Catalogue description Photographs of the Robertsbridge area from the studio of George Soper (1870-1942)

These photographs were found in the Studio of George Soper, artist and printmaker, at Welwyn in Hertfordshire. Soper did a number of paintings, etchings and engravings based on studies made in Sussex and especially on the South Downs. He collected many photographs and cuttings, particularly of sheep and horses, as references for his work. It seems clear from the endorsement of AMS6495/1 that he commissioned friends to provide photographs, and that this group is the product of such a request

In 1927 Hillden, Horeham Road, was occupied by William Cowland (directory), a retired Lloyds underwriter, who died on 14 September 1932; his obituary in the Sussex Express of 23 September 1932 gave no indication of a connection with Soper or the world of art. His widow Gertude Lizzie Cowland was still at Hillden in 1936 (telephone directory). In 1938 the property was occupied by Walter Frank Newson (directory). The individual shown halting the horse in AMS6495/13 an 14 may also be the author of the other photographs

It is clear from the paper on which they are printed that numbers AMS6495/1, 2-16 and 17-23 were taken on three different rolls of film, but there is no other evidence to suggest that all the photographs are not roughly contemporary

For a chronology of the life and work of George Soper and his daughters Eileen (a noted wildlife artist) and Eva Soper, see AMS6495/24. Their work has also been discussed in Paul Heiney, George Soper's Horses (1990); Duff Hart-Davies, Wildings: the Secret Garden of Eileen Soper (1991) and Chris Beetles The Art of George and Eileen Soper (1995)

Documents given 7 December 1998 (ACC 7797)