Henry Walter Barnett

Barnett became involved in filmmaking after meeting cinematographer Marius Sestier in 1896, and with Sestier made some of the first films shot in Australia.

• Name — Henry Walter Barnett • Birth Name — Henry Walter Barnett • Born — 25 January 1862 • Birthplace — St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia • Died — 16 January 1934 • Place of death — Nice, France • Other Names — H. Walter Barnett • Occupation — Photographer

Barnett was born on 25 January 1862 in St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia, one of seven children of English-born Jewish parents LewisOxford Dictionary of National Biography quotes his father's name as Louis. Barnett, a merchant, and his wife Alice Jacobs. He left school at the age of 13 and began his photographic career as a studio assistant, later establishing a studio in Hobart, Tasmania with his business partner Harold Riise. In 1884 he sold his share of the Hobart studio, after which he travelled and worked variously in London and the United States. During his time in London he was employed by the society photographers W. & D. Downey, where he assisted in photographing the future King Edward VII. In 1885 Barnett founded the Falk studios in Sydney, at which he established himself as one of Australia's leading portrait photographers. He opened a second studio in Melbourne in 1895. He was known in particular for photographing stage stars and other celebrities; one of his best-known sitters was Sarah Bernhardt, who sat for him while visiting Australia in 1891. Other prominent visitors to Australia photographed by Barnett were Robert Louis Stevenson in 1893 and Mark Twain in 1896. One of his most notable works was a photograph of Henry Parkes, in which according to Ennis (2004), Parkes "plays the role of a wise old man whose intense expression is evocative of a seer's". Barnett married Hilda "Ella" Frances Clement Forbes in 1889. In 1897 Barnett relocated to London and established a photography studio at Hyde Park Corner, later adding a second studio in Knightsbridge. He joined photographic society The Linked Ring in 1899, was a founder member of the Professional Photographers Association (later the British Institute of Professional Photography) in 1901, and was elected to the Royal Photographic Society council in 1903. In 1904 he published a collection of photographs of his most notable sitters, titled A List of Well Known People Photographed by H. Walter Barnett. He exhibited a collection of photographs of British Armed Forces personnel of World War I in 1917, titled Warriors All. Barnett sold his London studios in 1920 and moved to Dieppe, France, where he maintained a keen interest in contemporary French art. He died in Nice on 16 January 1934, aged 71.

• Illustration — Adrian Carton de Wiart • Illustration — Alfred Lyttelton • Illustration — Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner • Illustration — Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett • Illustration — Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg • Illustration — Arthur Comyns Carr • Illustration — Arthur Joseph Davis • Illustration — Arthur Stockdale Cope • Illustration — Austen Chamberlain • Illustration — Charles Gordon-Lennox, 8th Duke of Richmond • Illustration — Charles Henry Lyell • Illustration — Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick • Illustration — Edgar Speyer and Leonora Speyer • Illustration — Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby • Illustration — Emily Hobhouse • Illustration — Eric Hambro • Illustration — Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon • Illustration — Frances Thesiger, Viscountess Chelmsford • Illustration — Gerald Boyd • Illustration — Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake • Illustration — George Robey • Illustration — Henri Kowalski • Illustration — Henry Parkes • Illustration — Herbert Miles • Illustration — James Booker Blakemore Wellington • Illustration — James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope • Illustration — Queen Kapiolani • Illustration — Lewis Pugh Evans • Illustration — Marie of Romania • Illustration — Marius Sestier • Illustration — Mark Twain • Illustration — Mary Augusta Ward • Illustration — Nellie Melba • Illustration — Oei Hui-lan, Madame Wellington Koo • Illustration — Lady Ottoline Morrell • Illustration — Richard Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke • Illustration — Victor Branford • Illustration — Robert Louis Stevenson • Illustration — Robert Louis Stevenson • Illustration — Sarah Bernhardt • Illustration — Sarah Bernhardt • Illustration — Sarah Wilson (war correspondent) • Illustration — Thomas Alexander Browne • Illustration — Violet Mond, Baroness Melchett • Illustration — William Crooke (photographer)