Ellen Esther HILL was born in 1867 and married Fred BARTON in 1891. Living with his widowed mother in West Malling, Freda and her husband moved to Hadlow in 1893 and became interested in professional photography. In 1903 she became a firm friend of the notable London photographer, Henry Snowden WARD. An early member of the Royal Photographic Society, he was her mentor and instrumental in the improvement of her photography.
Between 1898-1905, Freda took many photographs of her family and friends, and in the Hadlow area. Being in demand and needing a larger property to work from, she moved, with her husband and three sons, to this house in 1905 which they rented. She set herself up as a commercial photographer under the name of Mrs Fred BARTON until her husband died in 1927, then as Freda BARTON Photographer until her death in 1940.
Her photographs include local gentry, their houses and a wide variety of subjects of exceptional quality in and around West Malling. The Freda Barton Collection is one of the very best portfolios of commercial photographs between the late 1890's and late 1930's providing a record of the social history of West MaIling for future generations.
For more information, click here.
Ashford & Tenterden Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable Dover, Deal & Sandwich Faversham, Isle of Sheppey and Sittingbourne Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh Gravesend & Dartford Maidstone Margate, Broadstairs & Ramsgate Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham Sevenoaks Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells