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EW Copnall:
photographer of nawabs, rajahs, even British royalty
This is the story of Edward White Copnall, talented
and much-travelled Horsham photographer who lived and
worked in the town between 1915-1962, and others of
the Copnall clan who were possessed of major talents
as artists and sculptors, and in some cases had
international reputations. Copnall ('the man who made
the pictures', as he called himself) was proud to
announce in his brochure that he had photographed King
Edward VIII (when he was the Prince of Wales and
visiting Christ's Hospital), George V, Prince
Alexander and the Duke and Duchess of Teck, Earl
Kitchener, General Baden-Powell and Winston Churchill.
Equally proudly – and I can not resist listing these
wonderful, exotic titles – he had produced studies of
The Maharajahs of Bistaneer and Kapusthala, Nawab
Ashfag Ali Khan, and the Rajahs of Mahumodabad,
Chattarpur and Jehungirabad. But no doubt conscious
that this list, impressive though it no doubt was,
would be unlikely to put bread on the table in 1920s
Horsham, he pointed out that this 'long experience in
photographing noted people is sufficient evidence of
his skill and ability to supply you with modern
portraiture that pleases', and he was quite prepared,
as well, to photograph 'horses, cattle, dogs, poultry
etc'.
The Copnalls and the Slyfields go back a long way.
Phyl Copnall (as she was then, and Edward's daughter)
and Donald Slyfield, around 70 years ago when they
were both youngsters, would think nothing of taking
off on their bikes and cycling down to the coast for a
swim – and getting back the same way, of course. And
this in the days before fancy gear changes and all the
rest of it. If that idea palled, they would pedal off
into the Forest, and spend the morning swimming in one
of the Hammer Ponds, or skating on it, in due season.
Enough to make a parent wince today, but all
run-of-the-mill then.
Phyl's father had his studio at 4, North Street (tel.
51). Older Horshamites will, I am sure, remember it,
somewhere before the St Mark's site, as you go up
Copnall Way from the Carfax, and next to Eager's the
solicitors, the latter long subsumed within some vast
legal conglomerate. Opposite was the house of Dr
Sparrow, of hunting and painting fame, and his
surgery, along with that of Drs Dew, Juckes, Bradford,
Hutchence and Morgan, was further up, as was Lampard's
piano and music showrooms (and wireless engineer) and
The Chintz Cafe (Miss Rawlings: luncheons and teas).
EW Copnall had bought the studio, previously
Bellchamber's photographic business, in 1915, when he
moved to Horsham from Tunbridge Wells, where he had
practiced for about a year on his return from abroad.
He was born on 6 August 1878, the son of Thomas and
Sarah Copnall, and his career started in Liverpool. He
went out to Cape Town in 1900, and his talent must
have shown through from an early age, as he was soon
photographing the major political figures of the day,
including Smuts, Botha and Rhodes. He was there, for
example, at Rhodes's funeral, and took historic
pictures of the event.
He married while in Africa, but his wife, whose maiden
name was Bainbridge, died relatively young, and he
returned with their son, Edward Bainbridge (known in
later life as just Bainbridge) to England, after seven
years away. But he soon had itchy feet again, and
found himself next in India, based in Lucknow, and
where he became official photographer to the Durbah.
He was an excellent shot and a keen horseman, and an
active polo player as well as finding time to serve in
the Central India Horse. He clearly had a way with him
in the studio as well, and must have been particularly
adept at dealing with the grand array of personages
that made up the ruling elite at the time – and it was
here, of course, that he built up his portfolio of
Indian potentates.
In was also here that he photographed George V, and
the family story goes that, due to the pressures on
the great man's time, Copnall had little time himself
to to set up and focus his camera (remember that
equipment was much less flexible in those days), when
the King entered the canopied tent where the picture
was to be taken. So Copnall devised a clever plan: he
set down a match stick on the ground as a marker,
knowing that when royalty passed that particular
point, it was just the right time to get a perfect
image. But things did not go quite to plan. King
George strode in, kicked the match stck out of place,
and Copnall, in a flurry and just a little thrown, had
to take his shot as best he could. But ever the
professional, his picture came out needle sharp and
quite in focus – the only blemish being a broken match
sticking out from under the royal foot.
