The skill of our Victorian photographers; Dr Joshua Law Kerr by C. Lowthian of Cleethorpes 1890s.
The early photographers in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area were masters of their craft and their work certainly bears comparison with today’s best studio photographers. This is Dr. Joshua Law Kerr by C. Lowthian of Cleethorpes.
Harry (1860-1947) and Charles Lowthian (1861-1898) were born in Manchester. They were sons of Jabez Lowthian, artist, of Keswick, Cumberland. They moved to Grimsby in the 1880s and set up as Lowthian Bros., professional photographers, in Freeman Street.
Charles Lowthian later set up a photographic studio in Cleethorpes. He married Harriet Charles in Grimsby on 1887. Sadly, he died in 1898, aged just 37. Studio photographs by C. Lowthian, as opposed to Lowthian Bros., are rare as he died at such a young age.
Joshua Law Kerr was born in Higher Booths / Crawshawbooth, Lancashire in 1858. He was the son of James Kerr, a general medical practitioner from Scotland. Joshua Law Kerr studied medicine at Aberdeen. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was a doctor of medicine in Biddenden, Tenterden, Kent in 1901. His brother, William B. Kerr, a veterinary surgeon, lived with him at Hendon House.
Dr. Joshua Law Kerr, a bachelor aged 53, married Ethel Lilly Hardie, a widow, in High Halden, Kent on 26th January 1911. The couple lived at Cloth Hall, Biddenden, Kent; another very fine property. At some point before WW1, Joshua emigrated to Australia. He was in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He later practised in Tasmania (c1918? and c1930?), Melbourne c1923 and then moved to Stratford, Sydney. Dr. Joshua Kerr Law died in Sydney on 7th January 1940.
Research by Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum.
Note: What brought Dr. Joshua Kerr Law to Cleethorpes? The name on the back of the photo is correct as the photo is part of a small collection of Kerr family photos.
Note: Ethel Lilly Kerr of Campbell Town, Tasmania died on 2nd September 1918. Probate was granted to he husband, Joshua Law Kerr M.D. Joshua must have married again as he was survived by his wife after his death in 1940.
