Thomas Henry Robbins was born in Devizes, Wiltshire, in 1867. His parents were William Robbins and Esther Perry – they married in 1853, in Devizes.
In the 1881 census he is visiting the people next door to where he and his family live (No. 6, Read Court, Devizes) and he gives his occupation as Photographer’s Apprentice” but as to whose apprentice isn’t clear as none of the neighbours are in the photographic business and none of his familly. As a matter of interest, he gives his name as Henry Thomas and not Thomas Henry but it is, indeed, him because he gives his place of birth as Devizes, his parents and family live next door, and the coincidence is too great.
Thomas moved from Devizes sometime before 1891 as he appears in the Census of Oldham, Lancashire, where he gives his name, correctly, as Thomas Henry and not HenryThomas, and his occupation as Photographic Operator. He’s a boarder with Caroline Dyson, aged 46, a Photographer, as is her daughter, Fanny, and another daughter, Annie, who is a Photographic Artist
In 1892, Thomas Henry Robbins married Blanche Brend (born 1865, Bideford, Devon). He became a partner in the firm of Bridgman & Robbins, which, around 1907, took over the photographic studio at 2, Marina Arcade, Bexhill-on-Sea.
The Bridgman & Robbins studio in Marine Arcade continued until around 1911.
By 1913, Bridgman had left the firm and from this date Thomas Robbins operated alone from the studio at 2, Marina Arcade. A “T. H. Robbins” was still listed as a photographer, at 2, Marina Arcade, in a trade directory of 1924.
Thomas Henry Robbins retired to Brighton where he died in 1939, aged 72.