Camera Workers: The British Columbia Photographic Directory, 1858-1950 - R - Volume 2 (1901-1950)

Updated: 2008.03.26.

NAME: Rafton-Canning, Arthur.
VARIANT NAME: Canning, Arthur Rafton.
LIFE DATES: 1865 05 07-1952 12 15.
BIRTHPLACE:   Paris, France.
PLACE OF DEATH: Vancouver, B.C.
WHERE/WHEN ACTIVE (1901-1950): London, UK/1901 Lethbridge, AB/1907-1913 Fort Langley/1928-1930 Abbotsford/1932 Princeton/1933.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY (1901-1950): For pre-1901 life and career see Volume 1. The French Cannings Web site notes that he " seems to have returned to England professionally for a time, as he appears in the 1901 census as Manager of a Photo Publishing House in Rugby, in the vicinity of Birmingham, Warwickshire. His wife Annie E. Canning is with him." Two photographers or employees, also  boarded  with  him  in  1901: Charles Frederick Broad and H.P. Boyce.
According to the Images Canada Web site description  of  the contributing Sir Alexander Galt Museum and Archives, " Arthur Rafton-Canning established the British & Colonial Photographic Company in Lethbridge in 1907, and operated it until 1913 when he moved out of southern Alberta. ... No aspect of life in Lethbridge and southern Alberta escaped his lens. Urban growth, irrigated and dryland agriculture, coal mining, Native people, business, immigration, leisure pursuits and more: Rafton-Canning recorded them all with the skill of a documentary photographer. He returned again and again to the same locations, taking images from the same perspectives to illustrate the changes that occurred over time. Many of his images of Lethbridge are panoramic, taken from vantage points atop water towers and the tallest buildings in the city."
The BC Archival Union List biography, created to describe the Arthur Rafton-Canning collection at the City of White Rock Museum and Archives states:

" Arthur Rafton-Canning was born in France to English parents around 1864. In approximately 1880, he emigrated to Canada. Mr. Rafton-Canning served in the North West Field Force during the Riel Rebellion. It appears that Mr. Rafton-Canning had a wife who moved to White Rock in 1930 and he followed in roughly 1932. In White Rock, Mr. Rafton-Canning was an amateur photographer. He was also a member of the Canadian Legion, Branch No. 8, and the first president of the White Rock Board of Trade. At the time of his death on December 15, 1952 at age 87 or 88, Arthur Rafton-Canning was residing in his home called " Fort McMurray" on Donald Avenue."

In 1914 Rafton-Canning suggested to the Royal Northwest Mounted Police that moving pictures be taken of the force, an idea taken up in the 1920s by his contemporary A.D. Kean who directed a silent melodrama titled Policing the Plains that no longer exists.
Rafton-Canning retired to White Rock, B.C. his wife, Annie Elizabeth (Parsons) Canning, whom he married in 1885 in England, died in 1949, age 83.
For a more  detailed  biography about his life in England and his retirement years, see the French Cannings Web site page on Arthur Rafton-Canning.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: ACG (prints) ALGMA (ca. 1,500 negatives, prints, postcards) BWRMA (15 photographs) OOA (42 photographs, some digitized).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: Print surface may be titled, copyrighted and signed " By A Rafton-Canning."
REFERENCES (1901-1950): 1901 Census for England & Wales, National Archives (UK) Library and Archives Canada, ArchiviaNet: Government of Canada Files (Moving pictures of Royal North-West Mounted Police - Suggestions of Mr. A. Rafton-Canning re., RG18, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Series A-1, Volume 45, file 70-14, 1914) VL1928, Fort Langley VL1933, Princeton BVIPA Death Registration no. 1949-09-001500 (microfilm reel B13199) BVIPA Death Registration no. 1952-09-011736 (microfilm reel B13214) Nix (1999) BC Archival Union List Images Canada (Web site) French Cannings: Arthur Rafton-Canning (Web site).

Rand, F.P.
Victoria/1903.
82 Pandora/1903.
Commercial.
He operated the Victoria Portrait Co. with L.A. Iverson.
REFERENCES: ___03.

Riggs, Robert W.
Vancouver/1908.
REFERENCES: ___08.

Ring, W.V.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE/WHEN ACTIVE: Hedley, BC/1930s.
STATUS:  Amateur?.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Possibly Walter Vernon Ring (1890?-1948 07 28) who died in Vancouver at age 58.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: BVIPA (panorama).
IDENTIFYING MARKS:  Print surface may be titled and captioned "W.V. Ring Photo."
REFERENCES: BVIPA death registration no. 1948-09-007214 (microfilm reel B13198); BVIPA Visual Records database call numbers A-01603 and A-01604.