Sepia Saturday 220: Making Calotypes in the Desert

Given this week's Sepia Saturday photo prompt of a statue, I've decided to feature the work of an amateur photographer who pioneered the use of the calotype photographic process to illustrate travel. During the 1840s most photographic views of landscapes were made using the daguerreotype process introduced and rapidly popularised by Louis Daguerre and others. Daguerreotypes produced landscapes with wonderfully fine detail, but the only way that such one off photographs could be replicated for publication was to transform them into engravings.


Camera style used for calotypes, c.1845
However the calotype process, patented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1841, had a significant advantage in that multiple prints could be produced from a single paper negative. In addition, the ability to prepare several days' worth of negative paper in advance considerably lightened the load of equipment that a photographer had to carry.


Maxime Du Camp (1822-1894)
Maxime Du Camp, a French writer of independent means, learned the calotype process from the innovative and influential Gustave Le Gray in 1848, and late the following year accompanied his friend Gustave Flaubert on a tour of the "Orient." His official mission from the Ministry of Public Education was ostensibly to record the details of monuments and their inscriptions.


Westernmost Colossus of the Temple of Re, Abu Simbel
Salted paper print from paper negative by Maxime Du Camp, 1849-1850
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc # 2005.100.376.149
Both DuCamp and Flaubert wrote journals of their experiences, and excerpts have been used in Steegmuller's Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour. Stegmuller has also published a collection of Flaubert's letters, a portion of which can be read online, and from which I took the following extracts about DuCamp and his photographic exploits.

Cairo, Saturday night, 10 o'clock. December 1, 1849.
Behind the partition I hear the young Maxime, preparing solutions for his negatives.

Vue du grand Sphinx et de la grande pyramide de Menkazeh (Mycerinus)
Salted paper print from paper negative by Maxime Du Camp, Dec 1849
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc # 2005.100.376.149

Max's days are entirely absorbed and consumed by photography. He is doing well, but grows desperate whenever he spoils a picture or finds that a plate has been badly washed. Really, if doesn't take things easier he'll crack up. But he has been getting some superb results, and in consequence his spirits have been better the last few days. The day before yesterday a kicking mule almost smashed the entire equipment.

Intérieur du Temple de Khons, à Karnac, Thèbes
Salted paper print from paper negative by Maxime Du Camp, 1849-1850
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc # 2005.100.376.20

I have seen Thebes: it is very beautiful. We arrived one night at nine, in brilliant moonlight that flooded the columns. Dogs were barking, the great white ruins looked like ghosts, and the moon on the horizon, completely round and seeming to touch the earth, appeared to be motionless, resting there deliberately. Karnak gave us the impression of a life of giants.

Colosse restauré d' Aménophis III, à Thèbes
(Statue vocale ou Colosse de Memnon)
Salted paper print from paper negative by Maxime Du Camp, 1849
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc # 2005.100.376.76

I spent a night at the feet of the colossus of Memnon, devoured by mosquitoes. The old scoundrel has a good face and is covered with graffiti. Graffiti and bird-droppings are the only two things in the ruins of Egypt that give any indication of life.

"Coiffure des Femmes de Nazareth," Palestine
Salted paper print from paper negative by Maxime Du Camp, 1850
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc # 2000.118
After a couple of months in Egypt they moved in to Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, where DuCamp's output was unfortunately far less prolific. Upon his return to France later that year he showed his prints to Blanquart-Everard, who published 125 of them in an elegant edition of approximately 200 leather-bound copies entitled Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie, probably the world's first photographic travel book, as well as individual prints.

The artistry in Ducamp's calotypes is not held in particularly high regard:

Ducamp's photographs ... reflect his working purpose and follow the pattern of earlier documetary etchings and lithographs ... (He) moves from a distant overall view to an closer one, at times honing in on a detail or two, always positoning his subject in the center of the frame. The overall effect is straightforward and banal. The poor quality of photographs printed by DuCamp himself also indicate his lack of concern for aesthetics. The one original aspect of his work is his use of a Nubian man, ostensibly as a measure of scale, but who is often almost invisible, posed in odd nooks and crannies of the ancienty tombs and temples.

Hannavy, 2008

"Vue générale des ruines de Baâlbek, prise à l'Est," Lebanon
Salted paper print from paper negative by Maxime Du Camp, Sep 1850
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc # 2005.100.376.155
On the other hand his pioneering status is widely respected. Many photographers would follow in his footsteps to the Middle East, among them the far more well known Francis Frith, Felix Bonfils, Antonio Beato, and even his former mentor Gustave Le Gray, but DuCamp was among the first, showing what was possible with the crude technology available at the time.


Eastern Facade of the Temple of the Sun, Baalbek, Lebanon
Kodachrome positive transparency, taken 25 May 1997
Photo Copyright © 1997 Brett Payne
From my own experiences of trying to photograph monuments in the desert (see image above), managing the harsh sunlight is very tricky, and I have the greatest of admiration for DuCamp's efforts with rudimentary equipment under very difficult conditions.

References

Ballerini, Julia (2008) DuCamp, Maxime (1822-1894) French photographer and writer,in Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography: A-I, index, Volume 1, John Hannavy (ed.), Taylor & Francis, on Google Books.

Meltzer, Steve (2012) The birth of travel photography: Du Camp and Flaubert’s 1849 trip to Egypt, North Africa and the Middle East, on Imaging Resource, 30 October 2012.

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

Stegmuller, Francis (1972) Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour, Boston: Little Brown.

Stegmuller, Francis (ed.) (1979) The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 1830-1857, Volume 1, on Google Books.

