Sepia Saturday 93: Collodion positives, early coloured portraits in Derby

For want of a photograph of a sleeping man for this week's Sepia Saturday contribution I'm going to choose the theme of early photography and the negative influence of Talbot, by continuing with another in what will be a series of posts on hand coloured portraits.


Early Derby photographers, 1854-1864
The development of commercial photography was in the doldrums throughout England in the early 1850s, largely due to Henry Fox Talbot's fierce protection of his calotype patents and his contention that Frederick Scott Archer's collodion process was merely an extension of his own discoveries. When his court case against Laroche was thrown out in December 1854, the way was clear for portrait studios to produce collodion positives on glass, and there was indeed a very rapid uptake of the by then four year-old technology. In the United States it was patented in that same year by Boston photographer Ambrose Cutting as the ambrotype.

Although Marcus Guttenberg had visited Derby briefly in 1852 (Adamson, 1997), the town's first permanent photographer of the 1850s appears to have been James Brennen who is reported to have "[taken] up Daguerreotype and turned out portraits as good as could be found at the time" in 1854 (Keene, 1886, in Birks, 1934), or perhaps even slightly earlier in 1853 (Craven, 1993). It seems likely, however, that he would have adopted the collodion positive process by early 1855, when both he and Edmund Stowe were listed in a trade directory as "photographic artists" (Kelly, 1955).


William Seville's advert in The Derby Mercury, 15 August 1855
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale
Later that year four more photographers - James Wilson, William Seville, Richard Smith and E.N. Charles - had opened their doors. Seville appears to have been the first to have advertised the new "collodion portraits" in the local newspaper in August 1855. Although some practitioners did not stay the course, either moving elsewhere (Seville and B.W. Botham) or into other fields (George B. Coggan and Frederick Parkes), by the end of the decade, even before the advent of the hugely popular carte de visite, the town could boast of having nine active photographic portrait studios. Thomas Roberts, Derby's first resident daguerreotypist, had returned to the fold in 1856 (White, 1857), and newcomers included John Westmoreland, James Mills and his son, also named James, Arthur Neville, William Pearson, John Thornhill and George S. Bristow (Anon, 1860).


Either Christina or Elizabeth Slater of Derby, c.1854-1858
Collodion positive portrait on glass by unidentified photographer
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
This delicately coloured portrait of a young girl on glass belongs to Nigel Aspdin, and he believes it to be one of two sisters Christina or Elizabeth Slater of Derby. Christina and Elizabeth, then aged five and three, are shown living with their parents John and Ann Slater and two younger brothers in Fowler Street, Derby in the 1851 Census. I'd say this young girl is about seven or eight years old, which fits fairly well with my estimated date for the portrait of between 1854 and 1858, based on the clothing, hair and sitting styles. Unfortunately the sisters are too close in age for me to be able to deduce which is shown in the portrait without further information.


Deconstructed cased collodion positive portrait
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Nigel also sent me this photograph of the collodion positive which he had taken apart. Although I thought it would be instructive to include this image so that readers could get an idea of how such portraits were usually mounted in a case, I'm definitely not recommending that others try this with their own. Without professional knowledge and extreme care, it may result in significant, irreparable damage, particularly to the delicate photographic emulsion.


Digitally reconstructed underexposed collodion negative
Trade magazines of the time, such as The Photographic News, were full of practical advice to both professionals and amateurs, including the correct amount of exposure to give a plate which was intended for a collodion positive image. This resulted in something along the lines of what I have reconstructed digitally (above), which could then be hand coloured. After colouring, the glass plate was backed with either black varnish or felt, protected behind another layer of thin glass, and then mounted behind a brass matt or finisher with a pinchbeck surround (also known as a preserver), inside a wooden, papier mache or thermoplastic case.


B.W. Botham's advert in The Derby Mercury, 15 August 1855
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale
In 1858 and 1859, the The Photographic News published a series of articles containing detailed instructions on colouring collodion positives, extracts from which will serve to illustrate the process:

Photographic powder colours ... furnish the only suitable and simple means of colouring collodion positives on glass. They are applied in the form of impalpable powder, with a dry pencil, to the collodion film. They should, if properly prepared, be brilliant in colour, transparent, and, as far as possible, permanent; they should, at the same time, "bite" well, or adhere readily to the surface of the plain or varnished wet collodion film. Brushes ... For general use camel's hair is more suitable than sable ... for fine lines a few small sables will be desirable ... they should be agitated in a glass of clean water, and brought to a point by drawing them through the lips ... An India-rubber bottle, with tube attached, to blow away superlfuous colour, will be required ... Some colour on the collodion film, and leave it so; others colour thus, and then finish with varnishing; whilst others varnish first, and colour on the varnished film ... A coating of some black varnish is usually applied to the reverse side of the plate to produce the shadows. This is rarely the best method for coloured pictures ... We prefer, for this purpose, a backing of deep maroon velvet, which warms the shadows, and harmonises with the ... tints used in portraiture.

From what I can tell, this portrait only has a single colour added, decorating the girls dress a pale blue. It is a little blotchy, but does not give an unpleasing effect. The portrait itself, even though the photographer has not succeeeded in putting his subject completely at ease, is well composed and in focus, and I think demonstrates at least a moderate degree of skill. Sadly, it's not yet possible to determine who this photographer was. As further examples of portraits from the 1850s are unearthed, however, a more detailed understanding of the photographic community active at that time may bring new clues.

