Agnes Thomson, photographer

'Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild', &c. (Agnes Thomson, Ascot Vale).

THE VICTORIAN AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION'S EXHIBITION. (1905, February 18). Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918), p. 35. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198171601 

Agnes Scott Thomson's father was a commercial traveller called Murray Thomson.  Murray was born in Edinburghshire in 1843, and was an older man of 37 when he wed Susannie Jones, 27, in Lancashire in 1880. They had two daughters, Susannie Manley and Agnes Scott before emigrating to Victoria.   

The date of their arrival in Victoria is not certain, but they were here in time for the whole family to be included in the 1903 Electoral Roll.  Agnes Thompson (sic) was an “artist”, and her sister Susannie  was  recorded as a “milliner”.   

Agnes' particular interest lay in photography, and her name appears in many newspaper accounts of photographic exhibitions and competitions.  She was often a prize-winner of competitions and can be regarded as a leading amateur photographer in the early part of the nineteenth century. 

Agnes first began being noticed as a prize winner in photographic competitions was in 1903, competing in interstate competitions as well as in Victoria.  Her particular genre included still lifes of fruit and flowers, animals and children, and landscapes and seascapes.

By about 1907 Agnes had begun to operate as a commercial photographer, from a studio at her parents home in Milton Street, and later North Street, Ascot Vale.  In 1910 she was the President of the Victorian Ladies' Photographic Association.

To see  a fuller account of Agnes's photographic business, go to Agnes Thomson, Photographer.

SCENE FROM "THE GEISHA," RECENTLY PRODUCED BY ESSEND0N OPERATIC SOCIETY

Photo by Agnes Thomson, Ascot Vale,  Punch (Melbourne,1909, April 15 ), p. 27. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176024165

Photo by Agnes Thomson. Ascot Vale. BRIDAL GROUP AT THE MARRIAGE OF MR. V. H. COOPER TO MISS F. R. TROTMAN. Celebrated at St. Thomas's Church, Moonee Ponds, on 2nd November, and afterwards at "Shelton,", Moonee Ponds, the residence of Mr. John Beale.