Active in Southampton at some time in the 1870s – early 1880s

Arthur E Bannister was a jeweller and watchmaker who appears to have taken up portrait photography as a sideline at some time in the late 1870s. Carte de visite portraits taken by Bannister at 18 Bernard Street survive, although he was listed as a watchmaker and jeweller in street directories and census records until the early 1890s, when he started a tobacconist's business at 31 Oxford Street.

​A E Bannister lived with his mother, father and brother at 18 Bernard Street until the second half of the 1880s when the family moved. His father Jonas, and brother William were tailors. The 1891 census listed the family at Clifford Street, and Jonas gave his occupation as retired tailor. Later in the same year Jonas died, and in 1892 Arthur E Bannister married and became a tobacconist at 31 Oxford Street.