Maxime Du Camp, Wikipedia article

Striking Likenesses: George White (1810-1880), from Silhouettist to Photographer

Auguste Edouart, self portrait, 1843
Silhouette, Lithograph on paper
Image © National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Options available for preserving a likeness of yourself for posterity in the pre-photographic era of Georgian England were limited, unless you were wealthy enough to commission a portrait, life size or miniature. A cheaper alternative was to have a silhouette portrait either cut from black paper or painted. In fact the name itself implied a low price. French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette imposed severe economic austerity measures during the Seven Years War, and his surname came to signify anything that was done on the cheap. Auguste Edouart (1789-1861) was probably the most widely celebrated silhouettist of his time, establishing his reputation first in London and then touring England, Scotland, the United States and France.


Advertisement by William Seville, Lancaster, 1824
from Jackson (1911)
I have written previously of Mancunian William Seville (1797-1866), who made the transition from an active career cutting silhouette portraits, spanning three decades, to an arguably less successful spell taking collodion portraits (ambrotypes) at Derby in the mid- to late 1850s. Edward Foster of Derby was also a prolific artist of this genre. After travelling widely throughout England and painting silhouettes from 1809 until at least 1838, he turned to the compilation and publication of educational books and charts in the 1840s. Although Foster apparently never made the move to photographer, there is evidence that he appreciated the value of the carte de visite as a means of self promotion.


Handbill by Mr. G. White of Rose Hill, c.1850-1855
Image © Derby Local Studies Library and courtesy of Michael Spencer
Another Derbyshire-born profilist - a term commonly in use before Edouart popularised the eponymous "silhouette" - was George White. Although silhouettes cut by one or more artists named White, together with various trade labels, have been been documented by Jackson (1982) and McKechnie (1978), his true identity has not previously been established. I have known of George White's photographic exploits (Payne 2008a) for a couple of years, but had not appreciated his connection with silhouette portraiture, until I spotted the following in his advertising handbill:

G. WHITE will also take his BRONZED AND SHADED LIKENESSES, from the plain bust to the highly finished whole length figure. LIKENESSES COPIED. Keeps constantly a variety of suitable Frames for the Daguerreotype Portraits and Paper Cuttings.

Although it doesn't refer to them as profiles or silhouettes, that is what these "bronzed and shaded likenesses" were. I have previously demonstrated (Payne 2008b) that this Mr. G. White, who spent a brief period cutting profiles and taking daguerreotype portraits in Chesterfield during the early to mid-1850s, is the same person as the George White (1810-1880) who operated a photographic studio at 1 Queen's Terrace, Adelaide Street, Blackpool from 1849 to 1869 (Jones, 2004).


Trade label: "Cut with scissors at White's," undated
Image © and courtesy of Peggy McClard
McKechnie lists several trade labels on photographs and profiles, of which this one from 1855 is typical:

Photographic Portraits, Paper Cuttings, &c. Taken by Mr. White at his Gallery (daily), Queen's Terrace, opposite the Royal Hotel, Blackpool. Likenesses faithfully copied. Open from 7 am until 7 in the evening.

It is clear that the examples described by McKechnie and Jackson (1982), all apparently dating from the early 1850s, are likely to have been by the same George White.

George was born in 1810 in the Derbyshire village of Winster, near Matlock, the second of eight children of James White (1775-1854) and Elizabeth Hodgkinson. He was baptised on 28 December 1810 at the parish church of St John the Baptist. His family moved to Chesterfield between 1814 and 1817, where James worked as a gardener. Little further is known about George White's teenage years, his education or early adulthood, until his marriage at Duffield in 1834 to Ann Melbourne (1808-1895), daughter of a Belper nail manufacturer.


The Manchester Times and Gazette, 26 September 1835
A year later he opened a shop at number 20, Piccadilly, Manchester in September 1835, offering to "cut likenesses of ladies, gentlemen, and children; dogs, horse, &c." for prices ranging from 2/6 to 10 shillings.


The Preston Chronicle, 23 April 1836
He remained there for seven months, and then moved to Preston where he occupied a shop at number 128 Fishergate. His prices were similar, ranging from one to five shillings, depending on whether the likenesses were full length, half length or busts, plain, shaded or elegantly bronzed. He no longer offered sittings for horses or dogs - perhaps it was too tricky to keep them still, even for three minutes. By mid-June he had built up a collection of "likenesses of many well-known individuals of [the] town", which were for sale and on display in his shop window. He announced that he would shortly be taking up engagements in Southport and Blackpool, where he would cater to visitors during the bathing season.


Silhouette of young girl by White, undated
Image © and courtesy of Peggy McClard
A series of newspaper advertisements suggest by their wording that White made regular visits to Preston and Lancaster from 1836 to 1839. He probably also worked in other Lancashire towns, although evidence for these has been elusive. There is also a curious dearth of information about White's activities during the 1840s. By June 1841, he and his wife were in Bispham, north of Blackpool. Living them was George's younger brother James, aged 15 and described in the census as an artist's apprentice. Perhaps they were preparing themselves for the forthcoming summer season, although the great tourism boom was still to arrive, with the railroad, after 1846.

The next sighting of George White is an 1849 entry in Gillian Jones' compilation, Lancashire Professional Photographers, which shows him with premises at number 1, Queen's Terrace, Blackpool in that year. However, it is not clear if he was already working as a photographer by that time, since Mannex & Co's History, Topography, and Directory of Westmorland for 1851 shows him merely as an artist and lodging house keeper. He was obviously still travelling to find business, because the 1851 Census shows him in the village of Church, near Accrington, while his wife and nine month-old son remained at the house in Blackpool.


Chesterfield Town Hall, Rose Hill, Chesterfield
Image © Alford and courtesy of Panoramio
The handbill which advertised his services in Chesterfield was probably ordered from Chesterfield printer John Roberts in the early 1850s. Rose Hill - now occupied by the grand Chesterfield Town Hall building, shown above - was where his parents lived, at least until his father's death in 1854.