He came back to England in 1914, his travels now over,
and married again, this time Bertha Picton, and they
were to have two children, Hubert and Phyl. Bertha
could boast a most distinguished family ancestor in
General Picton, a doughty old warrior under the Duke
of Wellington, and famed as the man who took to the
field at the Battle of Waterloo in hunting top hat.
Leading a charge of the Highlanders, he presented an
unusual but obvious target, and was killed by a cannon
ball. After their brief spell in Tunbridge Wells they
moved to Horsham, much on the recommendation of the
Vernon and Bostock families, whom Edward Copnall had
known in India, and who were themselves from Horsham.
(In passing I remember old Colonel Vernon, as a
governor of Collyer's, presenting a group of us with
sports day cups - for outstanding athletic feats, no
less, - back in 1958).
EW Copnall was to remain in Horsham for the rest of
his life, and after the death of his second wife in
1940 he was later to marry, for a third time, Margo
Schiff, who survived him. He worked up until just
before his death on 9 May 1962, aged 84. His work, in
a long career, can be seen in many publications of the
time, and he gained an impressive reputation, both
locally and around Sussex, as a portrait, animal and
landscape photographer. Apparently he was particularly
well known for his cattle photography, and did much
work on behalf of Thornton's, the local auctioneers.
And at the other end of the scale he was very much the
society photographer of the time - among his subjects
were families from the big houses round about – such
as the Burrells, Cubitts, Hornungs and Loders – their
gardens and horses as well as their good selves.
Unfit for the front in the Great War, he played his
part in the Home Guard and the fire brigade, at a time
when it was horsepower, in the literal sense, that got
the fire fighting equipment around the town. At this
time he also doubled up as official photographer to
the local police force. All in all it seems there was
little that went on in Horsham that escaped his lens.
There was plenty of artistic talent elsewhere in the
family as well. Edward Copnall's brother Frank was a
portrait painter who played a part in the Horsham
business (for example he painted the portraits of the
wealthy Latilla family from Marlands), and he
exhibited at the Royal Academy for something like 40
years. Again his son by his first wife, Bainbridge
Copnall MBE (1903-1973), became a distinguished
sculptor with major public works to his name, such as
the statue of St Thomas a Becket in St Paul's
Cathedral. He studied at Goldsmith's, where he met
Graham Sutherland, and in his early career was a
portrait painter, taking on many local Horsham
commissions 'at a nominal fee', as he put it, as well
as teaching art at his home opposite the King's Head
in Slinfold. He took to sculpture in 1924, and his
career blossomed. From 1961-1966 he was president of
the Royal Society of British Sculptors – a long way
from his early days at Collyer's, where he was a
sportsman as well as budding artist, and one of the
early members of Horsham Rugby Club. He was also a
gifted actor, according to his half sister. At any
rate he was a leading light in the amateur dramatic
group run by local dentist and splendidly named
thespian, the Causeway-based A. Pomeroy Sainsbury.
Bainbridge's son John also became a distinguished
abstract artist, who in the 1960s lived in a remote
corner of Andalucia for something like 10 years, but
who also mounted exhibitions in a variety of European
venues, as well as closer-to-home locations such as
London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. Edward's
other son Hubert (by his second wife) was again a
painter – besides being a farmer in East Anglia, and a
friend of Middleton Murray (who was in turn old
Christ's Hospital boy, literary critic and associate
of DH Lawrence), and his daughter Phyl, who ran the
North Street business in later years, was herself a
photographer and photographic printer.
So there we have it. A talented family, with an
unusually interesting story to tell. But there is a
twist to this particular tale, and it is this: I would
of course give my eye teeth to leaf through the
photographs Edward Copnall took of all those local
folk, their houses and gardens – and even their horses
and poultry. What a splendid record it would have been
of Horsham in those years between the wars. But there
is no chance, I'm afraid. When the North Street studio
was closed down, something like 10,000 negatives were
thrown out with all the rest of the rubbish. The
thought makes me feel quite weak......
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