References

Adamson, Keith A. (1997) Professional Photographers in Derbyshire 1843-1914, Supplement to The PhotoHistorian, No. 118, September 1997, Royal Photographic Society, ISSN 0957-0209.

Anon (1858-1859) Lessons on Colouring Photographs, The Photographic News, Google Books.
Vol. 1, No. 12, 26 November, 1858, p. 138.
Vol. 1, No. 14, 10 December, 1858, p. 162.
Vol. 1, No. 15, 17 December, 1858, pp. 174-175.
Vol. 1, No. 16, 24 December, 1858, p. 186.
Vol. 1, No. 17, 31 December, 1858, pp. 199-200.
Vol. 1, No. 18, 7 January, 1859, pp. 208-209.
Vol. 1, No. 19, 14 January, 1859, p. 222.
Vol. 1, No. 20, 21 January, 1859, p. 234.
Vol. 1, No. 21, 28 January, 1859, pp. 245-246.
Vol. 1, No. 22, 4 February, 1859, pp. 258.
Vol. 1, No. 23, 11 February, 1859, p. 269.
Vol. 1, No. 24, 18 February, 1859, p. 281.
Vol. 1, No. 25, 25 February, 1859, pp. 292-293.
Vol. 1, No. 26, 4 March, 1859, pp. 302-303.

Anon (1860) Directory & Gazetteer of Derbyshire, London, England: Harrison, Harrod & Co.

Anon (1861) Census of Derby, Derbyshire, England, RG9-2505, London, England: National Archives.

Birks, Frank Elliott (1934) History of the Derby Photographic Society 1884-1934.

Craven, Maxwell (ed.) (1993) Keene's Derby, Breedon Books, Derby, pp. 200-202.

Kelly (1855) The Post Office Directory of Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire, Digital Library of Historical Directories, University of Leicester.

Rosenblum, Naomi (1984) A World History of Photography, New York: Abbeville Press, pp. 194-196.

White, Francis & Co. (1857), History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby, with the town of Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, Sheffield, England: Francis White & Co.

Sepia Saturday 81: All the Fun of the Fair

The picture prompt for this week's Sepia Saturday theme shows five glum Irish ladies rather determined not to have a good time while selling their bric-a-brac at an early 20th Century stall. Perhaps the thought of carrying around all that hat for the rest of the day was just a little too much. Whatever the cause, it doesn't convey the feeling of festivity that I associate with show week and the Luna Park of my youth.


Fair Day in Morledge, Derby, 1882, by C.T. Moore
In an article about Derbyshire fairground photographer Charles Warwick posted three years ago, I used this image of a painting by C.T. Moore, a lively scene of an Easter fair taking place in the Morledge, Derby in 1882.


Detail: Itinerant Photographer's Tent
Closer examination of the painting reveals, parked amongst numerous hawkers, swings, an "Aetherscope" and several other attractions, an itinerant photographer's tent offering "Carte de Visite" on the far right, adjacent to a caravan. After further investigation, I identified several photographers accompanying a large group of travellers who toured the Midlands in the 1870s to 1890s, and who regularly attended the Easter Fair in Derby. These included Samuel Whiting (later a swing boat proprietor), Charles Warwick, Charles Antill and Charles Tyler. Although I'd come across all of these photographers previously, and had compiled profiles for three of them, I had no examples of the work of Antill or Tyler. Since then I've received several contributions of images, purchased a photo by Charles Tyler, and learnt a lot more about the life and careers of both him and his son Albert Charles Tyler.


William & Sarah Hall with their daughter Eliza, Swanwick, c.1867-68
Image © and courtesy of Judith Brennan
Charles Tyler (1837-1908) started working as a confectioner with the family business in the small village of Wymeswold, near Loughborough in Leicestershire. The 1861 Census (7 April) shows Charles and his father living in a caravan parked at the Morledge, Derby. They were presumably winding down after a busy time the previous Easter weekend holiday hawking sweets (Easter Sunday was 31 March). In late 1864 he married Alice Suett, the daughter of a fellow traveller, and not long after appears to have taken up the photographic trade. By the late 1860s, when the above carte de visite portrait was taken in Swanwick, Derbyshire, he and Alice were living in a van and travelling to various fair around the Midlands.


Generic card mount design overprinted "MR. C. TYLER Market Place WHITWIGK" [sic]
Image © and courtesy of Judith Brennan
The card mount is a generic one, overprinted with his name and "home" address, complete with spelling mistake - it would not have been produced by a high end printer! The Market Place in Whitwick was also not far from Loughborough, and was possibly where he set up shop when there were no country fairs to attend. I do have some doubts whether Tyler was, in fact, capable of reproducing copies of any previously taken portrait from the original negative as claimed, since glass plate negatives were bulky and heavy, and space would have been at a premium in his van.


Market Place, Grantham
Image © and courtesy of Google StreetView
Birth locations for Charles' and Alice's children over first two decades of their marriage show a wide distribution, indicating that they ferried their growing brood from village to town throughout the Midlands, following the country fair circuit through the 1870s and 1880s. Census night on Sunday 2 April 1871 found Charles, Alice, three young children and a servant in "booths and caravans" in The Yard of the Blue Lion in the Grantham Market Place, Lincolnshire. It seems likely that they were already packing up in preparation for a move to Derby to attend the Easter Fair on the following weekend. Further locations visited included Hinckley, Long Eaton, Nottingham and Burslem. They were back in Grantham on census night 3 April 1881, this time with two weeks to spare before the Easter fair in Derby, which they presumably attended.