Portrait of unidentified elderly man, c. mid-1860s
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
By April 1861 he had returned to his family in Blackpool, where he described himself as an artist. The carte de visite portrait shown above was probably taken in the early to mid-1860s in his studio at 1 Queen's Terrace, Adelaide Street. The last directory entry noted by Jones was in 1869, and on census night April 1871 he described himself as a retired artist. Since late 1869 their address had been 23 Adelaide Street, although it is not clear whether they had moved or the street had simply been renumbered.


"G WHITE PHOTO BLACKPOOL"
Blind stamp from front of carte de visite
George White died at Blackpool on 23 March 1880, aged 69, leaving his widow Ann and son Frederick George White, a banker's clerk.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Peggy McClard for providing information about White's career as a silhouettist, and for kindly giving me permission to reproduce the wonderful image of her White silhouette. If you're interested in silhouettes and other folk art, I strongly recommend visiting Peggy's web site, Peggy McClard Antiques. I'm grateful also to Michael Pritchard and Ian Leith for their lookups, to Ann Halford for information about the Melbourne family of Belper, and to Dawn Scotting for her work on Winster families. I'd also like to thank Mike Spencer, who spotted the handbill amongst the archives at the Derbyshire County Record Office, and sent me a photocopy, thus sparking off the whole quest in the first place.

References

1841-1911 UK Census Collection, England & Wales National Probate Calendar and England & Wales BMD Index from Ancestry.

Anon (1835) Likenesses cut with scissors, in three minutes (Advertisement, dated 25 Sep 1835), The Manchester Times and Gazette, 26 September 1835.

Anon (1836a) Striking likenesses cut with scissors, in three minutes (Advertisement), The Preston Chronicle, 23 April 1836.

Anon (1836b) Likenesses, The Preston Chronicle, 18 June 1836.

Anon (1838a) Likenesses cut with scissors (Advertisement), The Preston Chronicle, 13 October 1838.

Anon (1838b) Likenesses cut with scissors (Advertisement), The Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser, 1 December 1838.

Anon (1839) Likenesses cut with scissors (Advertisement), The Preston Chronicle, 12 October 1839.

Anon (1855) Slater's Directory of Lancashire, from Ancestry.

Halford, Ann (n.d.) Melbourne Tree, Ann & John's Family Histories.

Heathcote, Bernard & Pauline (2002) A Faithful Likeness - The First Photographic Portrait Studios in the British Isles, 1841 to 1855, publ. by the authors (courtesy of Ian Leith)

Jackson, Emily Nevill (1911) The History of Silhouettes, London: The Connoisseur, 121p, 72pl, at Archive.org

Jackson, Emily Nevill (1982) Silhouettes: A History and Dictionary of Artists, New York: Dover Publications, 154p, 103pl.

Jones, Gillian (2004) Lancashire Professional Photographers 1840-1940, PhotoResearch (courtesy of Michael Pritchard)

Knipe, Penley (1999) Shades and Shadow-Pictures: The Materials and Techniques of American Portrait Silhouettes, The Book and Paper Group Annual, Vol. 18 (1999), Paper delivered at the Book and Paper specialty group session, AIC 27th Annual Meeting, June 8-13, 1999, St. Louis, Missouri.

Mannex & Co. (1851) History, Topography & Directory of Westmorland, from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories.

McClard, Peggy (2007) Cut & paste silhouette of a young girl carrying a basket, by White, Peggy McClard Antiques.

McKechnie, Sue (1978) British Silhouette Artists and their Work, 1760-1860, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 799p. Extracts by kind courtesy of Peggy McClard (Peggy McClard Antiques)

Payne, Brett (2008a) Advertising by Photographers (1) Daguerreotypist, G. White of Rose Hill Chesterfield, Photo-Sleuth, 17 February 2008.

Payne, Brett (2008b) George White of Chesterfield & Blackpool, Photo-Sleuth, 8 May 2008.

Payne, Brett (2009) William Seville (1797-1866), silhouette and photographic artist, Photo-Sleuth, 17 Sep 2009.

Scotting, Dawn (2010) The Ancestral Trees of the Families of Winster Derbyshire, Rootsweb/Ancestry.com

Sepia Saturday 73: An early daguerreotype of a Derby couple?

Three years ago David Lamb sent me these scans of what turned out to be the first, and as yet only, daguerreotype portrait from a Derby photographer that I have seen. It also happens to be one of the nicest early portraits of a couple that I've come across. The manner in which the daguerreotypist has seated and captured his subjects not just touching, but with their shoulders overlapping, the subtle tinting with which he has embellished the delicate surface of the copper plate, and despite their direct gaze into the cameras lens, give a warmth and intimacy that you don't often see in early portraits. To see what I mean, head over to the Library of Congress's large collection of daguerreotypes: of the 767 displayed online, only about twenty feature couples, including family groups, and I could only find one or two which even approach the feeling of familiarity of David's family portrait.


That the photographic medium is a thin copper sheet (measuring 65 x 80 mm or 2½" x 3¼" which is a 1/6th-plate) becomes evident when one turns it over, also revealing what are presumably fingerprints, possibly of the person who prepared and processed the photographic plate.


The copper photographic plate is housed behind a brass matte or finisher and a sheet of glass, all within a wooden case which has a patterned embossed leatherette-style finish. The presence of a catch on the right hand side indicates that, in spite of it not appearing to be damaged, only half of the case survives. The cover would have been of similar shape, probably lined internally with silk or velvet, and possibly with a maker's mark.


The main reason that the images have been laguishing in my email inbox for so long is that I was really in need of some extra clues to help me proceed with its evaluation. My knowledge of clothing styles, particularly in the 1840s and 1850s, when the daguerreotype was at its most popular in the United Kingdom, is meagre. From what I can tell, the narrow lapels on the man's coat, together with her lace collar, neck brooch and wide sleeves, suggest that it was taken in the 1840s rather than the 1850s, but I can't be any more precise than that. If any readers can tell me more about the clothing, I'd be most grateful.


