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Alfred Henry Burton ( 1834 – 2 February 1914) is a nineteenth-century New Zealand photographer.
Works by Alfred Henry Burton at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Alfred Henry 1830s births 1914 deaths New Zealand photographers Businesspeople from Dunedin Burials at Dunedin Northern Cemetery British emigrants to New Zealand
Alfred Henry Burton ( 1834 – 2 February 1914) is a nineteenth-century New Zealand photographer.
Biography
Burton was born in Leicester, England. His father, John Burton, was a photographer and his firm was called John Burton and Sons. Burton and his three brothers also did photography. His brother Walter John Burton emigrated to New Zealand first and after being inundated with work requested Alfred join him, and in 1868 he did. The business was renamed Burton Brothers. Alfred Burton travelled in New Zealand taking landscape images for the business includingFiordland
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lake ...
, the Southern Lakes and South Westland
Westland District is a territorial authority district on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is administered by the Westland District Council. The district's population is
History
Westland was originally a part of Canterbury Pro ...
.
In 1877 the brother business partnership split up. Walter left for Europe and Alfred took over the firm. He employed other photographers such as George Moodie and Thomas Muir. A trip to the Pacific Islands in 1884 had Burton creating staged photographs of people and villages.
Significant photographs of Burtons were taken during 1885 to 1886 when he went to the King Country
The King Country (Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of ...
in the western North Island of New Zealand. With little contact of photography the Māori people in the photographs didn't pose and the 150 plates he took are now considered useful ethnographic portraiture.
After the destruction of the New Zealand tourist attraction the Pink and White Terraces in 1886 Burton took new photos, his 'before and after' shots were useful to researchers. Burton continued practicing with the Burton Brothers business in the 1880s but had stopped by 1889. The business continued and prospered from a demand for postcards in the early 1900s. Henry Burton the son of Burton who worked at the business as a photographer, was killed in a horse accident in 1901.
After his retirement from photography Burton invested is time in theatrical and other pursuits. He helped found the Dunedin Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
Club, he started writing and there was an elocution school that his daughter Oona Burton worked at for a time.
Burton came ninth in the three-member electorate in the .
Burton died in 1914.
References
External links
Works by Alfred Henry Burton at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Alfred Henry 1830s births 1914 deaths New Zealand photographers Businesspeople from Dunedin Burials at Dunedin Northern Cemetery British emigrants to New Zealand