Originally from France, Ernest Baudoux born 1828 worked in Jersey from 1869 at 11 Craig Street and 51½, 56 and 59 New Street. In 1885 he was joined in business by his son, but two years later they sold out to John Stroud, a young photographer from London, who in turn sold his business, including many of Baudoux’s glass-plate negatives, to Albert Smith.

There are about 1385 photographers of Baudoux’s photographers in the archive, most of these or portraits of jersey families as this was his specialty.But he also could be classified  as a documentary photographer, as his work includes expensive family  houses at the time, and many other events, such as land being reclaimed etc. Many of his portraits exist in two versions, one of them retouched to hide facial blemishes and wrinkles. Baudoux also undertook photographic commissions of clients’ houses and, working with his sons, he photographed views of the island.

Baudoux’s was easily the most prolific Jersey studio. He seems to have drawn his clients mainly from the Jersey born and French speaking population. During his last year of operation he opened a branch establishment in Guernsey.La Société say that of a total of 3298 images attributed to the Albert Smith studio in their archive, they estimate that as many as 500 are in fact by Ernest Baudoux .Baudoux images are very collectable, and frequently appear for sale on on-line auction sites. In addition to the Societe Collection, there are two large collections of Jersey photographs and postcards in South Africa and the United States, to which Jerripedia has access. This has enabled us to build up a substantial gallery of Baudoux images, some of which are shown below, others being located on appropriate subject pages.