In 1888 the Thornton-Picard company was established on St. Mary Street, Manchester through a partnership of Mr. John Edward Thornton and Edgar Pickard. Thornton was previously designing cameras for a short period with his own company called the Thornton Manufacturing Company. He had a few patents, including his the soon to be famous T-P time roller blind shutter and one camera on the marketed called the Patent Jubilee made by Billcliff. However, his business was struggling financially. Pickard was was in the wholesale grocery business with his father and was able to convince his father to finance the operation.

In 1992 the firm purchased a plot of land in Altrincham and built an expanded factory to moved in to.

In 1897 the company became limited, however Pickard died at the age of 35, leaving his family in control of the business. His brother George Arthur Pickard took management of the new public limited company. G.A. Pickard was fairly successful in maintaining and growing the business into the

In 1899 Thornton was ousted from the company and legally restricted from selling cameras in Britian. He then established the Thornton Film Company with partner Charles Rothwell, a chemist at Oakfield Street in Altrincham.

In 1913 Thornton came to the US were he patented a three color cine film which was licensed by Eastman.

in 1919 George A. Pickard died and his brother Gray Pichard took over management. Photographic sales declined.

In 1921 The Thorton-Pickard company became part of the Amalgamated Photographic Manufacturers Limited, but this did not help and its decline continued.

In 1939 the Thornton-Pickard company was dissolved.

In 1940 John Edward Thornton died.

CLICK HERE for a list of Thornton-Pickard Cameras.

Ref:
The Photographic News Jan 3,1896 (journal for Amateur photographers
Thornton-Pickard Manufacturing Company 2001- Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester

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2011-01-21 00:00:00