Edis firm of photographers, Durham

John Reed Edis (1860-1942) was one of the first students to train as a photographer at Quintin Hogg's newly founded Polytechnic in London. In the 1890s he set up business in Durham, becoming official photographer to the Dean and Chapter, the University and its colleges, and Durham School. He also established a reputation as a landscape photographer. After his death in 1942, the firm was carried on until 1964 by his daughter Daisy Edis, Mrs Spence, who had joined him in the business in 1901 and who became a specialist in portrait photography.