F. W. Micklethwaite

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Frank William Micklethwaite (1849-1925) was a prominent Canadian photographer, professionally known as F.W. Micklethwaite, whose photographs of Toronto and the Muskoka area form an important and unique photographic record of the province of Ontario's history in the late 19th century and early 20th century.^[1]

Micklethwaite was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England on March 13, 1849.^[1] His family emigrated to Ireland in the 1850s, where his father, William Barton Micklethwaite, practiced photography.^[2] The younger Micklethwaite studied photography while in Ireland, and emigrated to Toronto in 1875. After working for three years as a proof reader for The Mail newspaper, he opened a commercial photography business in his home in 1878. He later opened a studio, the location of which changed frequently until he established it at 243 Yonge Street in 1910.^[1] Micklethwaite also took up residence in Port Sanfield each summertime, and he took hundreds of photographs of the Muskoka lakes area.^[3]

Micklethwaite died on December 5, 1925, and the photography business was willed to his son Fred. Fred Micklethwaite continued the family business, passing it on to his son, John Harold Micklethwaite, who went on to become a commercial photographer in Toronto.^[2]

Many of F.W. Micklethwaite's photographs are held by the Library and Archives of Canada and the City of Toronto Archives. Two volumes of his photographs have been published in Canada.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Denison, John. Micklethwaite's Muskoka. (Erin, Ontario: The Boston Mills Press, 1993). ISBN 9781550460698.
• Tessier, Guy. The Photographic Saga of the Micklethwaite family. The Archivist. Vol. 13, no. 2 (March-April 1986).
• The Archives looks at Frank W. Micklethwaite : Portrait of Toronto. (Ottawa: Public Archives of Canada, 1978).