PERSONALIA

 

BORN IN 1760!

ATKINS, Ann (1760-1859). A tinted 1/6 plate ambrotype featuring an elderly lady with a young girl, in a passe-partout mount in an old frame with suspension loop. The plate is rather dark but in good condition sealed within the mount. On the reverse is a contemporary inscription in ink reading "Mrs Atkins taken in the 97^th year of her age. A slight offering from James Bettesworth Photographic Artist to the oldest inhabitant of Eastry. April 1857".

Ann Atkins is found in the 1841 census in Eastry, Kent. Born in 1760 (her maiden name unknown) she was, remarkably, born in the year that George II died and George III came to the throne. She died in Eastry at the age of 99. The photographer James Bettesworth (1818-1880) came from Portchester, Hampshire. Further local research in the Eastry archives may be rewarding.

£200

John Barber, born 4th October 1813, the son of John Houseman Barber and his wife Sarah, a Baptist family of Nottingham. John followed his father's trade as a grocer, and in later life became a JP and Alderman. He married Eliza Seals(?) in 1839, and they had at least four sons and two daughters. He died in 1907. The photographs come with a substantial archive of census copies, local directory photocopies, copies of wills, IGI entries, GRO certificates, family tree charts etc.

£500

Henry Barnes Clarke (1829-1901) was born in Timberscombe, Minehead, Somerset, the son of William and Elizabeth Clarke. In 1855 Henry married Mary Elliott Whiting (1836-1919) who was born in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, and it was in Great Malvern that the couple settled and brought up their family. Henry was a chemist and druggist and set up in business in premises in Church Street, Great Malvern - the business must have been successful for Henry is recorded in 1875 as having building work undertaken for a new villa residence. Their children were: Margaretta Elizabeth born in 1856, and married in 1878 John Clarke; Fanny Marion born in 1858, and married in 1884 George Vincent Davis; Henry Robert S. born in 1859, and married in 1899 (Hannah Cross or Maude Gray?); Annie Louisa born in 1862, and married in 1882 John Walter Privett; and Alice Mary born in 1864, and married in 1893 John Newstead.

£250

Mary Buchanan (1788–1874) was second daughter of the Revd Gilbert Buchanan, rector of Woodmansterne, Surrey. On 7 August 1818 she married  (Sir) John Taylor Coleridge (nephew of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge), who pursued a successful career as a judge, and was a prolific writer. Mary Coleridge bore six children, Mary Dorothy Frances Coleridge (1819–1820); John Duke (1820–1894), the future lord chief justice; Henry James Coleridge (1822–1893), an Anglican priest who entered the Roman Catholic church in 1852; Mary Frances Keble Coleridge (1824–1898), who rejected a proposal of marriage in 1845 from Roundell Palmer, the future Lord Chancellor Selborne, to her father's deep regret; Alethea Buchanan Coleridge (1826–1909), who married J. F. Mackarness, the future bishop of Oxford; and Frederick William Coleridge (1828–1843). (ODNB)

1. A 1/6th plate tinted daguerreotype of a gentleman in a passe-partout mount. A few mould spots under the glass and a rub mark above the sitters head, but otherwise in good condition. On the reverse is a pencil inscription reading 'E.Conder 1854'. [Edward Conder senior]

2. A 1/6th plate tinted ambrotype of a man, woman and baby, mounted in a brass matte and preserver, all in good condition. The man is clearly identifiable as the same gentleman as in the daguerreotype. [Edward & Susanna Conder and child]

3. A 1/6th plate ambrotype of a woman with a girl and boy in a horse drawn carriage with driver and attendant, in a grubby half case, the plate with an emulsion blemish across the attendant's head. This is a later style ambrotype probably of the 1870s.

4. A 1/4 plate tinted ambrotype of a man with a girl on his knee, in a passe-partout mount. The plate has some discolouration to the background around the edges.

