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

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


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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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

Acknowledgements

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

References

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cartes de Visite as Celebrity Portraits

Earlier this week I posted a portrait of Derby clergyman Roseingrave Macklin, taken at the studio of James Brennen in 1862. This carte de visite was from a family photograph album belonginging to fellow photo-sleuth Nigel Aspdin, but Reverend Macklin was not, as far as Nigel is aware, even a distant relative. So what, one might ask, is his portrait doing in an album which probably belonged to Nigel's great-grandmother Mary Ann Aspdin née Dyche (c1833-1913)?


A clue to answering this question lies in the collection of carte de visite and cabinet portraits held by the Derby Local Studies Library. In October 2007 I was kindly permitted to scan a selection of these for reproduction on my Derbyshire Photographers web site. One of those that I scanned is an almost exact copy of Nigel's portrait by Brennen and, in fact, is how I was able to identify the subject, since it is annotated on the reverse. Dated 1862, it was probably taken shortly before Macklin's retirement due to ill health early in 1863.


Macklin appears to have visited another Derby studio - that of E.N. Charles - probably in late 1863, not long after his retirement. Instead of being attired in his clercial vestments, he is pictured leaning on a pedestal, perhaps admiring the large campana-shaped vase, in the style produced by the Royal Crown Derby China Works in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.


Although by far the majority of the portraits in Nigel's album are unidentified, it is clear that there are more subjects who are not family members. For example, two later portraits depict men wearing what appear to be mayoral chains, and there is at least one other clergyman. Nigel suspects that a good proportion of the photographs are of acquaintances of the album's presumed owner Mary Ann Aspdin or her husband Richard Wilkinson Aspdin (1822-1885).


Carte de visite portrait of Napoleon III
by Disdéri
The carte de visite was not simply a standard card size. In 1854, Paris daguerreotypist André Adolphe Disdéri patented a method by which four, six, or even eight photographs could be exposed on a single glass plate, making the process of printing a great deal easier, and therefore cheaper. The popularised card mount size of 2½ x 4 inches was roughly the same as a visiting card, hence the name. A story of Emperor Napoleon III stopping at Disderi's studio to have his portrait taken en route to fight the Austrians in May 1859 is probably apocryphal, but it was around that time that the format started to become much more popular.


Morning Post (London, England), 7 March 1860
Although often referred to only in fairly general terms in the photohistory texts that I have read, I get the impression that the establishment of the carte de visite as a standard photographic portrait for the ordinary person happened slightly after cdv portraits of well known people had become collectable items. From advertisements placed in newspapers, it is clear that English studios began offering portraits in the carte de visite format at least as early as March 1860, when Mayer Brothers of Regent Street, London referred to it as "this new style."


Morning Post (London, England), 11 August 1860
The craze for carte de visites, both as collectibles and as a cheap method of portraiture, was given a substantial boost by royal patronage, Queen Victoria herself owning dozens of albums. Clearly those who would consider purchasing a hundred copies of a portrait of themselves, must have been expecting some considerable demand for said likenesses amongst their acquaintances.


The Derby Mercury, 16 July 1862
Although The Derby Mercury newspaper reveals no advertisements for cartes de visite as early as these, it is clear from several dated examples that Derby was not long behind the larger centres in adopting the new format for personal portraits. Nor do they appear to have been reticent about indulging in the new craze. In July 1862 stationer T.A. Johnson of 33 Victoria Street announced the recent arrival "from the leading English, German and French Houses, a very large assortment of the newest and most elegant Carte de Visite Albums."


The Derby Mercury, 12 November 1862
In November that year, E. Clulow and Son of 36 Victoria Street advertised a stock of carte de visite albums for sale, to hold 20, 30 or 50 portraits, and in December J.A. Rowbottom of Iron Gate offered "carte de visite albums and portraits in great variety."


