J.A. Brock and Company^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]}

• Name	J.A. Brock and Company
  	VARIANT NAME: Brock and Company.
  Gender	Unknown
  Business Address/Year	1?-13 Jun 1886	Vancouver, BC
  	Address: Cordova and Abbott Sts. Vancouver, BC Canada
  Business Address/Year	23 Jul 1886-24 Mar 1887	Vancouver, BC
  	Address: Cordova St. Horne Block Vancouver, BC Canada
  Business Address/Year	24 Mar 1887-Jan 1889	Vancouver, BC
  	Address: 140 Cordova St. two doors east of Hudson's Bay Company store Vancouver, BC Canada
  Association	Devine, Harry Torkington (Relationship: Partner)
  Association	Brock, John Allan (Relationship: Partner)
  Person ID	I442	Camera Workers | J, vol. 1, 1858-1900
  Last Modified	5 Jul 2024

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		J.A. Brock and Company view of CPR wharf and railway extension, 1886. The photograph shows the Canadian Pacific Railway wharf in the left background and the railway bed in the foreground for the extension which ran from Port Moody to Vancouver. Courtesy of UBC Library, Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs, UL_1471_0006.
  		J.A. Brock and Company view of Hotel Vancouver site, 1886. Courtesy of UBC Library, Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs, UL_1471_0001.
  		J.A. Brock and Company studio portrait, 188-.

  
  

  Documents » Slide Show		J.A. Brock ad, Vancouver News, 23 Jul 1886. The first ad by this company appeared in the 1 Jun 1886 issue of the same paper.
  		J.A. Brock ad, News-Advertiser (Vancouver), 19 Jan 1889.
  		J.A. Brock and Company ad, San Francisco Journal of Commerce, BC Edition, Feb 1888, p. 12.
  		J.A. Brock and Company news item, San Francisco Journal of Commerce, BC Edition, Feb 1888, p. 12.
  		H.T. Devine news, Vancouver Province, 23 Nov 1935, Sunday Magazine, p. 10. In his letter to the editor, Devine introduces a few inaccuracies of his own into the historical record.
  		J.A. Brock and Company ad, Vancouver Daily World, 18 Dec 1888, p. 4.
  		J.A. Brock and Company news, Vancouver Weekly News-Advertiser, 12 Dec 1888, p. 8. Like several other photographers, J.A. Brock and Company helped promote the Canadian Pacific Railway to its own benefit and that of the railway.
  		J.A. Brock and Company news, Vancouver Daily News-Advertiser, 16 Nov 1907, p. 1. This item about H.T. Devine's photograph of the steamship Parthia as it was leaving through the First Narrows for Japan was originally published on 16 Nov 1887.

  
  

• Notes

  STATUS: Studio. BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Established by J.A. Brock in Belleville, ON, about 1882, Brock move to Brandon, MB, about 1883. He and H.T. Devine formed a partnership in 1886 and headed for the Terminal City. Although some of the ads for the company give its establishment in Vancouver as May 1886, the only recorded evidence suggests 1 Jun as the day the studio actually opened for business. Brock returned to Brandon in Aug of that year and Devine carried on the business under the name J.A. Brock & Co. The partnership was formally dissolved in Nov 1887 but the announcement to this effect was not made until the following Apr. Devine advertised the business for sale in Jan 1889. IDENTIFYING MARKS: "J. A. Brock, Portrait and Landscape Photographer, Brandon, Man., and Vancouver City, B.C." on front bottom of print mount (taken 28 Jul 1886; BVAA BOATS P. 185); "Brock & Co., Photographers, Cordova Street, Vancouver, B.C." on front bottom of cabinet portrait (BVAA PORTRAITS P. 39); "J. A. Brock, Brandon, Man. and Vancouver City, B.C." on front bottom of cabinet portrait (BVAA PORTRAITS P. 51); "J. A. Brock & Co., Photographers, Cordova St., Vancouver, B.C." stamped on verso of print (ca. 1888; BVAA OUTDOORS P. 232); "Brock and Co. Studios Brandon, Man. Vancouver, B.C." (gold) on front bottom of cabinet portrait and "J. A. Brock & Co., Artistic Photographers, Brandon, Manitoba" on verso of same portrait (personal collection; also BVAA PORTRAITS P. 203[2]). Some prints from 1886-1888 have caption on negative and may be marked on negative "Copyright applied for."

  
  

• Sources

  [S45] COLLECTION: BVAA. Glass negatives [S134] COLLECTION: BVA. Glass negatives [S947] Open Collections (UBC Library and Archives) (Web site). Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs. Prints. [S20] Mallandine, Edward, MAL87, (Victoria, B.C.: E. Mallandine, R.T. Williams, 1887). [S7] Draper, Thomas, comp., WILVAN88, (Vancouver, B.C.: R.T. Williams). [S21] Henderson, James, comp., HEN89, (Victoria, B.C.: Leonard George Henderson, 1889). [S626] (Vancouver) News-Advertiser, (Vancouver: News-Advertiser), 20 Apr 1888, 1. [S626] (Vancouver) News-Advertiser, (Vancouver: News-Advertiser), 19 Jan 1889, 1. [S582] David Mattison, Mattison (1979 11-12), (Photo Communique 1, no. 5 (November-December 1979):16-21). [S651] (Vancouver) Sun (Newspaper), 18 Dec 2021. Mackie, John. "This Week in History, 1938: The Brief Career of Pioneer Vancouver's First Photographer" URL (accessed 19 Dec 2021): https://vancouversun.com/news/this-week-in-history-1938-the-brief-career-of-pioneer-vancouvers-first-photographer