Sepia Saturday 182: William Snowdall Anderson of Ilkeston and Lorne

It's not often that a Sepia Saturday image prompt gives me the opportunity to include a profile of a Victorian Derbyshire photographer, and it seems unlikely that this week's photograph of a horse rider in the Australian bush should do so. Thanks to sharp-spotted fellow photohistorian Marcel Safier, I am able to present a Derbyshire photographer who emigrated to Australia, and spent most of his life in a remote town on the coast of Victoria.


Granby Street, Ilkeston, 1964 (Ref. DCER001377)
Image © NE Midland Photographic Record, courtesy of Picture the Past
William Snowdall Anderson was born in 1867 in Surfleet, a small village in rural south Lincolnshire (coincidentally only a couple of miles from the village of Pinchbeck, a name which featured in an article here last week). He was the third child of a wandering blacksmith; by his early teens the family had lived in at least five different villages. Little is known of his early career as a photographer except that by late 1886, when the 1887 edition of Kelly's trade directory was published, and by which time he was not yet 20 years old, he had opened a photographic studio in Granby Street, Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Adamson shows him operational at this address for at least a year until 1888.


Camperdown Chronicle, Saturday, 20 April 1895, page 2
Image courtesy of Marcel Safier
In November 1889 Anderson emigrated to Australia on the steamship Port Caroline, arriving in Victoria in early 1890, and was married to Bertha Wardle later that year. He worked as a photographer, initially with a studio in South Yarra, later touring Victoria as an itinerant photographer in a mobile caravan.


Mount St. George, Lorne, 1901 (Acc No H96.160/606)
Silver gelatin print (210 x 160mm) by W.S. Anderson, Lorne
Image © and courtesy of State Library of Victoria
In December 1898 he purchased a photographic business from J.S. Norman and J.W. Brown in the township of Lorne on the coast south-west of Melbourne.


Phantom Falls in flood, Lorne, 1902 (Acc No H96.160/682)
Silver gelatin print (157 x 210mm) by W.S. Anderson, Lorne
Image © and courtesy of State Library of Victoria
Lorne was then a fairly remote community, situated at the mouth of the Erskine River on the shores of Louttit Bay, accessible only by sea or by a long dusty road journey through the forested hills of what is now the Great Otway National Park. Anderson was not the only one drawn to it; Rudyard Kipling penned the following after a visit in 1891:

Buy my hot-wood clematis,
Buy a frond of fern,
Gathered where the Erskine leaps
Down the road to Lorne.

The Flowers, 1896

W. Mountjoy's Coach, Erskine River, Lorne, c. late 1890s-early 1900s
Mounted albumen print (165 x 107mm) by William Anderson of Lorne
Image © and courtesy of Museum Victoria
Judging by the number of similar photographs of Mountjoy's coach full of passengers crossing a bridge over the Erskine River, complete with characteristic Eucalyptus-clad backdrop, in the collection of Museum Victoria, these customers must have formed a significant part of Anderson's business. Over time, however, his output varied considerably, picturing both the beauty of the landscape surrounding Lorne and the lifestyle and character of its inhabitants and visitors.


View Larger Map

The same view today is different, naturally, but still recognisable.


Unidentified woman, c.late 1920s-early 1930s (Ref. MM 109704)
Silver gelatin print (89 x 137mm), attrib. William S. Anderson
Image © and courtesy of Museum Victoria
The following is from Museum Victoria:

From 1898 until his death in 1948 Anderson photographed the changing surrounding landscapes and visitors of guest houses in the area. His practice also included panoramic photography, stereoscopic photography, portraiture and experiments with trick photography.

Wagon, team of oxen and dog, 1905 (Acc No H96.160/1042)
Mounted silver gelatin print (205 x 150m), by W.S. Anderson
Image © and courtesy of State Library of Victoria
William S. Anderson died at Ormond, Victoria on 2 July 1948, aged 80, leaving four children and a legacy of five decades' worth of photographs, many of which survive in the State Library of Victoria, Museum Victoria and, no doubt, tucked away in innumerable family archives.

