Camera Workers, 1858-1950

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

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Uren, John Batrel[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, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44]

Male 1841 - 1919  (77 years)


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  • Name Uren, John Batrel 
    Birth 7 May 1841  Lelant, Cornwall, Eng., UK Find all individuals with events at this location  [45] 
    Gender Male 
    Business Address/Year 1890-1894?  Nanaimo, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Victoria Cres.
    Nanaimo, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year Jun 1889-  Nanaimo, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • According to a newspaper item his studio was "recently erected near the Long-bridge, adjoining Brightman's Queen's Market." [46]
    Home Address/Year 1874  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Superior St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year Apr-Oct 1874  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Government St. (W. side near View St.)
    Uren and Hoyt
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) Jul-Aug 1875  Barkerville, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1877  Nanaimo, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Business Address/Year 6 Jun 1878-Feb 1879  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Government St.
    W. side near View St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year Feb 1879-1881  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    near Columbia St.
    New Westminster, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year Aug 1882-1883  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Front St.
    New Westminster, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 24 May-13 Jun 1886  Vancouver, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Cordova St.
    Vancouver, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1884?-1889  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Columbia St.
    New Westminster, BC
    Canada 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1898?  Ashcroft, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1898-1908?  Chilliwack, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Dates are not always continuous across this time span. 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1894-1898  Wellington, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Death 26 Feb 1919  Renton, WA Find all individuals with events at this location  [45] 
    Burial Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, WA Find all individuals with events at this location  [45] 
    Association Shakespeare, Noah (Relationship: Undefined) 
    Association Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery (Relationship: Owner) 
    Association Uren and Hoyt (Relationship: Partner) 
    Association Uren and Mountain (Relationship: Partner) 
    Association Uren and Burge (Relationship: Partner) 
    Association Mainland Photograph Company (Relationship: Proprietor) 
    Person ID I461  Camera Workers | U, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 4 Aug 2023 

  • Photos
    Mr. and Mrs. James Uren, ca. 1870s?    		Mr. and Mrs. James Uren, ca. 1870s?
    This studio portrait may have been taken in New Westminster or Victoria. The photographer is unknown. James Uren never worked as a photographer. He may have been J.B. Uren's brother. The BC Archives description describes the couple as Mr. and Mrs. John Uren, photographers of New Westminster. Courtesy of BC Archives, Item I-66320.

    Documents
    J.B. Uren's ID from the front of a photograph.    		J.B. Uren's ID from the front of a photograph.
    John Uren's ID from the verso of a portrait.    		John Uren's ID from the verso of a portrait.
    Image courtesy of BC Archives, Item C-07092.
    J.B. Uren and H. Burge news item, <i>Chilliwack Progress</i>, 1 Jun 1898, p. 1.    		J.B. Uren and H. Burge news item, Chilliwack Progress, 1 Jun 1898, p. 1.
    They appear to have first visited Chilliwack in May or early Jun 1898.
    J.B. Uren news item, <i>Chilliwack Progress</i>, 21 Aug 1901, p. 1.    		J.B. Uren news item, Chilliwack Progress, 21 Aug 1901, p. 1.
    Report of a forest fire which destroyed Uren's hotel at Urenville near Mount Baker, WA.
    Uren and Hoyt's ad, Victoria <i>Colonist</i>, 9 Jun 1874, p. 2.    		Uren and Hoyt's ad, Victoria Colonist, 9 Jun 1874, p. 2.
    J.B. Uren news, <i>Cariboo Sentinel</i>, 7 Aug 1875, p. 3.    		J.B. Uren news, Cariboo Sentinel, 7 Aug 1875, p. 3.
    W.P. Coughlan news, <i>Nanaimo Free Press</i>, 25 Jun 1889, p. 2.    		W.P. Coughlan news, Nanaimo Free Press, 25 Jun 1889, p. 2.
    Coughlan was reacting to the presence of J.B. Uren who had opened a studio on 24 Jun 1889 under the name Mainland Photograph Company. As intimated by Coughlan, he faced the same issue in 1888 when the Great Eastern Photographic and Advertising Company visited Nanaimo.
    J.B. Uren news, <i>Nanaimo Free Press</i>, 25 Jun 1889, p. 2.    		J.B. Uren news, Nanaimo Free Press, 25 Jun 1889, p. 2.
    J.B. Uren news, <i>Nanaimo Free Press</i>, 25 Jun 1889, p. 2.    		J.B. Uren news, Nanaimo Free Press, 25 Jun 1889, p. 2.
    J.B. Uren and M.F. Kelly news, Cumberland <i>Weekly News</i>, 19 Apr 1898, p. 4.    		J.B. Uren and M.F. Kelly news, Cumberland Weekly News, 19 Apr 1898, p. 4.
    A court case involving the theft of camera equipment loaned by J.B. Uren to Alexander Pierie so he could compete against M.F. Kelly.

