Four children; a group portrait from the Audas family’s Cleethorpes studio c1905

An original group portrait taken in the Audas studio in Cleethorpes which was a temporary affair set up on the Promenade or beach in the summer months. The portrait has a divided postcard back.

The photographer would have been Robert Audas (1857-1906), the younger brother of William Seaton Audas (1848-1895). They were both born in Owston Ferry, Lincolnshire and were the sons of William and Ann. William Seaton Audas had died in 1895, well before this photograph was taken.

William Seaton Audas (1848-1895) was an accomplished, prolific photographer with a studio at 28 Freeman Street, Grimsby. (At another time he was at 42 Freeman Street.). Many examples of his work still exist.

Robert Audas and family followed his brother to Grimsby in c1888. William Seaton Audas’ photography business was already well-established by then. The 1891 Census shows Robert’s family lodging in Thesiger Street. Robert was sentenced to 4 month’s hard labour at Lincoln prison in 1899. (Together with an accomplice, Robert was charged with stealing. He had previously been fined for Sunday trading.).

It’s likely that Robert Audas kept the family photography business going after the death of his brother in 1895 until his own death in 1906. Both brothers died in their 40s. This fits with the likely date of this photograph.

Robert Audas’ occupation was given as photographer when he married Jane Charlotte Annie Kendall in Hull in 1887. Jane Charlotte Annie Kendall was born as Jane Charlotte Annie Adams in Oxford in 1855. She was the daughter of a professor of music. She was described as an ‘act professional’ in 1891 and ‘photographing’ in 1911. She was known as Charlotte.

Jane Charlotte Annie Adams married a comedian named Daniel Kendall in Wolverhampton in 1871. She was widowed in 1886 and married Robert Audas in Hull a year later. They were living at 47 Humber Street, Cleethorpes in 1901. Daniel and Charlotte had one daughter, Frances Rosina (born 1887), and Robert and Charlotte had two daughters, Lilian Vera (born 1888) and Violet Helen (born 1890). Charlotte died in 1939.

Note: Robert Audas died in Hull but was buried in Cleethorpes in 1906.

Note: Lilian Vera Audas (1888-1968) married Bertie Thornhill in 1906. They moved to Fleetwood. Lilian Vera Thornhill married Daniel J. Gall in Fylde, Lancashire in 1952.

Note: Violet Helen Audas (1890-1966) was living with her mother at 19 Edward Street, Cleethorpes in 1911. She was still there in 1921 with her husband, John Bolan and two children. Violet went, alone, on a trip to New York in 1952.

Note: A widowed Frances Rosina Hollis, daughter of Daniel and Charlotte Kendall, married in India.

Note: Eleanor Ann Audas (1849-1929), widow of William Seaton Audas, married Righton Heavisides (1852-1912), a butcher, in 1901. They lived at 207 Hainton Avenue in 1911. When Eleanor died, probate was granted to her son-in-laws, Robert Hobourn (solictor) and William Herbert Satchell. (See the information about Eleanor’s grandson, the war hero S. Ldr. William Arthur John Satchell, on this website.)

Note: Florence Audas (1869-1955), daughter of William Seaton Audas and Eleanor Ann, was living with her mother and a ‘music teacher at home’ in 1901. She married William Herbert Satchell later that year (Old Clee). Florence died in St. Hugh’s Nursing Home in Cleethorpes in 1955. Her husband died in Gloucestershire in 1961.

Note: Sara Bell Audas (1872-1955), daughter of William Seaton Audas and Eleanor Ann, married Robert Hobourn of Wisbech in Grimsby in 1894. She died in Eastbourne in 1955.

Research by Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum.