Fowlers Troop & the Deptford Jack in the Green

Thankfull Sturdee took the photographs of the original Fowlers Troop and the Deptford Jack in the Green. He was born in 1852 at 209 Evelyn Street; his father was a tailor, then a stationer.

The family had a long connection with Deptford; his grandfather James Sturdee was an inspector in the Dockyard and there was also an Admiral Sturdee, said to be related, at the Battle of Jutland.

Thankfull Sturdee married Catherine Sarah Bland in 1883 when he was living at 27 Albyn Road, St. John's, London SE8. The 1901 Census noted:

Thankfull Sturdee, age 48, born in Deptford, civil parish Deptford, occupation photographer.

In 1903 they were living at 16 Bolden Street, not far from Albyn Road, but by 1910 they had moved to Brockley, London SE4. They lived first at 157 Malpas Road, then in 1912 at 151 Manor Road and from 1917 to his death in 1934, at 26 Geoffrey Road. There is a commemorative plaque at the Bolden Street house.

In 1911 he joined the Daily Mirror as a press photographer. Outside work, he was interested in Deptford's history and took photos and did research. He gave his negatives and two series of prints with his own notes to the Deptford Borough Library, now part of Lewisham Library, not long before he died. The collection includes his picture An old May Day custom - Jack in the Green and other Deptford pictures including A prize bull at the Foreign Cattle Market, Deptford 1895, shown on the photoLondon website.

Contact us: S.J.Crofts(@)gre.ac.uk

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Links: Lewisham Local Studies Centre | Thankfull Sturdee's Prize Bull | Plaques of London | photoLondon | Map