5. A 1/4 plate tinted ambrotype of a woman and a girl, mounted in a frame with a brass window aperture and brass preserver. The lower left corner of the glass plate is cracked. On the reverse is a small trade label of the photographer C. Taylor of 73 Cross Street, Islington, and an old ink  inscription reads: 'My Mother’s sister Mrs Hawes & her daughter in Australia 1866.' [Deborah Hawes née Kitton and daughter]

6.  A cabinet card of man in Tudor costume, by photographer J.F.Sutcliffe of Burton, Westmoreland, & Kirby Lonsdale. On the reverse is an old ink inscription “Edward Conder in fancy dress for the Ball at Underly K.L. 1877.” [Edward Conder senior]

7. A cabinet card of lady in Tudor costume, by photographer J.F.Sutcliffe of Burton, Westmoreland, & Kirby Lonsdale. On the reverse is an old ink inscription “My mother in the Fancy Dress for the Ball at Underly 1877”, and in pencil "My Mother age 44". [Susanna Conder née Kitton]

8. A cabinet card of an older gentleman with a young man and boy, by photographer J. Bennett & sons, of 8 Broad Street, Worcester & Church Street, Malvern. [Edward Conder senior, Edward Conder jr and son Edward]

9. A cabinet sized photograph on card of a man, woman and boy, inscribed on the reverse Winchester, July, and with a stamped date AUG 1904. [Edward & Bertha Conder and son Edward]]

10. A cut silhouette on card of a bearded gentleman facing right, with the details of the silhouettist Handrup, 290 Oxford Street, London, blind embossed on the card, and with full details printed on the reverse. The card measures 3.5 x 5.5 inches. [Edward Conder senior]

11. A cut silhouette on card of a half length bearded gentleman facing right, in a simple black frame accommodating the card which measures 3.5 x 5.5 inches. [Edward Conder senior]

12. A cut silhouette on card of a bearded gentleman facing left, identical to item 10 but reversed, also bearing Handrup's embossed details. It comes in a simple black frame accommodating the card which measures 3.5 x 5.5 inches. On the reverse is an old inscription reading "Edward Conder". [Edward Conder senior]

13. A cut silhouette on card of a lady in a hat facing left, also bearing Handrup's embossed details. It comes in a simple black frame accommodating the card which measures 3.5 x 5.5 inches. The upper left corner has an old water stain. [Susanna Conder née Kitton]

14. A painted silhouette on card of a lady wearing an indoor bonnet, in a style dating to circa 1800. The card measures about 4.5 x 7 inches, and the portrait shows an oval discoloured 'shadow' from having once been framed.

The collection £375

Edward Conder (1829-1910) J.P. of Terry Bank, Westmorland, the subject of the daguerreotype and other portraits in this archive was the son of Richard and Alice Conder of  Dent, Yorkshire. He married Susanna in 1856, the elder daughter of Henry and Susannah Kitton of Ringstead Norfolk. The Kitton's other daughter Deborah, whose ambrotype is in this collection, married a veterinary surgeon by the name of Hawes and settled in Australia.

Edward Conder pursued a career as a merchant and later as a builder, based in London, Essex, and later in Herefordshire. They had a daughter (Alice Susanna born 1857) and a son Edward (born 1861). Their son Edward married Bertha Helen Louisa Williams in 1887 and settled in Romford, Essex, where their son Edward was born in 1888 (all three feature in photo number 9). Edward Conder junior's autobiographical notes, his journals and family photographs are in the Essex Record Office.

£100

Selina Crampton was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1813, one of six children of the surgeon Sir Philip Crampton (1777–1858) and his wife Selina Hamilton née Cannon (1781-1834). Her father, Sir Philip,  was elected FRS in 1812, and in 1813 he was appointed surgeon-general to the forces in Ireland. He was also surgeon to the queen in Ireland, a member of the senate of the Queen's University of Ireland, and four times president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (ODNB).

Charlotte Crampton who features in the 1/6th plate ambrotype is possibly a child of Selina's brother Josiah who married his cousin Elizabeth Crampton in 1833.

EMIGRATED TO AUSTRALIA ON S.S.GREAT BRITAIN

CROMPTON, William P. (b.1837). Half plate ambrotype portrait of a gentleman, seated, wearing the Crimea Medal (no bar), in a passe-partout mount (8 x 6.5 inches) within a plain gilt wood frame. The reverse of the mounted plate is backed with newspaper dated 1856 onto which is pasted the printed trade label of Edward Easterby Massey’s photographic studio, with the address 14 High Holburn in manuscript. Over the label is pasted a newspaper cutting reading: “MARRIAGE On 9th instant, by special license, at St James' Church, Sydney, by the Rev. Robert Allwood, B.A., Mr W. P. Crompton, of Pyrmont, son of the late Robert Crompton, Esq., surgeon, Munslow, Salop, to Mary Anne, only daughter of John Benson, Esq., Castlereagh-street, Sydney” with a handwritten date Febry 1858.

