 |
Class photograph, Tauranga School, c. 1890-1892
Carte de visite photograph by F.E. Stewart of Stewart Bros., Tauranga
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-502 |
In late
June 1890 a Mr F.E. Stewart “of the firm of Messrs Stewart Bros.,
photographers, Thames” arrived in Tauranga on a visit
and, after negotiations with resident photographer and chemist Charles Spencer, made an arrangement to “take over
Mr Spencer’s photographic business here for a few weeks.”
It is unclear why Spencer, who had been very active in the district
photographically over the previous decade,
seems to have lost interest in the studio aspect of his business in the 1890s,
but he had his fingers in many pies, and in 1893 moved with his family to
Auckland.
Stewart
quickly showed his willingness to take up where Spencer had left off,
announcing:
“First-class work at reasonable prices.
Enamelling a specialty, also children’s portraits. Views of residences, etc.,
taken.”
Enamelling
referred to the glossy finish that he was able to produce on his card-mounted
portraits, while reference to children mostly signified to his customers that
he was both equipped with the latest in fast lenses and shutters, and adept in
pacifying notoriously fidgety or excitable children. The statement that “views
of residences, etc.” would be taken indicates that in addition to welcoming
customers to Spencer’s studio premises conveniently situated on the Strand, he
was happy to carry out what was commonly referred to as outdoors work.
 |
Class photograph, Tauranga School, c. 1890-1892
Carte de visite photograph by F.E. Stewart of Stewart Bros., Tauranga
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-327 |
Two fine
class photos taken at the Tauranga School in 1890 or 1891, then situated on the
corner of Harington Street and Cameron Road,
have survived in the library’s collection, now displayed on Pae Korokī. They demonstrate Stewart’s skill at capturing the
detail in the faces of a large group of students using the diminutive carte de
visite format.
But who was “F.E.”?
Since he was only ever referred to by his initials in the local press during
his brief stay here, he’s not been particularly easy to track down, and it
didn’t help that he proved to be unrelated to any of several other Stewart
families then living in the coastal Bay of Plenty.
 |
Young woman, tentatively identified as Marion Sophia Gilman (née Ferguson), c. 1890-1891
Carte de visite portrait, photographed by F.E. Stewart of Stewart Bros.,
Tauranga
Collection of The Elms Foundation |
Francis
Edward Stewart was born in 1865 at Chiselhurst, Kent (England) to carpenter
Edwin Stewart and his wife Ellen. The family, including an older brother
Herbert Samuel, arrived in New Zealand in January 1875 as assisted immigrants,
settling in Hamilton by 1877.
By early 1888 they were living in Cambridge, and older brother Herbert, working
as a photographer, produced photographic views that were compared favourably
with those from “the Auckland fraternity”.
By April 1890, probably after encountering stiff competition from well-established
Cambridge photographers,
both Herbert and his younger brother Francis had moved to Thames, presumably
sensing a growing demand there, and opening a studio in Queen Street.The appearance of Francis in Tauranga only two months later suggests that
clients in Thames were not as plentiful as expected.
 |
The Tauranga Brass Band (including F. Stewart, front row, 4th from left),
c. mid-1891
Attributed to F.E. Stewart of Stewart Bros., later reprinted on card mount with
incorrect date
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 01-592 |
Francis, or
Frank as he was occasionally known, quickly made friends in the Tauranga
community, where his musical skills were an important social asset. He joined a
small local orchestra as a cornet player
and, with George Arnold Ward, subsequently played a role in the resurrection of
the Tauranga Brass Band,
which made its first public appearance in March 1891.
He was engaged to take photographs of “the Mercury Bay and Tauranga Football
teams and the Brass Band [above] … the Fife and Drum Band [below] … [and] the
Fire Brigade in full uniform” at the Domain in mid-1891.
 |
The Tauranga Drum & Fife Band, c. mid-1891
F.E. Stewart of Stewart Bros., Thames and Tauranga
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 12-015 |
By early
September, however, Stewart had decided to move on, and was given a rousing
farewell by Ward and his other band mates.
