pete.naylor
Houghton Ensign De Luxe, c 1911
Well, that's to say I THINK it's an 'Ensign De Luxe', because there's no indication anywhere of a model name. However, I'm 100% certain it came from Houghton's of London, because right above the lens there's their familiar 'HL' logo. The circular badge logo at upper right in the right side view indicates the camera was originally sold by 'City Sales And Exchange Ltd, West End Branch - Sloane Square London SW'. So perhaps this was an early 'Sloane Ranger' ...
Documentation-wise, I have a 1913 Houghton's 'Ensign Handbook Of Photography' and a 1914 British Journal of Photography Almanac (of almost 1500 pages, BION!) and both have pictures and descriptions of a very similar camera, with only detail differences. The 'De Luxe' Ensign had double-extension bellows with rack-and-pinion gearing, Morocco leather covering a wood body with an aluminium baseplate, rise and fall and sideways movement of the lens/shutter assembly, plus a combined lantern-type VF with small spirit-level attached. Like many better-spec'd pre-WW1 folders, it had dual reel film (3.25 X 4.25 in. format) and quarter-plate glass plate capability, via a slide-down holder in the back-door.
The 1913 Ensign Handbook shows the slightly later version with no less than 10 lenses available, and several shutter choices too. Mine here has the relatively cooking specification of an f6.8 Aldis Plano- Anastigmat triplet lens and Houghton's own 3-speed self-cocking shutter, which operates via a small hinged lever adjacent to the small cylindrical horizontal tube above the 'HL' logo - and still works perfectly. Interestingly, that Aldis Plano-Anastigmat is NOT the usual clone of the Cooke Triplet - it's a completely different design.
This combination cost GBP 5-15-0d (ie, $28 in US greenbacks), but if you went upwardly mobile to do even better than the Jones's and chose the version with F6.3 Zeiss Double-Protar and Koilos shutter, you had to fork out GBP12-15-0d. Those 1913 prices don't sound much these days, but when CPI'd to 2007 terms, mine now equates to GBP 405. That TOR Zeiss/Koilos version equates to all of GBP 899! Photography in those days wasn't a cheap hobby .....
Lastly, I should point out that it's unlikely that the camera body was actually made by Houghton's Ltd of London at all. Just as with their London rivals Butcher and Sons importing Huttig-made bodies from Germany to be fitted with British-sourced lenses and shutters, Houghton's did the same primarily with stuff provided by Kruguner of Frankfurt, so it's no suprrise that this 'Ensign De Luxe' bears more than a passing resemblance to a 'Krugener Halloh' body-wise.
All that rebadging skulduggery came to an end in August 1914, with the 'War To End All Wars - But Didn't'. Post November 1918 when doves were thankfully finally sighted over the Flanders mud, Houghton's Ltd had already amalgamated with Butcher and Son's to begin all-UK camera production. They remained as separate entities for several years marketing-wise, but eventually combined under that familiar 'Ensign' banner. Incidentally, the first use of the name 'Ensign' as a camera model seems to have started around 1906 with this range of folders, which consisted of the single-extension base model 'Ensign', the double-extension 'Ensign De Luxe' like mine, and an 'Ensign Flushback' which only had reel film capability.
Houghton Ensign De Luxe, c 1911
Well, that's to say I THINK it's an 'Ensign De Luxe', because there's no indication anywhere of a model name. However, I'm 100% certain it came from Houghton's of London, because right above the lens there's their familiar 'HL' logo. The circular badge logo at upper right in the right side view indicates the camera was originally sold by 'City Sales And Exchange Ltd, West End Branch - Sloane Square London SW'. So perhaps this was an early 'Sloane Ranger' ...
Documentation-wise, I have a 1913 Houghton's 'Ensign Handbook Of Photography' and a 1914 British Journal of Photography Almanac (of almost 1500 pages, BION!) and both have pictures and descriptions of a very similar camera, with only detail differences. The 'De Luxe' Ensign had double-extension bellows with rack-and-pinion gearing, Morocco leather covering a wood body with an aluminium baseplate, rise and fall and sideways movement of the lens/shutter assembly, plus a combined lantern-type VF with small spirit-level attached. Like many better-spec'd pre-WW1 folders, it had dual reel film (3.25 X 4.25 in. format) and quarter-plate glass plate capability, via a slide-down holder in the back-door.
The 1913 Ensign Handbook shows the slightly later version with no less than 10 lenses available, and several shutter choices too. Mine here has the relatively cooking specification of an f6.8 Aldis Plano- Anastigmat triplet lens and Houghton's own 3-speed self-cocking shutter, which operates via a small hinged lever adjacent to the small cylindrical horizontal tube above the 'HL' logo - and still works perfectly. Interestingly, that Aldis Plano-Anastigmat is NOT the usual clone of the Cooke Triplet - it's a completely different design.
This combination cost GBP 5-15-0d (ie, $28 in US greenbacks), but if you went upwardly mobile to do even better than the Jones's and chose the version with F6.3 Zeiss Double-Protar and Koilos shutter, you had to fork out GBP12-15-0d. Those 1913 prices don't sound much these days, but when CPI'd to 2007 terms, mine now equates to GBP 405. That TOR Zeiss/Koilos version equates to all of GBP 899! Photography in those days wasn't a cheap hobby .....
Lastly, I should point out that it's unlikely that the camera body was actually made by Houghton's Ltd of London at all. Just as with their London rivals Butcher and Sons importing Huttig-made bodies from Germany to be fitted with British-sourced lenses and shutters, Houghton's did the same primarily with stuff provided by Kruguner of Frankfurt, so it's no suprrise that this 'Ensign De Luxe' bears more than a passing resemblance to a 'Krugener Halloh' body-wise.
All that rebadging skulduggery came to an end in August 1914, with the 'War To End All Wars - But Didn't'. Post November 1918 when doves were thankfully finally sighted over the Flanders mud, Houghton's Ltd had already amalgamated with Butcher and Son's to begin all-UK camera production. They remained as separate entities for several years marketing-wise, but eventually combined under that familiar 'Ensign' banner. Incidentally, the first use of the name 'Ensign' as a camera model seems to have started around 1906 with this range of folders, which consisted of the single-extension base model 'Ensign', the double-extension 'Ensign De Luxe' like mine, and an 'Ensign Flushback' which only had reel film capability.