Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Marion and Co., London
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- Marion & Co.
- Marion and Company
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1842-1921
History
Marion & Company, usually styled Marion & Co., was a London-based photographic firm with roots in early 19th century France. Its origins trace back to around 1835, when Claude Mames Augustin Marion established a stationery business in Paris. The company was known as Auguste and Augustin Marion interchangeably. Around 1842, at the dawn of the photographic age, Marion opened a London branch of Marion & Co., initially importing and selling French stationery.
By 1854, with premises on Regent Street, Marion & Co. had begun to stock papers designed for photographic use, such as salted and albumen types, alongside traditional stationery. In 1866, the company opened a warehouse and showroom at Soho Square. The following year, Claude Marion retired as head of Auguste Marion & Co. and a new company, Marion & Co., was formed under the control of three partners: Auguste Leon Marion, Henry Edward Géry, and George Bishop.
During the 1880s, Marion & Co. expanded into manufacturing photographic equipment and materials, including cameras and studio apparatus. In 1886, it opened a dedicated factory in Southgate, Middlesex, producing photographic paper, plates, and later, roll-film cartridges. As photography gained popularity among the general public, Marion & Co. increasingly targeted amateur photographers. The publication of Marion's practical guide to photography (1884) catered to this growing market.
By the late 1890s, the company was managed by Auguste Leon Marion, Henri Louis Guibout, George Bishop, Frank Bishop, and John Pattinson Kirk. The partnership was dissolved in 1901, and the business continued as a limited company. In 1921, Marion & Co. Limited was absorbed, along with six other companies, into Amalgamated Photographic Materials (APM), ending its existence as an independent entity. In 1929, AGM split off the photographic product lines of Marion, Paget and Rajar divisions into a new entity called Amalgamated Photographic Equipment Materials (APeM). Shortly thereafter, ApeM was incorporated into the Ilford group.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Partial
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created, Kymberley Doyle, 11-Jul-2025.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Historic Camera. (n.d.). Marion & Company - photographic history. Historic Camera website, accessed online 14-Jul-2025.
Maintenance notes
Dates of existence based on the London firm and not the Paris-based stationery store opened in the 1830s, Kymberley Doyle, 14-Jul-2025.