 April the New Zealand Graphic published four uncredited photographs of the Governor’s reception at Tauranga. Although none of these images appear elsewhere credited to Mary Humphreys, it is conceivable they were amongst those she took on that day. There was another photographer active during Lord Ranfurly’s visit. Thomas Price had two of his images published in the Auckland Weekly News Supplement on 7 April, and he is naturally another potential candidate for authorship of the NZ Graphic images.
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| 04-481 |
It has been assumed that the death of her solicitor husband Thomas Mace Humphreys in May 1898, prompted her to take up photography to provide an income for her young family. On the face of it, this seems a reasonable deduction. In the six years since she had arrived in Tauranga with her husband and infant son, Mary had given birth to two daughters and became an active community member, participating in fund raising and other activities on the social calendar. Apart from working as a solicitor, her husband lent money “on good security at current rates of interest” and was a mining investor.[iv] Although she is listed with “domestic duties” in the 1896 electoral roll, during the Te Puke gold prospecting “boom” that year two mining claims were registered in her name, suggesting a more than passing familiarity with business matters.[v] Her widowed mother Mrs Adair was living with them so would presumably have been on hand to assist, and her husband’s intermittent illness for the last year of his life may have required her to assume more of the business administration. This, however, is speculative – in the manner of the day, women’s roles and contributions in such partnerships rarely received explicit acknowledgement. Within six months of becoming a widow Mary Humphreys announced that she had been appointed local agent for the Citizen Life Insurance Company, another intrepid step into the world of commerce.[vi]
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| Advertisement, Bay of Plenty Times, 18 October 1899 |
In November 1899 Mary took the bold step of opening a “studio” on the Strand to sell her photographs. It was situated next to the Tauranga Hotel and would no doubt have received brisk foot traffic in the run up to Christmas.
“Many who like to remind their friends at Christmas of their whereabouts in the world will be glad to bear that Mrs T.M. Humphreys intends opening a studio on the Strand to supply photographic Christmas cards and photos of local scenery, Maori life, etc., and will be prepared with all sorts and sizes in time for the November English mail. Having seen a great number of this artist's photos we are able to say, with confidence, that they are really excellent and have secured her commissions from several leading illustrated papers.”[vii]
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| “Maoris preparing a feast [at Whareroa] near Tauranga”AWNS-18991222-03-03 |
In October Humphreys had asked the A. & P. Society for, and was granted, “permission to erect a small tent on the Show Ground for the purpose of taking photos for certain illustrated papers.” [viii] This confirms that by then she had already developed a relationship with newspaper publishers, and indeed two of her Māori-themed images were published in the Auckland Weekly News Supplement in late December.
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| Maori pataka belonging to James King, curio dealer Photographed by Mary Humphreys, 9 Nov 1899 Tauranga Heritage Collection, Captain Mee Album Ref. 0032/12/11 |
Wide interest in the images of tangata whenua possibly prompted another photo session in November, when she photographed an ornately carved pataka (storehouse) belonging to Tauranga curio dealer James King:
“On Thursday morning last Mrs Humphreys secured a photograph of the carved front of an ancient Maori pataka, or food store house, the property of Mr James King, curio dealer. The carvings are still clear and distinct though executed a number of years ago, in the days before metal tools of any sort were known here, and are fine examples of the old style of Maori workmanship. Mr King temporarily re-erected the front of the building for the purpose of having it photographed; the picture taken was very successful and would be very valuable to any student of Native art, the carved designs being very clearly defined.”[ix]
The extant views from this early period demonstrate that Mary had already mastered technical aspects of photography (operating what was probably a half-plate view camera), framing and composition of views, and developing and printing of exposed plates. She had quickly gained an eye for what constituted a good photograph, and it was clearly not something that she had taken up for the occasion. Perhaps she had already been exposed to the “mysterious art” of photography for some years. It is likely that the camera she used initially had originally been purchased by her husband, who is recorded as having taken photographs at a sporting event soon after their arrival in Tauranga in March 1894:
“During the polo match yesterday, Mr T.M. Humphreys took a photo of the two teams drawn up in a line with the band and spectators grouped round.”[x]
Photographic prints in an album created and owned by Mary Humphreys in the Tauranga Library Archives collection suggest that she may have been taking photographs as early as 1896.[xi]
By the end of 1899, she had set herself up as a photographer in a town which already had the well-established studio of Thomas E. Price and, although Price was investigating opportunities further afield and may have taken his eye off the ball, it would have been a fair question to ask whether the population of the town could support another. Photographers in the latter part of the 19th century generally fell into two camps: those who operated from a permanent, well-appointed portrait studio, usually close to the centre of a community that was large enough to provide an ongoing supply of customers and commissioned “out work”, and itinerants who travelled between smaller communities, often quite widely, seeking out trade where they could. Mary Humphreys is unlikely to have had sufficient capital to either purchase a studio or build a new one and, with a young family to support, could not contemplate being away from home for lengthy periods. However, she was determined to explore options that may not even have been envisaged just a few years earlier, such as the rapidly burgeoning demand for images by newspaper publishers, who were by then able to reproduce them cheaply using the halftone process.
In Part 2 of what is intended as a series of articles on Mrs Humphreys, we will follow her emerging career path into the 20th century.
[i] Justine Neal, Shirley Arabin, and Geoff Willacy, “Mary Humphreys: Aspects of Her Interesting Life,” Historical Review: Bay of Plenty Journal of History Vol 63, no. 2 (November 2015): pp42-47.
[ii] Debbie Joy McCauley, “Mary Humphreys (Née Henderson) (1865-1946),” Blog, Debbie McCauley, Author (blog), 2021, https://debbiemccauleyauthor.wordpress.com/biographies/mary-humphreys-nee-henderson-1865-1946/.
[iii] “Untitled [Mrs T.M. Humphreys, Photographs of Governor’s Reception],” Bay of Plenty Times, May 1, 1899, Volume 24 Issue 3841 edition.
[iv] Thomas James Mace Humphreys, “Money to Lend. Advertisement [T.M. Humphreys],” Bay of Plenty Times, January 25, 1897, Volume 24 Issue 3503 edition.
[v] “Application for Special Claim. Advertisement [Mary Humphreys],” Bay of Plenty Times, September 14, 1896, Volume 22 Issue 3449 edition.
[vi] “Untitled [Mrs T.M. Humphreys, Local Agent for Citizen Life],” Bay of Plenty Times, December 9, 1898, Volume 24 Issue 3785 edition.
[vii] “Untitled [Mrs T.M. Humphreys to Open Studio on Strand],” Bay of Plenty Times, October 18, 1899, Volume 24 Issue 3913 edition.
[viii] “A. & P. Society. Inward Correspondence [Mrs T.M. Humphreys],” Bay of Plenty Times, October 23, 1899, Volume 24 Issue 3915 edition.
[ix] “Untitled [Mrs Humphreys Photographs Pataka],” Bay of Plenty Times, November 13, 1899, Volume 24 Issue 3924 edition.
[x] “Untitled. [Mr T.M. Humphreys Photographs Polo Teams],” Bay of Plenty Times, March 2, 1894, Volume 22 Issue 3087 edition.
[xi] Mary Humphreys, Mary Humphreys Photo Album, n.d., n.d., Photo Album Box 4, Tauranga City Libraries Archive, accessed December 19, 2023.
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