There is a mark stamped into the front of the plate, in the top right hand corner: "NP: 40" appears from the list of daguerreotype plate marks on the Historic Camera web site, to refer to a French firm operating "c.1840," but I've been able to find out nothing further about the company, how long it was operating, etc. Many of the English daguerreotypists imported their plates from France, so this does not preclude the plate from having been exposed in England. I understand that the number "40" referred to the purity of the plate, i.e. 1 part silver to 40 parts copper.


Timeline of Early Derby Photographers 1843-1863
(click image for a more detailed version)
© 2011 Brett Payne
As described in David Simkin's piece on early Derby photographers on my web site, and shown in the diagrammatic timeline (above), initial attempts by John Johnson and Thomas Roberts to operate daguerreotype studios in Derby between July 1843 and September 1845 were hampered by Richard Beard's financially restrictive and rigidly enforced patent agreements. No records of any further daguerreotypes taken in Derby have been found, until Marcus Guttenberg paid a brief visit in September 1852.

The expiry of Beard's country-wide patent in August 1853, and the almost coincident invention of the collodion positive process by Frederick Scott Archer, resulted in an explosion in photographer numbers in Derby from 1854 onwards. From a total of two practitioners at the end of that year, the number had ballooned to nine by the end of the decade, but there is no indication that any of them used the daguerreotype process. From advertisements in newspapers and trade directories of the time, the evidence points rather to calotypes, albumen prints and collodion positives being the media of choice in the 1850s and, after the popularisation of cartes de visite in the early 1860s, a rapid conversion to that format by about 1863.

However, it would be dangerous to assume from this data that Derby residents were unable to have their portraits captured by daguerreotype between late 1845 and mid-1852. As shown by an 1843 advertisement in The Derby Mercury, the successive occupants of the Bromley House portrait studio in nearby Nottingham, which operated almost continuously from late 1841 through the 1840s and 1850s, were not slow to look for potential customers in neighbouring towns. Nottingham was only a short train trip, or coach ride, away.

It's always important to record and investigate the provenance of a photograph. David wrote:

This photo was in a box that my father shoved at me, to see if I was interested. Since most of the photos were of my mother's family - and since this couple bears no resemblance to any of the photos of have for my father's (Scottish) side - it would seem most likely that this couple are connected to my mother. Many of the photos were of the Holmes family, so I suspect this one is too.

Ancestors of Reuben Holmes (1855-1929) & Ellen Alton (1856-1937)
Click image for a readable version
David has written about his Holmes family from Derby on his web page, from which - together with a little research of my own - I was able to extract sufficent details to draw up a chart showing the first two generations of ancestors of Reuben Holmes (1855-1929) and his wife Ellen Alton (1856-1937). I should point out that my deductions differ slightly from David's, in that I have a different set of maternal grandparents for Reuben.

There are seven different couples who could conceivably be the subjects of the portrait, as follows:

(A) John HOLMES (1826-1895) + Elizabeth HAWORTH (1829-1890)
(B) William ALTON (1826-1897) + Grace SHAW (1816-1897)
(C) Grace SHAW (1816-1897) + George GREAVES (d.1849)
(D) William HOLMES (c1807-1885) + Sarah TWIGG (1803-1856)
(E) James HAWORTH (d. bef 1841) + Mary SLATER (c1788-1841)
(F) Thomas ALTON (1790-1872) + Hannah TIMPERLEY (c1791-1875)
(G) John SHAW (1773-c1850s) + Sarah (c1771-c1850s)

The couple look to me to be in their late 30s or early to mid-40s. If one assumes the broadest possible date for the daguerreotype, i.e. that it was taken some time in the 1840s or 1850s, then the parents of both Reuben and Ellen (A & B) can be ruled out as being too young. Ellen's mother and her first husband (C) could have visited a studio prior to 1849, but she would have been in her late 20s or early 30s, again too young. Both of Reuben's maternal grandparents (E) died before the photographic studios were first established. Ellen's paternal grandparents (F), although still alive till the 1870s, would already have been in their 50s by the time daguerreotypes were available. Her maternal grandparents (G), who died in the 1850s, would have been even older.

The only candidates remaining are Reuben's paternal grandparents William HOLMES and Sarah TWIGG. Born in 1803, she was slightly older than her husband, and would have been in her early 40s when John Johnson and Thomas Roberts operated Derby's first photographic studio in Victoria Street. William Holmes was a coachman for much of his life, settling in Derby in the late 1830s. The fact that he is also described as a gardener in some census records suggests to me that he may have worked for a member of the landed gentry, rather than on a coach which ferried paying passengers between towns. It is quite conceivable that his employer paid for this portrait, as even a 1/6th-plate daguerreotype in the 1840s was an expensive item. Thomas Roberts advertises his "small size, two sitters on same plate" with "case, glass and mat inclusive" for £1 6s. in 1844. Using average earnings, the following estimator gives an equivalent value of over £1000 today. Looking at it from slightly different point of view, a coachman might expect to earn between 1 and 2 pounds a week in the 1840s.

However, as I've pointed out previously, they could alternatively have visited a studio further afield, perhaps in Nottingham. It is also woth reiterating that David has not completely ruled out the portrait being from another branch of his family, just suggested that it is unlikely. The possibilities are of course endless, the probabilities much less so.

Alan Burnett's prompt for this week's Sepia Saturday, for which this article is a submission, features an aged couple holding hands, photographed in Sweden in 1932. I hunted through my own collection for a similar shot that I felt would be appropriate, but the only image I could find was an ambrotype that I presented in a previous article (here). Searching further afield yielded similarly few early images of couples holding hands, which I suppose is understandable considering it was not generally considered an appropriate pose amongst most Victorian photographers. Would Mr and Mrs Samuelsson, of Stigåsa, Småland, Sweden have been bold enough to hold hands (and what enormous hands they are!) when they visited the photographer's studio at the time of their presumed wedding around 1890-ish, or did old age bring with it a good deal more daring?

