Harry Bowles Photographer in Sarnia, Winnipeg and Pembina, ND

See also James Bowles of Sarnia for more on Harry’s ancestors.

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In June 1875 Harry moved from Sarnia to Winnipeg where he worked with an established photographer, James Penrose, on Main Street South.  

 In July 1876 Harry opened his own studio, The Sunbeam Gallery, on Lyon Street (the original name of McDermot Avenue on the east side of Main Street).

James and Harry took first prize in the Photograph category in the 3rd Annual Provincial Exhibition of the Agricultural and Industrial Society of Manitoba.  Reporting on the event, The Manitoba Free Press of October 7, 1876 mentioned "The exhibition of photographs is confined to the capital display made by Messrs. Penrose & Bowles and a few pictures entered by Mr. Doherty.  The first collection (first prize) embraces both portraits and views, and contains some fine pictures ..."  Specific mention is made of their pictures of the steamer Manitoba and of the Winnipeg Field Battery.  Possibly these photos have survived and we'll be able to locate them yet.

Very shortly afterwards though Harry returned to Sarnia where by March 1877 he bought an existing gallery “on Front Street, next the ferry landing and opposite the Belchamber House”. 

The Manitoba Free Press announced on Jan. 6, 1877 that "Photographic views of Winnipeg are now exhibited by Harry Bowles at Sarnia, Ont."

These photos show the most likely location of Harry's studio in Sarnia (1875-18), on Front Street across from the Belchamber Hotel and over W. B. Clark's grocery store (Daniel McCart's store in the later photos), although not within the actual years he was there.  Harry's ad on Dec. 14, 1877 gave directions to his studio as "you just go up to the stairs, one door south of W.B. Clark's".  The stairs are not visible in any of these photos but would most likely lead directly to the offices over the store.

     
Harry was not to last there very long either although he featured some of the latest photographic equipment (for example, The New Photo-Chromotype”) and placed eye-catching ads such as this one which announced the WAR and GREAT SLAUGHTER on prices for frames and mottos in his studio.

He would have faced stiff competition from John Barron right next door to him who had operated a very well established and successful studio since the 1860’s.

Harry appears to have had a setback in April 1878 as he and a neighbouring business placed a Card Of Thanks in the paper to the Victoria Mutual Insurance Company in appreciation for their having paid his claim only 8 days after a fire.

He offered his photographic services there until May 1879 and then sold out to Hetherington & Co and returned to Winnipeg.

In Winnipeg he formally partnered with James Penrose as “Penrose and Bowles, Photographers” on Main Street “opposite the Post Office”. 

Their opening was announced in the Winnipeg Daily Times on October 6, 1879 with an advertisement:

 "PHOTOGRAPHERS. Call and See us in our New Gallery, Opposite Post Office, Where you will get your Photographs taken in the best style in the city. We have always on hand a very large collection of First-class Views, &c. COME ONE! COME ALL! “Secure the shadow ere the substance fade.”” 

The new Winnipeg Post Office had just been built in 1876 at the corner of Main and Owen St so their studio should have been at the corner of Main and McDermot St (Owen Street was also renamed McDermot Avenue soon after).  The McPhillips Insurance Plan of Winnipeg 1880 which was drawn in Autumn 1879 does not show a photo studio but they may have been in the Caldwell Block which was built that same year at that corner.  There is also a small ‘photo gallery’ marked at the north end of that block near Bannatyne Street but I don’t think they were that far north.

Click on the map to see a full size image

The following photos are from the personal collection of Gordon Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society.  Thank you for permitting me to use them. 

A sample photo from Penrose and Bowles Photographers

This picture is thought to be of a sketch depicting the execution of Thomas Scott at Lower Fort Gary in March 1870.

A sample photo by Harry Bowles, Photographer

The next year he bought Penrose out and operated as Harry Bowles, Photographer at 95 McDermot Avenue (that would be the side of the Caldwell Block facing onto McDermot so it was still the same location opposite the post office).  However, things quickly went bad for him as his debt to his creditors became unmanageable until finally when he was also implicated of being is possession of a lens stolen from another photographer he found it wisest to move on quickly to North Dakota.

The Winnipeg Daily Times reported on July 14, 1880, p. 4:

"Harry Bowles, the photographer, has emigrated to Dakota – not on account of the Land Regulations, but of a little discrepancy between himself and his creditors. The discrepancy still remains. Bowles also foresaw a little difficulty regarding a lens, which he bought a year ago for a sum much below its value, and secreted till the other day. It belonged Mr Duffin, from whom it was stolen by a half-breed, who sold it to Bowles. Duffin got track of it, and sent the police to recover it, and shortly afterwards – on Monday afternoon – Bowles secured passage on the steamer Minnesota, getting on board a mile or so up the river."

Sources: (the above story was pieced together from the information in the advertisements shown, from the sources stated in the main text or from the following accounts of Harry's life)


The Henry J. Bowles story from The Spirit Lives On, Osnabrock, ND 1887-1987

Henry Bowles own handwritten application for The Cavalier County Pioneers Association gives a good personal account of his life.

Read The Henry Bowles Family History from the Langdon, ND Centennial Edition 1888-1988




Harry's obituary




Henry Bowles' Family Tree (extracted from a public family tree on ancestry.com)

James Bowles m. Elizabeth

(lived Franktown, Ont. (SW of Ottawa) in 1855; moved to Sarnia in 1861)