Kate Pragnell (24 February 1853 – 19 November 1905) was an English portrait photographer and business owner.

Early life

Kate Pragnell was born on 24 February 1853 at High Street,

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, England. In 1862 her family moved to Bristol where she later studied at the Bristol School of Art.

Career

In 1890 she went into partnership with photographer

William Friese-Greene William Friese-Greene (born William Edward Green, 7 September 1855 – 5 May 1921) was a prolific English inventor and professional photographer. He was known as a pioneer in the field of motion pictures, having devised a series of cameras bet ...

at 162

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

, Chelsea, London. In 1891, she was living at 13 Bath Road,

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

, together with artist Emily Bird. She established her own studios at 164 Sloane Street, Chelsea, from 1893 to 1900. In 1901, she moved to 39 Brompton Square,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, where she also had a studio which she ran with her friend and partner Alice Stewart. Pragnell died on 19 November 1905 at 39 Brompton Square, from a

thyroid neoplasm Thyroid neoplasm is a neoplasm or tumor of the thyroid. It can be a benign tumor such as thyroid adenoma, or it can be a malignant neoplasm (thyroid cancer), such as papillary, follicular, medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer.Hu MI, Vassilop ...

. She bequeathed her business to Alice Stewart. Stewart continued the business at Brompton Square until 1911 and then at 16

Albemarle Street Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair in central London, off Piccadilly. It has historic associations with George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, Lord Byron, whose publisher John Murray (publishing house), John Murray was based here, and Oscar ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, from 1911 to 1915. The continuation of the business under the name 'Kate Pragnell' has led to misattribution of the work of the business to Kate Pragnell personally, e.g. the commission to photograph the '' Chelsea Historical Pageant'', held in the Old

Ranelagh Gardens Ranelagh Gardens (; alternative spellings include Ranelegh and Ranleigh, the latter reflecting the English pronunciation) were public pleasure gardens located in Chelsea, then just outside London, England, in the 18th century. History The R ...

, Royal Hospital. She was inspired by

Alice Hughes Alice Mary Hughes (31 August 1857 – 4 April 1939) was a British portrait photographer and businesswoman specializing in images of royalty, fashionable women and children. Biography Alice Hughes was the eldest daughter of the portrait paint ...

; other pioneer women photographers of her time are: Christina Broom,

Lallie Charles Lallie Charles (née Charlotte Elizabeth Martin; 1869–1919), was an Irish photographer. Along with her sister Rita Martin, she was one of the most commercially successful women portraitists of the early 20th century. Lallie Charles was born ...

Rita Martin Margareta "Rita" Weir Martin (1875–1958) was an English photographer, considered "one of the best British photographers of her time". Martin took portraits of many suffragists and was a suffragist herself. Early life Margareta Weir Martin was ...

and

Lizzie Caswall Smith Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870–1958) was an early 20th-century British photographer who specialised in society and celebrity studio portraits, often used for postcards. She was associated with the Women's Suffrage movement and photographed m ...

. Unlike Hughes, Pragnell also photographed men, something unusual at the time for a female photographer. Some of her subjects: '' Punch'' cartoonist

Linley Sambourne Edward Linley Sambourne (4 January 18443 August 1910) was an English cartoonist and illustrator most famous for being a draughtsman for the satirical magazine '' Punch'' for more than forty years and rising to the position of "First Cartoonist" ...

; General Sir

Beauvoir de Lisle General Sir Henry de Beauvoir De Lisle, (27 July 1864 – 16 July 1955), known as Beauvoir De Lisle, was a British Army officer and sportsman. He served in both the Second Boer War and the First World War. Early military career Born in Guernsey ...

; the wedding portrait of Mrs Lionel Portman on the cover of '' Country Life'' on 11 November 1905. Her work appeared in ''

Bystander Bystander may refer to: In media * ''Bystander'' (novel), a 1930 novel by Maxim Gorki * ''Bystander'' (magazine), was a British weekly tabloid magazine *'' Guilty Bystander'', a 1950 independent film production * ''Innocent Bystanders'' (film), ...

'', ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

'', '' Cassell's'', ''

Woman at Home A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

'' and '' Hearth and Home''; Pragnell was basically the main photographer of ''Hearth and Home''. Pragnell employed only women and sought to encourage training opportunities to enable women to establish their own photographic businesses.

Legacy

Pragnell's work is held in the permanent collection of the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

and in the Hyman Collection, the private collection of Claire and James Hyman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pragnell, Kate 1856 births 19th-century English photographers English women photographers English suffragettes Photographers from Hampshire 19th-century British women photographers 1905 deaths