Head off to Sepia Saturday now for a browse, and see how many more daring couples you can find.

References

Coe, Brian (1976) The Birth of Photography: The story of the formative years, 1800-1900, London: Spring Books, 144p, ISBN 0600562964.

Heathcote, Bernard V. & Heathcote, Pauline F. (2001) Pioneers of Photography in Nottinghamshire 1841-1910, Nottinghamshire County Council, 62p, ISBN 0902751387.

Payne, Brett (2008) Thomas Roberts (1804-1885), one of Derby's first photographers, Photo-Sleuth, 18 May 2008.

Simkin, David (2004) The First Derby Daguerreotypists, 1842-1844, on Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios.

Victorian Society, from Census Helper: Victorian Life.

Esther Hinckley Baker (1812-1850) of Massachusetts

In September I featured an ambrotype of an ironmonger's shop in Bakewell sent to me by Nino Manci. At around the same time, I received the following email from Nino:

I have just been doing some research into a Boston USA family called Baker Hinckley. Is this just a bizarre coincidence, because the link given on family history site is you again!

I confirmed that I had indeed purchased a small gem tintype album on eBay a few years ago, containing numerous named portraits from the BAKER and HINCKLEY families of Massachusetts. Having researched the album in some detail, I published the results as a series of web pages, The Hinckley Album : Henry Hersey Hinckley's Gem Tintype Photograph Album, which Nino had stumbled across, presumably as the result of a Google search. He replied with more detail:

I am never successful with good [daguerreotype] images on Ebay but I was determined and successful this time ... the Daguerreotype was of a named woman, "Esther Hinckley Baker out of Providence"! I had no idea at this point that this would lead me back to you! Now Providence is 40 miles from Boston and the daguerreotypist is named on the plate as Hale. Although there were several Hale daguerreotypists there was one established in Milk Street, Boston about 200 yards from the [more famous] studio of Southworth and Hawes in Tremont Row ... The first thing that drew me to this image was that is is so typical of the fine portraiture of Southworth & Hawes.

 "Esther Hinckley Baker out of Providence," c. 1846-1850 Ninth-plate daguerreotype by Hale of Boston Image © and courtesy of Nino Manci Nino subsequently sent me a scanned image of what I agree is a lovely portrait of a attractive young lady. The daguerreotype measures 53 x 66 mm, which is commonly referred to as a ninth-plate size. It appears to have lost its case, but still has the matt and pinchbeck surround. The most exciting discovery for me was the identity of the subject. A few years ago, I purchased this small (82 x 91 mm) green faux-leather album because I was looking for a relatively inexpensive example of a gem tintype album, and this one appeared to have several of the subjects identified which, from a genealogical point of view, endeared me to it immediately. The album contains 35 photographs, 27 of which have been annotated. In addition, the front inside cover of the album has what appears to be the original owner's name, "Henry H. Hinckley," written diagonally across the page. I used census and other records to identify the owner of the album and build up a detailed picture of his family, eventually succeeding in identifying portraits of fourteen different members of the extended family. Family Tree of Henry H. Hinckley & Esther May Baker née Hinckley Click on image for full tree These included a daughter and a grandson of Henry H. Hickley's paternal aunt Esther May Hinckley (1812-1850), who married Captain Ezra Howes Baker (1811-1876) in 1832. It appears that she is the subject of Nino's daguerreotype! Esther was born on 7 August 1812 at Nantucket, Massachusetts, the fourth of ten children of Lot Hinckley (1782-1852) and Rebecca Cobb. Her family moved to Barnstable in the mid-1820s and that is where she was married, but she then settled with her husband, a sailor and merchant, in South Dennis or Yarmouth Port, Barnstable County. A few years later, in 1838, they moved to Boston where Ezra was in partnership with various individuals, owning ships and engaging in domestic and foreign trade. 1850 Census, Boston Ward 12, Suffolk, Massachusetts Roll M432_339; Page 288; Image 115; Sch. 762 Image © and courtesy of Ancestry.com Click on image for more details Esther is reported to have died on 25 July 1850, a few months after the birth of her fourth child. However, the federal census of that year, enumerated on 24th August, shows the family living in Boston Ward 12, including Ezra, Esta [sic] and all four surviving children, so her actual date of death is not clear. Ezra Howes Baker (1811-1876) from History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1890, (ed.) Simeon L. Deyo, Courtesy of David Kew An 1890 history of Barnstable County, reproduced online by David Kew, contains a detailed biography of Ezra Howes Baker, including a fine portrait of him, and which repeats Esther's July 1850 death date. Luther Holman Hale (1823-1885) operated photographic studios in Boston, first on Milk Street and later at 109 Washington Street, from 1845 until 1862, the earlier years in partnership with his brother Charles E. Hale, who had started as a daguerreotypist around 1842. It seems likely to me, therefore, that this portrait of Esther May Baker nee Hinckley was probably taken in the mid- to late 1840s, say between 1846 and 1850. [Sources: Craig's Daguerreian Registry & Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Photography by John Hannavy] Unidentified woman, by Southworth & Hawes, c.1850 Sixth plate daguerreotype, 70 x 83 mm Image © and courtesy of the George Eastman House Photography Collection Accession Number: 1974:0193:0642 By way of comparison, the selection of Southworth & Hawes daguerreotype images made available on Flickr by George Eastman House includes a similar style portrait of an unidentified young woman with an almost identical hairstyle, shown above, tentatively dated c.1850. In January this year, I was contacted by Sam Hinckley, a great-grandson of Henry Hersey Hinckley, owner of the gem tintype album. He sent me some more photographs of the Hinckley family which I hope to feature in a future Photo-Sleuth article, and I'm sure will be excited to hear of the discovery of this early photograph of another family member. Many thanks to Nino for bringing this remarkable coincidence to my attention, and for supplying the engaging image of his recent purchase. References Indexed 1840-1930 US Federal Census images, from Ancestry International Genealogical Index (IGI) at FamilySearch from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, (ed.) Simeon L. Deyo, 1890, New York: H. W. Blake & Co., CHAPTER XVIII. pages 507-577, reproduced on David Kew's Cape Cod History, Literature & Genealogy web pages Craig's Daguerreian Registry Hale, Luther Holman (1823-1885) American daguerreotypist, by Bob Zeller, in Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Photography, (ed.) John Hannavy, courtesy of GoogleBooks Judah Baker, in Ancestral Anecdotes by B. Pahlow Barbarowa Genealogy: Brooklyn Village, Ohio - An Exploration of a Neighbourhood's Family History Ezra Howes Baker in Van Houtte - Descendants of Thomas Burgess 1601-1685, by C. Sutherland Ezra Howes Baker, in Wing Family of America, Inc.