The Derby Mercury, 28 January 1863
The first to advertise actual carte de visite portrait sittings in The Derby Mercury was the new Derby branch of the Leicester photographic firm John Burton and Sons, with a studio above Clulow's bookshop. As well as a hefty list of notable patrons including, supposedly, His Royal Highness the Late Prince Consort, "their carte de visite portraits, of which they have already taken many thousands, are universally admired ..."


A detailed analysis of early photographers operating in Derby shows that there were already seven resident practitioners at the advent of the carte de visite but, within a couple of years of its appearance, this number had doubled. Obviously portrait sittings were in great demand.

The fashion for collecting albums full of photographs of royalty and the famous is reported to have been on the wane by the late 1860s. Albums compiled in the 1870s and 1880s that I have seen are indeed characterised by a somewhat lower celebrity content, and the nature of newspaper advertisements by stationers and photographers tends to reflect that trend. They are still present to some degree in some albums, even those dating as late as the 1900s, but I suspect many have been culled to satisfy the demands of collectors in more recent years.

References

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

Pols, Robert (2002) Family Photographs, 1860-1945: A Guide to Researching, Dating and Contextualising Family Photographs, Surrey, England: Public Record Office, 166p.

Rosenblum, Naomi (1981) A World History of Photography, New York: Abbeville Press, 671p.

Sepia Saturday 79: Dressed for the Beach

Sepia Saturday's photo prompt this week from Alan Burnett depicts two young early 20th Century ladies relaxing on the beach in Atlantic City, but dressed in a manner that will certainly protect them well from the noon day sun. Not everyone goes to beach to swim, and if you live in this Antipodean location, then you'd be advised to go well wrapped at this time of the year (the Met Service advises 3 layers!). As far as swimming's concerned, I think you'd have to pay me.


My own contribution for this theme consists of two tintypes, mounted in flimsy paper sleeves the size of cartes de visite. They are part of a larger collection of 73 loose photographs which I purchased as a single lot on eBay last year. The vendor told me that they had originally been acquired together, and my own research has given me reason to believe that they do indeed belong together. Although these tin types are not inscribed, I've been able to determine, by comparison with others in the collection in which the subjects are identified, and by some additional research, who is depicted and approximately when it was taken.


Measuring roughly 69 x 82 mm, they are an odd size, somewhere between quarter-plate and sixth-plate. Both show a woman seated on the beach with two young children. She is Emily Minns née Carr (1840-1927), wife of Stoke Newington draper Charles Thomas Minns (1838-1900), and the two children with her are most likely her two eldest sons Charles Walter Marston Minns (1874-1951) and Frederick Thomas Minns (1875-1956).


Her third son was born in late 1877, which suggests to me that these two photographs were taken in the summer of 1877, probably by an itinerant beach photographer. The second image, taken from a slightly different angle, includes what may be a large spoked wheel of a bathing machine, similar to that shown in an early 20th Century photograph which I posted two weeks ago as a submission for the 105th Carnival of Genealogy (Swimsuit Edition).


Ladies' and Children's Bathing Suits
Harper's Bazaar, 15 July 1876
I assumed initially that they were dressed for outdoor activities. However, now that I've looked at Stella Blum's Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazaar 1867-1898, I think they could well be wearing bathing suits. Although not identical - that would be so "last year" wouldn't it - the clothes are similar to those depicted in the engraving shown from July 1876, reproduced above. Perhaps someone more familiar with Victorian fashions can confirm - or refute - this. While they belong firmly in the "What were they thinking?" category in the present day, I feel they were at the height of fashion back then.

I'm looking forward to a suitably eclectic selection of swimsuits among the other Sepia Saturday contributions this week.

