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Robert John Welch

Early Life and Family

Photography by Welch of Belfast scene

Robert John Welch (1859-1936) was an Irish photographer born on the 22nd of July 1859. He was born in or around Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the second of David Welch and Martha Welch’s (née Graham) six children. His Scottish father, David Welch, hailed from Kirkcudbright and had travelled to Ulster to work as an ‘agent’ for a shirt manufacturer in Strabane. David took up photography in 1863 - charging 6 shillings for 6 copies - quite an expensive price for the time and showcasing the family’s class status. He then went on to enjoy the patronage of the Strabane area leading landowner, "James Hamilton (qv), 2nd marquess and (from 1868) 1st duke of Abercorn. Abercorn's appointment as lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1865 allowed his protégé to call himself photographer by appointment to the viceroy." Robert’s mother, Martha, was the local shoemaker's daughter in Strabane who married at the age of 17 in 1857. R.J. later wrote that she was interested in shells and flowers - perhaps inspiring his love of nature. In 1863 Welch and family moved to Enniskillen and continued to move between many places after the father didn’t vote for a certain Conservative MP and the family were forced to leave Victoria Terrace, going onto Newry, Leamington, Kilkenny, Kildare, Bangor (where David died suddenly in 1875), and finally on to Lonsdale Street. After his father’s death, age 16, Welch had to abandon his dreams of attending the Queen’s College in Belfast and became the primary support for his family. He was employed as an assistant photographer in Belfast at the studio of ET Church. In 1883, he set up his own studio in Lonsdale Street, which would become his home for the remainder of his life. The census of 1901 shows Robert to be living at 49 Lonsdale Street with his mother and sister, Sarah, listed as ‘photo-assistant’, along with her daughter - his niece, Ruby Walker. He never married and had no children.