Camera Workers, 1858-1950

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

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Crocker, Ernest William Albert[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37]

Male 1877 - 1968  (90 years)


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  • Name Crocker, Ernest William Albert 
    Birth Aug 1877  Yorkshire, Eng., UK Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Business Address/Year 1908-1911  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    604 Yates St., no. 8
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1917-1946  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    604 Yates St.
    Trio Photograph and Supply Company
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Death 8 Jun 1968  Victoria , BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [38] 
    Burial 12 Jun 1968  Royal Oak Crematorium, Saanich, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [38] 
    Association Trio Photograph and Supply Company (Relationship: Proprietor; Manager) 
    Person ID I2282  Camera Workers | C, vol. 2, 1901-1950
    Last Modified 18 Sep 2021 

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He operated as the Trio Photograph and Supply Company and as Trio Studio. According to the British Columbia Archives description of the Ernest Crock fonds

      Ernest William Albert Crocker was born in Yorkshire, England in 1877. In 1902, he immigrated to Canada, passing through the United States, and establishing himself in Winnipeg, Manitoba. From there, he moved to Vancouver where he started the Trio Photograph and Supply Company with two other English emigrants in 1903. They soon moved to Victoria but disbanded shortly afterwards, leaving Crocker to continue as the sole photographer at the studio.
      Crocker's early years as a photographer were marked by his postcards and other tourism photography which he sold at the Empress Hotel's cigar shop. This enterprise caught the eyes of Victoria financiers who contracted Crocker to photograph mining prospects in the south, taking him to Mexico in 1910.
      During the First World War, Crocker worked as an independent photographer under the Trio name at a military camp established at Exhibition Grounds at Willows. Several of these pictures appeared in newspapers. After the war, he continued photographing military subjects, contracting his services to several military training camps around Victoria. He also photographed important dignitaries, including members of the Royal Family while on official visits. During this time, Crocker also diversified his portfolio with landscape and portrait photography, snapshotting scenes around Vancouver Island, the Mainland Coast, the CPR route and the Cariboo Trail, some of which were published. Down the Cowichan River, Crocker also took photographs of Aboriginal communities.
      During the Second World War, Crocker again focused his work on Victoria's military activities, photographing officials and visiting military dignitaries at Work Point Barracks in Esquimalt and at the Officers Training Camp at Gordon Head. In 1946, renovations forced Crocker to vacate his suite on the top floor of the Imperial Bank Chambers where his studio had been established for 38 years. He never reopened his studio.
      After the closure of the Trio studio, Crocker continued to reside in Victoria. As his health declined, he was moved to a nursing home where he passed away in 1968.

  • Sources 
    1. [S46] COLLECTION: BVIPA.
      Ernest Crocker fonds (PR-1348); URL (accessed 17 Sep 2021): https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/ernest-crocker-fonds

    2. [S339] Voters List, (Victoria, B.C.: Province of British Columbia, 1874-), 1920, 1924, 1928, Ref. NW 324.1 B862.
      Victoria

    3. [S782] HEN03, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1903).
      Vancouver and Victoria: not listed

    4. [S783] HEN04, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1904).
      Vancouver and Victoria: not listed

    5. [S785] HEN05, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1905).
      Vancouver and Victoria: not listed

    6. [S786] HENVAN05, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1905).
      Vancouver: not listed

    7. [S784] HENVIC05, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1905).
      Victoria: not listed

    8. [S787] HENVAN06, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1906).
      Vancouver: not listed

    9. [S788] HENVAN07, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1907).
      Vancouver: not listed

    10. [S789] HENVIC08, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1908), 242.
      Victoria: Crocker E photographer 8, 604 Yates

    11. [S792] PROVI09, (Victoria: Provincial Publishing, 1909).
      Victoria: not listed

    12. [S732] HEN10, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1910).
      Victoria: not listed

    13. [S793] HENVIC10, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1911), 223.
      Victoria: Crocker E photographer 8, 604 Yates

    14. [S796] HENVIC12, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1912).
      Victoria: not listed

    15. [S798] HENVIC13, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1913).
      Victoria: not listed

    16. [S801] TREVIC14, (Victoria: Tregillus-Thompson Ltd., 1914).
      Victoria: not listed

    17. [S745] HENVIC14, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1914).
      Victoria: not listed

    18. [S802] HENVIC15, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1915).
      Victoria: not listed

    19. [S803] HENVIC17, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1917).
      Victoria: not listed

    20. [S804] HENVIC18, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1918).
      Victoria: not listed

    21. [S740] WRI18, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1918).
      Victoria: not listed

    22. [S738] WRI19, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1919), 1100.
      Victoria: Crocker E O A prop Trio Photograph & Supply Co

    23. [S805] HENVIC20, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1920).
      Victoria: not listed

    24. [S739] WRI20, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1920), 1001.
      Victoria: Crocker E O A prop Trio Photograph & Supply Co 604 Yates

    25. [S806] HENVIC21, (Victoria: Henderson Publishing, 1921).
      Victoria: not listed

    26. [S741] WRI21, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1921), 1065.
      Victoria: Crocker E O A prop Trio Photograph & Supply Co 604 Yates

    27. [S742] WRI22, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1922), 1082.
      Victoria: Crocker E O A prop Trio Photograph & Supply Co 604 Yates

    28. [S809] WRI23, (Vancouver: Wrigley Directories, 1923).
      Victoria: not listed

    29. [S757] WRI24, (Vancouver: Wrigley Directories, 1924).
      Victoria: not listed

    30. [S758] WRI25, (Vancouver: Wrigley Directories, 1925).
      Victoria: not listed

    31. [S763] WRI30, (Vancouver: Wrigley Directories, 1930), 1769.
      Victoria: Crocker E W A mgr Trio Photog & Supply r 604 Yates

    32. [S769] SUN35, (Vancouver: Sun Directories, 1935), 1805.
      Victoria: Crocker E W A prop Trio Photo r 604 Yates

    33. [S774] SUN40, (Vancouver: Sun Directories, 1940), 1757.
      Victoria: Crocker E W A prop Trio Photog r 604 Yates

    34. [S779] SUN45, (Vancouver: Sun Directories, 1945), 1906.
      Victoria: Crocker Edw prop Trio r 604 Yates

    35. [S714] SUN46, (Vancouver: Sun Directories, 1946), 2037.
      Victoria: Crocker Edw prop Trio r 604 Yates

    36. [S715] SUN47, (Vancouver: Sun Directories, 1947).
      Victoria: not listed

    37. [S521] University of Victoria, Faculty of Fine Arts (1993), (Victoria, B.C.: Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, April 1993).

    38. [S652] BVIPA death registration index.
      Registration no. 1968-09-008020 (microfilm B13290); digital facsimile URL (accessed 17 Sep 2021): http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/258b983a-8f41-42fc-942f-17d91894df10