George Valentine and the Hot Lakes

Mount Tarawera in eruption, 10 June 1886 [1]
At 2.30 in the morning on Thursday 10th June 1886 - 125 years ago last Friday - many Auckland residents were woken by a continuous series of loud, but distant, explosions. Flashes could be seen on the horizon and it was assumed, even by writers compiling the early edition of The New Zealand Herald, that some vessel in the Manukau Harbour had exploded [2]. If George Valentine, his wife Minna and their three children, by some chance, did not wake until a more respectable hour, they would soon have heard the news, even at their home in the borough of Parnell. By nine o'clock the Auckland Evening Star offices had received reports of a "tremendous outburst of volcanic activity ... in the Rotorua District, surpassing anything of the kind ever experienced in New Zealand." [3]


Te Wairoa Township, c.1886 [4]
Valentine was familiar with the "Hot Lakes," having visited Rotorua and the nearby Lakes Tarawera and Rotomahana early the previous year on a photographic excursion. George Dobson Valentine (1852-1890) was a son of the renowned Scottish pioneer photographer and publisher of views James Valentine (1815-1880). After his father's death, he and his brother William had continued to expand the photographic business.


"In The Tiki Tapu Bush" - January 1885 [5]
However after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, he emigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1884, in the hope that the climate would revive his health. Initially settling in Nelson, he had begun publishing photographic views under his own name, and one of his earliest projects was a photographic expedition to the Rotomahana District, near Rotorua, with Auckland bookseller Charles Chapman.


"Rotomahana Hotel, Te Wairoa" - January 1885 [6]
From Auckland, they travelled via Cambridge, Oxford (now called Tirau) and Rotorua over several days in January 1885. The journey to Te Wairoa, on the shores of Lake Tarawera, was a shorter leg, and they were able to spend some time admiring the pristine podocarp forest at Tikitapu. They spent the night at Joseph McRae's Rotomahana Hotel, and obtained permission from the local chiefs to camp at the famous Pink and White Terraces.


"White Terrace and Lake Rotomahana" - January 1885 [7]
Early the following morning on 13 January 1885 Valentine and Chapman departed by whale boat across Lake Tarawera to the small settlement of Te Ariki. They were accompanied by Guide Sophia, chief Tamihana Te Keu, a small group of tourists and the crew. A short walk then ensued to the "warm lake" Rotomahana, where the vista opened up to reveal the famed Te Tarata or White Terraces. Coincidentally, artist Charles Blomfield was camped nearby, in the middle of a lengthy stay during which he would paint a number of now well known views of the terraces.


"Coffee Cups, White Terraces" - January 1885 [8]
Clik image to read full series of articles
They set up camp close to the White Terraces and remained for several days, during which time Valentine produced over 40 scenic views with his glass plate camera, including this atmospheric image of the almost waxy looking siliceous basins with a fine veil of steam. After his return home to Nelson, these views were later published and marketed by Chapman. One of them was awarded a second prize at the New Zealand Industrial Exhbition in August, pipped at the post by Alfred Burton of Dunedin.


Great Volcanic Eruption. Terror in Hot Lake District
The Auckland Evening Star, 10 June 1886 [3]
The Valentine family had moved to Auckland in October 1885, and had therefore been living there for some eight months on the morning that the dreadful news broke concerning the "terror in the Hot Lake district." News of the tragic loss of life was greeted with dismay, almost matched by the despair at reports of the devastation, affecting both personal property and the countryside, and including the Pink and White Terraces.


"Tiki-Tapu Bush, After Eruption" - October 1886 [9]
Photographers were on site recording the devastation within days, but George Valentine did not make it there until early October. He and Chapman were accompanied by Joseph McRae, whose hotel at Te Wairoa had been all but demolished in the ash fall, and guide Alfred Warbrick. The luxurious bush at Tikitapu was now an array of bare wooden tree trunks, sadly stripped of all signs of the green thicket captured so vividly the previous year.


"Te Wairoa. McRae's Hotel, Sophia's Whare and Terrace Hotel" - October 1886 [10]
They sheltered for the night in what remained of McRae's collapsed hotel before being rowed across the lake to Te Ariki. The scenes which they encountered, and which Valentine photographed, revealed a landscape denuded of all vegetation, and most recognisable landmarks were obliterated with a thick blanket of grey volcanic ash. Smoke and steam were spurting out of the ground in many locations, and when they reached the former site of the White Terraces, the valley had been filled with an enormous lake, several times the size of the original Rotomahana.


