Thomas Andrew

Thomas Andrew (1856-1939) was a photographer and businessman who spent over forty years living and working in Samoa where he produced a significant body of photographic work. 

Andrew was born in Takapuna, Auckland in 1856 and on leaving school he learnt the drapery business. Described as “by temperament an artist rather than a draper” (1) and possessing “considerable skill in in the expression of art through the medium of photography” he opened a photography studio in Napier. In 1882 he married Margaret Ferguson but she died the following year during childbirth. 

During the years 1886 and 1887 Andrew travelled on an extensive tour of the Pacific Isands on the ship the “Buster”. A book was later published by F.J.Moss documenting this voyage and photographs taken by Andrew were used to illustrate it (2). 

On his return to New Zealand, he married Emilie Sage and opened a photographic studio in Auckland. The premises were destroyed not long after by a fire and in 1891 he travelled to Samoa where he became a partner in the firm of Parkhouse and Brown. His interest and work in photography continued and he established a small studio in Apia, the capital city and thriving port on the island of Upolu. 

Andrew is best known for his studio portraits, but he ventured well beyond that controlled environment. He photographed political events, recorded daily life, and shot idyllic scenes for the tourist market, as his diverse portfolio reveals.

Many of Andrew’s images were published n periodicals and as postcards. According to T.Gillan (Andrew’s grandson), cruise ships in port were only an occasional event in Apia. That is to say they came regularly but not every day. These occasions meant a soaring of trade for photographers like Andrew. Gillan recalls seeing Andrew’s wife (Gillans grandmother) doing long print runs of images so that they could be sold to the tourists off the ships (3). Andrew continued to run his Apia based studio for many years until his eyesight started to fail. 

First and foremost a merchant Andrew developed other commercial interests in Samoa, which included cacao planting (4). He also established the first Para rubber plantation. He took little active part in public life but was deeply interested in Sāmoa’s political and cultural life, on which his opinions were much sought and highly valued. He died in Samoa in 1939. 

References

(1) Obituary,Samoa Mail,12 August,1939

(2) Moss F.J. 1889 Through the Atolls and Islands in the Great South Sea  London.Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington.

(3) Gillan, Thomas  (grandson of T. Andrew) pers.comm. September 1994. Auckland.

(4) Nordstrom , A.D. 1989. Images of Paradise: Photographs of Samoa,1880-1930. Unpublished Paper. U.S.A