£250

William P. Crompton was born in 1837, the son of Robert Crompton, surgeon and apothecary of Munslow, Shropshire. William served in the Crimean War and is confirmed on the medal roll as a Dispenser of Medicines (medal issued without bar). His Crimea Medal together with this ambrotype were sold at auction in 2006 by Dix, Noonan & Webb (Ex Col. D.G.B. Riddick Collection) but were subsequently split up.

The sitter Mrs Laura Davies (assumed her married name as she wears a wedding ring) has not been identified, and the photographer is equally elusive as Lonergan's name is unrecorded as a daguerreotypist or a photographer more generally. A Thomas William Lonergan is recorded as having died in Kentish Town, London in 1875, a gentleman, aged 64.

£30

Thomas Gibb Drummond was born in Stirling, Scotland, 30th November 1839, the son of James Drummond, a draper, and Eliza Gibb.

£900

Thomas Russell Dunn was born in Scotland about 1805 and at an early age entered the Royal Navy. One of the earliest references to his career is contained in an article in the New York Times of June 17th 1917, which under the title Napoleon's last days described in hitherto unpublished diary contains extracts from a surviving diary of Dunn compiled when his ship HMS Beaver visited St Helena in 1821. His name is found in the Navy List of 1824 as Assistant Surgeon, and he went on to take his medical degree at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1828 (he was later to obtain his C.M. in surgery in 1860 from the same University). In 1835 he was surgeon on HMS Waverley. On 26th September 1842 Dunn married Janet Johnston in Glasgow, and on 25th May 1843 their only child Margaret Wingate Dunn was born. Dunn's name was immortalized in the naming of Dunns Nook on Vancouver Island, following his visit there in 1846 aboard HMS Fisgard.  The National Archives hold his medical and surgical journals while attached to HMS Queen for 1 October 1849 to 31 December 1850, which at the time was employed in the Mediterranean. In the 1850s Dunn was promoted as Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, and in 1859 was additionally appointed an Honorary Surgeon to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Dunn later attained the position of Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, and in retirement died on September 18th 1866 at his home at Dunallan House, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. The two sets of books in the photograph have publication dates of 1847 and 1848, so the daguerreotype probably dates to about 1849-1850.

Dunn's daughter Margaret Wingate Dunn married into the Platt family, other members of whom became related by marriage to the family of General Sir John Alexander Ewart (1821-1904). She died in 1896 in Brighton, Sussex.

1.A daguerreotype of John Farnol with the photographer's trade card on the reverse Vampyre Photographic Rooms, 25 Unett Street, Birmingham. T.Winkles Operator.

2. An ambrotype of Catherine Farnol.

3. An ambrotype of Stephen Reynolds.

4. An ambrotype of Stephen Reynolds with his grandson Oliver Reynolds.

5. An ambrotype of James Stephen Reynolds with tinted background. The glass plate has 3 cracks to right hand side.

The collection comes with extensive copies of IGI and census records. Click on photo for enlarged view.

£275

The Farnol and Reynolds families of Birmingham were connected via the marriage in 1847 of Stephen James Reynolds (b.1825), the son of Stephen Reynolds (1807-1883), to Clarinda Farnol (b.1826), the daughter of John Farnol (1791-1846) and Catherine Farnol (née May,1793-1883). An extensive family tree can be drawn up from the accompanying IGI and census paperwork.

A Thomas Winkles of Birmingham is found in the 1861 census at 23 Unett Street with his family, listed as a swivel maker. It seems likely that his work as a daguerreotypist was very short lived, and this is undoubtedly a very rare survival of his photographic work.

£120

Henry Frampton a farmer, was born in 1793, the son of Richard Frampton and Mary Badcock of Shrivenham, Berkshire. He is found in Newington, Oxfordshire in the 1851 census a widower, with his daughters Catherine and Mary, and son Henry. Mary plus other children Richard and Sarah, are found in Burghclere, Hampshire in the 1861 census.