Thomas Roberts (1804-1885), one of Derby's first photographers

The American daguerreotypist John Johnson (1831-1871) briefly operated a studio in Victoria Street, Derby for a few weeks during the summer of 1843, under license from the patent holder Richard Beard [Source: A Faithful Likeness - The First Photographic Portrait Studios in the British Isles, 1841 to 1855, by Bernard & Pauline Heathcote, self publ. 2002]. However, it was Derby stationer and bookseller Thomas Roberts (1804-1885) who appears to have made the first attempt at operating a permanent photographic studio in the town. Roberts was born in Derby in 1804 and, after his marriage there in 1829, worked there as a printer. He and his wife Harriet had six children between then and 1844. The census of June 1841 [Source: Indexed census enumerators' images from Ancestry] shows him living in St James' Lane, Derby St Peter, and still described as a printer.

After Johnson had moved on to Blackpool by September 1843, the first contemporary evidence of a photographer working in Derby is an advertisement which appeared in The Derby Mercury [Source: The British Library, courtesy of Gale Databases] on 28 February 1844.


This announced that "proprietors of [the] photographic establishment, Victoria Street, Derby," unfortunately unnamed, would be "reducing the prices of their portraits, so as to place them within the reach of all ..." and included a list of these prices. It seems likely, however, that this was Thomas Roberts, as a very similar advertisement appeared in The Derby Mercury just over three months later on 5 June 1844, with prices further reduced, and this time providing his name.


It seems likely from the wording of the February 1844 advert that it had already been open for some months, perhaps even since Johnson's departure. This is supported by a claim on a mid-1860s carte de visite (see below) produced by Roberts of an 1843 date of establishment of the business.


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He did not take the portraits in his bookshop, which was situated at number 3 St James' Lane, but set up a studio in the same premises around the corner that had been occupied by Johnson in the summer of 1843. When he advertised again in The Derby Mercury on 25 September and 30 October 1844, he boasted that he was now "the sole proprietor of the patent for the taking of photographic likenesses in Derbyshire," and had "taken the rooms next the Athenaeum, Victoria Street, Derby ... near the Royal Hotel." The exact location of the studio will be dealt with in a susequent article.


In May the following year, Roberts was still taking portraits of the "nobility, clergy, gentry, and the public in general." His advert in The Derby Mercury on 28 May 1845, however, appears to give mixed messages.


He has a rather nice engraving of a photographer with a distinguished client in his stylishly furnished studio, and states that he had recently renovated his rooms, "with the latest improvements, and in a style not to be surpassed by any in the kingdom." However, the statement that the studio would be "open for a short time only" suggests that he might have been reconsidering the viability of the business.


Indeed, a few months later on 10 September 1845, Roberts inserted what is likely to have been his last advertisement for his daguerreotype studio in The Derby Mercury.


He stated that he would be "declining the photographic business," but would continue taking portraits at the Mechanics' Institution, Wardwick for a further fortnight until the 29th September. He would obviously relinquish his lease on the rooms on Victoria street from 13 September, but intended to "continue to carry on his newspaper, periodical, and bookselling business as usual, in St. James' Lane, Corn-market," which he obviously found far more remunerative.

This was a common experience of early daguerreotypists, who obtained licenses from Richard Beard (the sole patentee of the daguerreotype process in England and Wales) under conditions which would often prove financially disastrous. The agreements usually involved a high initial payment to Beard, followed by the remission to him of a large proportion of the proceeds of the business. Beard himself had made huge profits from a chain of studios in London, where there was a ready supply of wealthy clientele. [Source: Richard Beard (1801-1885) in A History of Photography by Robert Leggatt] The licensees, however, found it far more difficult to find as many customers in the provinces, particularly under such restrictive financial arrangements.

In the case of Edward Holland, who purchased a license to use the daguerreotype process in certain specific parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, including Buxton and Bakewell, in November 1842, the financial arrangements amounted to a license fee of £500 and 15% of all his takings from the sale of daguerreotype portraits. As a result, Holland was forced to abandon his photographic career in July 1843, before he had even reached Derbyshire. [Source: The First Derby Daguerrotypists, 1842-1844 by David Simkin] Although there is no direct evidence to support this, it seems likely that Roberts experienced similar difficulties, hence preferring to concentrate on his bookselling business.

The patent rights of Beard's British Patent No 8194 expired on 14th August 1853. At around the same time the wet collodion process, invented by Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) in 1848, but popularised in the early 1850s, and most importantly patent-free, resulted in an explosion of photographic activity all over the United Kingdom, including Derbyshire. A number of photographers, including James Brennan, Edmund Stowe, Richard Smith, William Seville, James Wilson and E.N. Charles, established themselves in Derby in 1854 and 1855. Kelly & Co.'s Post Office Directory of Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire for 1855 (from the University of Leicester's Historical Directories), presumably compiled in late 1854, shows only Brennen and Stowe working as photographists in Derby.

