Shoesmith and Etheridge

Foundation

The postcard firm of Shoesmith and Etheridge first came into being when Albert Shoesmith (1876-1957) met George Etheridge(1888-1980) in the course of one of Shoesmith's ventures; the Pelham Hall Electric Theatre in Pelham Arcade which had been run by Albert since 1910. The postcard/photography business is first mentioned in the Pike's Hastings Directory of 1908, which lists Albert as the manager of the Sussex Postcard Company which was based at 17 Stone Street. By 1914, Shoesmith is listed as the proprietor of the Sussex Photographic Company in Parson's directory. By the time of the early 1920s, he is listed at 154 Queen's Road^[1]. Images produced by this partnership can generally be easily recognised due to an unusual reverse-slope given to captions hand-written on their photographs and cards.