References

Barrie, Sandy (nd) Biographical notes for William Snowdall Anderson, (pers. comm., courtesy of Marcel Safier)

Canadian War Graves - Ed Pye and the 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion

When I was scanning a collection of old family photographs at my aunt's house in Derbyshire last year, I came across a photograph which didn't appear to be of a known family member. I didn't have an opportunity to have a good look at it then, but scanned it at a fairly high resolution (600 dpi) so that I could investigate it further at a later stage. Well, I've now had that opportunity, and have decided to share it here because I think it is a good demonstration of how documentary, as well as photographic, sources can be used to help in the identification process. It's also a story worth relating.


The photograph is a standard 134 x 85mm postcard with a divided back. It shows a young man, in uniform and with his cap in hand, kneeling next to two graves, both with cross-shaped grave markers, in a cemetery which is somewhat overgrown with weeds. More grave markers are visible in the background, as are several wooden fences and a line of trees. Enlargement of the detail of the crosses shows enough of the writing to make out the soldiers' names.

I have used the Debt of Honour database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to identify the soldiers, and the Library & Archives of Canada two online databases, War Diaries of the First World War and Soldiers of the First World War to find out more about them and the events leading up to their deaths.


The grave marker on the right has a freemason's mark (square and dividers/compasses) and the following text:

R.I.P. CAPT. G.P. BOWIE
KILLED IN ACTION, JULY 7th 1915
5th BATTN. 2nd BGDE.
CANADIAN CORPS WESTERN CAVLY.
George Pigrum Bowie was born in Upper Holloway, London on 29 March 1881, and was the eldest son of a clerk in the civil service. The 1911 Census shows him living in Vancouver and working as an architect. Presumably he was also a Freemason. At the time of his enlistment at Valcartier in September 1914, he had already served for three years with the 20th Middlesex Rifles, and was an active member of the 31st British Columbia Horse, a militia regiment. His attestation paper shows that he was granted a temporary commission.

The CWCG database entry confirms his date of death, give his age as 34 and states that he was serving with "A" Company, 5th Battalion at the time. It also states that his grave lies in Plot III. D. 10. of the Berks Cemetery Extension, located 12.5 kilometres south of Ieper (Ypres) town centre, 3 kilometres beyond Mesen (Messines) and opposite Hyde Park Corner Royal Berks Cemetery. These two cemeteries lie between Ploegsteert Wood (Bois de Ploegsteert) and Bois de la Hutte.


Examination of the 5th C.I.Bn. War Diaries for that period show them to have been in the forward trenches. The entry for 7th July refers to work being done to deepen and improve trenches, the need for refurbishment of the wire in no-man's-land, the dispersal of enemy working parties with rifle fire, and trouble with enemy snipers, including the killing of Capt. C.P. Bowie by a sniper's bullet.


The other grave marker reads,

12990 PTE. A.E. GABBE
KILLED IN ACTION AUG 30th 1915
There is more text around the lower edges, but it is difficult to make out. Albert Gustave E. Gabbe was born on 11 October 1891 at Dover, Kent, where his parents were hotelkeepers. He also enlisted at Valcartier on 24 September 1914, having previously served for 3½ years with the Royal Field Artillery. The CWGC database also has 30 August 1915 as his date of death, but provides no further information apart from his plot number, III. D. 9., also in the Berks Cemetery Extension.


The War Diary entry for that day only shows, "Casualties:- 1 killed, 1 wounded."


There are two other grave markers visible, but the text on these is even more difficult to decipher. I thought the one closer to the camera could be "W. McFARL(ANE)," and I found a list of the 873 graves in Berks Cemetery Extension on Pierre Vandervelden's In Memory web site, including the following entry:

MACFARLANE WILLIAM JAMES
United Kingdom Lance Corporal 2244 Seaforth Highlanders 02/04/1915 Age: 23 III. C. 28.

The CWGC database entry for this soldier provides further information:

Unit: "B" Coy. 2nd Bn. Seaforth Highlanders
Son of William and Alice Maud Macfarlane, of Lewisham, London. Born at Dingwall, Ross-shire.

