Silas Eastham
(1824-1901), PhotographerArtist of 1 portrait
by Silas Eastham
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG Ax38636
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D. Joseph Allport
04 January 2018, 20:26
One of Silas' daughters married Joseph Ride Allport. Some information is below. They were my great great grandparents and they immigrated from England to New Zealand after their marriage in 1887. My grandfather, Norman Eastham Allport and his brother were born in Devonport (across the bay from Auckland). He said they were raised on a dairy farm. I have copies of photos of Emily and Joseph (perhaps taken by Silas). Anyway, the family moved back to England in 1907.
"Joseph Ryde Allport (a master mariner) married twice and I believe his first
wife died (note: she died a month after childbirth at the age of 17). They had a son, don't know his name (note: Harry Ride George Allport, born May 1880; died Nov. 1966). He then married Emily Eastham (born @1857) on 3 Oct. 1887 in England. Both sons were born and raised near Auckland, NZ. Gerald was the eldest and Norman Eastham Allport was born 27 Dec. 1889."
Alan Hampson
01 September 2016, 23:23
Silas Eastham was born in Mellor, near Blackburn, Lancashire, on 6 May 1824 and was one of three brothers who, initially employed in a cotton mill, decided to take up photography (the others being John and Enos Eastham). He moved to Manchester, where he married Jane Ingham at the Cathedral on 13 Apr 1850. They had eight daughters and a son, all born in Manchester or Salford between 1851 and 1864. He set up a studio at Queen's Chambers, 7 Market Street, Manchester and around 1868 opened another in Southport, at 217 Lord St. Some surviving prints show both addresses, but by 1873 he was solely based in Southport, handing over the Manchester studio to his brother Enos. In 1870, his daughter Jane married James Yoxall, the son of a Cheshire farmer, in Ormskirk. Silas had apparently trained James while in Manchester and made him his assistant in Southport. Silas became a Liberal Councillor for Talbot Ward in 1871, retiring after 3 years. In 1884, he decided to appoint son-in-law James Yoxall as his successor at Lord St and emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland on board the SS "Doric" on 12 June, after a two-month voyage. Prints made at Lord St after this bear the Yoxall name, with "late Eastham" appended. Silas, though now retired, still took an interest and produced albums of photographs showing some of New Zealand's beauty spots and dramatic landscapes, which he sent back to Southport. They were displayed at the museum and art gallery there for many years, but the collection seems now to have been lost. He died in Auckland in 1901, aged 77, and was buried at O'Neill's Point Cemetery.
Joe Allport
26 December 2019, 15:43
The Eastham family were cotton weavers (except for Silas's children) during the Lancashire Cotton Famine 1861 - 1865. Meanwhile, his future son-in-law, Joseph Allport was the son of a Liverpool gunmaker--Joseph Thomas Allport. The elder Allport made a good living during this time by selling small arms exclusively to the Confederate government. Family history is that he accepted Confederate paper money and went broke at war's end. One thing for certain is that he filed bankruptcy in 1868, the same year that Silas Eastham was expanding his business.