E

E.T.W DENNIS:

Biographical details

(Note: the information in blue type comes from his obituary in the Scarborough Mercury Nov 23rd, 1923)

ETWDs father was Jeffrey Dennis. He was a manager at Nories , a London firm famous for supplying books, charts, instruments etc for navigation Jeffrey married three times and his third wife Jemima West (b.1811) bore him 4 children Ebenezer Henry West (b Jun 1841,Stepney, d 1898). This Ebenezer (emigrated??) seems to lose contact with ETWD , but his sister, younger brother and his mother remained in touch) Jemima Ellen West (b Dec 1844), ETWDennis himself (1847) and Frederick (1850). His father Jeffrey died in March 1850 (in Hackney.London)
His obituary says that Edward Thomas West Dennis was born on September 4th 1847 in Stoke Newington. London. ( His birth certificate shows neighbouring West Hackney)
In the 1851 Census Jeffrey's widow Jemima was living with a Thomas West with ETWD and Frederick. There is no mention of ETWDs sister Jemima Ellen West
His younger brother Frederick Gregory West Dennis was born in 1850 and later was a stationer in Scarborough with the firm of Dennis & Holloway. (see 1851 census entry for Thomas West)
He was apprenticed for 7 years to a bookseller stationer and printer in Ramsgate
After his apprenticeship he was a librarian at Leamington for a couple of years (say 1868 to 1869), In late 1870 he married his wife, Emily Jane Willifer , stated in the 1901 and 1911 censuses to have been born in Leamington
In March 1870 he moved to Scarborough. In partnership with his brother-in-law Mr.Thomas.W.Case he bought the library and business of a Mr George Crosby. This included "The Scarborough Mercury" Later he bought out his partner and disposed of "The Scarborough Mercury (Thomas Wythe Case is listed in the 1851 and 1871 Censuses, he was married to Jemima, the sister of ETWD She gives her first name in 1871 Census as Ellen ,born in Islington, Mx. In the 1861 Census she was still living with her uncle Thomas West in Deptford)
I have an 1871 copy of "Dennis & Case's" Scarborough Guide. In it they mention their shop at 83 Newborough St for books and fancy stationery. They also ran the Dennis & Case Bar Lending Library at 82 Newborough St. They also mention , "Dennis & Case's photographic views in great variety".
Dennis later ran a library, retail shop and branch shop at the Spa.
Dennis greatly expanded the printing side of the business to such an extent that he needed new larger premises. Printing became his firm's major occupation.
He was enrolled as a Congregationalist, but in 1896 he joined The Society of Friends (Quakers). His sons all went to the Quaker School at Great Ayton..He was a secretary to at least two Quaker Summer Schools, the 1903 one in Scarborough and the Kirbymoorside one in 1904.
(For a photographic souvenir of the 1904 Quaker Summer School search for "Buttercross" in the web site Flickr. This was attended by Joseph Rowntree and also ETWD)
He died on 19th November 1923, leaving his sons to run the business.( The 1881 Census shows that he had five sons in 1881, Edward.Willifer (aged 9),Frederick.Willfer (8), Ebenezer.Henry (6), Arthur.Meridew (4), Herbert (less than one year) .His last (sixth) son Arnold was born in Sept 1885.. ETWDs son's name of "Ebeneezer Henry" is possibly a reminder of ETWDs elder brother.
The 1911 Census reports ETWD and his wife and his son Arnold (a Clerk of Works) in the same household in Scarborough
His printing business in the 1890's concentrated on the cheaper end of the market. Helmfried Luers has found a reference to him in a German trade magazine for the art book trade, "Journal fur Buchdruckerkunst", March 22, 1894. Dennis had submitted some examples of his colour printing to them. They were below the German standards of chromo lithography, but they were cheaper and quite pleasing . The Journal suggested that German art printers take note.
It would be good to have examples of his commercial art printing in the 1890's. This clear connection with the German printing trade probably inspired him to produce British PPC's in 1894, a trade which was developing fast in Germany at that time.
An example of Dennis's cheap simple limited colour printing is the 1895 Whitby card, illustrated (somewhat faded, I regret) . Link to firstgb. Another example are the cards printed for Dennis & Holloway, also colour printing page
As well as printing his own PPC's in 1894 he also printed artist drawn PPC's for Cassell , of which a couple of examples for 1894 have survived.
In early 1898 he started publishing an extensive series of GB court cards with printed pictures from photographs that he had taken (His initials ETWD are on a lot of them). As an aside, he must have also gone to the Sudan with the British forces for the 1898 Sudan campaign, Collectors of Sudanese cards have found some Sudanese PPCs published about 1902, with his initials in the photograph and published with the same style features as his 1902 UK PPCs. It is clear that a number of his Sudan photos used, were taken in 1898., (one of them certainly the day after the battle of Omdurman.)
He was printing and publishing greetings cards before 1894. I have seen a trade magazine reference to an Easter greetings card, pre 1894
In the 1901 UK Census his age is given as 53, born in London and working as a printer and publisher. His son Edward was 29 ,born in Scarborough and working as a printer . Another son Ebeneezer was 26 and working as a printer and printer's traveller (the description "jeweller" in the 1901 Census is definitely a mistake, it should be "traveller"!)
His business became a Limited Company in April 1905
The firm was always a national one and would always have been in any top ten list by size of GB PPC publishers
There is a brief obituary in the "British Stationer" of December 1923. It finished "he leaves two sons to carry on" (these were Ebenezer Henry and Arthur Meridew)
His son Ebenezer Henry became the head of the business when ETWD died in 1923.
Most unfortunately the firms records were destroyed in a WW2 air raid

There was a very close link between the British North East and Germany in the late 19th century, both for ship building and agricultural produce imports

Hartlepool was a major port for the importation of German foodstuffs. This 1885 postcard is typical of these links showing twice a week direct sailings between Hartlepool and Hamburg. Picture cards were well established in Germany by 1894 and this would have encouraged ETWD to produce picture cards for the UK

What would we like to know about ETWD?

Photographs of E.T.W. Dennis would be extremely welcome,
Details of his other printing activities would be interesting.
Obviously any drawings or any other memorabilia would be very welcome

Any further information keenly sought especially a good photograph and/or examples of his 1890's printing. gtwebber@guernsey.net

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