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: According to the 1901 Census of Canada, he immigrated to Canada in 1855. His father's name is given as William on his Washington State death certificate. A search of the FreeBMD database indicates that many Urens originated in Cornwall. The first mention of Uren's British Columbia photographic career was his purchase of the Shakespeare Photographic Gallery, also known as the Gallery Next Door to the Theatre Photographic Gallery, in Apr 1874. Uren is not the John "Wren" listed in the Nanaimo directory of 1874. He appears to have abandoned the former Shakespeare studio in Oct 1874 and Shakespeare re-acquired its ownership. The Colonist for 13 Oct 1874 reported seeing his photos of the Cache Creek Boarding School.

      The following year Uren was in Barkerville taking photographs for a couple of weeks. He opened a studio in Oct 1876 in Nanaimo and by Jun 1878 he had returned to Victoria and then purchased the Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery from Shakespeare which Shakespeare had purchased from S.A. Spencer in 1875.

      Moving to New Westminster in Feb 1879 Uren opened a studio there at "the corner of the streets leading to the Drill Shed, a few doors from Columbia St." The following year he invented a reversible camera back for producing multiple images in one sitting.

      He purchased a saloon in New Westminster in 1881, but was back at photography the next year at a new location on Front St. next to Mrs. Eckstein's. By 1885 he had moved to Columbia St.

      He had moved to Nanaimo by 1890 and was listed as a photographer in Wellington in the mid to late 1890s. By 1898 he was working as a photographer in Chilliwack and advertised himself as "Messrs. J. Uren and H. Burge, photographers", with Burge being the finisher (Chilliwack Progress, 1 Jun 1898, news item). He left Chilliwack on 12 Jul 1898 for Steveston, BC, but had plans to return in the fall. According to information from the Chilliwack Museum and Archives, he worked briefly in Ashcroft and had returned to Chilliwack by Mar 1899. He was selling between Mar and Jul 1899 platinum prints of his photographs in Chilliwack at a stand opposite Reeves hardware store. Between Aug and Nov 1899 he was willing to instruct anyone in photography who was interested in buying or bartering for land his business.

      He may have left Chilliwack at the end of 1899 and then returned by Mar 1900 since the Chilliwack Progress noted his appearance once more. In Aug 1901 a forest fire destroyed his hotel at Urenville near Mount Baker, WA. By Nov 1901 he was once again advertising his Chilliwack photography services at a location over Thomas' jewellery store. In Jul 1903 he left his Chilliwack studio to take a trip up the Harrison River. In Nov 1909 his name was struck from the provincial voters list due to his absence for six months or more from Chilliwack.

      Although John Uren was a prolific photographer who took many portraits and landscape views, no large caches of his photographs appear to have survived in public archives.
      John Uren died aged 77 and is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, Washington (section F, lot 326, block 48, grave 1).

      At the time of the 1901 census enumeration he was shown as single, an Anglican (Church of England), and a lodger in Chilliwack. He may have been married at one point. The BC Archives holds a photograph (Visual Records call number I-66320) identified as Mr. and Mrs. John Uren. A staff member annotated the photocopy of the portrait, taken at an unidentified studio at an unknown date but of a cabinet card size, to indicate that the couple had a daughter named Emma Malvina/Malvetta Uren, who married Mark Sweeton Wade in Clinton on 10 Mar 1886. She died in Kamloops on 22 Nov 1945. Emma M. Uren, however, was the daughter of James and Malvana or Malvena Uren. They, however, had a son named James Bottrell, and since his middle sounds like Batrel, John Uren's middle name as it was spelled in the 1877-78 Hibbens directory, John and James Uren were likely brothers and their histories confused. James Uren never worked as a photographer.

      One of the puzzles that emerged out of research conducted in Mar 2004 into John B. Uren's life is that a James, John, and William Uren immigrated to Adelaide, Australia, in 1847 on the Trafalgar (Ancestry.com Message Board, submitter: Judy, Subject: Re: Mulvihill Galway). A John Uren, born ca. 1843 in England, was also married in Adelaide on 22 Apr 1867 to Emma Jane Matthews, born about 1849 in England (IGI Individual Record for John Uren and Emma Jane Matthews, FamilySearch.org). The marriage, however, is 12 years after John B. Uren's purported arrival in Canada. [47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53]
    • IDENTIFYING MARKS: "Photograph by John Uren, Front Street, New Westminster, B.C." on verso of print; "J. Uren, Photographer, New Westminster, B.C." on verso of carte-de-visite; "J Uren, photographer, B.C." (reported by Chilliwack Museum & Archives, 06 Sep 1991).

  • Sources 
    1. [S46] COLLECTION: BVIPA, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    2. [S45] COLLECTION: BVAA, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    3. [S64] COLLECTION: BNCM, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    4. [S14] MAL71, (Victoria, V.I.: E. Mallandine, 1871), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    5. [S15] MAL74, (Victoria, B.C.: E. Mallandine, 1874), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    6. [S16] HIB77, (Victoria, B.C.: T.N. Hibben and Co., 1877), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    7. [S17] WIL82, (Victoria, B.C.: R.T. Williams, 1882), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    8. [S19] Woltz, William, comp., WIL85, (Victoria, B.C.: R.T. Williams, 1885), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    9. [S20] Mallandine, Edward, MAL87, (Victoria, B.C.: E. Mallandine, R.T. Williams, 1887), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    10. [S22] Draper, Thomas, comp., WIL89, (Victoria, B.C.: R.T. Williams, 1889), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    11. [S24] HEN90, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Directory Co., 1890), 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).

