Could Frank Hurley have been using one of these to take his pictures on the Endeavour with Shackleton?

This is a Watkins Bee Meter, invented by Alfred Watkins.

Whilst researching the book "Herefordshire Then & Now" I purchased some books written by Alfred Watkins, photographer, author, historian, antiquarian, councillor and the Hereford born inventor of the Bee Meter, the first light meter to become a world wide success.

It is well known that English photographer Herbert Ponting used a Watkins Bee Meter whilst working in the Antarctic with Captain Robert Scott. It is my belief that Australian photographer Frank Hurley also used one whilst working in the Anartctic with explorers Captain Douglas Mawson and Captain Ernest Shackleton.

It was this sentence that got me thinking...

This statement is in a book entitled; "Photography; the Watkins Manual of Exposure and Development (1919)", the book is written by Alfred Watkins.

The photographer on the Mawson and Shackleton Polar Expeditions was Australian Frank Hurley. Unfortunately there is no first hand documentary evidence to support that Hurley indeed used a Watkins Bee Meter.

On board the Endurance was a talented Australian photographer named James Francis ('Frank') Hurley. Shackleton had partly financed the expedition through advance sales of photographic, film and story rights. This was to be Hurley's second trip to Antarctica, as he had previously documented an expedition led by the Australian explorer Douglas Mawson. The 1913 film that Hurley made about Mawson's journey had drawn him to Shackleton's attention.

Frank Hurley © Scott Polar Reasearch Institute.

The inventory for Frank Hurley's photographic equipment when he joined Ernest Shackleton's crew on the Endeavour does list "light meters" but doesn't specify the name or make.

But why would Watkins not name Hurley, as he had very much publicised the Bee Meters use by Herbert Ponting with Captain Scott's ill fated expedition to the Pole?

Although Hurley is now recognised as one of the great Polar photographers of that bygone age, at the time Alfred Watkins wrote his book in 1919, Hurley was being given negative press for his coverage of the First World War, he used composite images for photomurals to "convey drama of the war on a scale otherwise not possible" using the technology available at the time. This brought Hurley into conflict with the authorities on the grounds that "montage diminished documentary value".  Charles Bean, official war historian and journalist labelled Hurley's composite images "fake".

Hurleys image of The Endurance trapped in ice. © Scott Polar Research Institute.

That to me says why Watkins would not specifically name Hurley as a user of the Bee Meters, not the best sort of publicity one would want for an ambassador of a product.

Despite several emails to the museum's in Australia which deal with the Hurley collections, all attempts to further support the theory have come to a dead end.

At present the wreck of the Endurance still lies at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. In 2010 David Mearns, a wreck hunter announced a new plan to search for the wreck. The plan is sponsored by the National Geographic Society but is subject to finding sponsorship for the balance of the US$10 million estimated cost. A 2013 study by Dr Adrian Glover of the Natural History Museum suggests the Antarctic Circumpolar Current could preserve the wreck on the seabed by keeping wood-boring "ship worms" away.

So you never know, perhaps deep under the ocean in the Weddell Sea among Hurley's equipment with the wreck of the Endurance is a little pocket watch sized light meter invented and designed in a small workshop in Hereford, by a man called Alfred. . 

Alfred Watkins' Blackwardine Ley passes through northern side of Leominster near Eyton.

Croft Lane on the Blackwardine Ley looking N.E. towards Croft Ambrey

At the Eyton crossroads looking N.E.

Here I followed the first Ley that Alfred Watkins dicovered in 1921 the "Blackwardine Ley" on the north side of the town of Leominster. The ley runs along part of Croft Lane documented here. Due to recent tree growth and the lay of the land the views in the S.E direction of the Ley are limited.

Alfred Watkins' Blackwardine Ley passes through Leominster districts.

The first Ley discovered by Alfred Watkins in June 1921 was the "Blackwardine Ley".

 It starts at Stretton Grandison and crosses 25 miles of Herefordshire's countryside to Croft Ambrey. On it's course it passes over Eaton Hill on the east of the town of Leominster.

Eaton Hill was the site of a 7th Century castle built by Merwald King of Mercia. The earthworks of the castle and it's grounds can still be seen on the hill, including a set of three ditches on the southern side of the hill.

All of the photographs below have been taken on the line of the Ley and are accessible on public footpaths.

Looking S.E. at the bottom of Eaton Hill on the North side.

On top of Eaton Hill looking S.E. towards Stoke Prior and Blackwardine.

Looking N.E. back to Leominster on top of Eaton Hill.

This two hundred year old Oak tree is growing on the ruins of the "Castle of Comfort Hill".

