The Postcard
A Valentine's Series postcard with photography by Bassano.
The card was posted in West Haddon on Saturday the 23rd. January 1904 to:
Miss Darker,
Westfield House,
West Haddon.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Another six days' work
is done!
Yours,
'Naughty Girl'"
Miss Nina Sevening
Nina Sevening (1885 – 1958) was an English stage actress, singer and light comedian.
She was born Nina Gladys Sevening in Westminster, London. Her parents were H. W. Sevening, a German-born commercial clerk, and his English wife Gertrude. She had an elder sister Dora (b. 1883) who was also an actress.
Nina was educated in London and Paris. She first appeared on stage in December 1894 in 'The House That Jack Built' at the Opera Comique.
She appeared in:
- 'My Innocent Boy' at The Royalty 1898
- 'Florodora' at the Lyric Theatre 1899
- 'The Silver Slipper' at the Lyric Theatre 1901
- 'A Country Girl' at Daly's Theatre 1902
- 'The Cingalee' at Daly's Theatre 1904
- 'The Little Michus' at Daly's Theatre 1905
- 'The Merveilleuses' at Daly's Theatre 1906
- 'The Geisha' at Daly's Theatre 1906
- 'The Merry Widow' at Daly's Theatre 1907
- 'Susannah and Some Others' at the Royalty Theatre 1908
- 'Marjory Strode' at The Playhouse 1908
- 'Mid Channel' at St James's Theatre 1909
- 'The Great Mrs. Alloway' at the Globe Theatre 1909
- 'Mid Channel' at the Empire New York Theatre 1910
- 'A Woman's Way', Comedy Theatre 1910
- 'Grace' at the Duke of York's Theatre 1910
- 'Passers By' at Wyndham's Theatre 1911
- 'What Every Woman Knows' at the Duke of York's Theatre 1911
- 'Mind the Paint Girl' at the Duke of York's Theatre 1912
- 'The Perplexed Husband' at the Empire New York 1912
- 'Peter Pan' at the Duke of York Theatre 1913
- 'King's Cup' at the Adelphi Theatre 1913
- 'The Clever Ones' at Wyndham's Theatre 1914
- 'Caroline' at the New Theatre 1916
- 'Trelawny of the Wells' at the New Theatre 1917
The Personal Life of Nina Sevening
Nina married Victor Charles Hamilton Longstaffe (born 1885) and changed her last name to his. She retired from the stage in 1917.
There is a memorial to their only son, David John Longstaffe, in Aldeburgh Parish Church in Suffolk. David died on the 16th. September 1945 in Athens, where he was a Captain in the King's Royal Rifle Corps.
Alexander Bassano
Alexander Bassano, who was born Alessandro Bassano on the 1st. May 1829 in London, was an English photographer who was a leading royal and high society portrait photographer in Victorian London.
Biography of Alexander Bassano
Alessandro Bassano was the second youngest child of Italian Clemente Bassano, originally a fishmonger of Cranbourne Street, later an oilman and warehouseman of Jermyn Street, London, and his English wife, Elizabeth Browne. He later anglicised his first name to Alexander.
Bassano received early artistic training with artists Augustus Egg and William Beverley. He opened his first studio in 1850 in Regent Street. The studio then moved to Piccadilly 1859–1863, to Pall Mall and then to 25 Old Bond Street in 1877. There was also a Bassano branch studio at 132 King's Road, Brighton from 1893 to 1899.
The Old Bond Street studio was decorated with carbon photographic prints and plaster busts, and was large enough to accommodate an 80-foot panoramic background scene mounted on rollers, which provided a variety of outdoor scenes or court backgrounds.
He took portraits of William Ewart Gladstone and monarchs such as Queen Victoria. Bassano's head of Lord Kitchener formed the basis of the Great War recruiting poster 'Your Country Needs You'.
Bassano retired from work at the studio around 1903, when the premises were extensively refurbished and relaunched as "Bassano Ltd., Royal Photographers".
The studio moved once again in 1921: a move written about by the Lady's Pictorial at the time. The article reported that about a million negatives, all systematically numbered, had to be moved from the cellars of the premises to the new location at 38 Dover Street.
The company became "Bassano and Vandyk" in 1964. The following year it incorporated Elliott & Fry, a photographic partnership that had been running in Baker Street since 1863. In 1977, the company became "Industrial Photographic", based at 35 Moreton Street, SW1.
Over 40,000 negatives from the Bassano Studios, including some by Alexander Bassano, are held in the National Portrait Gallery, London. The Museum of London holds a large number of the fashion-related plates.
The National Portrait Gallery held an exhibition of his work, 'Alexander Bassano: Victorian Photographer' in 2013, the centenary of his death.
The Personal Life and Death of Alexander Bassano
Alexander married Adelaide Rose Ainslie Lancaster (1825-1906) in 1850. They had a son, Clement George Alexander (1853-1899), and two daughters, Adelaide Fanny Louise (1850-1921) and Camilla Teresa ('Lily') (1859-1928).
Portraits of his wife and children are held in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Alexander died at the age of 84 on the 21st. October 1913 in West Acton, London.
Louisa Bassano
Alexander's sister Louisa Bassano was a noted singer and teacher. Louisa toured with the pianist Franz Liszt during his visit to the British Isles in 1840-1841.
She also sang the mezzo recitatives in the first English performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah conducted by the composer.
She was known as Miss Bassano until she married Frederick George Boddy Esq. in 1849, from which time she became known as Madame Bassano.
Her husband died in 1853. She later taught singing, and was a member of the Royal Society of Musicians.