Henry Walter Barnett (25 January 1862 – 16 January 1934), usually known as H. Walter Barnett, was an Australian photographer and filmmaker. Barnett was a prominent

portrait photographer Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequentl ...

of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, establishing the successful Falk studios in Sydney. Later in his career he was based in London, England, with studios at

Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to its major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was designed by Decimus Burton. Six streets converge at the ...

and

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

. Barnett became involved in filmmaking after meeting cinematographer

Marius Sestier Marius Ely Joseph Sestier (8 September 1861 – 8 November 1928) was a French cinematographer. Sestier was best known for his work in Australia, where he shot some of the country's first films. Born in Sauzet, Drôme, Sestier was a pharmacist by ...

in 1896, and with Sestier made some of the first films shot in Australia.

Life and career

Barnett was born on 25 January 1862 in St Kilda,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

, Australia, one of seven children of English-born Jewish parents Lewis Barnett, a merchant, and his wife Alice Jacobs. He left school at the age of 13 and began his photographic career as a studio assistant, later establishing a studio in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, Tasmania with his business partner Harold Riise. In 1884 he sold his share of the Hobart studio, after which he travelled and worked variously in London and the United States. During his time in London he was employed by the society photographers W. & D. Downey, where he assisted in photographing the future King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

. In 1885 Barnett founded the Falk studios in Sydney, at which he established himself as one of Australia's leading portrait photographers. He opened a second studio in Melbourne in 1895. He was known in particular for photographing stage stars and other celebrities; one of his best-known sitters was

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including ''La Dame Aux Cameli ...

, who sat for him while visiting Australia in 1891. Other prominent visitors to Australia photographed by Barnett were

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

in 1893 and

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

in 1896. One of his most notable works was a photograph of

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

, in which according to Ennis (2004), Parkes "plays the role of a wise old man whose intense expression is evocative of a seer's". Barnett married Hilda "Ella" Frances Clement Forbes in 1889. In 1897 Barnett relocated to London and established a photography studio at

, later adding a second studio in

. He joined photographic society The Linked Ring in 1899, was a founder member of the Professional Photographers Association (later the

British Institute of Professional Photography The British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) is a not-for-profit organisation for professional photographers in the United Kingdom. Members must be qualified professionals, and agree to be bound by the BIPP's code of conduct. The ins ...

) in 1901, and was elected to the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

council in 1903. In 1904 he published a collection of photographs of his most notable sitters, titled ''A List of Well Known People Photographed by H. Walter Barnett''. He exhibited a collection of photographs of British Armed Forces personnel of World War I in 1917, titled ''Warriors All''. Barnett sold his London studios in 1920 and moved to

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

, France, where he maintained a keen interest in contemporary French art. He died in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

on 16 January 1934, aged 71.

Film production

In 1896 Barnett met French cinematographer

, an agent of early filmmakers the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for ' light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: *Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, a ...

assigned to demonstrate their

cinématographe Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...

abroad. Barnett and Sestier began making films together, starting with a short film of

passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly ''Passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly'' was the first film shot and screened in Australia. Marius Sestier made a film of passengers alighting from the paddle steamer ferry ''PS Brighton, Brighton'' at Manly ferry wharf, Manly Wh ...

, which was the first film shot and screened in Australia. They made approximately 19 films together in Sydney and Melbourne, most notably a series of about ten to fifteen films documenting the 1896

Melbourne Cup Carnival The Spring Racing Carnival is the name of an Australian Thoroughbred horse racing series held annually in Melbourne during October and November. The Carnival and its status in the wider community Although racing in Australia is held every day excep ...

, including a film of the 1896 Melbourne Cup horse race. Barnett directed the films while Sestier operated the cinématographe, and in the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

film Barnett is seen on camera encouraging spectators to wave their hats as the horses cross the finish line. The Melbourne Cup film was premiered at the

Princess Theatre, Melbourne The Princess Theatre, originally Princess's Theatre, is a 1452-seat theatre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1854 and rebuilt in 1886 to a design by noted Melbourne architect William Pitt, it is the oldest surviving entertain ...

on 19 November 1896. It was covered in the Australian press, including ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' and '' The Bulletin'', and has been cited as Australia's first film production. In 1897 Barnett's company produced four films of the English cricket team in Australia in 1897–98. These including one of the earliest surviving

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

films, featuring Prince Ranjitsinhji Practising Batting in the Nets.

Gallery

File:Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Carton de Wiart.jpg, Adrian Carton de Wiart File:Alfred Lyttelton.jpg, Alfred Lyttelton File:Lord Milner 2.jpg,

Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From D ...

File:Alfred Mond.jpg,

Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, PC, FRS, DL (23 October 1868 – 27 December 1930), known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician. In his later life he became an active Zio ...

File:Andreas von Griechenland mit Frau CL 27.6.1903.jpg, Andreas von Griechenland File:1914 Arthur Comyns Carr.jpg, Arthur Comyns Carr File:Arthur Joseph Davis.jpg, Arthur Joseph Davis File:Arthur Stockdale Cope.jpg,

Arthur Stockdale Cope Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, (2 November 1857 – 5 July 1940) was a British portraitist. Biography Cope was born on 2 November 1857, in South Kensington, London. His father was Charles West Cope (1811–1890), a successful history and ge ...

File:Sir (Joseph) Austen Chamberlain.jpg,

Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly ...

File:Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 8th Duke of Richmond and 3rd Duke of Gordon.jpg, Charles Gordon-Lennox, 8th Duke of Richmond File:Charles Henry Lyell in military uniform.jpg,

Charles Henry Lyell Major Charles Henry Lyell (18 May 1875 – 18 October 1918) was a British politician and Liberal Member of Parliament who died in the First World War. Education and private life Lyell was born in 1875, the only son of Leonard Lyell, 1st Baron ...

File:Daisy, Countess of Warwick by H. Walter Barnett.jpg,

Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick Frances Evelyn "Daisy" Greville, Countess of Warwick (''née'' Maynard; 10 December 1861 – 26 July 1938) was a British socialite and philanthropist. Although embedded in late- Victorian British high society, she was also a campaigning sociali ...

File:Sir Edgar & Lady Leonora Speyer circa 1921.jpg, Edgar Speyer and

Leonora Speyer Leonora Speyer, Lady Speyer (née von Stosch; 7 November 1872 – 10 February 1956), was an American poet and violinist. Life She was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Count Ferdinand von Stosch of Mantze in Silesia, who fought for th ...

File:Ed-Allenby.jpg,

Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he le ...

File:Hobhouse2.jpg, Emily Hobhouse File:1910 Eric Hambro.jpg, Eric Hambro File:Freeman Freeman-Thomas by Henry Walter Barnett.jpg,

Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada, the 13th since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy an ...

File:Major-General G. F. Boyd, C.B., C.M.G, D.S.O., D.C.M., G.O.C. 46th Division.jpg, Major-General G. F. Boyd File:Sir Hugh Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake.jpg, Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake File:George Robey by H. Walter Barnett.jpg,

George Robey Sir George Edward Wade, CBE (20 September 1869 – 29 November 1954), Harding, James"Robey, George" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 10 May 2014. known professionally as George Robey, was an ...

File:Henri Kowalski 1893.jpg, Henri Kowalski File:Henry Parkes by Henry Walter Barnett.jpg,

File:Herbertmiles.jpg, Herbert Miles File:James Booker Blakemore Wellington00.jpg, James Booker Blakemore Wellington File:Stanhope7.JPG,

James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope James Richard Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope, (11 November 1880 – 15 August 1967), styled Viscount Mahon until 1905, and known as the Earl Stanhope from 1905 until his death, was a British Conservative politician. Background Stanhope was the eld ...

File:Queen Kapiolani wearing Niihau necklace.jpg,

Queen Kapiolani Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

File:Lewis Pugh Evans VC IWM HU 93411.jpg, Lewis Pugh Evans File:Marie04.jpg,

Marie of Romania Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last Queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I. Marie was born into the British royal family. Her parents were Prince Alfred ...

File:Marius Sestier 1896.jpg,

File:Mark-Twain-by-H-Walter-Barnett-c1900.png,

File:Mary Augusta Ward by Barnett.jpg,

Mary Augusta Ward Mary Augusta Ward (''née'' Arnold; 11 June 1851 – 24 March 1920) was a British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs Humphry Ward. She worked to improve education for the poor and she became the founding President of the Women' ...

File:Nellie Melba by Henry Walter Barnett.jpg,

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th centur ...

File:Madame Wellington Koo (née Hui-lan Oei) with baby.jpg, Oei Hui-lan, Madame Wellington Koo File:Ottolinemorrell.JPG,

Lady Ottoline Morrell Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Morrell (16 June 1873 – 21 April 1938) was an English aristocrat and society hostess. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befriended writers including Aldous Huxley, Siegfr ...

File:1910s 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke.jpg,

Richard Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke Richard Greville Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke (29 March 1869 (London) – 16 December 1923) was a British peer and conservative politician. Life Verney was the son of Colonel Henry Verney, 18th Baron Willoughby de Broke and Geraldin ...

File:Photograph of Victor Branford (Sociologist) 1911.jpg,

Victor Branford Victor Branford (25 September 1863 – 22 June 1930) was a British sociologist. He was the founder of the Sociological Society and was made an Honorary member of the American Sociological Society, now the American Sociological Association. Lif ...

File:Robert Louis Stevenson by Henry Walter Barnett.jpg,

File:Portrait of Stevenson by Balfour.jpg,

File:Sarah Bernhardt as Cleopatra.jpg,

File:Sarah Bernhardt Barnett.jpg,

File:Mw185283.jpg,

Sarah Wilson (war correspondent) Lady Sarah Wilson, DStJ, RRC (born Lady Sarah Isabella Augusta Spencer-Churchill; 4 July 1865 – 22 October 1929) became one of the first woman war correspondents in 1899, when she was recruited by Alfred Harmsworth to cover the Siege of Mafek ...

File:Thomas Alexander Browne.jpg, Thomas Alexander Browne File:Violet Florence Mabel MOND (GOETZE), Baroness Melchett, DBE (1867 - 1945) - Genealogy.jpg, Violet Mond, Baroness Melchett File:WilliamCrooke.jpg,

William Crooke (photographer) William Crooke (1848–1928) was a professional photographer with a studio in Edinburgh. Two of the best-known portrait photographers in England 'sic'' Britain William Crooke of Edinburgh anWalter Barnettof London sailed on December 17 for ...

Notes

References

External links

Films by Henry Walter Barnett
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Henry Walter 1862 births 1934 deaths 1890s in Australian cinema Australian filmmakers Australian people of English-Jewish descent People from St Kilda, Victoria Australian portrait photographers Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Australian expatriates in France Photographers from Melbourne