John Benjamin Stone

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Sir John Benjamin Stone (9 February 1838 – 2 July 1914) was a British Conservative politician and photographer.

Life and career

Stone was born in Duddeston, Birmingham the son of a manager at a local glass works. The business passed into the hands of Stone, his father and a partner in 1860. It was later sold. By this time Stone had become a successful paper manufacturer.

Stone married Jane Parker (1 November 1848 – 6 July 1914) on 5 June 1867. Jane Parker was the daughter of Peter Parker, Esquire of Lothersdale, Yorkshire.

Stone was a local Conservative politician, founder of the Birmingham Conservative Association and

He was also a prolific amateur documentary photographer who travelled widely in pursuit of his hobby. He made 26,000 photographs and wrote books as he travelled to Spain, Norway, Japan and Brazil. Amongst his published works were A Tour with Cook through Spain (1873), Children of Norway (1882), and a fairy tale called The Traveller's Joy. He also made an invaluable record of the folk customs and traditions of the British Isles, which influenced later photographers of note, including Homer Sykes, Daniel Meadows, Anna Fox and Tony Ray-Jones. Stone wrote of his purpose as being "to portray for the benefit of future generations the manners and customs, the festivals and pageants, the historic places and places of our times."^[1]

Stone travelled with a scientific expedition to northern Brazil to see the 1893 total solar eclipse.^[2][3] Notable images taken by Stone include those of the deposition of governor José Clarindo de Queirós of the then province of Ceará in Brazil, in which he prevented the rebels from firing at the governor's palace until he had taken photographs of them beside their guns.^{[citation needed]}

The Benjamin Stone Photographic Collection housed in the

He became president of the Birmingham Photographic Society, a

Stone died at his home, The Grange in Erdington, on 2 July 1914. His wife, Jane, of nearly fifty years died on 5 July, just three days later. They were buried together in a double funeral in Sutton Coldfield on 7 July 1914. A rotund, bewhiskered man, Stone has been described by his biographer as quietly self-assured and contented in temperament. (Stephen Roberts, 'Sir Benjamin Stone 1838-1914: Photographer, Traveller and Politician' (2014).

Stone's photography was juxtaposed to that of later Birmingham photographers in the 1993 exhibition From Negative Stereotype to Positive Image.^[6]

References

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Benjamin Stone.

• Stephen Roberts 'Sir Benjamin Stone 1838-1914: Photographer, Traveller and Politician' (2014)
• Elizabeth Edwards, Peter James and Martin Barnes. A Record of England: Sir Benjamin Stone and the National Photographic Record Association 1897-1910. Stockport: Dewi Lewis in association with V&A Publications, 2006.
  ISBN 978-1-904587-37-8
• Colin Ford. Sir Benjamin Stone, 1838-1914 & the National Photographic Record Association. London: National Portrait Gallery, 1974.
• Bill Jay. Customs and Faces: Photographs of Sir Benjamin Stone. London: Academy Editions, 1972.
  ISBN 0-902620-83-5
• Douglas V. Jones. The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield: a Commemorative History. Sutton Coldfield: Westwood Press, 1994.
  ISBN 0-9502636-7-2
• Sir Benjamin Stone's Pictures, Volume 1: Festivals, Ceremonies and Customs. 1906, re-issued 1951.

External links

• Sir Benjamin Stone on the UK Parliament website
• The Stone Photograph Collection at the Parliamentary Archives
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Benjamin Stone
• Portraits of Benjamin Stone at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Robert Leggat Photography History
• Birmingham City Council Benjamin Stone Collection
• Parliamentary Archives, Benjamin Stone: Photographs
• "Festivals, Ceremonies & Customs: Sir Benjamin Stone & the National Photographic Record Association". Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
• Works held by the Victoria and Albert Museum

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff	Member of Parliament for Birmingham East 1895–Jan. 1910	Succeeded by Arthur Steel-Maitland
Party political offices
Preceded by Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry	Chairman of the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations 1898	Succeeded by Gerald Walter Erskine Loder