Ernest Brooks (photographer)
- For other persons named Ernest Brooks, see Ernest Brooks (disambiguation)
Ernest Brooks (23 February 1878 — after 1936) was a British photographer, best known for his war photography from the First World War. He was the first official photographer to be appointed by the British military, and produced several thousand images between 1915 and 1918, more than a tenth of all British official photographs taken during the war. His work was often relatively posed and formal, but several of his less conventional images are marked by a distinctive use of silhouette. Before and immediately after the war he worked as an official photographer to the Royal Family, but was dismissed from this appointment and stripped of his official honours in 1925.
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[edit] Career
Born on 23 February 1878,[4] he grew up near Windsor, Berkshire, and later claimed that one of his first jobs was to look after a mule given to Queen Victoria by Lord Kitchener.[5] He worked as a professional photographer for the Daily Mirror,[6] and for the Royal Family,[4] from around 1910 onwards.[7] In late 1910, he accompanied the Duke of Connaught to South Africa,[8] and in 1911 accompanied King George V to India for the Delhi Durbar.[9] By early 1914, he publicised himself as the Official Photographer to the King and Queen, with an address on Buckingham Palace Road in central London.[10]
After the outbreak of the First World War he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, enlisting on 25 January 1915.[4] When the Gallipoli landings were being prepared, Winston Churchill, who had himself been a war correspondent, arranged for there to be journalists and photographers accompanying the expeditionary force. Brooks, as a professional photographer already in uniform, was appointed as the Admiralty official photographer.[6] In March 1916, he was transferred from the Admiralty to the War Office, given the honorary rank of second lieutenant and appointed the official photographer for the Western Front.[11] He was the only professional photographer to cover the Battle of the Somme, recording the attack on the first day from the front-line trenches near Beaumont Hamel.[12] In 1917 he was appointed a Chevalier of the Belgian Order of the Crown.[13] In 1918, he covered the Italian campaign and naval activity.[14] The same year, he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.[15]
After joining the military, he is described simply as a "photographer", no longer with a royal connection.[16] He later returned to royal service, accompanying the Prince of Wales on his tour of Australia in 1920 as the official photographer, and by the following year had also been appointed official photographer to King George V and his wife, Mary.[17] However, his appointment was cancelled in 1925, for undisclosed reasons.[18] His appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and his British Empire Medal (BEM) were also "cancelled and annulled".[19]
He continued to work as a photographer; in 1928 he was convicted of disorderly behaviour outside a ball in Grosvenor Square, claiming that he had been invited there to take pictures.[20] He continued in photojournalism at least as late as 1936, when he is credited with taking two photographs of Jerome Brannigan being arrested, after Brannigan had attempted to assassinate King Edward VIII.[21]
[edit] Photographic work
Much of his wartime work, though technically proficient and consistent,[23] was rather conventional, often involving posed photographs rather than more candid impromptu shots of his subjects.[24] His work was noted as being characterised by a "conscious seeking after a publishable photograph",[23] and it was recorded that he occasionally persuaded soldiers to pose for staged pictures of routine activity in the trenches.[25] However, he was insistent that combat photographs were never faked – "we have strict instructions not to do – we have never done it".[26] He had a fondness for a dramatic use of silhouette, with images composed to show soldiers walking along a ridge against the light. These images, where individual men were not easily recognisable, often were used to illustrate the "anonymous heroes" of the war.[27]
Brooks was the first and the longest-serving of the British war photographers, and took more than 4,400 images.[28] This was the most of any individual photographer, and represented more than 10% of all the official photographs.[29] A large collection of his photographs is now held by the Imperial War Museum, and a second collection is held by the National Library of Scotland as part of Earl Haig's papers; both have been digitised.
Formal portraits from his pre-war service with the Royal Family include a portrait of Prince Arthur of Connaught and Princess Alexandra, taken at their wedding,[30] and two portraits of the young Prince John, both in 1913.[31]
[edit] References
- ^ Imperial War Museum. "Official First World War Photographers (Q 2978)". Imperial War Museum Collections Search. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205194704. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ National Library of Scotland. "(311) C.2494 - Troops moving up at eventide - men of a Yorkshire regiment on the march". First World War 'Official Photographs'. http://digital.nls.uk/first-world-war-official-photographs/pageturner.cfm?id=74546492. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ Imperial War Museum. "The First World War 1914 - 1918: The Western Front: The Somme Offensive 1916 (Q 1142)". Imperial War Museum Collections Search. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193129. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ a b c "Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve: Records of Service, WW1—Image details—Brooks, Ernest". DocumentsOnline. The National Archives. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8023311. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ Article in the Strand magazine, quoted in The Argus, 1 October 1921. Online copy
- ^ a b Carmichael, p. 36
- ^ The Manchester Guardian carried a photograph of the "King's Children at Balmoral", 22 September 1910; this is the first picture in their files attributed to Brooks.
- ^ Photograph taken in Rhodesia, credited to Brooks in the Manchester Guardian, 19 December 1910.
- ^ Photographs taken in Nepal, credited to Brooks in the Manchester Guardian, 15 January 1912.
- ^ London telephone directory for January 1914, p. 131; 1915, p. 101
- ^ Carmichael, p. 48
- ^ Carmichael, p. 49
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30302. p. 9862. 21 September 1917.
- ^ Bourne, p. 40; Carmichael, p. 66
- ^ London Gazette: no. 30568. p. 3095. 8 March 1918.
- ^ London telephone directory for October 1916, p. 110; 1919, p. 140
- ^ The Times, 1 September 1921, p. 5
- ^ The Times, 6 May 1925; p. 19
- ^ London Gazette: no. 33044. p. 3025. 5 May 1925.
- ^ Article in the Manchester Guardian, p.13, 14 July 1928
- ^ There are two photographs of this event credited to Brooks in the Hulton Picture Library; nos. 2666173 and 3355372 at Getty Images.
- ^ Imperial War Museum. "The Battle of the Somme 1 July - 18 November 1916 (Q 800)". Imperial War Museum Collections Search. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193912. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ a b Carmichael, p. 39
- ^ Carmichael, pp. 61–63
- ^ Carmichael, p. 52
- ^ Fraser
- ^ Carmichael, p. 63
- ^ Bourne, p.40
- ^ Carmichael, p. 142
- ^ Digital copy at the National Portrait Gallery.
- ^ Two portraits of the prince attributed to Brooks are held in the Hulton Picture Library; nos. 3304766 and 3305272 at Getty Images.
[edit] Sources
- Bourne, J.M. (2001). Who's who in World War One. Routledge. ISBN 0415141796.
- Carmichael, Jane (1989). First World War photographers. Routledge. ISBN 0415010098.
- Fraser, Alastair H. (2009). "Ghosts on the Somme: New Techniques in the Analysis of Documentary Film". Stand To! (Western Front Association) (85). http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/wfa-publications/118-wfa-stand-to/945-stand-to-85.html.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ernest Brooks |
- Collection of Brooks' photographs in the National Library of Scotland Digital Archive. (366 items)
- [makerString[0]=%22Brooks%2C%20Ernest%20%28Lt%29%22&query= Collection of Brooks' photographs] in the Imperial War Museum. (1359 items)
