Camera Workers, 1858-1950

The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950

Eyres, Edmund James[1]

Male 1834 - 1910  (76 years)


Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Eyres, Edmund James 
    • VARIANT NAMES: Eyers, E.J.; Eyres, Edmond James. [2]
    Birth ca. 1834  London, Eng., UK Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Business Address/Year 1868  Llandudno, North Wales Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Church Walkes
    Llandudno, North Wales
    UK 
    Business Address/Year 1893  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    59 1/2 Government St.?
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1893  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Brighton Cottage
    Cadboro Bay
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1893  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    96 Quebec St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1894  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Spring Ridge
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1894-1900  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    76 Yates St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1897-1900  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    73 Discovery St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1901-1908  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Business Address/Year 1909  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    628 Yates St.
    Imperial Photo Studio
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Death 5 Jan 1910  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial 7 Jan 1910  Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Association Piper, Charles Thomas Wood (Relationship: Boarder) 
    Association Imperial Art Studio (Relationship: Owner) 
    Association Forbes-Mackie, K. (Relationship: Employee) 
    Association Tait, Beatrice H. (Relationship: Employee) 
    Association Larrigan, George Henry (Relationship: Successor) 
    Association Gibson, Wilfred (Relationship: Successor) 
    Person ID I446  Camera Workers | E, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 8 Nov 2022 

  • Photos
    E.J. Eyres' portrait of Rev. Solomon Cleaver, 1897.
    E.J. Eyres' portrait of Rev. Solomon Cleaver, 1897.
    Eyres advertised this portrait, one of two, for sale on 3 Jun 1897, two days after Rev. Cleaver and his family had left Victoria to eventually settle in Toronto. Image courtesy of BC Archives, item B-04190.

    Documents
    E.J. Eyres' signature, 1893
    E.J. Eyres' signature, 1893
    From Superintendent of Provincial Police, correspondence inward, BC Archives, GR-0066, box 1, file 2.
    E.J. Eyres' invoice, 18 Aug 1893
    E.J. Eyres' invoice, 18 Aug 1893
    G.H. Larrigan and W. Gibson news item, <i>Colonist</i>, 3 Feb 1910, p. 6.
    G.H. Larrigan and W. Gibson news item, Colonist, 3 Feb 1910, p. 6.
    They purchase the late E.J. Eyres' Imperial Art Studio.
    Imperial Art Studio article, Victoria <i>Colonist</i>, 19 Sep 1894, part 1.
    Imperial Art Studio article, Victoria Colonist, 19 Sep 1894, part 1.
    Article is in supplement titled British Pacific Review, equivalent to page 12.
    Imperial Art Studio article, Victoria <i>Colonist</i>, 19 Sep 1894, part 2.
    Imperial Art Studio article, Victoria Colonist, 19 Sep 1894, part 2.
    Article is in supplement titled British Pacific Review, equivalent to page 12.
    Imperial Art Studio article, Victoria <i>Colonist</i>, Special Ed., 5 Apr 1896, p. 7.
    Imperial Art Studio article, Victoria Colonist, Special Ed., 5 Apr 1896, p. 7.
    Imperial Art Studio invoice, 1893
    Imperial Art Studio invoice, 1893
    With E.J. Eyres' signature. From Superintendent of Provincial Police, correspondence inward, BC Archives, GR-0066, box 1, file 2.
    E.J. Eyres ad, Victoria <i>Colonist</i>, 13 Jan 1894, p. 4.
    E.J. Eyres ad, Victoria Colonist, 13 Jan 1894, p. 4.
    Like other photographers, he suffered from theft.
    E.J. Eyres news, Victoria <i>Daily Times</i>, 9 Aug 1893, p. 5.
    E.J. Eyres news, Victoria Daily Times, 9 Aug 1893, p. 5.
    E.J. Eyres exhibited portraits under his Imperial Art Studio name at Victoria's Midsummer Exhibition which ran from 7 to 12 Aug 1893.
    E.J. Eyres and N. Shakespeare news, Victoria <i>Daily Times</i>, 22 Feb 1895, p. 5.
    E.J. Eyres and N. Shakespeare news, Victoria Daily Times, 22 Feb 1895, p. 5.
    Both Eyres and Shakespeare participated in a lecture and exhibition about the Auer gas light.
    E.J. Eyres ad, Victoria <i>Daily Times</i>, 3 Jun 1897, p. 1.
    E.J. Eyres ad, Victoria Daily Times, 3 Jun 1897, p. 1.
    Eyres hoped to capitalize on the popularity of Rev. Solomon Cleaver who had ministered for four years at the Metropolitan Methodist Church on Pandora Avenue before leaving the city on 1 Jun 1897 to settle eventually in Toronto (Colonist, 2 Jun 1897, p. 8). The portrait he advertised is BC Archives item B-04190.

    Headstones
    E.J. Eyres gravestone, Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, BC.
    E.J. Eyres gravestone, Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, BC.

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Eyres may have begun his photographic career in North Wales, as he shows up in a business directory listing for 1868. By 1893 he was listed as an artist in Victoria, and resided with C.T.W. Piper who operated the Queen's Art Photo Studio. Eyres was also listed as a photographer that year with a separate residence. The following year he was operating the Imperial Studio on Yates St. at the corner of Broad. According to an 1896 summary of the studio's history, it was established in Oct 1892. Eyres was primarily a portrait photographer. The Colonist reported in 1897 that he and E.A. Harris had invented a device for producing vignette photographs. Eyres is buried in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria.
      A month after his death the Colonist (3 Feb 1910, p. 6) announced that G.H. Larrigan and Wilfred Gibson had purchased his studio.
    • IDENTIFYING MARKS: "E.J. Eyres Imperial Studio 76 Yates Street, Victoria, B.C." stamped on verso of print mount (1895 date); "Eyres Imperial Studio, Victoria, B.C." stamped in black ink on verso of print mount (1896 date); "Eyres, Victoria, B.C." on front of print mount; "Imperial Art Studio E.J. Eyres 76 Yates St. Victoria B.C." embossed in white on white cabinet portrait mount (private collection).
    • REFERENCES: BVIPA GR-1052, file 2173 (will); BVIPA GR-1304, box 138, file 3457 (probate); WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; Colonist, 1896 04 05/7, 1897 07 31/8; Vaughan (Web site: List of Photographic Studios ... 1868).

  • Sources 
    1. [S46] COLLECTION: BVIPA.

    2. [S652] BVIPA death registration index.
      Registration no. 1910-09-023504 (microfilm reel B13081).

    3. [S628] (Victoria) Colonist, (Victoria: Colonist), 8 Jan 1910, 6.
      Obituary Notices. Eyres.