Using CDVs for professional promotion: Architectural

Cartes de visite were also used by other professionals to publicise of their work. This example, also sent to me by Nigel Aspdin, appears to have been used by an architect to promote his design for a new Post Office in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Nigel's great-grandfather Richard Wilkinson Aspdin "was appointed Postmaster of Wakefield in 1863 at which time he had been Postmaster of Derby for 10 years, Wakefield being his town of origin. The building in Market Street was indeed built, in 1876, and was still there in February 2005, in use as a nightclub."


Kelly's 1881 edition of the Directory of West Riding of Yorkshire explains:

The General Post Office, in Market street, is a handsome building of red brick, with stone dressings, opened August 1st, 1876.

... and lists:

Post, Money Order & Telegraph Office, Savings Bank & Government Annuity & Insurance Office, Market street (next to the United Methodist Free Church).
Postmaster - Richard Wilkinson Aspdin (Residence: York street, Northgate)

There were several architects in Wakefield in the 1870s, including William Crutchley (King street), Hammerton Lees (Lord Rodney yard, Westgate), Frederick Robinson (131 Northgate) and William Watson (Barstow square).


The photographer Warner Gothard advertised studio premises at "King Street & Wood St." Since the architect William Crutchley also had premises on King Street, it would be tempting to assume that he was the one to commission this cdv. However, Westgate, Northgate and Barstow square were all nearby, so it is more realistic to consider all four as potential architects of the Wakefield Post Office until further information is found.

Post Script - 31 August 2008

Nigel's photo (see comment)

Using Cabinet Cards for Self-Promotion

Carte de visites and, to a lesser extent, cabinet cards were also ocasionally used as a means of a more personal type of advertisement. My friend Tippie from Hampton, New Hampshire very kindly sent me this wonderful cabinet card which was in a small collection put together some years ago by her late father Louis DuBois, a keen amateur photographer.

The photo shows a moustached man, apparently a preacher, with his wife and two sons, in front of a blackboard, on which is written the "good word" that he is preparing to spread. The reverse reveals an even more extraordinary example of self promotion:

TO THE PUBLIC

I find that, wherever I go, there is a certain class of men disposing of my photograph. Were the prices not so exorbitant and the picture a poor copy, I should not object. But since my friends are so imposed upon, I have had this picture taken, and will dispose of it for FIVE CENTS, or for less, or for nothing; and will continue to issue them as God gives me funds.

Arthur A. Waite
Whose highest ambition is to be
THE CHILDREN'S FRIEND

NOTICE

I furnish these pictures to Rev. Mr. Waite for five and one-third cents each, by the thousands.

H.J. REED, Photographer,
406 Main Street, Worcester, Mass.

I couldn't really believe Arthur Waite's claim that other people were distributing photographs of him, let alone selling them, so I wondered whether this was a rather blatant form of solicitation for the purposes of preaching God's word, or perhaps a complete confidence trick. Was he really a "Reverend"? And what on earth was a "children's friend"? I spent some time doing background research on Waite, and discovered that he did leave paper trail.

Arthur A. Waite was born around September 1849 in St Louis, Missouri, son of a portrait painter and Justice of the Peace, Liberty Waite and his second wife Mary Ann née McKeen. He married Hellen A. Flagg in that city in June 1868, and their first son Arthur C. was born in April the following spring. Between then and 1873, when a second son Henry was born, they moved to Tennessee, and then again to New York before December 1897, when a daughter Minnie was born. The 1880 Census shows Arthur living with wife and three children at 20 Independent, Newburyport, Essex County, Massachusetts, and described himself as a preacher. I've been unable to find them in the 1870 Census, and by 1900 Arthur had died, leaving his widow and elder son living at 871 Western Avenue, Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts. Nor have I found any documentary evidence of his proselytizing.

It appears that the two boys in the photograph were probably his sons Arthur and Henry. If so, then the photo was probably taken c. 1877-1878. The photographer H.J. Reed operated from studios at various loations in Worcester, Massachusetts from the 1860s at least until around the turn of the century. Does anyone else have any ideas about this photo and how to find out more about the subjects?

Use of the carte de visite as an advertisement

Nigel Aspdin sent me another example of a carte de visite published by The London Stereoscopic Company, but this one is not a photographic portrait. Instead it is a reproduction of a famous painting - the title reads, "Copy of the Stolen 'Duchess of Devonshire' by Gainsborough." Actually, it looks to me as if it is a photographic reproduction of an engraved copy of the painting, rather than a photograph of the painting itself.


Reading the text printed on the reverse of the mount provides an explanation of the purpose of the carte:

This celebrated picture was purchased by Messrs. AGNEW, at the sale of the late Mr. WYNN ELLIS'S pictures, for the enormous sum of £10,605. When on exhibition in Bond Street, it was stolen on the night of the 25th of May, being cut out of the frame. £1,000 is offered by Messrs. AGNES for the recovery of the picture, and conviction of the theif or thieves. Photographed by kind permission of Henry Graves, Esq., Pall Mall.