"Rotomahana, from Hape O' Toroa" - October 1886 [11]
Both the Pink and White Terraces were gone, replaced with the all encompassing tephra field, criss-crossed with erosion gullies and hard to traverse. Valentine returned to the area a month later to take further photographs of the southern part of the volcanic area, near Waimangu, accompanied by government engineer John Blythe. The results were published in several different formats and publications, which is fortunate, as the original glass plate negatives have not survived. The images displayed here are from prints and copy negatives in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library and Te Papa. The Assistant Surveyor-General later "determined," after surveying the area, that the White Terraces had been destroyed.


"Mnts. Tarawera and Ruawahia from Te Ariki" - October 1886 [12]
Valentine visited the area again in 1887 and 1889, and made further photographic excursions to the Pacific Islands of Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa and Rarotonga (1887), as well as to the previously little known limestone caves at Waitomo (1889). However, his first two sets of landscapes from the "Hot Lakes" region are perhaps better known than the rest. This image of the muddy shore of Lake Tarawera, with the mass of the ash-covered volcano forming a forbidding backdrop, and the lone boatman beaching what is presumably Warbrick's recently launched whaleboat, is one of the most enduring - and for me, haunting - of Valentine's post-eruption photographs.

On 26 February 1890, shortly after his return from photographing Pohutu and other geysers at Whakarewarewa, near Rotorua, George Valentine succumbed to the tuberculosis which had brought him to New Zealand. He was only 38 years old. His wife and children returned to Dundee, Scotland soon after.

Epilogue


The question of whether the Pink and White Terraces had been destroyed during Tarawera's eruption, or whether they were buried under layers of ash, has been revisited several times. The latest boost to this story, nicely timed for the 125th anniversary of the event, is the news that a team from GNS and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have discovered at least portions of both the Pink and White Terraces intact, submerged in Lake Rotomahana. The disappointing one-hour (including adverts) documentary that Prime aired on Sunday evening was long on history and hype, and very short on hard fact and images, with only a few brief underwater clips of the shown towards the end of the hour-long session. However, this web page from GNS includes a 4:37 minute video (click image above) by Dr Cornel de Ronde discussing the discoveries, with plenty of great images (and another YouTube video here).

References

[1] Blomfield, Charles (1886) Mount Tarawera in eruption, June 10, 1886 (From the native village of Waitangi, Lake Tarawera, New Zealand), W. Potts, lithograph after C. Blomfield, publ. Wanganui, New Zealand: A.D. Willis, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. C-033-002.

[2] Hall, Ken (2004) George D. Valentine: A 19th Century Photographer in New Zealand, Nelson, New Zealand: Craig Potton Publishing, 132p.

[3] Anon (1886) Great Volcanic Eruption: Terror in Hot Lake District, The Auckland Evening Star, 10 June 1886, from Papers Past, courtesy of National Library of New Zealand.

[4] Wairoa township, from Te Komiti, Lithograph 313 x 216 mm by unknown artist, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. B-051-009.

[5] In the Tiki Tapu Bush, near Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake), Rotorua, 41, Albumen print, 190 x 289 mm, by George D. Valentine, January 1885, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA7-54-24.

[6] Rotomahana Hotel, Te Wairoa, 38, Albumen print, 292 x 191 mm, by George D. Valentine, January 1885, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA7-60-02.

[7] White Terrace and Lake Rotomahana, Albumen print, by George D. Valentine, January 1885, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA1-q-138-009.

[8] Coffee Cups, White Terraces, Albumen print, 290 x 189 mm, by George D. Valentine, January 1885, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA1-q-212-20.

[9] Tiki-Tapu Bush, after Eruption, 119, Albumen print, 187 x 289 mm, by George D. Valentine, October 1886, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA7-54-03.

[10] Te Wairoa. McRae's Hotel, Sophia's Whare and Terrace Hotel, Albumen print, 292 x 192 mm, by George D. Valentine, October 1886, courtesy of Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa, Ref. O.030859.

[11] Rotomahana, from Hape O' Toroa, 146, Albumen print, by George D. Valentine, November 1886, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA1-q-138-005.

