Description

Extended Data

DAAO URL

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/george-lionel-marchant

Birth Place

Clare, SA, Australia

Biography

George Marchant was born at Clare on 6 November 1882 and was the son of photographer Edwin Marchant (q.v.). His parents moved to Petersburg (Peterborough) in 1896, by which time he was probably assisting his father in the studio. The family moved to Kadina in 1904 where Edwin Marchant had a studio in Taylor Street and, although the studio was operated under the name of E.W. Marchant & Son, there are photographs in existence inscribed G.L. Marchant, Kadina. In February 1906 George Marchant left for England on a wheat ship but was back in Kadina by July 1907 when he was involved in a motor accident. He was one of a party of men who had just left Kadina for Bute in an open chauffeur-driven car when they met a teamster with a load of long posts. The teamster’s horse took fright and turned the load into the path of the vehicle, which struck the poles and overturned. George Marchant was thrown clear and was able to raise the car and release the driver who then helped the other two passengers crawl from underneath the vehicle. Although George Marchant’s camera had been thrown about 20 years, it was intact, so he quickly set it up and took a photograph of the damaged car, which was reproduced in the Chronicle. On 11 September 1908 George Marchant married Martha Jane Chellew and moved to the city where he was listed as a photographer at 65 Tynte Street, North Adelaide, in the directory for 1910, then at 164 Hanson Street, Adelaide, from 1911 to 1913. From 1914 his address was ‘Francis Street, off Rundle Street’ with a ‘private residence’ at 164 Hanson Street. In 1923 George Marchant and his family moved to Melbourne where he ran a very successful photographic business. He had retired by 1954 and died on 2 March 1958. An item in the Adelaide press which recorded his death described him as ‘one of Australia’s most versatile photographers’ and a ‘master of magic’. It said, ‘Many South Australians will remember him as a cheery fun- loving fellow who could produce pennies from your ear or entertain you with his Auto harp which was always carried as part of his photographic equipment. George was a competent photographer and some of his clients included the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, Lord and Lady Jellico, Sir Archibald Weigall and Admiral Field.’ A few years before George Marchant died Jack Cato included a paragraph about him in his Story of the Camera in Australia. ‘George Marchant, price of entertainers, who played fourteen different musical instruments, photographed the Picnic Races, the prize stock, the agricultural shows; and once spent two months as the guest of the Admiral of the Fleet recording the trials of HMS Hood under cyclonic conditions in the Pacific Ocean. George was the only photographer–musician who could make the camera disappear before the eyes of the sitter.’ Text taken from:Noye, R.J. (2007) Dictionary of South Australian Photography 1845-1915, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. CD-ROM, pp.196-97. Writers: Nerina_Dunt Date written: 2013 Last updated: 2013

Born

b. 6 November 1882

Summary

Son of photographer Edwin Walter Marchant, George Marchant was also a photographer. He had his own studio in Clare and later in Adelaide, before he moved with his family to Melbourne where he operated a successful photographic business.

Gender

Male

Died

2-Mar-58

Age at death

76