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Charles Essenhigh Corke

Sevenoaks, England, United Kingdom, 1852–1922 (Artist)

Charles Essenhigh Corke (1852–1922) was a photographer and painter born in Sevenoaks, England. His photography studio was at 39 London Road, Sevenoaks. He joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1889. As a painter, his preferred subjects were the great houses and gardens of west Kent, including Hever, Ightham, Penshurst, and Knole.

Sevenoaks was also the home of the printer and bookseller Joseph Salmon, who had moved there from London and opened a stationer’s shop at 85 High Street. His son Joseph became interested in the commercial printing and publishing of pictorial post cards and, in the 1890s, the firm first produced a collection of twelve black-and-white post cards of the Sevenoaks district. This was followed, by a small collection of colored post cards of great houses and their gardens, including a series by Charles Essenhigh Corke.