Four young men (and a dog) of Bollington, Cheshire, c.1885-1890
Image © and courtesy of Frances Quinn
This remnant of a carte de visite portrait depicting four young men and a well behaved dog, sent to me by Frances Quinn, was probably taken in the late 1880s at Bollington, north of Macclesfield in Cheshire. It was perhaps close to the northern limit of the Tyler's range, but appears to have been a regular haunt, because his fifth son Edwin was born there in the summer/autumn of 1873.


Carte de visite by Charles Tyler, "here and at Wymeswold," c.1885-1890
The card mount used is by now far more elaborate, with classical design elements common to many being published in the late 1880s. He advertises that he is able to take portraits of fidgety children "by the instantaneous process" which essentially means that he is taking advantage of the faster emulsions commercially available by that time to employ quicker exposure times. Most interesting to me, however, is the tell-tale mark of an itinerant tradesman, unable to specify a permanent studio location: "Here and at Wymeswold, ..." Unfortunately, any other locations that might have been listed must await the appearance of a more complete version of this particular carte de visite design.


Possibly Catherine (Kate) Quinn of Billington, c.1876
Fragment of ambrotype by unidentified photographer
Image © and courtesy of Frances Quinn
Frances also sent me these images of a fragment of an ambrotype or collodion positive portrait, believing it might be of her father-in-law's great aunt Catherine Quinn (1873-1959) of Bollington, Cheshire. What little I can see of the studio setting is typical for the the early to mid-1860s, with a diamond patterned carpet, and a wood panelling backdrop (although I think this backdrop is actually painted canvas, rather than real wood panelling). The seated pose of the man, probably facing directly forwards towards the camera, and with his legs apart, was common in the 1850s and 1860s.

Collodion positives were introduced in the 1850s, but their popularity started to decline in the 1860s, during the heyday of the carte de visite. However, due to their convenience and low cost, they were still favoured by some itinerant photographers, even as late as the 1890s. I found a picture of a very similar girl's outfit, with woven checked or tartan dress and jacket, dated 1874 in Jo Ann Olian's Children's Fashions 1860-1912: 1,065 Costume Designs from "LaMode Illustree," (publ. 1994, Dover Publications, New York). The portrait could therefore easily have been taken in the late 1870s, as Frances suggests. Whether the portrait was taken by Charles Tyler or some other photographer may well remain a mystery. We know that he was visiting Bollington in the mid-1870s, but I'm not sure how many other photographers in the general area.


View Charles Tyler (1837-1908), itinerant photographer in a larger map
On Sunday 5 April 1891, the weekend after Easter, Charles and Alice were back at the Morledge, Derby, two of their sons Arthur and Edwin and now working as photographic assistants. Their eldest son Albert Charles Tyler, aged 25, by now was operating separately from his own caravan, then parked at Mantle Lane, Whitwick. Over the previous two and a half decades they had covered an impressive area, illustrated by the location map of the English Midlands above.


Unidentified woman, unknown location, c.1894-1896
Image © and courtesy of Gillian Jones
When this portrait of a young woman was taken in the mid-1890s, Charles Tyler had retired from an active role in the photography business and had become a publican. He owned and ran the Engineers' Arms in Coalville while Albert, now married to Swadlincote girl Lucy Smedley, operated the nominal "father and son" portrait venture from the van. The backdrop used is a rudimentary one, consisting of an unornamented, light coloured sheet, and Albert has taken little care to disguise its appearance. In additon the bright sunlight, probably coming from a skylight in the caravan roof directly above the subject, has heightened the contrast between the woman's dark clothing and the light backdrop, thus revealing little detail on her fine dress.


C. Tyler & Son, here and at Swadlincote & Coalville
Printed by publishers Adams & Co. of London the card mount demonstrates by the caption "here and at Swadlincote & Coalville," that they used Lucy's and Charles's parents' abodes respectively as home bases.


Three, unidentified women, c.1895-1900
Carte de visite portrait by A.C. Tyler of Coalville
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
The final portrait was taken, judging by the fashion of the dresses worn by the three women pictured, some time in the late 1890s. They are clearly dressed for an outing, with lavishly decorated hats, and umbrellas in case of the occasional light shower. Albert, now working on his own as "A.C. Tyler," has by now acquired a painted backdrop which lends something to the atmosphere with a little perspective, but it is probably still taken within the cramped confines of a photographer's caravan or tent.

There are several tell-tale signs to look for which might indicate a photographic portrait has been taken by an itinerant.
- There may be several locations listed, without a qualifier indicating that they were permanent branches.
- The words "Here and at ..." with no definite statement where "here might be, is presumably indicative of a traveller.
- Alternatively, there might not be a location listed at all.
- Rudimentary or out-of-date backdrops, carpets and other accessories used, edges poorly disguised and often with grass or bare earth showing.
- Portraits often taken outdoors.
- In the United Kingdom, collodion positives were predominantly used by travelling photographers after the mid- to late 1860s, but rarely by studio photographers.
- Tin types were generally the preserve of itinerants after the end of the 1870s.

Many thanks to Judith Brennan, Frances Quinn and Gillian Rhodes for permission to use their images.