    12. [S33] Williams' B.C. Directory Co., comp., WIL94, (Victoria, B.C.: Williams' B.C. Directory Co., 1894) (Reliability: 3).

    13. [S34] WIL95, (Victoria, B.C.: Williams' B.C. Directory Co., 1895), 28 Dec 2016.

    14. [S36] HEN97, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1897), 28 Dec 2016.

    15. [S37] WIL97, (Victoria, B.C.: Williams' B.C. Directory Co., 1897), 28 Dec 2016.

    16. [S38] HEN98, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1898), 28 Dec 2016.

    17. [S339] Voters List, (Victoria, B.C.: Province of British Columbia, 1874-), 1874, 1894, Ref. NW 324.1 B862. (Reliability: 3).
      Victoria

    18. [S339] Voters List, (Victoria, B.C.: Province of British Columbia, 1874-), 1900 1907, 1908, Ref. NW 324.1 B862. (Reliability: 3).
      Chilliwack

    19. [S628] (Victoria) Colonist, (Victoria: Colonist), 30 Apr 1874, 3.

    20. [S628] (Victoria) Colonist, (Victoria: Colonist), 9 Jun 1874, 2.

    21. [S628] (Victoria) Colonist, (Victoria: Colonist), 13 Oct 1874, 3.

    22. [S628] (Victoria) Colonist, (Victoria: Colonist), 5 Jun 1878, 3.

    23. [S677] Cariboo Sentinel, 31 Jul 1875, 2-3.

    24. [S677] Cariboo Sentinel, 7 Aug 1875, 3.

    25. [S706] Nanaimo Free Press, 18 Oct 1876, 3.

    26. [S662] (New Westminster) Mainland Guardian, 8 Feb 1879, 2-3.

    27. [S662] (New Westminster) Mainland Guardian, 16 Jun 1880, 3.

    28. [S662] (New Westminster) Mainland Guardian, 16 Mar 1881, 2.

    29. [S662] (New Westminster) Mainland Guardian, 17 Sep 1881, 4.

    30. [S662] (New Westminster) Mainland Guardian, 21 Sep 1881, 4.

    31. [S662] (New Westminster) Mainland Guardian, 26 Aug 1882, 3.

    32. [S663] (New Westminster) British Columbian, 23 Aug 1882, 3.

    33. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 1 Jun 1898.
      Ad

    34. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 1 Mar 1899.
      Return from Ashcroft

    35. [S666] BVIPA archival records, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Photo no. HP007401 (I-66320). Mr. and Mrs. John Uren; this photo could also be James and Malvana Uren

    36. [S666] BVIPA archival records, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Photo no. HP056211 (C-08404); Kamloops Museum & Archives photo no. 4369; Emma Malvina Wade, center; she was James', not John's daughter

    37. [S670] BVIPA marriage registration, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Registration 1886-09-175388 (microfilm B11387); Mark Sweeton Wade and Emma Malvetta Uren

    38. [S647] Census of Canada 1901, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Schedule 1, New Westminster District, Chilliwack Sub-district, Sub-district number a-6, Chilliwack Municipality, Wards III and IV, page 1, line 41 (digital facsimile available at Library and Archives Canada)

    39. [S861] Renton Bulletin, (Renton, Wash. : J.P. Parker), 28 Feb 1919, 3.

    40. [S861] Renton Bulletin, (Renton, Wash. : J.P. Parker), 25 Apr 1919, 2.

    41. [S862] Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2014; document reference ID 96; registered or mistranscribed as John Wren, date of death 26 Feb 1919, age 77, father William Wren; place of death, Renton, King County, WA

    42. [S652] BVIPA death registration index, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Registration 1945-09-671433 (microfilm B13189); Emma Malvina Wade

    43. [S633] BVIPA VR Photographer File, 28 Dec 2016.

    44. [S863] United States Census, 1910, 28 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 2).
      Misindexed as "John Wren". Washington, Franklin, Connell, image 24 of 44, line 71; digitized from U.S. National Archives microfilm T624. His age at last birthday is 68; he immigrated to the United States in 1865; occupation, "Photographer Commercial". He appears to have been living by himself.

    45. [S832] Find a Grave (Web site).
      John Batrel Uren
      URL (accessed 8 Feb 2020): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143838254

    46. [S706] Nanaimo Free Press, 25 Jun 1889, 2.

    47. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 13 Jul 1898, 1.
      J.B. Uren leaves Chilliwack for Steveston on 12 Jul 1898.

    48. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 22 Mar 1899, 1.
      J.B. Uren selling platinum prints at a stand opposite Reeves hardware store.

    49. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 2 Aug 1899, 1.

    50. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 28 Mar 1900, 1.

    51. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 21 Aug 1901, 1.

    52. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 13 Nov 1901, 1.

    53. [S693] Chilliwack Progress, 1 Jul 1903, 5.