[12] Mnts. Tarawera and Ruawahia from Te Ariki, 129, Albumen print, 290 x 188 mm, by George D. Valentine, October 1886, courtesy of Timeframes & the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA7-54-01.

Rev. Roseingrave Macklin (1792-1865), Incumbent of Christ Church, Derby

Reverend Roseingrave Macklin, 1862
Carte de visite portait by James Brennen, Derby
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
When Roseingrave Macklin arrived in Derby in 1835 with wife Jane Ann and six daughters he was already in his forties. He had taken Holy Orders in his home town of Dublin - where his father Gerard Macklin (1767-1848) was state surgeon of Ireland - and held a living as Rector of Newcastle, in the county of Wicklow, for some years.


Church of Ireland church at Lusk, Co. Dublin, 2010
© Copyright Kieran Campbell and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Immediately prior to his move to England, Macklin had been the vicar of Lusk, north of Dublin, and was instrumental in the establishment of a Protestant church-based school in the nearby town of Rush [2]. He also appears to have been an active participant in the "no-Popery" movement. In late 1828, following agitation by Daniel O'Connell and the Catholic Association, a proposal was made to legislate for the right of Catholics to enter the British parliament. In response, a significant number of well-heeled Irish Protestants initiated a large scale campaign, forming the Brunswick "constitutional" clubs as part of a thinly disguised attempt at a Populist movement against the political reforms [3].


Sir Francis Burdett, Joseph Hume & Daniel O'Connell celebrating Catholic Emancipation, 1834
Drawing by John Doyle, courtesy of Spartacus Educational
Macklin was present at a meeting for the purpose of establishing a Brunswick Club for the baronies of Rathdowne and Newscastle at Newtown-Mountkennedy in October 1828 [4], where he made the following inflammatory contribution:

Can any man of common sense come forward and tell me that the Protestants of Ireland are to lie down and be trodden under foot, or be led like lambs to the sacrifice? ... I would entreat of you to preserve that constitution inviolate and inviolable, which your ancestors sacrificed so much to obtain. They handed it down to you - you have another duty to perform, to hand it down to your posterity unaltered and glorious as it has ever been.

Despite the efforts of the Brunswicks at scaremongering, attempting to incite a fear of Catholic ascendancy and eventual home rule, the government of the Duke of Wellington succeeded in passing the Emancipation legislation in 1829. Continued resentment by the general population of Ireland against the payment of tithes to the Church of Ireland resulted in the Tithe War of the early to mid-1830s.


St Werburgh's Church, Derby, c.1833 [5]
This was the political backdrop at the time of Rev. Macklin's move from Dublin to Derby, although his reasons for leaving the land of his birth are unknown. In 1832 he purchased some land in Derby [6], and three years later he settled in the town, having been made curate of St Werburgh's church under Rev. Edward Unwin [1]. Unwin was a wealthy Derby resident, for whom the Grade II listed Regency villa Highfield House - featured previously on Photo-Sleuth, here - was built by Richard Leaper in 1827. Macklin was performing duties at St Werburgh's by 19 August 1835 [7].


Christ Church, Derby, 13 June 2011
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
By 1841 he had impressed his superiors sufficiently to be appointed to the incumbency of Christ Church situated near the junction of Normanton and Burton Roads, and presumably a step up in the clergical heirarchy.

The new position did not prevent Rev. Macklin from pursuing his anti-Catholic mission. Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin) published an article in July 1839 discussing reactions to the "no-popery cry," which included a letter from Sir George Harpur Crewe, former Sherriff of Derbyshire, and at the time M.P. for South Derbyshire [8]. The letter was written in response to a request from Henry Cox, secretary of the Protestant Association, and Macklin, and declined an invitation to assist in the formation of a local branch:

I have never attended any of the meetings at Exeter-hall of this association, because, whatever be their inention, I cannot approve of their practice. the sole object appears to me to be the most violent abuse of the Roman Catholics ... I neither like the tone nor spirit of the speeches delivered by the great Irish speakers on these occasions. There is too much of human temper, and far too little of Christian love to please me.

