Stoneman, Walter

Born in Plymouth , Devon , England , April 6, 1876. He was the youngest of fourteen children of Edwin Stoneman, a grocery wholesaler. He studied at Plymouth College, from which he left at the age of fifteen to begin a career as a photographer. Most of his life he worked in the London firm J. Russell & Sons, in which he assumed the position of junior photographer in 1897. Later, he opened his own photo studio in Plymouth - Heath and Stoneman Ltd. ^[one]

In June 1897, he became the only one of the fourteen photographers of the company who managed to make four photos of Queen Victoria in the golden landau on the occasion of the diamond jubilee ^[1] . In the future, he took many photos of members of royal families, aristocrats, members of high society and other prominent personalities. By 1913, he became the managing director of the company, and after the death of John Lemmon Russell in 1915 began to lead all her business. In October 1932, the company was absorbed by the company Elliott & Fry ^{[2] [3]} .

In 1948, Stoneman was promoted to the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for merits in the field of photography. He continued to work as a photographer until his death in 1958 ^[1] .

Stoneman was a member of the Royal Photographic Society and the Royal Geographical Society , as well as Vice President of the London Devonian Association. He was also a preacher of the Congregational Church . He was married to Kathleen Irene (born 1892) and had one son ^[1] .

In 1917, in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, Stoneman launched a project to create the National Photographic Record of all prominent representatives of British society. Over the next 4 years and 1 year, Stoneman in his studio photographed and printed pictures of about 7,000 people and transferred them to the gallery. Between 100 and 200 people a year passed through the studio on Baker Street ^[2] . The project mainly concerned political and military figures, including five monarchs, nine prime ministers, twelve lord chancellors, one hundred and eighty admirals and generals posed for the photographer. The photographs did not pay Stoneman for the right to be captured in the photograph, and otherwise he did not receive any direct reward for making photographs ^[1] .

Stoneman’s main idea was to preserve the image, not to distribute it. However, part of the collection was occasionally exhibited for all to see, for example, in the Royal Photographic Society in 1922 and 1924, in the studio in Baker Street in 1931 and in the Foils art gallery in 1943. The collections from exhibitions and reproductions of photographs were shared by Stoneman and the National Portrait Gallery. These exhibitions also helped Stoneman build reputation and increase clientele ^{[1] [4]} .

Until his death, Stoneman was the only official photographer of the National Portrait Gallery. After his death, the project as a photographer was continued by Walter Bird, until in 1967 he was replaced by Godfrey Argent, who worked until the completion of the project in 1970. By that time, there were more than 10,000 photographs in the collection ^{[5] [6]} .