Background
Alfred Henry Burton was born on June 19, 1834 in Leicester, United Kingdom. His father, John Burton, was a prominent photographer and his firm John Burton and Sons was patronised by Queen Victoria and other members of the Royal Family.
Alfred Henry Burton was born on June 19, 1834 in Leicester, United Kingdom. His father, John Burton, was a prominent photographer and his firm John Burton and Sons was patronised by Queen Victoria and other members of the Royal Family.
Alfred Henry Burton emigrated in 1856 to Auckland, New Zealand, where he worked as a printer, then returned to his homeland in 1862. He went back to New Zealand in 1867 to join his brother Walter, with whom he founded the firm of Burton Brothers in Dunedin (1868). Walter handled the studio's portraiture department, and Alfred toured the countryside, documenting the land and its people. In 1880 Walter committed suicide, and Alfred brought in Thomas Minto B. Muir to take over the portraiture.
Around 1896 Burton sold the firm to Muir and George Moodie, then took up teaching elocution and English literature. A Freemason, Burton was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand in 1904. He was also a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. The 1880s were Burton's most productive years, when he extensively photographed Maori life in the hitherto unexplored King Country. He is also noted for a rich series on the Coral Islands and Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. These views were bound into albums, as well as sold individually.
In 1890 Harold lost an arm as the result of a gunshot wound. A one-armed photographer was then a near impossibility, and George Moodie, who had been with the firm since the 1880s, took over much of the topographical photography. Moodie matched Burton in indefatigability; in a report he wrote for the New Zealand Alpine Journal in 1893 he described how he took the Meagher camera and a supply of the large glass plates for it on to the Tasman Glacier. Moodie also accompanied annual Union Steam Ship Company cruiser trips to the sounds, taking group portraits and photographs of scenery.
In 1898 Burton retired. Around this time Thomas Muir formed a new partnership with George Moodie, and the firm of Muir and Moodie entered very successfully into the postcard era. Their partnership was dissolved about 1916. Subsequently Muir maintained the studio at Invercargill until 1940. Later he acquired property at Broad Bay on the Otago Peninsula and died there in 1945.
For 16 years after giving up photography Alfred Burton was a teacher of elocution, with rooms at 5 Liverpool Street, Dunedin. According to an educational directory of 1913, he advocated 'the cultivation of the speaking voice in the pulpit, on the platform, and in the drawing room; by effective and graceful recitation, and by correct and picturesque reading.' He also taught elocution at Knox College. Burton retired from photography in 1898.
Alfred Henry Burton was one of the founders of the Dunedin Shakespeare Club, and secretary of the Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics' Institute. He was well known for his 'Evenings with great authors' and in 1897 he directed a production of Dion Boucicault's The octaroon for the Dunedin Amateur Dramatic Club.
As well, he wrote The mining investor's guide to the gold dredging companies of Otago and Southland and the West Coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand, published in Dunedin in 1900–1901.
Alfred Burton died in Dunedin on 2 February 1914.
Maori village
(Te Mahuki (centre), Paru Kau (far right), and others at a...)
1885Tongan woman
(Tongan woman standing at bottom of step in front of colon...)
High Chief
(Mulianga, High Chief, Malietoa Party, Samoa.)
Portrait of two warriors
(photographed in Fiji)
1884Loading cane at a sugar plantation on Mago island, Fiji
1884Village scene
Fijian man and a Fijian woman
1884Fijian man holding a club
1884King of Tonga
1884Samoan warrior
1890