Three Men and a Pipe ... to say nothing of the dog!

And Montmorency, standing on his hind legs ... gave a short bark of decided concurrence ...

Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome

Mr. Gilchrist finds it uproariously funny - possibly he made the joke himself. Pilkington, cigarette in hand and standing somewhat aloof from it all, is amused enough to crack a smile. Poor Old Joe has to contain his mirth for fear of losing the pipe clamped firmly between his teeth. We could make any number of guesses as to what they're laughing about but, more importantly, who the heck are they?


This photograph, simultaneously delightful and perplexing, has proved a conundrum for my father and I for many years. There is no doubt that it emanates from the family photo collection - that is to say my family from Derbyshire, England - but nobody recognises the subjects or the location, or has any idea of its early provenance or history. It's always nice to have annotations on a photograph, but in this case they raise more questions rather than providing answers. Neither Gilchrist nor Pilkington are names that I've ever come across in my family history research, and my father, when he was alive, said they meant nothing to him either. Joseph, the presumed proper name of "Poor Old Joe," is one that our family does not appear to have been very keen on. Among my ancestors I have plenty of Johns and Jans, a few James's, even a Jabez alive in the last century or so, but only one Joseph way back in the relative obscurity of the 1600s.

So ... what to do with a photograph such as this one? The easiest course of action would be to assume that they were just family friends, that it has no great significance, put it at the bottom of the orphan pile and forget about it. The trouble is, I've already done that, several times, and it has resurfaced once again, so I've decided to post it here and see if crowdsourcing will prove a better means of solving the mystery.

The black and white print (155 x 107 mm or 6" x 4") is triple-mounted (if that's the correct term to use) on a large piece of greenish-grey card measuring 254 x 200 mm (10" x 8"), and is rather hastily annotated in black ink on the front. There is nothing on the reverse


My father and I both convinced ourselves that the photograph was taken somewhere in southern Africa. It is not just the colonial whites and Panama hat worn by Poor Old Joe that have brought us to this conclusion. Having grown up in southern Africa, the verandah or stoep, partially closed in by wooden framework festooned with ivy and other creepers, and the particular style of stonework, possibly dressed sandstone, is very familiar. This 17 September 1962 shot of me on the verandah of our house, originally built in 1906 for the manager of Cecil John Rhodes' Inyanga estate Fruitfields, shows very similar stonework, albeit granite rather than sandstone, and I'll grant that it may have been a common building style of that era all over the world. There is not much to make out within the shadowy confines of the verandah, except perhaps the panels of an internal door (or panes of a window, or even a pair of notice boards) on the left.


Pilkington's square-cut jacket and straight-leg uniform trousers, starched white collar, peaked cap, single chevron on his cuffs, cap and collar badges, and even a chain with fob watch (or whistle) tucked hurriedly into a waistcoat pocket, are very much suggestive of those worn by railway porters or ticket collectors. This has reinforced our feeling that the building may be a railway station. The rather rough and uneven nature of the boulders forming the higgledy-piggledy border of what might generously be termed a "flower bed" in front if the building suggest that it is probably not situated within a major town.


Elands Falls between Waterval Boven & Waterval Onder
Mpumalanga, South Africa, 13 June 2008
Image © and courtesy of Hallam Payne
Where could it be? Prior to my father emigrating to what was then Southern Rhodesia in 1952, and apart from brief forays to the United States and Canada in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the family had been pretty firmly fixed in the English Midlands. The only time that my father could recall Africa being mentioned in connection with any family, was that a family member had been in a place called Waterval Boven or Watervaal Onder. Perhaps it was the strange sounding name that caused it to stick in my father's memory - sadly the name of the person and other details such as when it happened did not. These two small towns are in the eastern Mpumalanga (formerly Transvaal) Province of South Africa, at the top and bottom, respectively, of a dramatic escarpment over which the Elands River cascades, forming a backdrop to what my brother describes as a spectacular rock climbing destination.

From the style of the mount and the clothes worn by the subjects, this photograph looks to me as though it was taken around the turn of the century - but prior to the First World War - give or take a few years, say between 1895 and 1910. The railway being constructed from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria, via Komatipoort, reached the foot of the escarpment in March 1894, and a rack railway and curving tunnel were built to take the track up the steep gradient. Waterval Boven is also celebrated as where President Paul Kruger lived briefly in 1900, before going into exile in Austria. Could this be a railway station at one of the two towns?


Cabinet card of the family of Joseph & Phoebe Benfield
by Eric Morley of Walsall, c.1897-1898
Image © and courtesy of Barbara Ellison
I have discovered, in the last few years of research, a family member who was in southern Africa at about this time, and his name was Joe! Joseph Benfield (1855-1900), otherwise known as Joe, was my grandfather Leslie Payne's first cousin, shown above with his wife Phoebe and their eleven children. The youngest child Ada, born on 25 June 1894, looks to me to be about three years old, which suggests a date of about 1897 or 1898 for the portrait. Joseph was, like his father, a blacksmith, his older sons all following him into various aspects of the family business in Walsall, Staffordshire, coincidentally the birth place of the author of the lines which adorn the head of this article.


