Daisy Emma Edis FRPS

FIBP Acidic fibroblast growth factor intracellular-binding protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''FIBP'' gene. Function Acidic fibroblast growth factor is mitogenic for a variety of different cell types and acts by stimulating mito ...

(1888 – 1 March 1964; married name Spence) was a photographer based in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

, UK. She is commemorated by a blue plaque at her former home in

Gilesgate Gilesgate is a street and an eastern inner suburb of Durham in County Durham, England. The street was once the main eastern route into Durham City. It runs east from the end of Claypath on the edge of Durham City centre, steeply uphill to Giles ...

as a "pioneering Durham professional photographer".

Career

Edis began working in the photography studio founded by her father, John Reed Edis, as a teenager in 1901, and continued the business alone after his death in 1942 until her own death in 1964. Edis was a specialist in portrait photography but also became well known for photography for

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, and

Durham School Durham School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located in Durham, England, Durham, North East England. Since 2021 it has been part of th ...

; she was one of the last photographers to use the platinum print process, and her work was exhibited in Europe, the US, Australia and Japan as well as in the UK. She became an Ordinary Member and then an Associate Member of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

in 1933, and a Fellow in 1935; she was also a Fellow of 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 inst ...

, and a founding member of the Durham Photographic Society in the 1940s. Edis' married name was Spence, but her husband died only a few years after their marriage and she continued to use her maiden name professionally.

Legacy

Collections of photographs taken by Daisy and John Edis are held by

and

Beamish Museum Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, County Durham, Beamish, near the town of Stanley, County Durham, Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By di ...

. Beamish also has a replica photography studio, JR & D Edis Photographers, which is based on the Edis' studio at 52 Saddler Street, Durham and includes objects from the original studio. The blue plaque commemorating Edis was installed by the City of Durham Parish Council at her former home at 142 Gilesgate, Durham, in 2022.

External links

Durham University Archives Edis Collection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edis, Daisy British women photographers 20th-century British women photographers Durham, England Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society Portrait photographers 1964 deaths 1888 births Blue plaques County Durham North East England