The Camera Club - Club History

Club History:

In 1885 correspondence from the Amateur Photographer Magazine led to the formation of The Camera Club. A subscription paid for the rent of the Bedford Street premises where the club established Nine Model Darkrooms.
The Camera Club aimed at being “A Social, Scientific and Artistic Centre for Amateur Photographers and others interested in Art and Science.”

The first President in office for 24 years was Sir William de W. Abney.
Abney, William de Wiveleslie (1843 - 1920) W. Abney was born in Derby on the 24 July 1843 as the son of a clergyman. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy he served with the Royal Engineers in India. In 1869, back in England, he worked at the Chatham School of Military Engineering. There he started his work on photography, his book ‘Instructions in Photography‘ (1871) became a standard text.

His first publication on astronomy was a report on the expedition he led to Egypt to photograph the transit of Venus in 1874. Abney was a member of the Royal Photographic Society and served as its president in the years 1892-94 and 1896. He was also member of the Royal Astronomical Society (president 1893-95) and of the Physical Society (president 1895-97). In 1882 he was awarded the Rumford Medal for his spectrographic work He was knighted in 1900. W. Abney de Wiveleslie died in Folkestone on the 2 December 1920.

In 1891 we moved to more spacious premises in Charing Cross Road which included a 27’ studio and four darkrooms. We later amalgamated with the Blenheim Club in 1908 but preferring independence F.J. Mortimer led a move to John Street Adelphi where the club had excellent facilities, a billiard room, library and dining room. Despite slight bomb damage in the First World War, the Camera Club stayed there until further bombing in the Second World War in April 1941.
The Camera Club reopened the following year at 11 Grosvenor Street and despite wartime conditions the club continued to thrive with Studio Pictorial, 35mm and Colour Photography groups. Darkroom hire was 2½ p per hour!

In 1946 The Camera Club moved again to Manchester Square where it remained until the lease expired. In 1969 we moved into premises over the Photographers Gallery in Great Newport Street. These premises although smaller were still popular with members - regular demonstrations on Wednesday and Friday evenings - and with popular studio groups in glamour, portraiture and figure.

In 1990 the leaseholders asked us to move and we were able to purchase our present property, which had been a pickle factory. One of its workers was Charlie Chaplin's father! His father and Charlie Chaplin lived across the road from the pickle factory, a Blue Plaque signifies this. From three floors a further fourth floor was added and we moved in on January 1991. We now have four darkrooms and two studios with new floors added recently and a digital suite.