A Hoby print revisited

Composite portrait of the Hoby family, New Plymouth, c.1866
Image courtesy of Philip Duke
In part 5 of my biographical sketch of George Hoby, photographer of New Plymouth and Nelson, I included this image of a composite photograph of the Hoby family, taken around 1866. It was sent to me by Hoby descendant Philip Duke, who told me that it was scanned from an original at the Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth.


Taranaki Museum photo index card with "Hoby composite portrait"
Image courtesy of Puke Ariki
I subsequently received a series of images from Kate Boocock, Pictorial Technician at Puke Ariki. The first image, taken from "file card drawers in the research centre," appears to be a Taranaki Museum (succeeded by Puke Ariki in 2003) photo index card with a very similar version of the "Hoby composite image" either printed on or affixed to it. Handwritten in the relevant spaces on the card are a File Number P.2.1436, Negative Number LN 672, the names of the subjects in each of the cameo frames, the number E.C.385 and a note "storage album 2, pg 37." The final note may refer to the location of an "original," but of course this location reference may no longer be valid.


Mounted photographic print of "Hoby composite portrait"
Image courtesy of Puke Ariki
Of much greater interest was a scan of "a black and white copy photograph, mounted on card that was on display in the old Taranaki Museum." I have made the following observations:
- the buff-coloured card mount measures approx. 234 x 296 mm
- the b&w photographic print, slightly smaller than the mount, measures approx. 231 x 293 mm, has three small pin holes at top right, top left and bottom centre, and slight flaking damage to the photographic emulsion at edges and corners
- part of a white rectangular passe-partout frame with rounded corners is visible, internal dimensions approx. 199 x 265 mm
- series of 10 elliptical-shaped cut-out vignetted head-and-shoulders portraits (each approx. 57 x 73 mm) arranged in 2-3-2-3 pattern, and overlapping from bottom to top, on a darker background


Edge of "Hoby composite portrait" frame, compared with typical 1850s/1860s ambrotype frame
The passé partout frame appears to be very similar in design to those sometimes used for ambrotype (collodion positive) photographs in the 1850s and 1860s (example here), probably somewhat more expensive than the standard wooden cases lined with velvet, with the glass positive image mounted behind a brass matt and pinchbeck surround (example here).

The largest format glass plate negative in general use during the 1860s was the full plate, measuring a standard 6½" x 8½" (or 165 x 216 mm). Since the internal dimensions of the frame visible in the photographic print are substantially larger than this, the print is most likely to have been an enlargement. This fact, in combination with the appearance of the photographic emulsion, suggests to me that the print was made some time later than the original composite was produced. It is possible that it was produced when the Taranaki Museum either acquired the original, or had it on loan, perhaps from a family member. The appearance of light and dark patches within the darker background may be due to reflections from a glass behind which the original was mounted.


Detail of "Hoby composite portrait" print
Image courtesy of Puke Ariki
The overlapping nature of the vignetted cameo portraits, as well as the appearance of shadows at the edges of the cameos (see detail above) suggests that the individual head-and-shoulders portraits were originally printed separately using the vignetting techniques that Hoby displayed in other portraits (see Hoby Part 4). They were then cut out and arranged on a plain, darker backgroundbefore being mounted behind glass and in the ambrotype-style frame.


Reverse of "Hoby composite portrait" print card mount
Image courtesy of Puke Ariki
The reverse of the card mount shows a series of label remnants, inscriptions and annotations, obviously created at different times and by a variety of hands, as follows (and not necessarily in the order they were created).
(1) The remnants of a rectangular label are visible close to the top of the mount, its approximate original extent visible from the
(2) What may be the earliest extant inscription is handwritten in pencil:

Mr + Mrs Geo Hoby + family
Mr + Mrs H + the elder members
of family arrived in N.P. from
London, of which they were citizens,
by the "Fatima" in 1851.
The names of family starting from
second row from top + from left to right
Oliver, Amy (Mrs Keeling), George
Clara (Mrs Merridge) Lilla,
Arthur, Percy, Hubert

(3) Handwritten in pencil at the top, probably in several different hands, different again from that of (2) above, is the text "EARLY SETTLERS: groups and reference numbers, "P2/1436" and "LN 672."
(4) Handwritten in black ink, possibly felt tip, at top right, is the number "25."
(5) The list of subjects has been re-written, by a different hand, in black ink.
(6) The reference number E.C. 385, handwritten in black ink, has been added.
(7) A purple stamp, "TARANAKI MUSEUM," is at the bottom of the mount.
(8) A number, possibly "26," is handwritten in black ink close to the bottom edge of the mount, appearing to have been crossed out in slightly different black or brown ink.
(9) A thin, irregularly trimmed rectangle of white paper, measuring roughly 289 x 129 mm and with typewritten text (image above), has been glued by its left hand edge to the back of the card mount. The text - relating to George Hoby junior rather than his father, who died in 1882 - reads as follows:

MR G. HOBY AND FAMILY Page 49 Obituaries
He died on the 4th October, 1927.
The death of Mr. G. Hoby, one of the oldest settlers in the Bell Block, occured in the N.P. Hospital yesterday. Mr. Hoby was in his 85th year. He was one of the earliest settlers in Bell Block and there he had his schooling. As youn g man he found himself in the thick of the Maori War. he immediately joined Captain Deveaux's Mounted Corps and served with it from 1861-1866. Mr. Hoby went right through the Maori War, taking an active part in the famous battle of Waireka.
Trooper Hoby gained the reputation of being one of the most daring fighters in the district. He flirted with danger.
After the way, he continued his military duties, being Captain of the Volunteer Corps at Bell Block for some years after Captain Cornwall had retired. Later in life he carried on a contracting firm and then a land commission business. he was a good type of settler, a fine, hard-working man in his prime, and straight in his dealings. he married Miss H. Chapman whose parent emigrated from England, and who predeceased him by about two years. Mr Hoby leaves eight children, Mrs G.E. Grover (Fitzroy), Mts Motteram (Opotiki) Mrs Wood (Whareroa), Mrs Somerville (Okoia), Mrs Addenbrooke (Ngaere), and Messrs G. Hoby (Nelson), P. Hoby (Tataraimaka), and R. Hoby (Bell Block). Another son Stanley, was killed in the Great War.

