Talk on ‘The Life & Works of Thomas Patrick Anson’
This morning’s Guest Speaker was Judy Hubble who gave us a talk and insight into the life and times of Patrick Lichfield, who’s real name was Thomas Patrick John Anson. The talk was very informative and well received by all the member’s present.
Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005), was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practice he was known as Patrick Lichfield.
Thomas Patrick John Anson was born on 25 April 1939. He was the only son of Thomas William Arnold Anson, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1883–1960). His mother was born Ann Bowes-Lyon(1917–1980), a niece of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
He was educated at two different schools, Wellesley House School in the coastal town of Broadstairs in Kent, and Harrow School in north-west London, them went on to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. His father died in 1958, leaving Patrick to succeed as 5th Earl of Lichfield when his grandfather died in 1960.
Lichfield joined the Grenadier Guards in 1959. On leaving the Army in 1962, he began to work as a photographer’s assistant, and built up his own reputation, partly as a result of having access to the Royal Family. He was selected to take the official photographs of the wedding of the Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Princess of Wales in 1981, and subsequently became one of the UK’s best-known photographers. From 1999 onwards he was a pioneer of digital photography as a professional standard. He was chosen by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to take official pictures of her Golden Jubilee in 2002. Click here to read more…