Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}

• Name	Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery
  	VARIANT NAME: Theatre Photographic Gallery.
  Gender	Unknown
  Business Address/Year	Oct 1862-1879?	Victoria, BC
  	Address: Government St. west side near View St. Victoria, BC Canada
  Association	Vaughan, John William (Relationship: Owner)
  Association	Uren, John Batrel (Relationship: Owner)
  Association	Brown, George Hay (Relationship: Photographer)
  Association	Desmond, Robert Ansley Brittain (Relationship: Employee)
  Association	Spencer, Stephen Allen (Relationship: Owner)
  Association	Miller (Relationship: Employee)
  Association	Robinson, George (Relationship: Owner)
  Association	Craigg, J. Augustus (Relationship: Owner)
  Association	Shakespeare, Noah (Relationship: Leasee)
  Association	Fulton, Christopher (Relationship: Owner)
  Association	Vaughan and Fulton (Relationship: Owners)
  Association	Vaughan and Robertson (Relationship: Owners)
  Association	Robertson, William Francis (Relationship: Owners)
  Association	Williams, Robert Taylor (Relationship: Employee?)
  Person ID	I33	Camera Workers | V, vol. 1, 1858-1900
  Last Modified	26 May 2025

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery, Government Street, Aug 1875, by Charles Horetzky Magnification of a photograph taken from the Driard Hotel showing the distinctive facade of the Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery at the time it was leased to Noah Shakespeare by its owner S.A. Spencer. This photograph appears in multiple copies of Horetzky's 1875 Bute Inlet route survey photographs albums and is dated Aug 1875. Image courtesy of BC Archives, Item A-03456 (HP009486).
  		Dr. A.R. Benson and his wife, 1860s. Studio portrait by J.W. Vaughan. Image courtesy of BC Archives, Visual Records item number B-00931 (HP028892).
  		"First picture taken by R.T.W. in old theatre building, Government at Victoria", 1860s. Title from BC Archives photograph. Courtesy of BC Archives, Item F-05825.
  		Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery, Government Street, ca. 1868-1869. West side of Government Street looking north from Fort Street, Victoria. The Theatre Photographic Gallery is the two-story, wooden building with the triangular pediment in the centre. Photographed by Frederick Dally. Courtesy of BC Archives, Item A-03021; this version is from Dally album 3, p. 10 (slightly cropped). The Gallery Next Door is on the south side adjoining the Theatre Photographic Gallery. The Gallery Next Door was owned successively by Carlo Gentile, George Robinson, Noah Shakespeare, Uren and Hoyt, and Shakespeare again.

  
  