Not being familiar with the Taranaki Museum and Puke Ariki cataloguing and refencing systems and practices, I can't comment on the several numbers present, except to say that several different number sequences may have been employed over the years. The handwritten number "26" (8) appears to have been partly truncated, which may indicate that the mount has been trimmed at some stage. The pin holes are probably a relict of its being used for display purposes in the old Taranaki Museum.

Conclusions

An anlaysis of a scan of the mounted photographic print of the "Hoby composite portrait" provided by Puke Ariki has revealed that it is a later copy of a pre-existing composite portrait. The mounted copy print appears to have been produced (possibly by Puke Ariki's predecessor, the Taranaki Museum) by photographing either the framed print or a print of that. The "original" may have been constructed by George Hoby senior himself, by photographing and printing portraits of the family members, cutting out the cameos, and mounting them on a darker background, probably under glass, and then within an ambrotype-style frame. What has happened to that "original" is another matter altogether, perhaps best left to Hoby descendants to pursue if they wish. It may well not have survived, which makes the documentation of this print, possibly the best surviving copy, all the more important.

Treatment of the Photograph as an Artefact

Researching this article has been a timely reminder - to myself as much as I hope it will be to the readers of Photo-Sleuth - that thorough examination and analysis of a photograph as a physical object, or artefact, is often just as important as are discussions about the photographer/originator or the subjects. Such a description will provide a firm base on which all future work can be done, and an analysis will often provide very useful clues regarding provenance, photographers, dates and subjects featured in the photograph. To conduct these examinations, it's obviously best to have the artefact in your hand, suitably gloved, or many details and subtleties may be lost. However, when this is not possible much can be deduced from digital scans, provided they are done properly.

I don't intend to provide an exhaustive list of scanning Dos and Don'ts (perhaps in a later article), but these are the most important things to keep in mind. To produce useful, I strongly recommend that the user familiarise his/herself with the scanner control software, and that the scanning operations be carried out from within the software, rather than using the buttons on the scanner. It just isn't possible to manipulate the scanner parameters when using the scanner buttons.

• Scan in full 24-bit (or 48-bit) colour, even if the photograph itself is black and white.
  
• Always include the full extent of the print, mount and any enclosing folders.
  
• Scan the reverse as well, even if there are no obvious marks or inscriptions.
  
• Scan at the highest resolution (optical, not interpolated) the scanner can manage; a minimum resolution 300dpi is just acceptable, 600dpi better, but 1200dpi is best. Note that the smaller the original, the larger resolution you need to use to capture detail.
  
• Save all files in TIF format, and optionally in JPG format at the same time, although you can easily convert them subsequently.
  
• Number and file the scans meaningfully.

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Kate Boocock of Puke Ariki and Philip Duke for their assistance in this project.

George Hoby, Part 2: Forging a Photographic Career

Part 1 described how George Hoby arrived in Taranaki with his family in the 1850s, only to have their farming operations interrupted by the disturbances between settlers and Maori over land.


The Taranaki Herald, Saturday, October 15, 1859
Although the evidence is only circumstantial, it seems likely that George Hoby was the "novice" under instruction in New Plymouth, referred to in advertisements by Hartley Webster in October 1859 [18]. Webster originally trained in London, and then operated a daguerreotype and collodion portrait studio in Auckland. He had been touring New Zealand for a couple of years, spending the previous ten months in New Plymouth [19,20], during which time he had been offering collodion portraits [21]. Having now "disposed of his Photographic Business to a novice," he was "under engagement to remain a few weeks longer, to give his pupil efficient instruction, and takes this opportunity of giving publicity to a new process of taking portraits on paper." This seems slightly early for carte de visites, but Webster was probably up with the latest trends, so he may have been a very early adopter of the format.


The Taranaki Herald, Saturday, 19 January 1861
George Hoby officially opened for business in New Plymouth in January 1861 [4,22]. His advertisements in the local newspaper suggest some difficulties coordinating his military duties with the need to be on hand for potential clients [23]. The high price of half a guinea charged for each picture indicate that he was probably still using a collodion positive (ambrotype) or, less likely, daguerreotype, format rather than the "new" carte de visite-sized albumen prints.


The Taranaki Herald, Saturday, 16 February 1861
There is also some question as to who his clients might have included, since many of the town's usual inhabitants had temporarily decamped. It is possible that the Imperial regiments recently arrived in Taranaki were his intended market, although the surviving carte de visite portraits of soldiers attributed to Hoby in the Puke Ariki Archives collection appear to have been taken a few years later. It is possible that his two eldest sons George (junior) and Oliver assisted in the studio during this early period.


Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Wednesday, 13 November 1861
In mid-October 1861 George Hoby returned to Nelson and entered into a partnership with William Davis, an established photographer who had already been operating in that town for almost a year [24,25], and working from the premises of the Misses Jay, a general goods shop on Bridge Street.