Unfortunately, the name on the cross behind Macfarlane's is just too difficult to decipher.


Alan Jennings has an interesting page, Plugstreet, about the area around Ploegsteert Wood on his excellent World War One Battlefields web site. This includes two old photographs of the Royal Berkshire Cemetery Extension taken c. 1919, which show similar cross-shaped grave markers. However, it is clear from the the CWGC history of the Berks Cemetery Extension, and from Alan's explanation, that the current graves of Capt. Bowie, Pte. Gabbe and L/Cpl. MacFarlane must have been moved there from elsewhere:

The extension was begun in June 1916 and used continuously until September 1917. At the Armistice, the extension comprised Plot I only, but Plots II and III were added in 1930 when graves were brought in from Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery and Extension, about 1 kilometre to the north-west, when it was established that these sites could not be acquired in perpetuity. Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery was used by fighting units from November 1914 to August 1916. The extension was begun in May 1916 and used until March 1918. Together, the cemetery and extension were sometimes referred to as 'Red Lodge'.

Alan Jennings adds the following:

... the Rosenburg Chateau Military Cemetery and Extension stood in the grounds of the chateau of that name, and the owner felt that, as he rebuilt his house, the cemetery would stand too close to it. Despite pleas from the British and Belgian authorities, he remained firm, and eventually the 475 men buried there were exhumed and moved the half mile distance to this, their final resting place. In March 1930 The Times reported that "each body, as it was reverently taken from the earth, was placed in a coffin draped with the Union Jack and removed by motor ambulance to the Royal Berkshire Cemetery Extension".

Thanks to Alan's reference, I was able to find the image of the article very easily in the Online Newspaper Archive of The Times from 1785-1985. A transcript of the full article is provided here.


This extract of a 1:40,000 Ordnance Survey map of Belgium and Part of France (Sheet 28, Edition 3, published in February 1917 from data corrected to 23-12-16) shows the western part of Ploegsteert Wood, now commonly referred to as Bois de la Hutte. The area now occupied by the Berks Cemetery Extension is situated immediate to the south-west of Hyde Park Corner. Red Lodge is shown approximately a kilometre (each square has sides of 1000 yds, which approximates to a kilometre) to the north-west of Hyde Park Corner. This is roughly in the area that Alan Jennings' map refers to as the "Report Centre," now consisting of a large concrete structure which he believes may have been the entrance to the "Catacombs," beneath Hill 63. Immediately to the north of the "o" of "Red Lodge" on the OS map is a rectangular plot which I believe may have been the Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery and Extension.


On the reverse there is little of much use in the identification - only the words, "CANADIAN WAR GRAVES BELGIUM" written in ink, in my aunt's handwriting. My grandfather Leslie Payne (1892-1975) served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the Great War, so it seemed very likely that the photograph had something to do with his war service. One of the gravestones has what appears to be a Canadian maple leaf, the emblem of the CEF, at the top. The soldier in the picture was definitely not my grandfather, but he looked familiar. After some deliberation I realized that I had seen him in another photograph belonging to my grandfather, one of a group that had been passed down to my father.


This snapshot of three soldiers seated outside a dugout or revetment fortified with corrugated iron and sandbags, accompanied a letter sent to Leslie Payne, then living in Derbyshire, England, by his friend Ed Pye in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). The letter is dated 26 June 1936 - in it my grandfather's old pal Ed recalls making, "... in the summer of 1916, occasional visits from Ploegsteert to your camp east of Bailleul" and refers to the snapshot thus, "Have dug out another war photo taken in 1915; Hill 63, Ploegsteert Wood, you may recognize the Clown Prince at left."


The clown prince was, of course, Ed himself, confirmed by another photograph I found illustrating an article which he had written for the Legionary magazine. This clearly shows his C/5 collar tag which shows that he served with the 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion. A few years ago, learning that Ed Pye had been a friend of my grandfather's since they worked together for the CPR in Saskatchewan before the war, and then throughout the war, I ordered Ed Pye's full CEF Service Records from the Library & Archives of Canada. From these, I was able to piece together an outline of his movements during the war. Subsequently, I have also been in touch with Ed's son Brian Pye and grandson Robert Edge, who have kindly provided further information.