£300

'Mrs Frier-Marreco' was Anna Laura Harrison, born in 1806 the daughter of John Fairweather Harrison, London Merchant, and his wife Sophia. Known as Annie, she married Antonio Joaquin Freire Marreco (1787-1850), a chemist and railway entrepreneur. Her husband came to England from Portugal in 1821, and entered into business with the William Harrison and his son Thomas Elliot Harrison, the railway engineer . The latter led him to relocate to County Durham where he became engaged in railway projects, and where he settled for some years with his wife Annie. Their son Walter (b. 1849) married Gertrude Blechynden Waggett, whose daughter Barbara became a noted anthropologist. Several of their children remained in the north-east, including Algernon (b.1836) who became a Professor of Chemistry at Durham University, and their son Hubert who married Jane Bainbridge in 1875.  Jane Bainbridge's mother Elizabeth is the subject of the 1/4 Plate ambrotype, who was born Elizabeth Wisker in 1802, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Wisker of York, optician. She married George Peacock Bainbridge in 1823.

£35

Handwritten paper labels tell us the sitters are William Fretson, solicitor, of Sheffield, and his wife Elizabeth Mary Fretson. William was born in 1818, the son of John and Mary Fretson of Sheffield.

£200

Ann Elizabeth Griffith was born on 8th December 1819, the daughter of Thomas Griffith and Ann Ballinger. Her mother died in 1823, and her father became the minister of the Congregational Chapel at Upper Cam, Gloucestershire between 1834-1855. Ann Elizabeth Griffith married William Bingham about 1862 in Paris (IGI).

Richard Lowe was an accomplished American photographer who set up his first photographic studio in Cheltenham in 1841, and another in the Promenade in Cheltenham in 1850. In November 1856 Lowe made a significant number of purchases on credit in the town, boarded a train for Liverpool and was never seen again.

£50

Not traced, but sufficient details should allow positive results from local sources.

£50

George William Harrison was born on 22 November 1805, at Great Driffield, Yorkshire, to James and Elizabeth Harrison. He married Martha Gregory 15th June 1830 in Wakefield, and was a corn merchant. He was elected the first Mayor of Wakefield in 1848.

BRET HARTE FAMILY

(BRET) HARTE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS. The collection comprises: 1. A 1/6th plate tinted ambrotype of a young lady in a fine decorative full leather case, with a handwritten note 'Mrs Bret Hart at the age of 18. An American lady who married Bret Hart the Author'. 2. A 1/6th plate tinted ambrotype of a  lady holding a child, in a (worn) decorative full leather case, the mat stamped J.H.Young  1458th AV, with a handwritten note 'Mrs Bret (wife of the Author) with her son Frank Bret Hart'. 3. A quarter plate sized faded albumen print of a seated gentleman mounted in a full (heavily worn) plain leather case. 4. A red leather case opening to 4 x 7 inches, containing faded albumen prints of an elderly gentleman and lady. 5. A copy of the magazine Golden West, November 1969, 11 x 8 inches, containing a detailed biographical article on 9 pages entitled California's Famous Bret Harte, illustrated with 5 photographs.

SOLD

I have not come across any other photographs of Anna Bret Harte. Her physical appearance is cited in Axel Nissen's Bret Harte:Prince and Pauper, and corresponds closely with the ambrotype portraits. There are no clues to the identity of the man and woman in the double case which accompanied the other three photographs.

2. A 1/6th plate ambrotype of an elderly woman, mounted in a hanging frame with top loop. On the reverse is a handwritten label reading "May be Mrs Wimboult. Grandmother of Mrs Rachel Harding wife of Joseph Harding of Cheese fame".

3. A 1/6th plate tinted ambrotype of a boy, mounted in a hanging frame with  loop. It has an identical decorative oval matt ass ambrotype 4 below. [Eli George Jenkins]

4.A 1/6th plate tinted ambrotype of a boy, mounted in a hanging frame with top loop. It has an identical decorative oval matt ass ambrotype 3. On the reverse is a handwritten label reading Uriah Jenkins. Born August 13th 1848. Died March 13th 1894".

£250

Eli George can be identified as the sitter in ambrotype 3 (which has lost its label), who married in 1872 Julia Margaret Harding, the daughter of the famous cheesemaker (the "father of Cheddar cheese") Joseph Harding (1805-1876) and Rachel Wimboult (c.1805-1882).

The collection comes with copied information about Joseph Harding and the Jenkins and Pond families.

£120

Hannah Flower married James Clements in Liverpool in 1817, and in the 1851 census they are living in West Derby, with two sons, both born in Liverpool. Hannah was born about 1797 in Hawksworth, Yorkshire, so her sister Ann was probably born in this same area (near Leeds). The age of the sitter is consistent with a birth circa 1790-1800.