  Documents » Slide Show		J.A. Craigg's letter to the editor, Daily Colonist, 4 Nov 1869, p. 3. In this letter to the editor of the Colonist, J.A. Craigg objected to the newspaper's insinuation that a "licentious photograph" had been taken in the Theatre Photographic Gallery. Noah Shakespeare's letter on the subject appeared in the same paper.
  		J.A. Craigg imprint from the back of a carte-de-visite portrait, between 1869-1872. From verso of BC Archives carte-de-visite in Hunter album no. 3, p. 37.
  		J.A. Craigg's ad, Victoria Standard, 14 Jul 1870, p. 4.
  		J.A. Craigg's imprint from the back of a carte-de-visite, ca. 1870 R.S. Vickers (1917-2008), who owned this carte-de-visite, was the great-grandson of photographer George Robinson, a contemporary of Craigg's and who had also once operated the Theatre Photographic Gallery.
  		Theatre Photographic Gallery's imprint from the verso of a carte-de-visite. This Victoria studio was owned by George Robinson and this photograph was owned by his great-grandson, R.S. Vickers (1917-2008).
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 10 Jun 1864, p. 1. A slightly different version of this ad started appearing in Jul 1864.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ID from the verso of a carte-de-visite portrait. Portrait of Israel Wood Powell, Jr. Image courtesy of BC Archives, Visual Records item number B-01965 (HP030764).
  		J.W. Vaughan's ID from the verso of a carte-de-visite portrait. The portrait is of an officer from HMS Topaze. Image courtesy of BC Archives, Visual Records catalogue no. HP050033.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 8 Aug 1864, p. 1.
  		J.A. Craigg's ad, Daily Colonist, 22 Jun 1869. Craigg acquired the Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery from George Robinson in May or June 1869.
  		J.W. Vaughan ad no. 2, Victoria Colonist, 10 Jun 1864, p. 1. This ad first appeared in early Mar 1864 in the Colonist following the dissolution of the Vaughan and Robertson partnership.
  		Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery ad, First Victoria Directory, Third Issue, and British Columbia Guide (Mallandaine, 1869), p. 75. Operated by J.A. Craigg who had acquired it from George Robinson in the spring 1869.
  		Craigg's Photographic Gallery ad, Daily Colonist, 12 Apr 1872, p. 2.
  		S.A. Spencer's ad, Daily Colonist, 5 Jun 1872, p. 2. Announcing he has purchased Craigg's Photographic Gallery; the ad first appeared in the Daily Colonist on 9 May 1872, p. 2.
  		S.A. Spencer news, Daily Colonist, 7 Nov 1874, p. 3. Noting his return from San Francisco "with improved appliances for taking and finishing pictures," along with Mr. Miller, a retoucher from an unnamed San Francisco studio.
  		George Robinson's ad, Victoria Colonist, 29 Mar 1869, p. 2. While in business as a dentist, he advertises his intention of selling the Theatre Photographic Gallery during his absence from Victoria.
  		George Robinson's ad, First Victoria Directory, Second Issue, and British Columbia Guide (Mallandaine, April 1868), p. 82. He also advertised himself in this directory as a "surgical and mechanical dentist."
  		J.A. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 1 May 1863, p. 1. This ad first appeared in the Colonist as early as 16 Mar 1863, p. 3. Its last appearance in the Colonist was in early Aug 1863 just prior to the first ad for the Vaughan and Robertson partnership.
  		Vaughan's Photographic Gallery's ad, The British Columbian and Victoria Guide and Directory for 1863, p. 18. The studio was in the Victoria Theatre building.
  		Vaughan's Photographic Gallery ad, Victoria Colonist, 7 Sep 1864, p. 2. This ad notes the hiring of G.H. Brown, an experienced photographer from the U.S.
  		Vaughan's Photographic Gallery news, Victoria Colonist, 7 Sep 1864, p. 3. Without naming him, this news item notes the hiring of G.H. Brown by J.W. Vaughan.
  		Vaughan and Fulton ad, Victoria Colonist, 18 Dec 1862, p. 2. Their dissolution of partnership notice.
  		Vaughan and Fulton ad, Victoria Colonist, 31 Oct 1862, p. 2. This ad first appeared in the Colonist on 30 Oct 1862.
  		Vaughan's Photographic Gallery ad, Victoria Colonist, 22 Jan 1863, p. 3.
  		Vaughan and Robertson's ad, Victoria Colonist, 5 Aug 1863, p. 2. First appearance of this ad.
  		J.W. Vaughan news, Victoria Colonist, 29 Apr 1864, p.3. About the theft of a photographic case by a "boy" who was sentenced to the chain gang. Two years later the same thing happened to G.R. Fardon at his studio.
  		Vaughan's Photographic Gallery ad, Victoria Colonist, 16 Jan 1865, p. 1. Ad for the sale of his studio lease due to his imminent departure for Honduras.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 27 Apr 1863, p. 2. This ad ran for a week.
  		J.W. Vaughan news, Victoria Colonist, 9 Dec 1864, p. 3. Vaughan advertises "crayotypes", portraits based on photographs. They are rather expensive but would in effect be an original work of art.
  		J.W. Vaughan's news, Victoria Colonist, 9 Dec 1863, p. 3.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 9 May 1864, p. 2.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 9 Nov 1864, p. 4. This ad may have signalled the departure of Vaughan's former assistant/photographer, G.H. Brown. Brown had been in Victoria since early September 1864.
  		George Robinson news article, New Westminster British Columbian, 8 Jun 1865, p. 3. This article reports his departure for Haida Gwaii on a coal prospecting trip on behalf of the Queen Charlotte Coal Mining Company Ltd. The article points out he is the proprietor of the Theatre Photographic Gallery and is taking his camera equipment with him. No photographs from this trip have been identified. An earlier article in the Colonist reported on the departure of miners for Haida Gwaii and that Robinson was the manager on behalf of the company.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad in Joseph Park's A Practical View of the Mining Laws of British Columbia (1864), p. lxvii. Immediately above Vaughan's ad was one for George Robinson Fardon.
  		S.A. Spencer's ad, Victoria Colonist, 29 Apr 1875, p. 2. First appearance of this ad in which he announces he is vacating his Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery location on Government St. and moving his studio to Fort St. near Broad St. The ad was still in the Colonist on 29 Jun 1875, p. 4.
  		J.W. Vaughan's ad, Victoria Colonist, 6 Jul 1864, p. 1. The layout of this ad is slightly different from the version which first appeared in Jun 1864.
  		Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery news, Victoria Daily Chronicle, 22 Apr 1865, p. 3. S.A. Spencer is the photographer referenced in this item about photographs of President Lincoln.
  		S.A. Spencer ad, Victoria Colonist, 14 Jul 1872, p. 2. This ad under his ownership of the Theatre Photographic Gallery first appeared around 12 Jun 1872.
  		N. Shakespeare news, Victoria Colonist, 13 May 1875, p. 3. About his lease of the Theatre Photographic Gallery.
  		S.A. Spencer ad, Victoria Daily Standard, 18 Sep 1872, p. 3.
  		J.W. Vaughan news, Colonist, 2 Jan 1865, p. 3. Known by several names, the crayotype or crayon portrait was produced with the aid of an artist who skillfully (or not) coloured over a faint photographic image on drawing paper to produce a portrait.
  		Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery ad, Victoria Colonist, 28 Sep 1878, p. 1. The gallery was available for rent by early Sep 1878 through either an agent or the building's owner. The last appearance of this Colonist ad may have been on 1 Dec 1878 (p. 4).
  		Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery ad, Victoria Evening Telegraph, 13 Jul 1866, p. 3. This ad was placed by its proprietor at the time, George Robinson.

