MARGARET HARKER
Born 17th January 1920, Southport, United Kingdom
Died 16th February 2013, Pulborough, United Kingdom
Margaret Harker, 1952. Courtesy the archive of Dr S.D. Jouhar FRPS, FPSA
Margaret Harker was an influential force within the Royal Photographic Society, from the 1940s until the early 2000s, at a time when it was very much dominated by tradition and run by men.
The fact that she became the first female President of the Royal Photographic Society between 1958-60 was a testament to the impact that she made within the Society’s governing structures, her own perseverance and, perhaps most importantly, the respect that she engendered from her, mainly male, peers. Within the Society and outside, in the worlds of photography and academia, she broke down barriers and set precedents that opened doors for those who followed her.
Margaret Florence Harker was born in Southport in 1920. With the encouragement of her parents, she moved to London to study photography at the Regent Street Polytechnic between 1940 and 1943. She specialized in architectural photography and worked as a photographer, combined with teaching, between 1941 and 1959. It was teaching that occupied her professional life and she became of Head of the school of photography in 1959 and professor in 1972, ultimately rising to Faculty Dean and Pro Rector. She was the first female professor of photography in the United Kingdom.
Within the Royal Photographic Society Margaret was actively involved in the Society’s distinctions bringing a rigor to its Associate and Fellowship Panels. She became interested in photography’s history and worked extensively with the Society’s Collection becoming chair of its advisory committee and honorary curator. She worked hard to ensure that it was given more resources and protected at times when it was less appreciated.
Outside of the Society Margaret was active on committees and in a range of organizations mainly focused on her academic interests and photographic history. She produced a number of well-respected books on The Linked Ring and the photographer Henry Peach Robinson.
Margaret could appear formidable, but she was kind and generous and willing to spend time with students or those who shared her interests. She also had a wicked sense of humor!
The naming of the 100 Heroines medal after Margaret is entirely appropriate. She was a photographer throughout her life with a determination to get things done and an involvement in photographic education that fits well with the Society’s aims. She showed that women were more than the equal of men and this typifies the spirit that the 100 photographic heroines will embody in their own ways.
Margaret would have been quietly flattered by the use of her name in such a way.
This article written by Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS
Nationality British
Education Regent Street Polytechnic
Known for Architectural photographer, historian and teacher of photography.
Spouse Richard Farrand (married 1972; death 1982)
Awards Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1943
Elected first woman President of the Royal Photographic Society, 1958 to 1960
The following information is from WIKIPEDIA
MARGARET FLORENCE HARKER (17th January 1920 – 16th February 2013), was a British photographer and historian of photography. She was the UK's first woman professor of photography, founded the country's first photography degree course, and was the first woman to be president of the Royal Photographic Society.
EARLY LIFE
Margaret Florence Harker was born on 17th January 1920 at 18 Queens Road, Southport, Lancashire, the daughter of Thomas Henry Harker (1879–1947), a medical practitioner, and his wife, Ethel Dean Harker, née Dyson (1894–1975). She was educated at Howell's School in Denbigh, followed by the Southport School of Art. Her father was a keen amateur photographer and her parents supported her when from 1940 to 1943, she studied photography at the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster).
CAREER
Harker started her career an architectural photographer, contributing to the National Buildings Record beginning from its 1941 establishment, and in excess of 1,000 of her negatives are held by its successor body at Historic England.
Harker joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1941, was elected a Fellow in 1943, served on its council from 1951 to 1976, and chaired the applied photographic distinction panel from 1951 until 1992. Harker also became the honorary curator of the society's collection of historic photographs. From 1958 to 1960, Harker was the first woman to be president of the Royal Photographic Society.
In 1943, Harker became a full-time lecturer at Regent Street Polytechnic, and in 1959 became the head of its School of Photography.
Harker started the UK's first degree course in photography at the Polytechnic of Central London. In 1992, when it became the University of Westminster, she was appointed as one of its inaugural first six professors.
Harker was one of the founding members of the European Society for the History of Photography, its Vice President 1978-82, and President 1986-2001. She was editor (1990-1993) of the society's printed journal, PhotoResearcher, published since 1990.
PUBLICATIONS
Harker, Margaret Florence (1950), A selection of the pictorial work of Margaret F. Harker, Royal Photographic Society Harker, Margaret Florence (1951), Photographing architecture, Fountain P
Harker, Margaret Florence (1975), Victorian and Edwardian photographs, Letts, ISBN 978-0-85097-200-9
Harker, Margaret Florence; Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (1979), The linked ring : the secession movement in photography in Britain, 1892-1910, Heinemann, ISBN 978-0-434-31360-0
Harker, Margaret Florence; Cameron, Julia Margaret Pattle, 1815-1879 (1983), Julia Margaret Cameron, Collins, ISBN 978-0-00-411937-3
Harker, Margaret Florence; Robinson, H. P. (Henry Peach), 1830-1901 (1988), Henry Peach Robinson : master of photographic art, 1830-1901, B. Blackwell, ISBN 978-0-631-16172-1
Harker, Margaret Florence 'Henry Peach Robinson : the grammar of art'. In Weaver, Mike (1989), British photography in the nineteenth century : the fine art tradition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-34119-6
Harker, Margaret Florence (2000), Photographers of Malta, 1840-1990, Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, ISBN 978-99932-10-03-0
COLLECTIONS
Margaret Harker collection in the Historic England Archive.
Photographs attributed to Margaret Harker are held in the Conway Library of art and architecture at The Courtauld.
PERSONAL LIFE
On 20th December 1972, Harker married fellow photographer Richard Farrand (1916–1982).
DEATH
Harker died on 16th February 2013, of heart failure, after having suffered from dementia, at The Anchorage Care Home in Pulborough, and was buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's Church, Egdean.
Image 1 - Margaret Harker with RPS Presidents c.1960
Image 2 - St Albans Cathedral, St. Albans, Hertfordshire. View of the east end of the cathedral
Image 3 - Broadcasting House, Portland Place, Marylebone, City of Westminster, Greater London
Image 1 - York Minster, Minster Yard, York.
Image 2 - St Pauls Cathedral, St Pauls Churchyard, City of London
Image 3 - British Enka Limited, Ormskirk Road, Aintree, Aintree Village, Sefton, Merseyside