Detail from Patent No. 463,474, 17 Nov 1891, J. Benfield, Horseshoe
Image © and courtesy of Google Books
Joe Benfield was, it seems, something of a dreamer as well as entrepreneur. He journeyed to New York in October 1894 and March 1895, giving his profession respectively as farrier and inventor, so presumably the trips related to the patents (463474, 541956 and 543976) that he registered for nail-less, soft-tread and other horseshoes between 1891 and 1895. In 1897 He sailed with his second son Thomas from London to the Cape. The two of them returned from Delagoa Bay, in Portuguese East Africa (later Lourenco Marques, now Maputo in Mozambique) on board the Pembroke Castle, arriving in London in April 1899, and describing themselves as smith and fitter respectively. What they did while they were out there is not clear, but I believe it likely that they worked on the railways, which were at the time undergoing a period of rapid expansion. Joseph subsequently went out a second time on his own. According to his grandson Bill Benfield, "Thomas was to follow his Dad on his second visit but Joseph died out there, so Thomas stayed home to help Phoebe bring up the children."


Rua Conselheiro Ennes, Beira, c.1905
Postcard published by The Rhodesia Trading Co. Ltd., Beira.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
His death on 17 February 1900 at Beira, Mozambique was reported to the British Consulate in that town by Messrs. Pauling & Co. Ltd by letter two days later. The profession was shown as "fitter," but no cause of death was given. George Pauling was a railway contractor, responsible for the construction of many of the railways in Southern and Eastern Africa after 1895, and it seems almost certain that Joe Benfield was employed on the widening of the Beira-Umtali portion of the Beira-Mashonaland Railway from 2'6" to 3'6" gauge. A more detailed discussion of that aspect of the story must wait for another time.


Could "Poor Old Joe" be Joseph Benfield? Comparing photographs of the two (above) make it seem unlikely, but if not then who else might it be?


A couple of years ago my aunt in Derbyshire kindly let my brother and I scan her entire collection of old family photographs. Among these were two loose sepia paper prints (above and below) about which she knew absolutely nothing, rather tatty, but clearly amateur efforts with some writing on the back (images here and here).

This is our house. The bay windows belong to our living room with the alcove on the left making a cosy corner. The fireplace in the building seen is our bedroom once a billiard room on the right the trees line Noord St down which the trams run to the centre of town & Park Station is only accross [sic] the road. Meade took this from the furthest corner of the Garden. the front door is on the other side showing an old fountain.

Mr. Napper has been trying to persuade Bobbie to go on the horse but he says no he will go another time.

A quick Google of "Noord Street" and "Park Station" shows that this address is right in the heart of what is modern day Johannesburg, South Africa, or as the residents might refer to it, "downtown Jo'burg." I vividly remember emerging from the Park Station to an very unfamiliar environment early one evening in the early 1980s. It was a daunting and potentially dangerous situation, from which I fortunately emerged completely unscathed, but very different to how it must have been some eighty years earlier, when I assume these photographs were taken, i.e. c.1900-1910.


Given that they appear to emanate from the same part of the world, and were taken around the same time as the "Poor Old Joe" photograph, I thought I'd compare the writing on the backs of these two photographs with the annotations on the front of the larger format mounted print.


The handwriting is similar, and while there are some differences, there is enough variation in the writing of individual letters in each cases to suggest that they might have been written by the same person. However, I've been unable to make up my mind conclusively whether or not they were.


Perhaps readers can have a look at these images, and the full images linked to above, and tell me what you think? I'm not familiar enough yet with South African family history resources to have found either maps of the central part of Johannesburg or city directories from that era, and while I look further I'd welcome any assistance or suggestions. If the names Gilchrist, Pilkington, Napper and Meade ring any bells with other South African researchers, I'd be very pleased to hear from you, either in the form of a comment below, or by email.

Edward Foster, silhouettist - Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, I discussed the circumstances surrounding Derby centenarian Edward Foster's visit to John Burton & Sons' portrait studio in Victoria Street, Derby on 8 November 1864. The sitting was beneficial to both parties, the relatively new Burton branch studio achieving a kind of celebrity endorsement, and Mr Foster a handy set of cartes de visite to hand out to friends, business acquaintances and prospective purchasers of his products. Whether money actually changed hands or not - Foster was a canny businessman, even in his advanced years - is probably a moot point. The fact that two copies of the portrait have already surfaced probably means that many more were produced.

I wrote previously that I would continue in the second of the series with a discussion of Edward Foster's early life in the military and his career as a silhouettist. I'm going to amend that slightly, leaving the early part of Foster's life to deal with in due course, and talk here about the latter part of his career which has left a lasting and verifiable record. As alluded to earlier, Foster himself had spent a good portion of his life producing likenesses of people, in the pre-photographic era, and it was probably the advent of popular photographic portraiture that forced him to seek an alternative means of making a living, much as happened to William Seville some years later.


Miniature portrait, reputedly of Edward Foster as a young man
Source unknown [2]
It is not clear exactly when Edward Foster, in the words of Mr. Henry Adams, editor of the Derby Reporter, giving a speech at a party held in honour of Foster's 100th birthday on Saturday 8th November 1862, "turned his attention to the fine arts." In a potted biography, presumably supplied by Foster himself, Adams stated that after retiring from the army in October 1805, "being of an active turn of mind, and having also a taste for the fine arts, he in the first instance invented and patented a machine; and in the second instance," became an artist [3]. McKechnie (1978) surmises that he had already tried his hand at painting profiles during his service in the army, and notes the existence of "profiles of soldiers (with the sitter's face in black, and his uniform in colour) which have the appearance of Foster's work." [4]

In an account supplied to a reporter from The Leicester Chronicle soon after his birthday celebration, he stated that:

... he soon after [leaving the army] obtained the office of portrait painter to the Royal Family, and had apartments allotted to him in the round tower at Windsor Castle ... Afterwards, he exercised his profession in various towns in the kingdom, and took the portraits of Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, and many other distinguished characters of the day.