Township of Nelson from Britannia Heights, Drawing by Edmund Norman, 1860
In December of that year Davis and Hoby together submitted a set of panoramic views of the city of Nelson, probably similar to that shown in the 1860 pencil drawing shown above [26], to the International Exhibition of 1862 in London [27]. In April 1862, George's second son Oliver Hoby advertised for several weeks in the Taranaki Herald that he was resuming photography [28]. Perhaps he was doing so on behalf of his father, because the latter had ceased his travels back and forth across the Cook Strait, while business in Nelson appeared to be thriving. Apart from advertising cartes de visite, portraits on glass and paper and copying of pictures and photographs, George offered to send portraits free to London [29] and the colouring and finishing of portraits "in W. Davis's well known style." [30]


Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Saturday, 20 December 1862
In December 1862 the arrangement at the Misses Jay was dissolved [31], and George built new premises in Trafalgar Street. William Davis advertised separately, although in the same street, so perhaps they were still working together [32]. The price for ambrotypes had by now more than halved, to five shillings, and Hoby was offering cartes de visite at six for a pound, possibly reflecting increased competition in Nelson.

It is unfortunate that I have been unable to locate any photographs which are both clearly attributable to Hoby and dateable to the early part of his career, but it is hoped that some will turn up in due course.

Continued in Part 3.

References

[4] Hoby, Arthur (1937) Memoirs of Arthur Hoby, Transcript of original held by Alexander Turnbull Library, Courtesy of Philip Duke.

[18] Portraits for transmission (Advertisement), Taranaki Herald, 15 October 1859, p.1.

[19] H. Webster, Photographic Artist, Devon Road (Advertisement), Taranaki Herald, 25 December 1858, p.2.

[20] Hartley Webster, New Zealand Photographers Database, Auckland Council.

[21] Collodion Portraiture. H. Webster, Devon Road., Taranaki Herald, 29 January 1859, p.4.

[22] Photographic Likenesses (Advertisement), Taranaki Herald, 19 January 1861, p.1.

[23] Photographic Portraits (Advertisement), Taranaki Herald, 16 February 1861, p.1.

[24] A Card. W. Davis, Photographer (Advertisement), Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 29 August 1860, p.2.

[25] Miscellaneous (Notices), Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 19 October 1861, p.1.

[26] Norman, Edmund (1860), View of the Township of Nelson, from Britannia Heights, Pencil and wash drawing on sheet (223 x 293 mm), ID: A-113-035, Alexander Turnbull Library, & Timeframes.

[27] Nelson Products for the International Exhibition, Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 12 December 1861, p.3.

[28] Photographic Portraiture (Advertisement), Taranaki Herald, 5 April 1862, p.2.

[29] Photography (Advertisement), Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 29 March 1862, p.1.

[30] Photography (Advertisement), Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 26 April 1862, p.2.

[31] Dissolution of Partnership, Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 20 December 1862, p.3.

[32] Merchandise (Advertisements), Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 20 December 1862, p.1.

William Seville (1797-1866), silhouette and photographic artist

I have written previously (here) about Derby's first photographers John Johnson and Thomas Roberts, who operated daguerreotype studios in Victoria Street from the summer of 1843 until September 1845, under license from Richard Beard. From then until about 1854, there appears to have been a hiatus in commercial photographic activity in the town.

Then, in the early to mid-1850s, with the expiry of the patent on the daguerreotype process and the popularisation of Frederick Scott Archer's patent-free wet-collodion process, there was a sudden and rapid flurry of photographic activity in Derby. Most, if not all, of the photographic artists who appeared are likely to have been offering collodion-positive portraits, or ambrotypes as they were popularly known.

Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 20 March 1850
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

Many of these early photographers came to the profession from an artistic background, which included portrait painting in oils or water colours, full-size and miniatures, and silhouette portraiture. One such practitioner was William Seville, an experienced silhouette artist from Manchester. His first recorded appearance in Derby was in March 1850, when he placed an advertisement in The Derby Mercury advising residents that he was producing "the most striking and perfect likenesses" from premises at 42 Queen Street, Derby. He offered ...

... an exact likeness for 6d., beautifully shaded, 1s. 6d., extra finished in bronze, 2s. Full length figures highly finished in bronze, 4s.; children's full lengths, 2s. 6d. Miniatures on ivory and coloured likenesses at very low charges. Families attended without any extra charge.

William Seville was baptised on 5 March 1797 in the chapelry of Hey, at Lees near Oldham, north-east of Manchester, one of seven children of Joseph and Sarah Seville (or Sevill). According to the biographical notes in Sue McKechnie's British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760-1860, William Seville started working as a silhouette artist in Manchester shortly before 1820 (Woodiwiss, 1965).
? Miss Margaret Clutterbuck (1780-1855) of Alnwick & Newcastle-on-Tyne, undated
Gold-coloured black card cut-out silhouette by William Seville
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green

It appears that he almost immediately started travelling widely as an itinerant artist, with a record of his being in North Shields (Northumberland) in April 1820 (Jackson, 1911).

