Joseph Warren Zambra

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Joseph Warren Zambra
Born1822
Saffron Walden, Essex
Died23 December 1897(1897-12-23) (aged 74–75)
Hampstead
Burial placeHighgate Cemetery
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Optician, Photographer and scientific instrument maker
Known forNegretti and Zambra

Joseph Warren Zambra (1822-1897) was an Anglo-Italian photographer and maker of scientific instruments who with Henry Negretti (1818–1879) founded the firm Negretti and Zambra.

Personal life[edit]

Zambra was born in 1822 in Saffron Walden, Essex, to Joseph Caesar (Cesare) and Phyllis Zambra. His father was a barometer maker and optician who was born in Como, Italy.[1] After an apprenticeship with his father, he travelled to London initially settling in the Anglo-Italian community around Leather Lane in Holborn.[2]

On 9 February 1847 he married Sarah Sophia Potts (1825-1867) and they had four children, Joseph Caesar (born 22 November 1847, died 24 September 1892),[3] Marcus Warren (born 28 March 1849),[4] Sarah Phillis (born 10 November 1850)[5] and Julius James George (born in 1859).[6] On 29 August 1867 his wife died instantly in tragic circumstances when she was thrown from a carriage at Arreton on the Isle of Wight.[2] In 1869 Joseph remarried Sarah Tongue.[7][1]

He died aged 75 on 23 December 1897[8] at his home, “Walden”, 80 Fitzjohn's Avenue, Hampstead and is buried with his second wife Sarah (14 July 1823 – 15 December 1901) in Highgate Cemetery (west side).[9] The grave has been listed Grade II both for its 'artistic interest as an imposing, architecturally treated monument with good-quality relief sculpture of archetypically mid-Victorian character' and its 'historic interest commemorating a pioneering C19 photographer and scientific instrument maker.'[2]

Career[edit]

Fellow craftsmen Henry Negretti and Joseph Zambra formed a partnership in 1850. The following year at they exhibited their meteorological instruments at the 1851 Great Exhibition at Hyde Park and were the only English instrument makers to receive a prize medal in their category.[10] The partnership went on to patent several key improvements in the design of barometers and thermometers, producing models capable of functioning under extremes of pressure and movement. Their company Negretti and Zambra was subsequently appointed opticians and scientific instrument makers to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and King Edward VII, the Royal Observatory, the British Meteorological Society and the British Admiralty.[11][10]

In its field, the firm became one of the biggest in London, with workshops in Hatton Garden and Cornhill and a retail outlet on Regent Street, as well as a specialist photographic equipment emporium at the Crystal Palace, which the partners had been commissioned to photograph when it was re-erected in Sydenham in 1853.[10]

Gallery[edit]

  • Family grave of Joseph Warren Zambra in Highgate Cemetery (west side)
    Family grave of Joseph Warren Zambra in Highgate Cemetery (west side)
  • Family grave of Joseph Caesar Zambra in Highgate Cemetery (west side)
    Family grave of Joseph Caesar Zambra in Highgate Cemetery (west side)
  • Grave of Joseph Warren Zambra's parents, Joseph Caesar and Phillis Zambra in Highgate Cemetery (west side)
    Grave of Joseph Warren Zambra's parents, Joseph Caesar and Phillis Zambra in Highgate Cemetery (west side)
  • Negretti Zambra Telescope issued by the British military, date unknown
    Negretti Zambra Telescope issued by the British military, date unknown
  • Detail from Negretti Zambra Telescope issued by the British military, date unknown
    Detail from Negretti Zambra Telescope issued by the British military, date unknown

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Joseph Warren ZAMBRA". www.fruiterers.org.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Monument to Sarah Sophia and Joseph Warren Zambra". www.historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  3. ^ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  4. ^ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975". FamilySearch. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  5. ^ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  6. ^ "England, Surrey Parish Registers, 1536-1992". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  7. ^ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Joseph Warren Zambra: England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  9. ^ Cansick, Frederick Teague (1872). The Monumental Inscriptions of Middlesex Vol 2. J Russell Smith. p. 106. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "Negretti and Zambra". www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  11. ^ Mathews, Oliver (1973). Early photographs and early photographers: a survey in dictionary form. London: Reedminster Publications. ISBN 9780859450010. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
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