In the same article, the writer reports being shown the entries in Foster's ledgers for visits made to Leicester in 1808 and 1818 [5].


Advertisment in The Leeds Mercury, 17 June 1809

The first indisputable contemporary evidence found during this study, however, of Foster's commercial artistic activity is an advertisement that he placed in The Leeds Mercury of 17 June 1809 [6]. The words "By His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent" suggest that a Royal patent had been granted for the newly invented machine for sketching profiles in a short space of time, accurately and in great detail, although Foster in this particular case neither implicitly states that he was the inventor of the machine nor the grantee of the patent. Later descriptions of the machine render it likely to have been a pantograph, or at the least an adaptation of one, which had been invented at least some two centuries earlier [7], but was perhaps not in common everyday use.

Edward Foster, stating that he was "from London," was clearly producing black profiles at Harrogate in Leeds (Yorkshire) for a price of five shillings each at this time, but there is no mention here of any appointment as painter to the Royal family. His trade labels, affixed to the reverse of the framed silhouettes, also stated "from London" and McKechnie presumes this to mean that it was in London where he started his artistic career [4].


Advertisment in The Hull Packet, 26 December 1809

Six months later he was in Hull, also in Yorkshire, and had added the Royal coat of arms to his advertisement [8], as well as offering "profiles in black, at 5s. and upwards," suggesting an expansion of his repertoire. His marketing skills were also improving, with specimens of his work left displayed prominently at several shops dotted around town in order to drum up more commissions.

A similar advertisement in The Derby Mercury on 20 December 1810 stated that he had taken apartments for a short time, at Mr. Abbot's, trimmer, Friar Gate" in Derby [9] and he was still at the same premises at the beginning of January, with samples on display at Mr. Drewry's and Mr. Pritchards's, booksellers [10]. There was competition, however; a William Everitt advertised in the Mercury on 10 January that he had "taken 253 likenesses within the last 7 weeks." [11]


Reverse of framed silhouette showing Foster's trade label
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green
Foster may not have remained in Derby for long, existing trade labels suggesting that he was as far afield as Macclesfield [12] and Dover during the next three years [4], and further newspaper advertisements suggest a brief visit to Exeter in March-April 1812 [13].


Black profile of unidentified boy, c.1811-1814
Image © and courtesy of Peggy McClard Antiques
McKechnie describes the "black profile" of a young teenage boy with "his hair in the à la Brutus style" and a narrow shirt frill turned down at the neck as being typical of Foster's black profiles, and dates it as from c.1811-1814 [14]. Peggy McClard who, at the time of writing, owns this silhouette and kindly gave me permission to use the image, states:

This painted silhouette well represents Foster's "black profiles" in which he applied the black paint thinly then added detail with pigment added to gum arabic, and, sometimes, Chinese white. The frills of shirts were left without pigment (as in this silhouette). This 5 3/8" x 6 3/8" papier mâché frame is topped with one of Foster's trademark brass hangers bearing his name about the Royal crown.

Unlike many other silhouettists such as William Seville who cut them out of paper, Foster always painted his profiles.


Portrait of an unidentified lady, c.1814
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green
Cynthia McKinley describes another early black profile of a young woman by Foster [15] (shown above) as follows:

This is a silhouette portrait of an unknown lady wearing a day dress with a columnar neck culminating in a single ruff under her chin. She also has a fashionable turban which conceals all but a few curls of her hair. This is one of Foster's early 'black profiles' where the costume details have been carefully outlined using gum arabic. It dates to around 1814 and is set in a papier-mâché frame with a decorative surround and a bunch of grapes hanger.

Several newspaper adverts from 1815 and 1816 indicate that Foster was still touring the counties: he was in Oxford in January 1815, Bury in August, and Ipswich in January the following year [16,17,18]. McKechnie describes a trade label dating from c.1817 which indicate that Foster had been working "for the last Three Years, in the Counties of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire," and was currently "removed from the Promenade, to Mr. Batchelor's, adjoining Hargrove's Library, High Harrogate," presumably in Leeds.

Foster recorded in his ledger a visit to Leicester in 1818, and the Chronicle reporter wrote:

... While here ... he married Miss Elizabeth Ward, niece of Mr. John Ireland, who for many years carried on the business of a bookseller on the premises where the Chronicle is now published." [5]

This is supported by an entry in the Leicester St Margaret parish registers, showing that they were married on 10 October 1818 [19]. Their son Edward Ward Foster is supposed to have been born at London on 3 August 1819 [19].


Profile of Thomas Marseille of Canterbury, by Edward Foster, 1822
Image © and collection of Brett Payne [20]
This profile of Canterbury gentleman Thomas Marseille, dated 1822, is in the "red" style that Foster painted later in his career [20]. Desmond Coke, in his book The Art of Silhouette, praises Foster's originality, experimentation and innovation, refers to him rather extravagantly as "the very Post-Impressionist of Silhouette," and suggests that his choice in frames showed that he considered himself an artist rather than mere showman [21].