Thomas Roberts is listed as a bookseller & news agent at 3 St. James' Lane in the same directory, so it is likely that he only returned to the photographic trade in 1855 or 1856. Certainly by 1857, when Francis White & Co.'s History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby (transcribed and presented online by Neil Wilson) was compiled, in addition to his newsagency in St James' Lane, he was operating as a photographic artist in Oake's Yard (between Green Lane and St Peter's Street), presumably offering ambrotype portraits. Harrison's 1860 trade directory and the census of 7 April 1861 once again describe Roberts, still living at 3 St James' Lane, merely as a printer, compositor and newsagent/newsvendor, so it is not clear how long the Oake's Yard studio remained in operation.


This carte de visite portrait of a young man was taken by Thomas Roberts at studio premises in Albert Street, probably in the mid- to late 1860s. The first documentary record of this address being occupied by Roberts is Harrod & Co.'s 1870 Postal & Commercial Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland & Staffordshire (Historical Directories), which also lists his newsagency in premises at "Morledge Bridge." In 1867 and 1868, the entire length of St James' Lane was demolished and redeveloped, which is almost certainly the reason for Roberts' move. It is also likely that the newly built shops on the broad thoroughfare which was now called St James' Street attracted a higher rent than that which Roberts had paid previously.

The census of 2 April 1871, also showing him living on the Morledge (next to the Old Boat Inn), is the only one in which he describes himself only as a photographer - the natural assumption is that this was now his primary means of income, but this may not have been the case. Three years later, C.N. Wright's 1874 Directory of South Derbyshire included entries for him as a newsagent on the Morledge, and as a photographer at his Albert Street premises, on the southern side of the road between the Derby Co-operative Society Stores and the Prince's Street corner, and with a new stall at the Market Hall, selling books and stationery.


By early January 1876, however, Thomas Roberts had decided to quit the portrait business for good, and instructed auction house Messrs. J. & W. Heathcote to dispose of the studio and all of its contents [Source: Advertisement in The Derby Mercury, dated 12 January 1876].

Albert-street, Derby. To photographers, gardeners, and others. Messrs. J. and W. Heathcote have received instructions from Mr. Roberts, to sell by auction, upon the premises adjoining the Co-operative Stores, Albert-street, Derby, on Thursday, Jan. 13, 1876, at 11 o'clock precisely, a photographic studio, well adapted for a Greenhouse. It contains 10 frames, glazed with 21 oz. glass, 6ft. by 3 ft. 4 in., and 6 frames 3 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft. 3 in., besides various other lights, with wood floor, and part sides, measuring 26 ft. long by 10 ft. wide. Also several Photographic Instruments, including multum in parvo, pedestal vase, full plate lense, half plate ditto., quarter plate ditto, with camera complete, rolling machine 17 in. with polished plate, stove piping, and other effects. The whole to be sold without reseve, the land being wanted for building purposes immediately. Auction Offices, Albert-street, Derby.

The description of the studio suggests that it had originally been purpose-built, but it was advertised as also being suitable for use as a greenhouse! It is not known what became of the studio, but there doesn't appear to have been another one in Albert Street until the 20th Century.

The census of 3 April 1881 shows Roberts living with his family at the premises of the newsagent's shop, situated on the north-eastern side of the Morledge, at Tenant Street Bridge. He is described, once again, merely as a newsagent. The 1881 edition of Kelly's trade directory (published on microfiche by the Derbyshire Family History Society) confirms that he was running the news agency from the shop on the east side of the Morledge, as well as listing him as a bookseller & stationer at Market Hall.

Thomas Roberts died at Derby on 2 December 1885. His widow Harriet continued the bookselling business at the Market Hall stall, helped by a grand-daughter, while her two daughters Elizabeth and Jane ran the newsagents shop at Morledge until at least 1895. Harriet died in Derby in 1900.

George White of Chesterfield & Blackpool

In an earlier post I featured the following advertisement, in the form of a handbill for Chesterfield daguerreotypist G. White, sent to me by Mike Spencer.


Handbill advertising the services of G. White, Daguerreotypist of Rose Hill, Chesterfield
Image © Derby County Record Office & Courtesy of Mike Spencer
At the time, I was unable to find out anything more about Mr. White. He isn't included on any other lists of Derbyshire photographers that I have seen. However, as a result of a recent discovery, and successful purchase, on eBay, I was able to identify him, and can now divulge what happened to him after his presumably brief sojourn in Chesterfield.


The carte de visite is of an unidentified, elegantly dressed elderly gentleman, seated in a studio, with his left hand resting on a book, which has in turn been placed on a table. There is another item on the table, possibly made of cloth. The studio setting is a fairly plain one, typical of the early to mid-1860s.


The card mount is completely blank on the reverse, but the photographer's details have been blind stamped at the base of the card front, as shown in the image above.

G WHITE PHOTO BLACKPOOL.
With the information that a photographer of this name was working in Blackpool within a decade of the presumed date of publication of the handbill, i.e. the mid-1850s, I was able to undertake a search of the census records. After a few dead ends, I found him in all four censuses from 1841 until 1871. In none of these was he described as a photographer, but I am confident it is the right person as he is shown variously as an artist or engraver, and many early photographers came to that profession through being artists.

