Ambrose Lomax

• Name — Ambrose Lomax • Birthplace — Litchfield, Hampshire, UK • Died — 20 January 1943 • Place of death — Adelaide, Eastern Cape, South Africa • Fields — Chemistry Ambrose Lomax (15 August 1867 – 20 January 1943) was a South African photographer and chemist.

Ambrose Lomax was born in England but grew up in the Cape when his family emigrated. He did his apprenticeship as a chemist in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, qualified at the age of 21, before beginning to do relief work. He settled in Molteno, where he started his own business and photographic studio. The premises of his studios, also used as a pharmacy, still exist and are currently a museum.

Lomax was very interested in testing home remedies and how they could be used as formal medicine. When the Molteno bell tower was constructed in 1903, he registered an image of it as his trademark. Several of his brands swiftly became known nationally. He moved to Adelaide, Eastern Cape in 1909 and started a new business as A. Lomax Ltd which was very successful and run by his family after his death.

He was a very quiet man who seldom spoke. His primary pastime other than his work was his passion for golf. He married on 5 May 1904, Ellen Augusta Dodd, of Molteno. Of their eight children, three sons became physicians and a fourth qualified as a pharmacist.