Profile of Captain Samuel Hadlock, by Edward Foster, dated 1824
Image © and courtesy of Islesford Historical Society Museum [22]
McKechnie shows Foster to have been working at 125, The Strand in that year, at Needham Market, Suffolk in 1820 and in Preston and Liverpool in 1823 [4], so it is obvious that he was still travelling widely. The silhouette portrait of American entrepreneur showman Captain Samuel Hadlock, Jr. was almost certainly done in London in 1824 [22].


Profile of Mr Paley, Iron Works, Bradford, by Edward Foster, 1825
Image © and courtesy of Richard Mole, Antique Dealers & Restorers [24]
The red profile of Mr Paley could that of John Green Paley (1774-1860), partner in the Bowling Iron Works near Bradford for about 40 years from c. 1798, or his son, another John Green Paley (1807-1852), although the latter would have been only 17 or 18 years old at the time [25].


Profiles of Miss and Mr Musgrave, by Edward Foster, undated
Images © and courtesy of Peggy McClard Antiques & Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green
The portraits of the bald-headed Mr. Musgrave [26], in his double-breasted coat and frilled chemise, and his fashionably attired daughter Miss Musgrave [27] are also typical of Foster's red profiles. Peggy McClard describes the latter as follows:

Foster painted her in Venetian red with gilt embellishment for her lovely hair pulled into a low knot with braids to either temple. Gold embellishment also details her gold hoop earrings and beaded necklace. The gauzy fabric of her low cut dress is depicted by Foster's "three-dot technique" of using three small, closely spaced dots to indicate transparency. Her dress is belted just below her bosom.

The portraits are sadly undated, but I think it a possibility that they were from the mid-to late 1820s rather than c.1811, as suggested by McKechnie [4].


Profiles of two unidentified children, by Edward Foster,
dated 1823 (left) and 1827 (right)
Images © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green [28]
These two charming profiles of children, and that of a magnificently bonneted woman (below) - kindly sent to me by Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green - on the other hand, are all signed and dated by Foster.


Profile of unidentified woman, by Edward Foster, 1827
Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green [29]
Foster was in Huddersfield in 1825, and there is possibility that he settled there for a while, although McKechnie shows him at Windsor in 1832 [4]. In December 1863, after the celebration of his 101st birthday, The Derby Mercury reported that Foster had "been invited to a public dinner at Huddersfield, where he resided for many years, and held an official position in the Court Leet. [23]


Profile of Marguerite Gardiner (1789-1849), Countess of Blessington
by Edward Foster, dated 1829
from The History of Silhouettes by E.N. Jackson [33]
Whether or not this was true, it appears that by late 1832, Foster was experiencing some financial difficulties. A notice for proceedings of bankruptcy against "Edward Foster, Huddersfield, carver" appeared in The Derby Mercury of 14 November 1832, followed by a notice of the sale of original paintings belonging to Foster at his "premises ... in New Street, Huddersfield ... on Thursday, the 27th June 1833." [30,31]


Advertisement from The Derby Mercury, 25 Dec 1833
Image © 19th Century British Library Newspapers & courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning
To recover from this setback, he appears to have moved to Derby very soon afterward, setting up in premises - probably shared - at 43 Corn Market, and announcing his presence to potential customers on Christmas Day with some panache [32]:

A CARD.
---FOSTER, Carver, Gilder, Looking Glass, and Picture Frame Manufacturer, Printseller, Miniature Painter, Profilist and General Artist,
No. 43, CORN MARKET, DERBY
Paintings Cleaned, Lined, Repaired and Varnished

Profile of unidentified man, by Edward Foster, 1833
Image © and courtesy of Richard Mole, Antique Dealers & Restorers [34]
That Foster was still actively painting profiles is demonstrated by this portrait of an unidentified man, signed and dated, 1833 [34]. Both editions of Pigot & Co.'s trade directories published in 1835 and 1842 show Edward Foster as a carver and gilder in the Market place, Derby, suggesting a period of relative stability for the family [35,36], but Foster himself apparently continued to travel widely. McKechnie provides details of two advertisements appearing in the Windsor & Eton Express in July 1838 announcing his intention to be available in Windsor, presumably to take profiles [4].

Just when he ceased painting profiles is not yet clear, but the mid-1830s saw a shift in focus for his career which I will discuss in the next article of this series.

I would like to thank, in particular, Cynthia McKinley and Peggy McClard, who have been of great help in researching this period of Edward Foster's life, and have been most generous with sharing images of Foster profiles. If any reader has profiles by Foster, particularly if dated and where the subject may be identified, I would be very keen to hear from you, as it may well add usefully to what we know of his movements.

References

[1] Carte de visite portrait of Edward Foster, dated 8 November 1864, by John Burton & Sons of Leicester, Derby, Birmingham, Nottingham & Burton-upon-Trent, Collection of Virginia Silvester, Reproduced by permission.

[2] Image of Miniature portrait, reputedly of Edward Foster, unknown origin.

[3] Congratulatory Dinner to a Centenarian, The Derby Mercury, 12 November 1862. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[4] 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)

[5] Mr. Edward Foster, the Centenarian, The Leicester Chronicle, 22 November 1862. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[6] Advertisment, The Leeds Mercury, 17 June 1809. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[7] Pantograph, from Wikipedia.

