In his editorial for the annual “Photograms of the Year” book in 1942, the President of the Royal Photographic Society, Francis J. Mortimer, wrote of the vital role that photography was playing in the war effort, citing its use in propaganda, aerial reconnaissance, the recording of war damage and the making of records of historic buildings in danger zones. Mortimer went on to lament the loss of the Adelphi Buildings which had been the regular venue of Camera Club exhibitions up until its bombing by the Luftwaffe the previous year. 

Mortimer wrote about how photographic exhibitions, such as “London Pride” and “London Can Take It”, were organised by the Ministry of Information, and showed spirited Londoners carrying on, during and after the blitz. Shortage of film and photographic supplies was a problem, as were the official restrictions on what could and could not be photographed, but generally photographers had adapted to circumstances and were making the best of it. Some local societies’ exhibitions were held in air-raid shelters and first-aid posts.   

Mortimer was a tireless and influential ambassador for photography as art, and spent many years as editor of some of the best known photographic publications of his time, including Amateur Photographer and The British Journal of Photography. He also broadcast regularly on the subject on the BBC wireless service, and was a judge and official of many photographic societies. 

Born in Portsmouth in 1874, the son of a dentist, Mortimer attended Portsmouth Grammar School from 1885 to 1890 following which he was articled as a solicitor to Mr Albert Besant, brother of the author Sir Walter Besant. He passed the Law Society examinations, but quickly decided that journalism was a more attractive career and began to make himself a reputation as an authority on art, photography and poster design. In 1899 and 1900 he won poster design awards at Crystal Palace exhibitions, and went on to win more than 400 other awards and medals for his pioneering photography.  

Mortimer kept in touch with his old school, supporting the Grant Memorial Fund in 1899 and also helping with a photographic portrait of his former teachers. Mr Conrad, who passed away in 1900, was born in Germany but moved to England as a young man and taught at PGS from 1879 up until his premature death. His loss was deeply felt by the school community and his portrait was hung in the school library in tribute.  

At the time, Mortimer was Secretary of the Southsea Photographic Society and was famed for his dramatic seascapes, an interest no doubt developed during his childhood spent in Britain’s premier naval port. He was often seen braving the waves alongside sailors with a self-made waterproof camera. He also photographed nude women, often in waterside settings. During the First World War, he produced a series of idealised images of male and female war workers as well as documentary-style images of soldiers in trenches. He was not afraid of trying new ways of capturing that perfect moment, of pushing the boundaries and trying out new techniques. One such technique involved the use of multiple composite negatives to build up a photograph that he felt enhanced reality –the Edwardian precursor of Photoshop. This technique was put to especially effective use in Mortimer’s work during the First World War.  

The example seen above, entitled “An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth”, was published in the Illustrated London News in 1918 and extols “the exaction of righteous vengeance”, representing “an example of the barbarous cruelties involved in the German practice of ruthless submarine warfare. It is typical of the sufferings thereby inflicted on thousands of hapless victims, left adrift at sea after the torpedoing of passenger ships.”  

The figures were actually photographed in Mortimer’s studio and superimposed against one of his seascapes. This technique was used on many of Mortimer’s ideologically motivated wartime images which, though a lie, arguable perfected the depiction of a broader truth. The Gate of Goodbye, his most popular and widely reproduced photograph, depicts trench-bound soldiers bidding farewell to their loved ones at Victoria Station. This was a common scene, though the photograph itself is made up of over 20 individual images artfully arranged in an aesthetically pleasing composition.  

In 1942, Mortimer was made CBE in recognition of his services to photography. “By precept and example”, he had “done much to raise the standard of photography in this country from that of a mere journeyman work to that of an art”.  

On the 27th July 1944, Mortimer was on his way to his editorial offices and was fatally injured in a bombing raid. His obituary in The Times described him as “one of the leading British photographers” and “the most potent force in British photography”. As a civilian casualty he did not appear on the school’s war memorial until recent years when his name was added, along with those of 37 OP servicemen who were killed in the conflict but whose sacrifice was not known to the school. Through his influential, innovative and highly skilled work, Frances James Mortimer, played a role in raising morale and winning the propaganda battle throughout two World Wars.   

Sources: Photograms of the Year 1942, 1944, The Times 31 July 1944, The Portmuthian, November 1899, December 1901, Winter 1944. Illustrated London News, 21 December 1918 

.