Joseph Warren Zambra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1822 |
| Died | 23 December 1897(1897-12-23) (aged 74–75) |
| Burial place | Highgate Cemetery |
| Occupations | Optician, Photographer and scientific instrument maker |
| Known for | Negretti and Zambra |
Joseph Warren Zambra (1822-1897) was an Anglo-Italian photographer and maker of scientific instruments who with Henry Negretti (1818–1879) founded the firmNegretti and Zambra.
Zambra was born in 1822 inSaffron Walden,Essex, to Joseph Caesar (Cesare) and Phyllis Zambra. His father was abarometer maker andoptician, born inComo,Italy.[1] After an apprenticeship with his father, he travelled to London initially settling in the Anglo-Italian community aroundLeather Lane inHolborn.[2]
On 9 February 184,7 he married Sarah Sophia Potts (1825-1867) and they had four children, Joseph Caesar (born 22 November 1847, died 24 September 1892),[3] Marcus Warren (born 28 March 1849),[4] Sarah Phillis (born 10 November 1850)[5] and Julius James George (born in 1859).[6] On 29 August 1867, his wife died instantly in tragic circumstances when she was thrown from a carriage atArreton on theIsle of Wight.[2] In 1869 Joseph remarried Sarah Tongue.[7][1]
He died aged 75, on 23 December 1897[8] at his home, “Walden”, 80Fitzjohns Avenue,Hampstead and is buried with his second wife Sarah (14 July 1823 – 15 December 1901) inHighgate Cemetery (west side).[9] The grave has beenlisted Grade II both for its 'artistic interest as an imposing, architecturally treated monument with good-quality relief sculpture of archetypically mid-Victorian character' and its 'historic interest commemorating a pioneering C19 photographer and scientific instrument maker.'[2]
Fellow craftsmen Henry Negretti and Joseph Zambra formed a partnership in 1850. The following year at they exhibited theirmeteorological instruments at the1851 Great Exhibition at Hyde Park and were the only English instrument makers to receive a prize medal in their category.[10] The partnership went on to patent several key improvements in the design of barometers and thermometers, producing models capable of functioning under extremes of pressure and movement. Their companyNegretti and Zambra was subsequently appointed opticians and scientific instrument makers to Her MajestyQueen Victoria,Prince Albert andKing Edward VII, theRoyal Observatory, theBritish Meteorological Society and theBritish Admiralty.[11][10]
In its field, the firm became one of the biggest in London, with workshops inHatton Garden andCornhill and a retail outlet onRegent Street, as well as a specialist photographic equipment emporium at theCrystal Palace, which the partners had been commissioned to photograph when it was re-erected inSydenham in 1853.[10]