At the bottom of Eaton Hill looking S.E towards Stoke Prior and Blackwardine.

At the base of Eaton Hill looking across to the Broad on the eastern side of Leominster.

Eaton Hill as seen from the Broad on the outskirts of Leominster town.

Sneak Peak; Forthcoming Book...

   Here are some images which will feature in my book; "Herefordshire Then And Now; A photographic journey with Alfred Watkins." Work still continues on this project and things are looking good for completion on the anniversary of Alfred Watkins death on 7th April. Then it will be off to the publishers to start publication. 
   These are some pieces of Alfred's photographic equipment. They are currently held by Hereford Museum at their Learning Resource Center which is on Friar Street in Hereford just a few yards away from the actual site of the Watkins Meter Company. Many people do not even realise there is a museum resource center in Hereford, it's a great place you should check it out if you haven't already.

This is Alfred Watkins' 5"x7" view camera and camera bag.

This is the back of Alfred Watkins' darkroom timer, can any one make out what he has written here?

This was Alfred Watkins' personal darkroom timer, which is actually the one that he invented and his company The Watkins Meter Company based in Friar Street, Hereford manufactured.

Upcoming book: Herefordshire Then and Now; a photographic journey with Alfred Watkins.

Alfred Watkins (1855-1935) was a Hereford born Victorian pioneer photographer. You have him to thank for the light meter, he was the inventor of what became known as the Watkins Bee Meter, the first commercially available exposure meter. You might have seen a series of blog posts I did a couple of years ago about him.
    Last night I launched the Kickstarter project for my forth coming book. In it I shall be looking at the photography of Watkins, showing how the county he photographed has changed in the past hundred years or so. For the best part of this year I have been traveling around Herefordshire, seeking out the places he photographed and putting my tripod where he put his.
   We are lucky that the archive of his negatives is held at Hereford Museum, along with his camera equipment, the staff there have been invaluable in the course of researching this book. On the Hereford Museum website they have many of his images on file that you can look at. But by no means the entire archive. Fortunately they have accepted my offer to scan and digitize the rest of his archive, an amazing opportunity! I shall begin doing this in thee next couple of weeks staring with the images needed for reproduction in the book then continuing with the rest of the archive.
    I shall be self-publishing this book, as well as researching, shooting and editing the images, I have been labouring over my laptop...through the night on occasion...getting the manuscript ready for publication. All that now remains is to drop in the digital versions of Alfred's pictures once they have been collated.   Publication costs are expensive so please take a minute to check out my Kickstarter page and support independent photojournalism. A link to this is below:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jimwood/then-and-now-a-photographic-journey-through-herefo

A Tribute To Alfred Watkins; Part Four..

The 17th Century St Giles chapel as it now stands on St.Owen Street.

The corner of Ledbury Road and St.Owen Street where St.Giles Chapel used to stand, it used to protrude well out into the junction. As recorded by Alfred Watkins and his camera and the Hereford Times in 1927 the chapel was relocated to it's present position in St.Owen Street in the picture above this one.

This plaque reads "The stones below are part of the walls of the twelfth century round chapel of Saint Giles. Found in 1927 when demolishing the chapel of 1682"

During excavation in 1927 the foundations of a round church were discovered, it was hoped they could be preserved. This was not possible, but Watkins managed to persuade the city surveyor to design the new boundary wall of the gardens, to sit on an arc of the old foundation some thirteen feet in length. The plaque is under this wooden bench.

Detail from the alms houses.

Alfred Watkins was the chairman of the executive committee responsible for the erection of the county and city War Memorial which selected this Eleanor Cross. In the 1934 guide book for the Old House he wrote of the pigeons which "were turned out of the Old House in 1872, but found shelter in the belfry of St Peter's Church....Once a year the birds gather for a memorable occasion. The appointed hour of the morning of Armistice Day is near, the people are drifting towards the war memorial cross in St. Peter's Square. The sound of prayer and hymn is heard; it is an unusual item in bird-life; and these town pigeons are assembled in ranks of expectation on the tower parapet. There is a hush around the cross, broken by the deep signal boom of the maroon, when the birds rise with startled unison in one swoop of curved formation and loud clapping of wings. In the two minutes' silence they quietly come back for the second signal, and with the dispersing crowd they too depart, not again to gather at this vantage point untill, in a year's time, there comes once more the eleventh day of the eleventh month."

The Grapes on the corner of East Street was part of the Watkins-Imperial Brewery.

The only sign of the Watkins legacy to be seen in Hereford today.

A fisherman in-front of the Hereford Rowing Club established in 1861 which Watkins joined in 1878, and became vice-president in 1901.

