Caney: photographer family

Another famous Natal photographic family were the Caneys.

There is some controversy over the year in which Benjamin Willliam Caney arrived in Natal but he certainly founded one of the first jewellery firms in Durban in 1860, the year that the second Prime Minister of Natal, Mr. Harry Escombe landed in Durban, and the year before Benjamin's bride-to-be, Ellen Calvert, arrived aboard the Catherine (September 1861) from England. 

Benjamin and Ellen made their home in the top floor of the 3-story West-Street building in which the business was founded and in which their three sons that were to take over the business were born. This skyscraper was later pronounced to be dangerous and the third floor removed. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, the property was sold to the Johannesburg Building Society, but the old firm continued its activities in the block, thriving for well over a hundred years.

The three Caney brothers, Benjamin William, William Laws and Ebenezer Edmund, were born in Lincoln, England. All three emigrated to South Africa (Durban) at different stages. The eldest, Benjamin William arrived in Durban during the late 1850s or possibly 1860 with his remaining two brothers arriving in South Africa a number of years later. All three of the brothers were already experienced photographers prior to their arrival in South Africa.

From the Natal Almanac 1889

William Laws Caney operated a studio in Durban from 1883-1893 before moving to Pietermaritzburg, where he remained for several years. In 1909 he was at 208 Church Street, Pietermaritzburg. Prior to his Durban phase, he ran a studio in Kimberley; then (1872) still known as New Rush, the town was renamed Kimberley in June 1873.


The Caneys are an example of a family of photographers who continued working through a couple of generations as well as in various centres in South Africa: something to bear in mind when dating photographs.