[8] Advertisment, The Hull Packet, 26 December 1809. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[9] Advertisment, The Derby Mercury, 20 December 1810. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[10] Advertisment, The Derby Mercury, 3 January 1811. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[11] Advertisment, The Derby Mercury, 10 January 1811. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[12] Image of Foster's trade label, undated. Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green.

[13] Articles & Advertisments, Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, 19 March & 16 April 1811. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[14] Antique Silhouette of Young Boy by Edward Foster, Image © and courtesy of Peggy McClard Antiques.

[15] Portrait of an unidentified lady, Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley & Wigs on the Green

[16] Advertisement, Jackson's Oxford Journal, 28 Jan 1815. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[17] Advertisement, The Bury & Norwich Post, 2 & 9 Aug 1815. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[18] Article, The Ipswich Journal, 27 Jan 1816. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[19] International Genealogical Index (IGI), from the LDS Church's FamilySearch web site.

[20] Profile of Thomas Marseille (1759-1831) of Canterbury, by Edward Foster, 1822, Image © and collection of Brett Payne.

[21] Coke, Desmond (1913) The Art of Silhouette, M. Secker, 230p. Google Books.

[22] Feest, Christian F. (1999) Indians and Europe: an interdisciplinary collection of essays. University of Nebraska Press, 643pp. (p. 219) ISBN 0803268971. Courtesy of Google Books.

[23] Article, The Derby Mercury, 9 December 1863. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[24] Profile of Mr Paley, Iron Works, Bradford, by Edward Foster, 1825, Image © and courtesy of Richard Mole, Antique Dealers & Restorers.

[25] Paley Family Tree, by John Attfield

[26] Profile of Miss Musgrave, by Edward Foster, Image © and courtesy of Peggy McClard Antiques

[27] Profile of Mr Musgrave, by Edward Foster, Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green

[28] Profiles of two unidentified children, by Edward Foster, dated 1823 & 1827, Images © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green

[29] Profile of unidentified woman, by Edward Foster, dated 1827, Image © and courtesy of Cynthia McKinley of Wigs on the Green

[30] Bankruptcy notice for Edward Foster, Huddersfield, carver, 23 Nov, 31 Dec., The Derby Mercury, 14 Nov 1832. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[31] Sale of original paintings under Foster's Bankruptcy, The Leeds Mercury, 22 Jun 1833. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[32] Bankruptcy notice for Edward Foster, Huddersfield, carver, 23 Nov, 31 Dec., The Derby Mercury, 25 Dec 1833. 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Gale CENGAGE Learning.

[33] Jackson, Emily Nevill (1911) The History of Silhouettes, The Connoisseur, London, 121p. Archive.org

[34] Profile of unidentified man, by Edward Foster, 1833, Image © and courtesy of Richard Mole, Antique Dealers & Restorers.

[35] Anon (1835) Pigot & Co.'s National Commercial Directory, London: J. Pigot & Co. University of Leicester's Historical Directories.

[36] Anon (1842) Pigot & Co.'s Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography, London: J. Pigot & Co., July 1842. University of Leicester's Historical Directories.

A family tintype portrait from the 1890s

A few months ago Patti Browning sent me a detailed scan of a full plate tin/ferrotype in her possession which she was trying to date. This outdoors family portrait, probably by an itinerant photographer, was a very interesting photograph to investigate. It also taught me quite a bit about the need to look very carefully at the physical aspects of a photograph, not merely the subject matter. Rather than repeating myself, I thought I'd send readers over to Patti's blog Consanguinity to see a detailed image and an analysis. Patti and I both would be very keen to hear from anyone who can spot any further interesting features, or who might have further comments to make.

Portrait of a portraitist and local celebrity: Edward Foster (1762-1865) - Part 1

A couple of years ago Virginia Silvester sent me these intriguing scans of the front and reverse of a carte de visite portrait (1) by John Burton & Sons (2) in her collection of old family photographs, an almost identical view to one that I had scanned at the Derby Local Studies Library (3) a few months earlier.


By the time John Burton and his sons opened their third branch studio on the top floor above the bookshop of Messrs. Clulow & Sons in Victoria Street, Derby on 2 February 1863 (4, 5), they had half a decade of experience in the photographic business. They demonstrated not merely a proficiency in portraiture, but also some considerable astuteness in the marketing of their services. Faced with stiff competition from well established practitioners such as Thomas Roberts, James Brennen, George Bristow, E.N. Charles, William Pearson and Richard Keene, a pliable reporter from The Derby Mercury was inivited to the gallery. He duly supplemented the first of a regular series of Burton & Sons advertisements in that newspaper with a most favourable report (6):

"... we have since had an opportunity of inspecting a very large number of Mr. Burton's specimens. In one very large and handsome group of Volunteer officers these qualities are as palpable as in the exquisitely beautiful cartes-de-visite; and in the portraits of Lord and Lady Stamford delicate colouring is also apparent. Mr. Burton has succeeded in producing an admirably correct group of portraits of Ensign Turner, Colour-Sergeant Pratt, and Corporal Clulow, of the Derby Volunteers, in uniform. A visit to Mr. Burton' s Gallery, at Messrs. Clulow's, will afford very agreeable entertainment to every man of taste.

This type of advertorial, hand in hand with the celebrity endorsement, was evidently an accepted practice even a century and a half ago. Hand coloured photographs of volunteer soldiers in magnificent uniforms - such as that shown above, from the Derby studio of John Roberts (7) - as well as genteel portraits of members of the higher echelons of Derby society, provided valuable draw cards for clients from among the "ordinary" folk of Derby.