Also part of the Watkins-Imperial Brewery.

This was the Maidenhead Inn in Eign Street, part of the Watkins Chain.

This wa the site of the Three Crowns again on Eign Street, also part of the Watkins brewery.

Once the site of Lloyds bank, the restoration of this building was organised by the Old House Committee of which Watkins was one of it's leading member's. It was he who wrote the first guide to the building which contained ten of his own photographs, published in June 1934.

Alfred Watkins Tribute; Part Three...Imperial brewery and flour mill.

Long since demolished this is where The "Watkins" Imperial Flour Mill stood on Friars Street in Hereford. Another of Alfred Watkins' enterprises, The Watkins Meter Company was in a small shed like building attached to the flour mills, this is where the famous "Watkins Bee Meter" was manufactured along with other photographic meters, also they made equipment used in the baking of bread like the "Baker's Thermometer".

Although the mill is no longer there. The new bungalows have this plaque on the wall as a nod back to earlier times.

Bewell Street as it now stands as the site of Tesco supermarket.

An Alfred Watkins photograph of Bewell Street in the late 19th century when it was still the Imperial brewery. Image ©Herefordshire Heritage Services.

Alfred Watkins father Charles Watkins purchased Bewell House in 1870 when Alfred was 15. This was the family town house as Charles Watkins went on to buy Wisteston Court in Marden as the main family house. Apart from the Imperial Inn this is all that now stands of the Imperial Brewery.

This would have been the cask yard at the rear of the Imperial brewery according to an old engraving circa 1892.

This is the Widemarsh Street Gatehouse built in the late 15th or 16th Century. In 1865 it was opened as a boys school. Alfred would have been one of it's first pupils. He later told his son "it was a shocking bad school where the teaching was perfectly dreadful and I learned absolutely nothing".

You can check out previous installments by clicking the links below;

http://www.jimwoodphotojournalist.net/2012/12/a-photographic-tribute-to-alfred.html

http://www.jimwoodphotojournalist.net/2013/01/alfred-watkins-tribute-part-two-in.html

Alfred Watkins Tribute. Part Two "In Hereford".

"Vivid proof of two sighted tracks is to be found in the centre of old Hereford. Stand at a point in East Street, where it begins to bend to get around to St John Street, and look (westward) the whole length of the continuous East and West Streets. Here again traffic can be seen, passing in Victoria Street, which is 430 yards distant, although the streets narrow down to 12 feet wide in places." The Old Straight Track (The Classic Book On Ley Lines) by Alfred Wakins. 1925.

"Standing in the Cathedral Close (at the western iron post of a gate), and looking the whole length of the two lanes-Upper and Lower Church Street-traffic can be seen passing in the high-town 183 yards distant, although in some parts the lane is only 7 feet wide. In these cases narrow, straight sighted tracks are still preserved between the houses of these narrow lanes (not withstanding several obvious encroachments) for 430 yards and 183 yards respectively. The crossing point of these two tracks was the highest ground within the city." The Old Straight Track By Alfred Watkins. 1925.

The back of the Wakins & Son Brewery offices in Bewell Street

The Watkins & Son Brewery Offices front entrance on Eign Street. In an illustrated booklet "Hereford In 1892", the main office was described as having 'substantial mahogany fittings, and every convenience is provided for the transaction of business by the large staff of clerks and others engaged here...'

"Original sign for the Imperial on Widemarsh Street."

The birth place of Alfred Watkins, born on 27th January 1855. The frontispiece for the Watkins "Imperial" Hereford Brewery was always this pub. The Golden Lion and The Orange Tree in Hereford are the only other remaining pubs that were also owned by the "Imperial Brewery". There were five in Hay-On-Wye as well; The Kings Head, The Wheatsheaf, the Talbot, The Severn Stars and The Holly Bush.

The Watkins Brewery was demolished in the early 1960's and was a car park and a jam factory untill this Tesco was built in 1982.

Alfred Watkins was intimately connected to The Old House in High Town, now a museum providing visitors with an insight into seventeenth century life in Hereford.. he wrote the first guide for the building which was illustrated with ten of his photographs. He wrote of this old house 'The yearly orgy of May Fair gave a new aspect to this Old Housse, for all round were booths, stalls and roundabouts, whist Fossett's Photographic Studio long took up its position almost blocking the bank entrance.

Alfred Watkins was also the Chairman for the executive committee responsible  for the erection of the county and city War Memorial in St. Peter's Square

5 Harley Court, Alfred Watkins at the time 64 and his family moved here in 1919 and lived here untill his death in 1935