Margaret Florence Harker (17 January 1920 – 16 February 2013), was a British photographer and historian of photography. She was the UK's first woman professor of photography, founded the country's first photography degree course, and was the first woman to be president of 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 ...

Early life

Margaret Florence Harker was born on 17 January 1920 at 18 Queens Road,

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, Lancashire, the daughter of Thomas Henry Harker (1879–1947), a medical practitioner, and his wife, Ethel Dean Harker, née Dyson (1894–1975). She was educated at Howell's School in

Denbigh Denbigh (; cy, Dinbych; ) is a market town and a community in Denbighshire, Wales. Formerly, the county town, the Welsh name translates to "Little Fortress"; a reference to its historic castle. Denbigh lies near the Clwydian Hills. History ...

, followed by the Southport School of Art. Her father was a keen amateur photographer, and her parents supported her when from 1940 to 1943, she studied photography at the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

Career

Harker started her career an architectural photographer, contributing to the

National Buildings Record The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway. It is a public archive of architectural and arch ...

beginning from its 1941 establishment, and in excess of 1,000 of her negatives are held by its successor body at

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

. Harker joined the

in 1941, was elected a Fellow in 1943, served on its council from 1951 to 1976, and chaired the applied photographic distinction panel from 1951 until 1992. Harker also became the honorary curator of the society's collection of historic photographs. From 1958 to 1960, Harker was the first woman to be president of the

. In 1943, Harker became a full-time lecturer at Regent Street Polytechnic, and in 1959 became the head of its School of Photography. Harker started the UK's first degree course in photography at the

Polytechnic of Central London , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

. In 1992, when it became the University of Westminster, she was appointed as one of its inaugural first six professors. Harker was one of the founding members of the

European Society for the History of Photography The European Society for the History of Photography (ESHPh), founded in 1978, is a society concerned with the historical events within photography from a European perspective. The ESHPh publicly hosts symposia, publishes journals, and distribut ...

, its Vice President 1978-82, and President 1986-2001. She was editor (1990-1993) of the society's printed journal, ''PhotoResearcher'', published since 1990.

Publications

* * * * * * * Harker, Margaret Florence 'Henry Peach Robinson : the grammar of art'. In *

Collections

*Margaret Harker collection in the

Archive *Photographs attributed to Margaret Harker are held in the Conway Library of art and architecture at The Courtauld.

Personal life

On 20 December 1972, Harker married fellow photographer Richard Farrand (1916–1982).

Death

Harker died on 16 February 2013, of heart failure, after having suffered from dementia, at The Anchorage Care Home in Pulborough, and was buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's Church,

Egdean Egdean (pronounced Egg-deen) is a small village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A283 road 1.7 miles (2.8 km) southeast of Petworth. It is in the civil parish of Petworth. In earlier centuries a horse ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harker, Margaret Florence 1920 births 2013 deaths Photographers from Lancashire British historians Alumni of the University of Westminster Historians of photography Architectural photographers Photography academics People from Southport