George White was born around 1810, in either Chesterfield or Winster (he never was quite sure, according to census records). He married Ann Melbourne (dau of Belper nail manufacturer, William Melbourne) at North Wingfield in September 1834, and by the census of June 1841, they were living at a house in Chapel Avenue, Poulton le Fylde, Bispham, Lancashire. George was working as an artist, and a James White, aged 15 - possibly a nephew - is listed as an artist's apprentice. According to Bernard & Pauline Heathcote (A Faithful Likeness, publ. 2002, ISBN 0-9541934-0-7, courtesy of Ian Leith), who trawled contemporary newspapers between 1841 and 1855 for advertisements, George started work as a profile artist in 1834, either becoming a daguerreotype photographer or employing one by 1849. He also operated briefly at Preston in 1850.

Within the next few years they moved to Layton-with-Warbreck, near Blackpool, where their only son Frederick George was born in 1850. The census of April the following year shows Ann living at 1 Queen's Terrace, Layton with Warbreck, Blackpool, with their son and a nurse, but George was lodging in the parish of Church, west of Accrington. He now described himself as an engraver.

After the expiry of Beard's daguerreotype patent in August 1853 and the development of Archer's "patent free" wet collodion process, when there was a great expansion of photographic activity in England, White possibly took up the photographic business as a sideline to his art. Initially at least, he is likely to have operated mainly in the summer months, and visited areas where there were not photographers already well established. Oliver Sarony (from Scarborough) and Horatio Harrop (of Manchester) were early visiting photographers to Chesterfield, in May 1852 and 1854 respectively, while Henry Morton opened the town's first permanent studio in July 1854. Others known to have worked there in the 1850s included Andrew & James McMunn (1856), Henry Slack (October 1856), John Stringfellow and George Edgar (1858) and Hugh Boughen (1859). [Source: Professional Photographers in Derbyshire 1843-1914, by Keith I.P. Adamson, publ. Sep 1997 as Supplement No. 118 to The PhotoHistorian, by The Royal Photographic Society Historical Group, ISSN 0957-0209] No advertisements have been found for George White in Chesterfield newspapers, but it seems likely that he visited that town, albeit briefly, in the mid-1850s.

By 1861, George was back with his wife and son in the house at Queen's Terrace, and working as an "artist" once more. The carte de visite shown above is probably from the early to mid-1860s, but doesn't include an address, so it is not clear whether he had permanent premises by that time. Gillian Jones (in Lancashire Professional Photographers 1840-1940, publ. 2004 by PhotoResearch, ISBN 0-952311-5-6, courtesy of Michael Pritchard) lists him at 1 Queen's Terrace, Adelaide Street, Blackpool from 1849 to 1869, and then at 33 Adelaide Street, Blackpool in 1869. It is possible these are actually the same location.

It appears that George White retired around 1869; that is certainly how he described himself to the 1871 Census enumerator. George died in 1880, and census night in the subsequent year found his widow Ann living with their married son, still in Adelaide Street. Frederick George White, now married, stated his profession to be, "Income from houses, &c" and Ann is shown as an annuitant. Either George had done well from his art/photographic business or, more likely, Frederick had inherited property from his maternal grandfather.

Daguerreotype in a locket?

Frances Castle sent me this photograph of a locket which has been passed down through the family generations, and which she is pretty sure must have been taken in Derby. However, she can't decide whether the subject is Sarah Collumbell née Hughes (1781-1863) or Esther Sherwin née Bakewell (1776-1843).


If it is a daguerreotype - and I can't be sure about it as I'm not very knowledgeable about this type of image - then it is likely to have been taken in the 1840s or early 1850s. After this time, first the ambrotype and then in the 1860s, the tintype and carte de visite, superseded it in popularity. However, the clothes of the elderly woman seem to me to date from the 1850s, and I think it more likely that it was taken after 1843, the death date of Esther Sherwin. Photography was still very much in its infancy in the early 1840s, and daguerreotypes were not at all common. John Johnson, the first photographer to work in Derby, operated briefly from premises in Victoria Street in the summer of 1843, so it is conceivable that he took this photo. However, it is far more likely to be Sarah Collumbell, who would have been 65-75 years old in the late 1840s or early 1850s.

I'd be keen to hear from anyone more knowledgeable about daguerreotypes who might be able to enlighten us on the nature of this locket (Email me).

Advertising by Photographers (1) Daguerreotypist, G. White of Rose Hill Chesterfield

Photographers themselves needed to advertise too. In the 1850s and 1860s, much of this was done through the local newspapers. Some early photographers would also have flyers or handbills printed, to distribute in advance of a visit to a town. Since many of these early travelling or itinerant photographers did not include their names on the mount or case of the daguerreotype or ambrotype, the advertisements may sometimes be the only means we now have of knowing that a photographer operated in a particular area. This copy of one such early handbill was kindly sent to me by Mike Spencer, who found it in the holdings of the Derbyshire Record Office at Matlock (Ref. D267/96/2(i)).

TINTED
PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS,
PAPER CUTTINGS, &c., &c.,
TAKEN AT ROSE HILL.
----------
MR. WHITE
Begs to acquaint the Inhabitants of Chesterfield and its neighbourhood, that for a short time he will take at the above place pleasing

Photographic Portraits,
Either in Single Figure or Groups.
Nothing can possibly equal the beauty of detail and faithful Likenesses of these portraits.
G. WHITE will also take his
BRONZED AND SHADED LIKENESSES,
from the plain bust to the highly finished whole length figure.
LIKENESSES COPIED.
----------
Keeps constantly a variety of suitable Frames for the Daguerreotype Portraits and Paper Cuttings.
----------
Open from 9 in the Morning till 8 in the Evening.
----------
J. ROBERTS, PRINTER

This advert is probably from the 1850s. However, I've been unable to find any other record of Mr. G. White's photographic career. The 1851 and 1861 Census, and White's 1857 Trade Directory (transcribed and presented online by Neil Wilson), show nobody by this name in any profession, at least living in Chesterfield. I'd appreciate any information whch might shed light on his identity and time in Chesterfield.

John Edward Roberts (1830-1908) was a Chesterfield postmaster, bookseller, printer & stationer with premises on the High Street.