The reporter in question may even have been the Henry Latimer Kemp (1832-1869), newspaper writer at The Derby Mercury, whose vignetted Burton studio portrait - shown above - has survived in the Derby Local Studies Library collection (8). The Burtons continued to entice a wide range of clientele into the studio, and were even prepared to venture further afield to capture the more important clients (9):

The pictures obtained by this firm ... are remarkable for their sharpness of detail and brilliancy of light and shade. In the cartes de visite of several county families, these excellences are strikingly prominent, particularly in those of the Earl of Harrington, and of other members of the family recently taken by the Messrs. Burton, at Elvaston Castle. The admiration of the lover of art will be excited by an inspection of some of their fine studies of dramatic characters now in the course of completion. Mr. John Coleman as Hamlet, and Miss Caroline Carson as the Queen, considered as examples of pure photography, may fairly claim to be numbered among the gems of this fascinating art.

An advertisement in early May boldly proclaimed the ultimate conquests, asserting Her Majesty the Queen, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and H.R.H. the Princess of Wales as recent studio patrons on successive days (10), although newspaper accounts of royal movements during this period (29 April to 1 May) by this author render such claims highly unlikely (11). Following a practice common to many practitioners around the country, however, they soon took the liberty of embellishing the reverse of their card mounts with the royal coat of arms and the names of their noble clients (as shown above). By December that year their newspaper advertisements included "the nobility and gentry of the Midland counties" among their valued customers, in additon to "extraordinary advantages for photographing children." (12)


In the 1864 edition of Wright's Midland Directory, probably compiled in late 1863, and by which time a fourth Burton branch had been opened in Burton-upon-Trent, the firm took out a whole page advertisement offering a wide range of services, including "animals with the instantaneous process," and with a substantial list of prestigious patrons (13).


On 5 April 1864 they announced their appointment as sole photographers to the Shakspere [sic] Tercentary Festival (14), and that they would be working from "a commodious gallery adjoining the pavilion" in Stratford-upon-Avon from Monday 18 April. This occasion presented further business opportunities to the burgeoning Burton & Sons portfolio: in addition to the usual "carte de visite and other portrait" services, they offered "a series of Shakespearean views, comprising all objects of interest in Stratford and the neighbourhood," each photograph bearing "a facsimile of the Committee's seal." (15) During the event, they made the most of the presence of a number of "musical celebrities who created and sustained the interest of the last great Triennial Festival at Birmingham," inducing them into his makeshift studio for individual sittings. The separate negatives were then innovatively combined in a single commemmorative print, inferring ""that these talented personages met by concerted arrangement in a spacious drawing room, and that while engaged in social converse, the photographer successfully plied his vocation," and subsequently "exhibit[ed] in the artist's window, at Messrs. Clulow's, Victoria street." (16)

Such an environment was eminently suitable for an invitation to a portrait sitting to be sent to Derby's man of the moment. A contemporary inscription handwritten in ink on the reverse of the card mount not only identifies the subject of Virginia's portrait, but also helpfully provides some clues to the circumstances surrounding the sitting:

Presented to E Hayman
by the original.
Ed. Foster Esq
Decr. 5 1864. Taken on his 102 Birth-
day Nov 8th 1864 -

Indeed the copy held by the Derby Local Studies Library is similarly, but somewhat less informatively, inscribed, "Mr Foster Centenarian." Virginia explains:

"E Hayman was almost certainly my great-grandfather Edward Hayman, originally from Devon and en route to London via Liverpool and Lichfield. As far as I know, Ed Foster was not related, and was probably only a casual acquaintance."

From an account of an 1861 portrait of Foster and his daughter by fellow Derbeian John Haslem (17), we know that Foster was no stranger to photographic studios, and may well have used such portraits to enhance his celebrity status, as a means of publicising his commercial activities.

Edward Foster was an extraordinarily energetic man, in spite of his advanced years, who had been active in a wide variety of fields throughout his long life. After turning a hundred and attending a public dinner held at Derby in his honour, he set off on several lengthy tours to towns as far afield as Birmingham (18), Gloucester (19) and Huddersfield (20). From the tone of the newspaper reports, these towns had previously played significant roles in his younger years, although he was originally a Derby man and it was to Derby that he returned in late 1863. He was reported to be:

In full possession of all his faculties, with eyesight that does not yet need the aid of spectacles, intelligent and communicative, Mr. Foster is a marvel for his age. The charts of which he is the author ... have been under the public eye for many years, and have been adopted by most of the principal colleges and schools in the country ... the chart of the histories of Rome, France, and Britain has reached its 42nd edition, while altogether upwards of 120,000 copies of the charts have been circulated ... The charts are admirably adapted to be given at schools, &c., as prizes, and have been extensively used for that purpose.

While apparently healthy, Edward Foster, his much younger wife and their teenage daughter were in a poor financial state, and an application was made by the Mayor of Derby Thomas Roe for him to receive some sort of pension, in light of his straitened circumstances. The Derby Mercury of 2 December 1863 reported that a letter had been received from the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston instructing payment of a donation of 60 pounds to Foster (21). A further article on 1 Feb 1865 (22) reported that:

For some time past Mr. Foster has been, from illness and consequent debility, unable to travel about the country in search of purchasers of his valuable charts, from the products of which the existence of himself, his wife, and daughter depend ... in order to minister to his temporary necessities, subscriptions should be obtained from all those who are benevolently inclined.