  
  

• Notes

  STATUS: Studio. BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Established by J.W. Vaughan and C. Fulton in Oct 1862, the business was leased or purchased from Vaughan in Jan 1865 by G. Robinson. Robinson sold it to J.A. Craigg in May or Jun 1869. S.A. Spencer bought the business from Craigg in Apr 1872 and Spencer refitted the gallery. N. Shakespeare leased the gallery from Spencer in May 1875 and J.B. Uren then purchased it from Shakespeare in Jun 1878. By Feb 1879 Uren was operating his own studio in New Westminster. The building housing the gallery was demolished in Oct 1882. IDENTIFYING MARKS: see under names of various photographers.

  
  

• Sources

  [S46] COLLECTION: BVIPA, 21 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3). [S11] Howard, F.P. and Barnett, comps., HOW63, (Victoria, B.C.: Frederick P. Howard and George Barnett, 1863), 21 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3). [S12] MAL68, (Victoria, V.I.: E. Mallandine, 1868), 21 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3). [S13] MAL69, (Victoria, V.I.: E. Mallandine, 1869), 21 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3). [S15] MAL74, (Victoria, B.C.: E. Mallandine, 1874), 21 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3). [S3] David Mattison, Mattison (1980 Winter), (British Columbia Historical News), 21 Dec 2016, 1-14 (Reliability: 2).