Subsequent sightings of him in Waipawa (November 1891)
and Dannevirke (February 1892)
suggest that he was touring the central North Island. In the mid- to late 1890s
Francis Stewart seems to have rather disappeared from view, although his
brother Herbert did open a hairdressing saloon in Rotorua in 1895,
simultaneously announcing that he hoped to open a photographic studio in due
course.
In December 1895 there was a report of a “Mr Stewart, photographer” making a
trip to the Ureweras and returning with a “portfolio full of interesting
views”, which must have been either Herbert or his brother Francis.
 |
Popular Pastimes in New Zealand – Jumping at the A & P Show, Auckland, c. December 1907
Halftone print stereocard, photographed by F.E. Stewart, published by New Zealand Graphic
Collection of Te Papa Tongarewa, Ref. O.005495 |
In January
1900 a photograph of the Jubilee Swimming Carnival at Auckland’s Caliope Dock,
an event which had taken place a decade earlier in 1890, appeared as a halftone
print under the byline of F.E. Stewart – almost certainly our Francis Ernest
–in the New Zealand Illustrated Magazine.
Then between December 1907
and January 1912
he was an intermittent contributor to the New Zealand Graphic of
photographs of sporting events and leisure activities, mostly in the Auckland
region, but occasionally further afield in locations such as Thames and
Whanganui. In 1907 they also published some of his stereoviews as part of their
New Zealand Graphic Series, issued with the weekly newspaper.
 |
Mud Volcano, Waiotapu, Rotorua, N.Z. (Radcliffe & Stewart, #158), c.
1907-1914
Sterephotographic view, photographed by F.E. Stewart, published as postcard by
F.G. Radcliffe
Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0105/19 |
A series of
his stereophotographic views of the Auckland North, Rotorua and Taupo districts
were published as postcards under the “Radcliffe & Stewart” banner,
probably between 1909, when F.G. Radcliffe is known to have commenced his
operations,
and the onset of the Great War in late 1914.
 |
Tour group and guide standing before wharenui, Rotorua, c. 1900-1922
Photographed by F.E. Stewart, Rotorua
The Ngaire Hart Estate Collection, Courtesy of Cordy’s Auctions |
In December
1915 advertisements appeared simultaneously in the Auckland
and Wellington newspapers, inserted by Stewart and
Bennett, photographers of Rotorua, looking for a outdoor photographer and
a lady retoucher, “with experience [in] bromide printing and photographic
colouring preferred”. Postcard format photographs are known from this era
depicting tourist groups with Maori guides at several locations, including
Whakarewarewaand Ohinemutu (above), with “F.E. Stewart Photographer Rotorua” either as a
blind stamp or in purple ink on the reverse.
 |
Studio portrait of Te Akakura Ru (wife of Rua Kenana) and her son Ruhoni, Rotorua,
c. 1910-1920
Silver gelatin postcard print, photographed by F.E. Stewart
Collection of Whakatāne Museum Te Whare Taonga o Taketake, Ref. P96 |
From the high negative numbers (up to 8648 have been found) it
is clear that by this time Francis had a substantial operation in Rotorua,
presumably with an outdoor photographer employed to capture the tourists on
their peregrinations, while Stewart and possibly a retoucher remained at the
studio to take indoor portraits and carry out the developing and printing.
 |
Group of men and women doing a haka of welcome, Rotorua, c. 1907-1922
Photographed by F.E. Stewart
Collection of Alexander Turnbull Library (James Cowan Collection), Ref. 1/2-021059-F |
Francis Stewart worked from premises in Pukaki Street,
Rotorua until at least 1922, then between 1925 and 1938 moved to Amohau Street,
describing himself as an apiarist. Then in 1941, a further move took him to Mount
Maunganui where he became a shopkeeper. He remained there until his death in
1953.