He died a few weeks later, at his home in Parker Street, Derby, on Sunday 12 March leaving "a widow and daughter in straitened circumstances." (23) He was buried in the New Cemetery on Nottingham Road on Thursday 16 March 1865 (24).


While there is plenty of verifiable information detailing Edward Foster's latter years, the material concerning his first half century appears to be mostly hearsay. At least I should perhaps clarify that by stating that I have been unable to substantiate many of the claims that have been made. Peter Seddon's recent article in Derbyshire Life entitled, "Edward Foster: A Master in Profile" provides an excellent overview of the remarkable life of "The Derby Centenarian." (25) However, much of the material has apparently been sourced from a book about Derby personalities that was published in 1866, shortly after the death of Edward Foster (26). Sadly, no sources are provided in either article. The engraving shown above (27) also illustrates this book, and appears to have been taken from the 1863 Burton portrait.

The important aspect, at least from the point of view of this article, and one about which there is little doubt, is that, after 25 years of service with the 20th Regiment of Foot, he discovered an artistic propensity and became a painter of miniature portraits and silhouettes. He subsequently forged this into a career which was to serve him well for several decades, at least until he was well into his seventies.

I have written previously about silhouette portraiture, and its relationship with early portrait photography, in an article about William Seville (28). In Part 2 of this series I will discuss Foster's early life in the miltary and as a silhouettist in further detail, and explore how he dealt with the rapid incursion of photographic portraiture into the silhouette business in a very different manner to the way that Seville did.

References

(1) Carte de visite portrait of Edward Foster, dated 8 November 1864, by John Burton & Sons of Leicester, Derby, Birmingham, Nottingham & Burton-upon-Trent, Collection of Virginia Silvester, Reproduced by permission.

(2) Profile & Portfolio of John Burton & Sons, Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios, web page by Brett Payne

(3) Carte de visite portrait of Edward Foster, undated, by John Burton & Sons of Leicester, Derby, Birmingham & Burton-upon-Trent, Collection of Derby Local Studies Library, Reproduced by permission.

(4) Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 28 January 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning


(5) Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 18 February 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning


(6) The Photographic Art, The Derby Mercury, 18 February 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(7) Carte de visite portrait of unidentified militia soldier, undated but possibly taken c.1865-1868, by John Roberts of 26 Osmaston Street, Derby, Collection of Michael Jones, Reproduced by permission.

(8) Carte de visite portrait of H.L. Kemp, undated but probably taken c.1863-1864, by John Burton & Sons of Leicester, Derby, Birmingham & Burton-upon-Trent, Collection of Derby Local Studies Library, Reproduced by permission.

(9) Photography, The Derby Mercury, 11 March 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(10) Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 6 May 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(11) The Court, Daily News, 30 April, 1 May & 4 May 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(12) Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 30 Dec 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(13) Anon (1864) Wright's Midland Directory, Leicester & Loughborough, with Burton-on-Trent, C.N. Wright, Victoria Street, from Historical Directories by the University of Leicester

(14) Carte de visite portrait, undated but probably taken c.1866-1868, by John Burton & Sons of Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Melton Mowbray & Burton-upon-Trent, Collection of Brett Payne

(15) Advertisment, The Birmingham Daily Post, 5 April 1864, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(16) Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 22 Jun 1864, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(17) Haslem, John (1882) Silhouettes, or Black Profile Portraits, Notes and Queries, Oxford Journals, Volume s6-VI, Number 133, p. 57-58. Available at Google Books [Accessed 6 Apr 2010]

(18) A Veteran, The Derby Mercury, 7 May 1862, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(19) The Derby Centenarian, The Derby Mercury, 28 Oct 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(20) Untitled, The Derby Mercury, 9 Dec 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(21) Mr Edward Foster, the Centenarian, The Derby Mercury, 2 Dec 1863, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(22) Mr Foster, the Centenarian, The Derby Mercury, 1 Feb 1865, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(23) Deaths, The Derby Mercury, 15 Mar 1865, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(24) Untitled, The Derby Mercury, 22 Mar 1865, 19th Century British Library Newspapers from Gale CENGAGE Learning

(25) Seddon, Peter (2009) Edward Foster: A Master in Profile, (Derbyshire's Artistic Heritage), Derbyshire Life, July 2009, p.170-173.

(26) Robinson, Joseph Barlow (1866) Derbyshire Gatherings: A fund of delight for the antiquary, the historian, the topographer, the biographer, and the general reader ..., London: J.R. Smith, 106p, (Mr. Edward Foster, The Derby Centenarian, p. 81-84), Available online at the Internet Archive [Accessed 5 April 2010].

(27) Engraving of Mr. Edward Foster, Centenarian by uknown artist, in Robinson (1866).

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

Sidney's first appearance at Church, 16 June 1861

I often think of the rise of popular portrait photography as having really taken off with the introduction of the carte de visite by Disderi, a craze for which is commonly reputed to have been precipitated around 1860 by the enthusiastic British Royal couple. However, the collodion positive process, which had been introduced by Scott Archer in 1852, and resulted in the format known in the United States as the ambrotype, was responsible for the birth of another portrait type which Coe (1976) describes as also having become well known on that side of the Atlantic, the ferrotype or tintype. Writing about a recent visit to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live! family history show in London, Maureen Taylor remarked on her Family Tree Magazine photodetective blog that she noticed how tintypes are far less commonly seen in the United Kingdom. Perhaps this is the reason I understimate it's importance in those early years.