Arthur Edwin Pye (1893-1960) originally enlisted in the 60th Rifles at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on 12 August 1914, and five weeks later was attested into the 11th Battalion at Valcartier. He sailed over to England from Canada with the First Contingent on the SS Royal Edward in October 1914. After training, during which time he was transferred to the 5th Canadian Battalion (Western Cavalry), he went over to France in February 1915, being sent straight to the front as part of the First Canadian Division. He was wounded in March 1916, and spent some time at No. 1 Convalescent Depot in Boulogne, but appears to he recovered sufficiently to have been sent back to the front again after some time at "Base". He probably spent much of summer 1916 at the front - the service records only show that he was promoted twice in June - but was wounded for a second time on the Somme at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 26 September, which got him his "Blighty".

I believe, therefore, that this photograph must have been taken in the spring or summer of 1916. I presume that Ed Pye visited and had his photo taken next to these particular graves because they were of men that he had served with the previous year. I don't know if they had particular relevance to my grandfather. If the deceased soldiers were living in Saskatchewan prior to their enlistment in the CEF, then I suppose it is possible he knew them. However, it's more likely that Ed sent the postcard to him as a photograph of himself, rather than of the graves.

What's in a View - Derby & the Derwent from Exeter Bridge

Those readers familiar with the Derby townscape will be well aware of how it has changed over the years, often not for the better, a matter frequently discussed by Maxwell Craven and others in articles in The Derby Evening Telegraph's Bygones section and on the You & Yesterday web site. I was fortunate enough recently to win on eBay a rather nice early print of one of the most well known, enduring of Derby views and, in the course of sharing it with Photo-Sleuth readers, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to show how this view has changed over the course of the 19th and early 20th Centuries.


The photograph was taken from the Exeter Bridge, Derby in a north-westerly direction up the Derwent River towards the old Silk Mill. It is a 127 x 171 mm (5" x 6¾") print mounted with several others on both sides of an album page, now removed from the album. This particular photograph is annotated in black ink, "The Derwent from Exeter Bridge Derby," but another has the date, "1884-12-30" written underneath. I was unsure whether the photographs were taken by the album owner on that date, or merely purchased then - I suspected the latter, as it is an excellent view, but more of that later. However, the date appears to be fairly close to when the photo was taken. At left is the tower of All Saints, Derby's Cathedral, in the centre the spire of St Alkmund's church and the tower of the Roman Catholic church, and at right the old silk mill built by George Socorold in the early 1700s.


This painting of the Derwent from Exeter Bridge by Robert Bradley shown above is reproduced in Goodey's Derby by Sarah Allard & Nicola Rippon (publ. 2003 by Breedon Books, ISBN 1 85983 379 9, but unfortunately out of print). The caption states that, although nominally dated 1838, it could not have been painted prior to 1845-6, when the spire was added to the tower of St Alkmund's church. On the far left can be seen Exeter House, which was built for the Earl of Exeter, briefly occupied by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745 and later owned by the Bingham and Strutt families; it was demolished in 1854.


The earliest photograph that I have found of this view up the Derwent is a calotype attributed to W. Stretch (Ref. DBYMU.L1988) in Maxwell Craven's Keene's Derby (publ. 1993 by Breedon Books, ISBN 1 873626 60 6). It is dated 1855, and was therefore taken shortly after the demolition of Exeter House, although only the foot of the garden of this property is included.

The photographer is on the east (or left) bank of the Derwent, roughly in the position shown on the 1852 map of Derby included below, drawn up in the same year as the Exeter Bridge was constructed, replacing a smaller wooden footbridge. The photographer's position and approximate field of view is depicted on the map with a red dot and lines (click on the image to view a more detailed version). On the right hand side of the photo (east bank) the area is largely undeveloped, with market gardens on the banks as shown on the map.