Wikipedia, in an article entitled, "Famous Cases of Art Theft," provided an answer as to what eventually happened to it:

In 1878, burglar Adam Worth stole Gainsborough's The Duchess of Devonshire from London art dealers Agnew & Agnew, which he used to negotiate the release of an accomplice from prison. However, as Worth's friend had already been freed, he demanded a ransom instead, which would finally be negotiated for an undisclosed amount in 1901.

The portrait, which was eventually purchased in the 1990s by Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, for the Chatsworth collection, is partly reproduced in an article about the Duchess's life on Wikipedia. It was once said of the Duchess that, "a man could light his pipe by the fire in her eyes"! A more complete story of the fascinating history of the painting is given in a chapter of Joseph Geringer's book, Adam Worth: The World in His Pocket (The Crime Library).

CDVs - a new Medium for Portraits of Famous People

I've written in a previous post about how the carte de visite became wildly popular in the 1860s, mostly due to its low cost. Part of this popularity appears to have been due to the new fad for collecting pictures of famous people. Such cdvs are now enjoying a resurgence in popularity, and can fetch considerable prices on eBay. Reproduced below are two from my own collection.


As a young man Robert Moffat (1795-1883) was sent by the London Missionary Society to Africa in 1816. He and his wife Mary settled at Kuruman, where they built a mission and remained there until 1870, when they returned to England. They had ten children, their oldest daughter Mary marrying famous African explorer, David Livingstone (1813-1873). During his time in southern Africa, Moffat made several journeys into neighbouring regions such as Matabeleland (later in Rhodesia, now part of Zimbabwe), and published accounts of the trips both through the Royal Geographic Society and as a book, Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa (1842). His grandson Howard Unwin Moffat (1869-1951) subsequently served as prime minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1927 to 1933. According to Wikipedia, "His government passed the 1930 Land Apportionment Act, which defined the pattern of land allocation and ownership and is viewed as being one of the ultimate causes of the land disputes in Zimbabwe from 2000." To explain my interest in this particular cdv, one of Robert's descendants was a friend of mine while I was a school boy growing up in the Eastern Districts of Rhodesia.


The pair in the second example were amongst the most popular non-royal subjects for cartes de visite in the 1860s and 1870s, which was probably the heyday for the Victorian phase of this collecting craze. Mr & Mrs General Tom Thumb were creations of the impresario P.T. Barnum (of Barnum & Bailey fame). The midgets' real names were Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-1883) and Lavinia Warren Bump (1841-1919). (Of course, he wasn't a general at all, or even a soldier.) They were married on 10 February 1863 at Grace Episcopal Church, New York City, the reception at the Metropolitan Hotel being a huge social occasion with over 2000 guests. This particular portrait appears to be one of a series taken by reknowned American photographer Mathew Brady (1822-1896) on the day of the wedding, and subsequently licensed to E. & H.T. Anthony, publishers of 501 Broadway, New York. An article forming part of a presentation of Brady's portraits by the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution includes the following:

Mr. and Mrs. General Tom Thumb
On February 10, 1863, "The Little Queen of Beauty" married international celebrity "General Tom Thumb" in a lavish ceremony at New York's fashionable Grace Church. The two performers enjoyed a true romance before announcing their engagement, which Tom Thumb's employer, P. T. Barnum , promoted to the hilt. For weeks before the wedding, crowds of 20,000 or more paid $3,000 a day to see the bride-to-be and her engagement ring. Barnum received 15,000 requests for tickets to the reception (which cost $75 each). On the wedding day, crowds blocked Broadway for hours, and newspapers published pages of detailed descriptions of the "Fairy Wedding," the gifts and the guests, who included New York's most fashionable families. Barnum completed the wedding party with best man "Commodore" George Nutt and Minnie Bump, Lavinia's actual sister, and for years the group toured the globe, eventually reaching Japan, China, Australia, and India. Brady made many carte-de-visite photographs in preparation for the wedding, an arrangement that doubtless profited everyone, including the performers, who sold portraits wherever they appeared.

Another of Brady's portraits, including the bridal couple with the officiating minister and witnesses, "Commodore" G.W.M Nutt (another of Barnum's protegés) and Lavinia's sister Minnie Warren, is shown below.


I was intrigued by the "signatures" of Charles and Lavinia Stratton on the reverse of the card mount, imagining the happy couple signing thousands upon thousands of them. However, a close examination and comparison with other examples found on the net show that they are not just similar, but identical, and must be printed facsimiles printed on the card. The carte de visite shown below, currently attracting bids of over £40 on eBay, picturing Minnie Warren and Charles and Lavinia Stratton, may have been taken in London on one of their visits to England, and published by the ubiquitous London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company (who also produced the Robert Moffat cdv above).


Another feature of these portraits of famous people - at least on those from the US - is that they were often blind stamped with marks, symbols or monograms, possibly indicating that the photographs had been copyrighted. Two of these (a flag and the initials CAW, or perhaps GAW/GWA/WAG) can be seen on the reverse of the London Stereoscopic cdv of the Stratton-Warren family above. The cdv of the Strattons published by Anthony shows similar, but not identical, blind stamp marks on the front. If any reader can shed light on these marks, what they mean, and how to interpret them, I would be most grateful (email me).