One wonders whether Macklin approved of the marriage of daughter Jemima to Harpur Crewe's nephew Arthur Godley Crewe (1831-1894) in 1861 [9]. Perhaps the intervening two decades had tempered Macklin's views somewhat, although it seems unlikely. In 1843 Macklin was in the news again, welcoming a former "Romish priest" of the Dominican order to his congregation at Christ Church [10]. Then in January 1851, at a meeting of the Foreign Aid Society [11], he remarked:

... that the Protestantism of the people of this country had lately been evoked to a remarkable extent, and he sincerely hoped it would ... strengthen them in their determination to carry out the principles of their religion which were essentially antagonistic to Popery.

The Macklin residence, Wardwick, Derby, 13 June 2011
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
The Macklin family lived at what was then number 14 Wardwick, on the south-west corner with Becket Street, Rev. Macklin owning much of the land to the west of Green Lane, which was largely undeveloped when they first arrived in Derby. At that time (1835) they had six daughters: Martha R. (1823-1905), Charlotte R. (1825-1863), Georgina (1828-1913), Sophia (1830-1887), Rosina Margaret (1831-1884) and Jemima (1832-1916), all born in Ireland. A seventh daughter Frances Arabella (1838-1885) and, finally, a son Gerard Roseingrave Wilson (1843-1896) were born after their arrival in Derby. Although five of their eight children died unmarried, three daughters did marry and produced, in turn, eight grandchildren.

Martha Macklin married another clergyman Arthur Charles Pittar (1827-1899), variously curate of Alfreton (Derbyshire), vicar of Ashton Hayes (Cheshire), vicar of Holy Trinity Trowbridge (Wiltshire) and rector of Melmerby (Cumberland). Georgina Macklin married iron master and colliery owner Charles Henry Oakes (1826-1906) from Riddings, near Alfreton, Derbyshire. Jemima Macklin married Alfred Godley Crewe (1831-1894) (son of the Rector of Breadsall), a physician and surgeon for the Madras Army in India, and later of Portsea, Hampshire.

Roseingrave Macklin remained the incumbent of Christ Church for over twenty years, resigning because of poor health in 1862. In an obituary published in The Derby Mercury [1], his religious views gained a prominent mention:

Like most of the Irish clergy holding similar opinions, he was an indefatigable opponent and denouncer of the errors of Romanism, and was actively engaged in every movement which had for its object the defence of the Protestant Church, or aggression on the Romish, particularly in his native land.

Perhaps the most enduring of Reverend Macklin's legacies to the town of Derby are Macklin Street and Wilson Street, in the area to the south-west of the city centre. Wilson was also a family name. It may be that there are other surviving Macklin remnants, for example perhaps some reminders of his tenure at All Saints. If you are aware of any, please let me know and I'll add them to this article.

In a future article, I will discuss the carte de visite portrait itself, where it came from, and the circumstances under which it may have been taken.

References

[1] The Late Mr. Macklin, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 22 November 1865.

[2] Address to the Rev. Roseingrave Macklin, late Vicar of Lusk, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 3 June 1835.

[3] Phylan, Alan (2004) The Brunswick Clubs: Rise, Contradictions & Abyss, The Old Limerick Journal, v. 40, pp. 25-34.

[4] Brunswick Clubs: Meeting at Newtown-Mountkennedy (From the Dublin Evening Mail), in The Standard (London, England), 29 October 1828.

[5] Glover, Stephen (1833) The History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby.

[6] Derby Improvement Act, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 9 May 1832.

[7] Marriages, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 19 August 1835.

[8] The No-Popery Cry, Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin, Ireland), 18 July 1839.

[9] Marriage of Alfred G. Crewe, Esq, and Miss Jemima Macklin, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 3 July 1861.

[10] Conversion of a Roman Catolic Priest, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 9 September 1843.

[11] Foreign Aid Society, in The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), 15 January 1851.