After having been first described in France in 1853, and then introduced into the US in the late 1850s by Smith and Griswold (Leggatt, 1999) the tintype became enormously popular from around 1860 onwards. There were significant advantages in this process, particularly to the itinerant photographer, in that the outlay expenditure for setting up in business was low, and it was quick and cheap to produce, and versatile. The lack of a negative meant that it was a one off portrait, which was the most significant disadvantage - for duplicates one had to rather go the carte de visite route. Their cheapness and versatility meant that tintypes were produced in huge quantities across the North America continent throughout the 1860s and 1870s, and remained enormously popular for the remainder of the Victorian era and even well into the 1900s (Hannavy, 1997). Leggatt (1999) states that, in his opinion,

"Compared with other processes the tintype tones seem uninteresting. They were often made by unskilled photographers, and their quality was very variable. They do have some significance, however, in that they made photography available to working classes, not just to the more well-to-do."

While I have to disagree about the mid-range tones of the tintypes rendering them uninteresting - to me they impart a feeling of warmth and immediacy generally not seen in the more common albumen prints of the carte de visite - the availability of these portraits to almost every facet of society often provides a glimpse into a side of life rarely encountered elsewhere.


The roughly trimmed early tintype portrait shown here epitomises everything I like about the collodion positive format. The tonal range in this particular, unenhanced image is more than adequate, and has been embellished with some skillful hand colouring of the subject's pink cheeks and the light blue cravat tied around his neck. In fact, the tones of the tintype impart such depth to the photograph that I had to check carefully for further retouching. The stylised oak leaf-patterned edging to his jacket, the tartan check and folds of his skirt, the gold (I think!) patterned head band and dashing feathers on his dark velvet cap, the slightly hesitant expression on his face, even his neatly laced up boots, all point to it being a special day for the young subject of this portrait.


A lthough we might be able to make an educated guess at the occasion, a paper label affixed to the reverse of the tintype, and inscribed in black ink with what appears to be a contemporary hand, handily reveals the purpose of the sitting:

Sidneys first appearance at Church. 16. June 1861

The lack of an apostrophe notwithstanding, I'm very thankful to his mother for recording the event for posterity. Surely it was his mother who dressed him so carefully for the important event, led him to church, and then into the studio, calmed his fears about about the head clamp being fixed into place and the strange man under the dark cloth fiddling for what seemed like ages, and likewise carefully wrote out the label when they got home later that day?


American poet William Cullen Bryant's mother recorded that he made his first appearance at church in the middle of his third year (Muller, 2008). This young lad appears a little older - perhaps about four years old - but it is likely that this was but the first of several visits that he made to a photographic studio during his lifetime. Audrey Linkman writes that most photographic portraits in the 1800s were taken to celebrate or record events that she refers to as rites of passage, such as christenings, birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. Although few of the photographs in our family history collections have generally been lucky enough to survive with such helpful annotations, it is often a useful exercise to examine portraits with a view to which significant event in the subject's, or subjects', life it might portray.

The carte de visite portrait shown above, which I used in a previous article on Photo-Sleuth, was probably taken in the late 1860s, and from the dress worn by the child clearly celebrated it's christening. Other events, such as the breeching of boys and the confirmation of both sexes may be more difficult to pick out, since the accompanying clothing changes may not be so obvious to us a century and more later. I'll be keeping a sharp eye out for such possibilties, both in my own old family photos as well as my collection of purchased photographs, and will hopefully feature some more in the coming months, as I return to a more regular posting of articles and images here on Photo-Sleuth.


These photographs have an even greater poignancy for me at the moment because, just as happened in the household of sometime reader of this blog intelliwench last year, my eldest daughter has just started at university a month ago. Of course this has occasioned some wistful perusing of old photographs, including the record of her first day at "big school" some dozen odd years ago, shown above. This shot captures her in the ubiquitous "two sizes too big/she'll grow into it" school uniform on her way to the car as we head off at the beginning of that first day, with her two younger, over-excited and very jealous sisters desperately wishing they were going too.

Some things change, some just stay the same.

References

Coe, Brian (1976) The Birth of Photography: The story of the formative years 1800-1900, (1989 Edition) London: Spring Books, ISBN 0-600-56296-4, 144p.

Hannavy, John (1997) Victorian Photographer at Work, Series: A History in Camera, Risborough: Shire Publications Ltd., ISBN 0-7478-0358-7, 136p.

Leggatt, Robert (1999) A History of Photography: The Tintype Process. Last updated 24 Sep 2008.

Linkman, Audrey (n.d.) Picturing the Family, Ch. 5.4 Rites of Passage, Unit A173_1, The Open University.

Muller, Gilbert H. (2008) William Cullen Bryant: Author of America, Ch 1. America's First Poet, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-7467-9, 400p.

Sixth-plate tintype of "Sidneys first appearance at Church, 16 June 1861," by unknown photographer, Collection of Brett Payne

Carte de visite portrait of Unidentified woman and child, by Job Bramley, the Family Fry Pan Portrait Gallery, Leicester, Collection of Brett Payne

35mm colour print of LFP's first day at school, by Brett Payne, 13 January 1998, Collection of Brett Payne