Christina Broom

Christina Livingston - Mrs. Albert Broom (1910)

Christina Broom (born December 28, 1862 in London , † June 5, 1939 in London) was a British photographer who was known as the "first female press photographer in the United Kingdom ".

Life

Broom was born Christina Livingston on 8 King's Road in London . She married Albert Edward Broom (1864–1912) in 1889. The hardware store she ran and other businesses were not very successful. In 1903 Broom borrowed a box camera and self-taught the basics of photography. From 1904 to 1930 she ran a stall at the Royal Mews (court stables) at Buckingham Palace , where she sold postcards of her photographs.

When her family moved to Burntfoot Avenue, Broom used the coal cellar as a darkroom . Her daughter Winifred dropped out of school to assist her mother while her husband Albert wrote on the postcards. The postcards sold very well, and Broom printed 1,000 copies in one nightly meeting.

Broom was the official House Forces photographer from 1904 to 1939 and had a darkroom in the Chelsea Barracks. She also took pictures of events at Buckingham Palace, such as the boat race or the marches of the suffragettes .

After the death of her husband in 1902, she and her daughter moved to Munster Road in the Fulham district. Her photos were published in various newspapers in the 1920s and 30s, including the Illustrated London News , The Tatler , The Sphere , and Country Life .

Broom died on June 5, 1939 and was buried in Fulham.

Collections of Broom's photographs are owned by a number of museums including the Museum of London , the National Portrait Gallery and the Imperial War Museum in London . A collection of around 2000 mostly military recordings was offered for auction at Sotheby’s in 2009 .

Christabel Pankhurst (1909)
Votes for women (1908)
Police (1916)

literature

Diane Atkinson : Mrs Broom's Suffragette Photographs (1990), 3Nishen Publishing, ISBN 978-185378110-0
Inselmann, Andrea (Ed.), A Second Look: Women Photographers of the Gernsheim Collection (1993), Locher, ISBN 978-393005405-3

Web links

Times article

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Andrew Levy: Images of Great War's lost generation preparing to head off to the Western Front - captured by the UK's first female press photographer , Daily Mail . December 17, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Shirley Neale: Broom (née Livingston), Christina (known as Mrs Albert Broom) (1862–1939), photographer . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Retrieved December 16, 2009.

personal data
SURNAME	Broom, Christina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Livingston, Christina (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English photographer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 28, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH	London
DATE OF DEATH	June 5, 1939
Place of death	London

[DM-1] A ^b ^c Andrew Levy: Images of Great War's lost generation preparing to head off to the Western Front - captured by the UK's first female press photographer , Daily Mail . December 17, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2013.

[ODNB-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Shirley Neale: Broom (née Livingston), Christina (known as Mrs Albert Broom) (1862–1939), photographer . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Retrieved December 16, 2009.