Reverse of Clutterbuck silhouette
"Cut with common scissors by Mr Seville without either drawing or machine"
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green

At around this time - the exact date is unknown - William Seville probably married Frances Bethell (1803-1837), daughter of Joseph and Fanny Bethell of Chester. William's son Frederick William Seville was born at Durham (City) around 1824 or 1825. Certainly by April 1824 he was working in nearby Newcastle-on-Tyne. The silhouette portrait illustrated above - the subject of which has been tentatively identified as the splendidly monikered Miss Margaret Clutterbuck, daughter of eminent Northumbrian John Clutterbuck and his wife Ann Lyon - may have been from this or a later period.

Mr. W. Seville label
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green

Seville was also in Lancaster during 1824, and then in Dundee from April 1825; McKechnie suggests that he may have spent much of that year in Scotland. There is a suggestion that he worked in East Anglia during the late 1820s in partnership with fellow artist John Stannard.

Unidentified man, undated
Framed, gold-coloured black card cut-out silhouette by William Seville
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green

In August 1830 Seville was plying his trade in Castletown, Dublin, Ireland, known from a dated portrait (McKechnie).

Advertisement from The Preston Chronicle, 22 September 1832
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

By September 1832 he appears to have been working in Preston (Lancashire) judging from the advertisement which appeared in The Preston Chronicle in that month, which suggests he had also taken "thousands of likenesses in Bolton, Lancaster, Edinburgh, &c.." His wife Fanny died at Sheffield on 10 May 1837 "after a long and painful illness," as reported in The Manchester Times and Gazette (13 May 1837).

Advertisement from The North Wales Chronicle, 21 August 1838
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

By August 1838, William Seville was working at Bangor in Wales. Apart from his usual full range of silhouettes, he also offered to teach the art of making wax flowers and gave lessons in landscape and flower painting, mezzotinting, velvet painting, &c."

Article extract from The North Wales Chronicle, 28 August 1838
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

A newspaper report a week later suggested that he was finding a steady stream of customers, but his last advertisements on 4 September and 2 October reported his intention to leave "in the course of a few days."

Article extract from Freeman's Journal & Daily Commercial Advertiser, (Dublin, Ireland), 7 February 1843
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

McKechnie suggests that Seville had returned to Ireland by August 1842, and believes that his son may have been assisting him by this time. His son would have been about seventeen years old by then, and since neither of them has been located in the 1841 Census of the United Kingdom, it seems quite likely that they had both taken the short journey from Liverpool across the Irish Sea.

Label on the reverse of Smyth Family silhouette, shown below
Image © Courtesy of Peggy McClard Antiques

This is supported by a dated and signed silhouette of the Smyth family now in a private collection. An image of the label on the reverse kindly sent to me by Peggy McClard, who used to own the silhouette, states that it was "cut with scissors by F.W. Seville / Drogheda / Novr. 1842." A Dublin newspaper advertisement of February 1843, shown above, indicates that they remained there for some months.

Unidentified man, undated
Framed, gold-coloured black card cut-out silhouette by William Seville
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green

By January 1845 Seville was in Shrewsbury (Shropshire), as evidenced by a dated portrait and handbill (McKechnie).

Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 5 June 1850
Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

The next sighting of Seville is when he appeared in Derby in March 1850. Business remained fairly brisk until early June, when the appearance of another advertisement suggested an impending departure from Derby.

The Smyth Family, Drogheda (Ireland), November 1842
Framed, gold-coloured black card cut-out silhouette by William Seville
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green
Original in private collection

It is not clear what William Seville did for the next five years, although it is clear that this was probably one of the most challenging periods of his career, with daguerreotype photography - and the rapid introduction of collodion portraits after 1854 - providing some serious competition to his now old-fashioned silhouettes.

30 March 1851 Census Extract: North Tawton Devon NA Ref. HO107/1885/658/7/23
Image © The National Archives and courtesy of Ancestry.co.uk

On census night Sunday 30 March 1851, William Seville's son Frederick William was lodging with a bookseller's wife in the small village of North Tawton in Devon. He described himself as an artist. Sadly, his father is nowhere to be found - perhaps he was travelling in Ireland again.

Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 15 August 1855 Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

William Seville returned to Derby in mid-August 1855, the evidence being in the form of an advertisement in The Derby Mercury offering collodion photographic portraits at the "reduced" price of 2s. each, case included, from premises at No. 51 St Peter's Street, Derby, directly opposite St Peter's church.

Location of William Seville's photographic studio at 51 St Peter's Street, Derby View Derby Studios in a larger map
St Peter's Street, Derby (looking north), c.1890 Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin

This view looking north up St Peter's Street was probably taken around 1890, some 35 years after Seville was there. The photograph belongs to Nigel Aspdin and shows the draper's shop of Hurd & Dean - number 54 St Peter's Street, at centre right - John Dean (1853-1918) being a relation of Nigel's. Although the building at number 54 was probably built after Seville's era, it seems likely that number 51 was located in a yard behind the shops. This would have been accessible through an alley to the right of the drapery shop, an archway to which can just be seen in a detailed version of the image (here).

Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 12 September 1855 Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

While his name was not mentioned in that particular edition of the newspaper, it is clear from a similar insertion four weeks later, on 12 September, that it was Seville who had succumbed to market forces and was trying his hand at the then fairly new wet collodion photographic process.

Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 19 December 1855 Image © British Library Newspapers and courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning

At the onset of the Christmas season, the business had acquired the rather grand name of the "Crystal Palace Portrait Gallery." The Crystal Palace was built in Hyde Park, London to house the hugely popular Great Exhibition of 1851, but relocated to Sydenham in 1854. In the same year a book entitled The Portrait Gallery of the Crystal Palace by Samuel Phillips was published, being an official handbook or catalogue of portraits of eminent Victorians chosen for display at the exhibition. It is possible that Seville intended a play on the title of this book for added publicity.