Portion of a Facsimile Edition of a Map of the Borough of Derby with Portions of Darley, Litchurch, and Little Chester
(publ. 1980 by the Derbyshire Archaeological Society)


The next photograph, dated c. 1865 by Craven (also from Keene's Derby) has some significant differences from that of a decade earlier, including a builder's yard (accessed off Burghley Street) appearing in the former Exeter House garden, modifications to the roof and gable ends of the multi-storey building in the middle, and cottages appearing in Silk Mill Lane. Unfortunately, the haze obscures the spires of St Alkmund's and the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church.


Keene's June 1874 photograph, again from Keene's Derby, is also hazy, presumably due to growing factory pollution, but the spire of St Alkmund's and tower of St Mary's are both visible once again. The builder's yard on the left has gone.


The 1884 photograph is included again here, to show it in the proper time sequence. The gardens on the east bank have been replaced by the timber yard of W. & J. Lowe. The multi-storey building to the right of the tower of the cathedral now has a sign on the gable end - enlargement of this portion of the photograph enables part of the name of the company to be deciphered.


"J & G. HAYW... IRON STEEL & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WAREHOUSE"
Kelly's 1891 Trade Directory confirms that "James & George Haywood, iron & steel warehouse" were situated between number 4 and "Eastwood & Co., tanners" at 6 Full Street. It is worth noting that in this view there is a single large chimney to the right of the Silk Mill Tower.


I found this black-and-white postcard view, published at an unknown date, which appears to be exactly the same image as my print of 1884. It is inscribed, "R. KEENE LTD." in the bottom right hand corner, implying that my print was probably also taken by Keene. To be honest, I am not surprised. Keene was an excellent photographer, always able to capture landscapes in the best light, and this particular one, in my view, is the best of the lot!


W.F. Austin painted this view of the Derwent and the old Silk Mill (from Goodey's Derby) in about 1889, five years after the previous photograph. Although done from a slightly different position and angle, the view is little changed, apart from a little artistic license perhaps resulting in a tidying up of the timber merchant's premises, and some vegetation removed from around the Silk Mill.


According to Maxwell Craven, this view was taken by Richard Keene on 1 June 1891, and there are now some big differences. The Silk Mill Doubling Shop (the large building to the left of the Silk Mill Tower) has completely gone, and just to the left of where it was, in front of the St Alkmund's & St Mary church towers, there are now two large chimneys. The Haywood sign has also gone, replaced by one for "EASTWOOD'S TANNERY." Also, there is a new building in the former Exeter House garden, on the extreme left of the view.


Portion of Old Ordnance Survey Map of Derby (North) Second Edition 1901
(Surveyed in 1881 & Revised in 1899) Derbyshire Sheet 50.8
Reduced from the original & Reprinted by Alan Godfrey Maps


The view in the above photograph was taken by W.W. Winter, and is featured in The Winter's Collection of Derby: Volume Two by Maxwell Craven & Angela Rippon (publ. 1996 by Breedon Books, ISBN 1 85983 055 2). Unfortunately, no date is given, but it is very similar to the view in Keene's 1891 photograph (see above). I believe it was probably taken in the mid- to late 1890s.


The post mark on the reverse of this black-and-white postcard view is unfortunately not very clear - it possibly reads 17 AUG [19]20 - but the stamp used (a 1d George V red definitive) suggests a date of between 1918 and 1921. Due to post-War inflation, the postage rates for postcards were increased from ½d to 1d in June 1918, and from 1d to 1½d in June 1921. [Source: Postage rates for postcards sent within the UK, by Peter Stubbs] However, the view is so similar to the previous photograph taken by W.W. Winter Ltd. that I believe it may be the same image. The ripples of water in the river are so similar that I think the old view may have been republished as a postcard three decades later, with the EASTWOOD'S TANNERY signs retouched out.


This colourised postcard view, titled "Derby from the River," is very similar, although not identical, to the Winter photo. It was produced by postcard publisher Hartmann (Ref. 2535.10), and carries a franking mark clearly dated "AU 24 05" i.e. 24 August 1905. It may have been printed from a Winter or Keene photograph taken in the 1890s. The vegetation appears considerably more luscious than in previous views, but this may just be the result of the colourising.