The 1900s - large hats and large format mounts

Another W.W. Winter image sent to me by Nigel Aspdin, this time of a member of his own family, typifies the photographic portraits employing large format card mounts which became very popular after the turn of the century (although they appear to have been first introduced in the late 1890s). In this particular example, the mount measures 201 x 246 mm (although it has probably been trimmed) and the photo itself 100 x 142 mm. Many of the portraits which include women are also characterised by enormous hats, a fashion accessory which became very popular at around this time. The photographic prints used were usually of a similar size to those produced for cabinet cards, but the card mounts were much larger. This resulted in a broad margin which was often embellished with printed, embossed or blind stamped decoration.


Nigel's photo shows a young woman, perhaps in her twenties, with a lacy top and a wide brimmed hat (if indeed it can be called a hat - it looks more like a large bird's nest to me). Nigel believed the portrait to be of Maria Amelia Slater née Smith (1834-1913), daughter of John Smith, clockmaker of Derby, and wife of William Slater, stone merchant and lessee operator of Coxbench Quarry.

I have a pair of small round framed portraits of a "couple", one certainly my great-grandfather William Slater, and the other is [a copy of] this particular portrait. I feel very confident that it is his wife ... This mounted photograph is certainly printed and mounted after 1895 and possibly as late as 1913, if prepared for her daughters upon her death, from earlier material. If the subject is, say, 35 in the photograph, this would date the original photograph as about 1870... The small framed portraits were not taken at the same time [as each other] and they are framed in an amateur way, perhaps 1910-1930, but the fact that they are framed as a pair does, I feel, indicate "Mother and Father" ... The "Miss" Slater [written in pencil on the reverse of the mount] suggests to me that the print was done by one of the daughters, probably on the death of the subject in 1913. Two of the three daughters were still at home.

My own analysis of the photograph produced a somewhat different conclusion. The card mount size and design on the reverse is of a type used by W.W. Winter from about 1898 until 1905-ish. The negative number (119073) also suggests that the photograph was produced in the early 1900s, although it could conceivably still have been a new negative of an older print. However, the style of clothing is, to me, contemporary with the card mount: the lace shawl covering her shoulders and large hat on her head is typical of the early 1900s, and I think very unlikely to have been taken much earlier than about 1898. I suggested to Nigel, therefore, that it might rather be a portrait of a daughter of Maria Amelia Slater. After some deliberation, Nigel responded:

I had for a long time carelessly assumed that as these two photos existed in identical small frames (in those frames they are small and old prints which also exist as larger formal prints) that they were William Slater and his wife whereas it is now clear to be that it is William Slater and his daughter, Alice. The correct details [for the subject are now:

Alice Elisabeth Slater, born 3 Jan 1879, died 22 or 23 Dec 1956, eldest daughter of William Slater of 19 Vernon St, Derby, stone merchant & lessee operator of Coxbench Quarry, and partner of W.H. & J. Slater Brick and Pipe Works, Denby (near Ripley), and builders, Walker & Slater, Derby. She married Percy Hassal(l) Mellor On October 30 1907. I think therefore that the date of the photo could well be 1907, she would have been 28, that looks realistic.

Incidentally it has always been said that she was a suffragette and that when the census was taken she did not want to appear in it, so she slept the night in the office here at 19 Vernon street, the family home. (There was then no connecting door to the offices). She would have relied on my Great Grandfather to omit her when he completed the form that evening, and the family believed he did so. But when the 1901 census was published I was unsurprised to see that he did include her correctly !

Thanks for the image and the anecdote, Nigel. The photograph and story fit in perfectly with my mental image of Emily Pankhurst and the suffragettes.

P.S. This image sent to me by Nigel shows a somewhat different Alice Mellor, in a rather intriguing portrait taken in June 1918 by W.H. Puddicombe of Bideford (Devon). Any ideas what the outfit and rake were supposed to mean?


P.P.S. The web site of the Imperial War Museum has a feature entitled, "No job for a woman: The effects of war on womens' lives during the 20th and 21st centuries," which has a gallery of photographs of women doing various jobs normally done by men during the First World War. One of these is a woman in the Women's Forestry Corps, dressed in very similar clothes (see below) to those worn by Alice Mellor.


Bearing in mind that Alice's photo was taken in June 1918, it seems likely that she was occupied in some sort of agricultural work for the war effort. The creation of the Women's Land Army in 1917, was a response to the need to maintain agricultural production, when men working in that sector were being called up to the army to combat Germany's U-Boat campaign. I can also see her fitting right into this propaganda poster developed for recruitment purposes (from the Posters Collection on Michael Duffy's excellent First World War web site). In fact, the clothes are so similar - the hat, the short coat with broad belt, the sturdy shoes, the puttees up to just below the knees, all designed for working in the fields - I think it is probably a uniform!