Petford, Charles Edgar
Charles Edgar Petford (1854 - February 9, 1920), a.k.a. C. Edward Petford, was a Chicago-based artist, architect, and graphic designer active in the second half of the 19th century. Petford was born in London and lived his early years in Birmingham, England. He worked in England as a theater set and costume designer. Afterwards, he traveled extensively to India, South America, and England before emigrating to the United States and settling in Chicago in 1881. There he was a staff artist for the Chicago Tribune. In the 1880s he was a partner with William E. S. Trowbridge (1832 - 1920) in the graphic design firm 'Trowbridge and Petford'. Petford was arrested for polygamy in Malden, Massachusetts in 1907, where he apparently kept a second wife, in addition to his Chicago wife. Around 1915, in retirement, he moved to Norwich, Connecticut. There, he worked as a designer for the Davis Theater before he died of pneumonia.
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