Publisher Frith's

The company of Francis Frith, has its origins in a photographic company, dating back to 1860. Born in Chesterfield, in 1822, he went into thealready established a wholesale grocery trade in Liverpool. By the mid 1850’s, he was able to sell on the company for a substantial sum by today’s standards, and move into photography.
It was here that his love of photography took him far and wide, journeying through several countries in the Middle East. He was a pioneer and member of the Liverpool Photographic Society in 1853. On his return, he married and settled in Reigate, Surrey.

He turned his photographic skills into detailed records of the towns and cities he visited, with the intention of reselling his photos to an eager public, wishing to recall their own nostalgic journeys. These photographic prints were produces at the Frith Studios and supplied to retailers throughout the country. It was during the 1880’s that the founder retired, leaving his two sons Cyril and Eustace to carry on the photographic business. He died in 1898.

France Frith postcards were one of the first companies to produce postcards with divided backs. Around 1902 the Post Office gave its approval to postcards of this type, paving the way for full size illustations on one side, with room for a message and address on the back. After the founder died in 1898, his sons (and later grandson) brought the company into the twentieth century.