A rather gaudily colourised postcard from the Reliable Series (Ref. 289/6), published by W.R. & S. Ltd, Edinburgh [Source: Edinphoto] is postmarked 6 June 1908 (Courtesy of Shardlow Heritage Centre). Presumably it was taken in the early 1900s.


Another colourised postcard, entitled "Derby from River," was posted in Derby in July 1916. The publisher is merely identified on the reverse with a "W" inside a diamond. The most significant changes in the view are that the buildings in the former Exeter House garden have completely changed, and the larger (or closer) of the two chimneys in front of the church towers has gone. In addition, the tannery signs have disappeared.


Several decades later ... the site of the former Exeter House is occupied by the now empty and boarded up old Derby Magistrate Courts, the back of which can be seen at the left of this photo, very kindly taken for me in June this year by Nigel Aspdin. The tower of All Saints is just visible. Immediately to the right of the Magistrates' Court, and mostly obscured by it, is the back of the derelict old Police Station, which also awaits redevelopment. All of the chimneys have now gone!


This artist's impression (Courtesy of a BBC article, Changing Derbyshire) is unfortunately looking in the opposite direction, with Cathedral Green on the right. However, it is obvious that the projected development and new footbridge over the Derwent will result in another very different view.

Remains of a Celtic Cross in Matlock

William Potter was mid-Victorian Derbyshire's equivalent of a postcard publisher, postcards having been introduced in the dying years of the 19th Century and only popularised in the early 1900s. Based in Matlock Bath from the mid-1870s until his death in 1909, Potter was probably the most prolific Derbyshire-based producer of cartes de visite with scenic views of Derbyshire. Most of his work has the following simple design on the reverse, often (although not in this particular case) with a pencilled inscription relating to the subject of the photograph.


However, he had initially started off in a completely different trade; census records and trade directories list him as an apprentice marble worker and a "manufacturer of spar, marble and malachite ornaments." The latter was clearly aimed at the burgeoning tourist trade, and it may have been the contact with visitors to the area that persuaded him to become a photographer in the late 1860s or early 1870s. The 1871 Census shows him working as a photographic printer - presumably as an employee - in Trentham, Staffordshire. He returned to Matlock soon after, and by 1881 was described as a "draper's traveller & photographer." I'm not aware of any portraits by Potter, and I believe it likely that he confined himself to landscapes. Nor does he appear to have produced any stereoviews, which also became very popular in the late 1800s.


Remains of Saxon cross and Gravestone in All Saints churchyard, Bakewell
Photographed by William Potter, probably in the mid-1870s
The example of Potter's work that I have decided to reproduce here, although still aimed at the tourist market, is more of an archaeological curiosity than a memento of the picturesque landscape. I picked it up on eBay recently, not knowing anything about the subject, but thought it would make a nice addition to the other images by William Potter in my online portfolio. The photo was obviously taken in a churchyard. The tall stone decorated with spiral patterns looked to me like the remains of a Celtic/Saxon cross, but my initial investigations picked up no sign of any such relic in Matlock churchyards. I then turned to the gravestone:


In
Memory of
Mary Ann
Daughter of
...es and Maria Leedham:
..ho died Jan: 30 1853 [or 1855?]
Aged 59 years.
A search of the 1851 Census, using Ancestry.com's indexed images, quickly turned up the following household:

1851 Census: Matlock St, Bakewell DBY PRO Ref. HO107/2149/51/14/50:
Mary Ann LEEDHAM Head U F 54 Confectioner DBY Bakewell
Maria LEEDHAM Sis U F 52 Confectioner DBY Bakewell
Elizabeth ROBINSON Sis U F 45 DBY Bakewell
Sarah PLEASANT Serv U F 15 House Servant DBY Beeley
Leedham KIRK Cousin M 13 LAN Manchester
James KIRK Cousin M 11 LAN Manchester

Using Bakewell as the location, I very quickly found other mentions of the "cross", evidently of Saxon origins, including some great pictures by Pete Howard on Rosemary Lockie's Wishful Thinking Derbyshire Index, linked to from her meticulously maintained GENUKI pages for Bakewell.