Extract from F. White's 1857 History, Gazetteer & Directory of the County of Derby Image © and courtesy of Ancestry.co.uk

He remained in Derby for several months more, long enough at least to appear in White's 1857 trade directory, presumably compiled in late 1856, at the same address. It is worth noting that while Seville inserted advertisements in many newspapers over the years, advertising his presence in a particular town for a few weeks or perhaps months, this is the only trade directory entry found thus far, indicative of the itinerant nature of his trade. There is no evidence that he ever operated a photographic studio in his presumed home town of Manchester.

7 April 1861 Census Extract: Shoplatch, Shrewsbury, Shropshire NA Ref. Ref. RG9/1873/41/10/68 Image © The National Archives and courtesy of Ancestry.co.uk

In late 1856 Frederick William Seville had married and settled in Shrewsbury (Shropshire), with a daughter being born to him and his wife Elizabeth late the following year. By early April 1861 William Seville had joined them, living in Shoplatch, close to the centre of the town where his son operated a photographic studio and tobacconist. Now aged 64, he described himself to the census enumerator as a retired artist.

H.E. Smallwood, 1841 Full length gold-coloured silhouette portrait by F.W. Seville Image © and courtesy of AskArt.com

William Seville died in 1866 at the age of 68. Frederick William Seville continued to reside in Shrewsbury with his wife and three children, and described himself in census records as both artist and photographer until at least 1881. The dated silhouette portrait of H.E. Smallwood from 1841 shown above is ascribed to F.W. Seville.

Disaster at St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury, February 11th, 1894
Watercolour, signed and inscribed by F.W. Seville, 21" x 14.5" Image © and courtesy of Live Auctoneers

No photographic portraits by the younger Seville have been located but he became a well known watercolourist, producing many views of late Victorian Shrewsbury. The watercolour shown above depicts an event which occurred on 11 February 1894, and is likely to have been painted shortly afterwards.

F.W. Seville's son, also named Frederick William, continued the tradition and became a photographer too, being listed with this profession in Shrewsbury by 1891 at the age of 23. After the death of both of his parents in 1899 he moved to Congleton (Cheshire), where his sister and brother-in-law were living, and was shown working from premises at 10 Lawton Street as late as 1914 (Jones & Jones, 1995).

After a career spanning some four decades William Seville left a vast body of work, probably amounting several thousand silhouettes. While only a small proportion of these have survived the subsequent century and a half, silhouettes by Seville appear not to be particularly uncommon. The status of any surviving collodion portraits, however, is unknown. Judging by the fact that many, if not most, of his silhouettes were identified with a label, it seems likely that his cased ambrotypes would have been similarly marked. I am hopeful that eventually one of his photographic portraits will surface.

I am very grateful to Cynthia McKinley for her generosity in allowing me to reproduce images of silhouettes in her collection and for providing me with material about William Seville's life and work. Cynthia's web site Wigs on the Green is an excellent source of information about silhouettes and silhouette artists.

Post Script: Thank you, too, to Peggy McClard who sent me images and information about the Smyth family silhouette, and gave me permission to use them to illustrate this article. Peggy has an absorbing web site Peggy McClard Antiques, devoted to antique silhouettes, Americana and related folk art, which is well worth a visit.

References

General Register Office (GRO) Index to Births, Marriages & Deaths from FreeBMD

International Genealogical Index (IGI) from the LDS Church & FamilySearch

UK Census 1841-1901 Indexed images from Ancestry.co.uk

19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning:
The Manchester Times and Gazette
North Wales Chronicle
Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser
The Derby Mercury
The Preston Chronicle

Trade Directories from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories Project:
Wright's Directory of South Derbyshire, 1874
Kelly's Directory of Shropshire, 1891
Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire & Shropshire, 1895
Kelly's Directory of Cheshire, 1914

Coke, Desmond (1915) The Art of the Silhouette. London: Martin Secker. Available from The Internet Archive

Jones, Gillian A. & Jones, Graham (1995) Professional Photographers in Cheshire 1849-1940. Bath, England: Royal Photographic Society Historical Group. The PhotoHistorian Supplement, No. 108, July 1995, 40p. ISSN 09570209.

McKechnie, Sue (1978) British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760-1860, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 824p. ISBN: 0856670367. Extracts courtesy of Cynthia McKinley

McKinley, Cynthia. Guide to Collecting Silhouettes. Wigs on the Green web site.

Phillips, Samuel (1854) Portrait Gallery of the Crystal Palace. Facsimile edition published 2008 by Euston Grove Press, 240p. (PDF version)

Read, Gillian (1982) Manchester Photographers 1840-1900. Bath, England: Royal Photographic Society Historical Group Newsletter, Supplement No. 59, 1982, 20p.

White, Francis & Co. (1857) History, Gazetteer & Directory of the County of Derby, transcribed by Neil Wilson in PDF format & available from Ancestry's UK City & County Directories

Further Sources
Jackson, E. Nevill (1982) Silhouettes: A History & Dictionary of Artists, Dover Publications. ISBN 0486242102. [in McKechnie, 1978]
Jackson, E. Nevill (1911) The History of Silhouettes, The Connoisseur. 121p.
Woodiwiss, John (1965) British Silhouettes, Country Life, 104p.