Saxon Cross, All Saints, Bakewell
Photo © 2005 Pete Howard & courtesy of Rosemary Lockie's Wishful Thinking
Although there is some dispute about where the Saxon cross - one of several at the church - came from exactly, when it was relocated to the All Saints churchyard, there is a nice legend that accompanies it, and may have helped in selling William Potter's cdvs. The Peak Experience web site relates that the Saxon cross dates from the 8th Century A.D. and once stood at the crossroads one mile to the south of Hassop. In 1501 Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VII was visiting Sir Henry Vernon at Haddon Hall:

Beneath the Saxon cross now in All Saints churchyard, he saw a woman in white who predicted an early marriage and early death for him. When the Prince returned to Haddon he heard that his Spanish bride-to-be was in England and he was to be married immediately. Four months later he became ill and breathed his dying words: ‘O, the vision of the cross at Haddon!’

Mary Ann Leedham was born in 1796, one of seven children of James Leedham (d. 1830) and Maria Bestall (d. 1840) of Bakewell. She and her two unmarried sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were confectioners in Bakewell in 1841. By 1851, Elizabeth had married, leaving Mary Ann and Maria to run the business. The GRO Death Index (presented online by FreeBMD) confirms that Mary Ann died in 1855. Stuart Hill very kindly confirmed (via the DerbysGen Mailing List) that she was buried at All Saints four days later, on 3 February 1855.

Cabinet Cards - superior portraits from "High Art" photographers

The next style of photograph to be introduced for popular consumption after the carte de visite was the cabinet card. They were substantially larger than the cdv, and were clearly aimed at the upper end of the market. Although the format - a 4"x5½" photographic albumen print mounted on 4¼"x6½" card stock - was originally introduced in 1863, it was not until the mid-1870s that it became popular; this trend reached its peak between the early 1880s and the late-1890s.


One advantage of the larger format was that it enabled more detailed portraits to be produced, such as this fine vignetted head-and shoulders presentation of a young man. It was taken at the studio of W.M. Phillips in the port town of Southampton (60 Oxford Street), probably in the late 1880s, and I presume that the subject is wearing the uniform and cap of the merchant navy.


The larger area also made the task of producing less cluttered, more relaxed group portraits a great deal easier. This nicely arranged family group, probably consisting of a father with his three sons, was taken at the studio of the Burton Brothers of Dunedin, on the South Island of New Zealand.

Alfred and Walter Burton were sons of John Burton, who had started a photographic studio in the town of Leicester (England) in the late 1850s. After working with their father in England, and helping to open and run several branch studios in Birmingham, Nottingham and Derby in the early 1860s, they emigrated to New Zealand in the late 1860s. Here they developed a renowned partnership which lasted for a decade, before they split due to personal differences and went their separate ways. Alfred Burton travelled over much of New Zealand, taking magnificent landscape photographs (see below), while Walter Burton concentrated on portrait photography in Dunedin.


The Sutherland Falls Expedition. A survey party and two photographic teams at Milford Sound, New Zealand. October 1888. Taken by Burton Bros. of Dunedin. Courtesy of David Simkin.
The following advert by John Burton & Sons appeared in the Derby Mercury newspaper dated 15 May 1867 (kindly sent to me by Clyde Dissington, courtesy of The Magic Attic).


It draws attention to the cabinet portrait as "the New and Favouritre style" and as

"... the most pleasing style that has been introduced in Photography for some years. The increased size of this Portrait over the Carte de Visite offers facilities for rendering more fully the characteristics of the sitter; and it is well suited for framing, while it is equally adapted for an album."

References/Further Reading
Cabinet Card at Wikipedia
The Burton Brothers, by Tai Awatea/Knowledge Net from Te Papa Online
Burton Bros. A Portfolio of 11 South Island, New Zealand Views from the 1870s and 1880s, from PhotoForum