£400

The daguerreotype of the young boy and the three cabinet card portraits all feature the same person, and can be identified as William Short Mahony Esq, the subject of the insurance document, and we can assume that the couple in the daguerreotypes are his parents (with whom there is a close likeness). William Short Mahony was born about 1842 in Essex to Michael John Mahony, iron broker, and Ellen Lucy Crawley (who married in 1837 in Stepney, London). Michael Mahoney was a partner in the firm of Short & Mahony, metal brokers of Cornhill, London, who it happens were defendants in a case before the High Court of Chancery about the time the daguerreotypes were taken (see the Law Journal 1848). William married Hermina Lydia Stow in 1876 in Southampton (GRO certificate comes with the archive), who was the daughter of William Crawford Stow, architect and surveyor. In the 1891 census William, described as a 'member of the stock exchange', is living in Kensington with his wife Hermina, his son William, and cousin Mary Stow.

£120

Jane Martin was born circa 1834, the daughter of James and Eliza Martin of Leadhills, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  In the 1871 census her married name is Kinchant, and she is found with her parents and two young children Francis and James. Her father James Martin (1790-1875) was surgeon in the historic mining village of Leadhills where he was born, and as such was one of the community's most prominent citizens. Amongst other things James Martin provided evidence to the Children's Commission 1841-1842 on the hazardous working conditions of miners and metal workers. The ambrotype comes with copies of the family's details from the 1851 census.

The photographer James Urie (1820-1920) was by 1854 operating from premises at 33 and 35 Buchanan Street, Glasgow. In 1854 an article was published in the Mechanics Journal concerning his development of the Relievotype process, a variant of the ambrotype process in which the image was presented emulsion
side up, with the background of the actual portrait backed with black shellac. The image was then placed on a light background creating a three dimensional effect. This has not been done in this ambrotype, but the portrait has been mounted emulsion side up with a cover glass on top.

£50

Sarah Ann Davy was born in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire in 1839. She married on 3rd April 1863 John Matson (christened in York,16 November 1840), the son of James and Mary Matson. Sarah and John are found in the 1871 census in Haworth, Yorkshire, with their children Jospeh (7), Jennie (7), James (5), Sarah (3) and Elizabeth (1).

£75

£120

Members of the Myrick family are found concentrated along the SE United States in the mid 19th century.

£100

Arthur Charles Padday was born 1839, married Alice Hamilton Foster in 1874, and died in 1893 in Paddington, London. Two children, Arthur Campbell (b.1876) and Alice Isabel (b.1878) are registered in the christenings of the India Office in India. Following the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the Bengal Engineers were in 1862, amalgamated into the Corps of Royal Engineers, so we may presume this ambrotype pre-dates 1862, when Arthur would be in his early 20s. Further research into military records may be rewarding.

WIFE & CHILD OF INVENTOR ALEXANDER PARKES

PARKES, Mary Ann (1835-1919) with baby Patience. A sixth plate ambrotype of a mother and baby, the top of the emulsion plate with cracks, mounted in a gilt card matte and brass preserver. On the reverse is a pencil inscription "Patience Milly J. Parkes taken when 8 weeks old. M.A.Parkes. Novr. 27th 1856".

£150

Mary Ann Parkes née Roderick was born in Pembury, Carmarthenshire, and became the second wife of the chemist and inventor Alexander Parkes (1813-1819) of Birmingham. Alexander Parkes' first wife Jane Henshall Moore (by whom he had four sons and two daughters) died in 1850, and in 1854 he married Mary Ann Roderick. Their first child Patience Mary Anne Jane Parkes (who features in the ambrotype) was born in 1855 (not 1856) and Mary Ann bore him a further 10 children. Patience Parkes never married, and died in Lewisham, London in 1942.

In 1856, the year after this photograph was taken, Alexander Parkes patented 'Parkesine', the first man-made plastic.

£150

The difficulty of reading the married name of the sitter - Blackham[?] - has made the lady difficult to trace. Being married three times she would have had two other married names previous to this! The photographer is recorded at the two addresses given  form 1860-1875, which probably places this daguerreotype to the early 1860s.

Samuel Johnson Roberts was born in Chester in 1794, and followed the career of his father George Roberts, becoming a leading Chester solicitor. On 17th January 1832 at Edge Hill, Lancashire, he married Martha Clemenia Penny of Colyton, Devon, by whom he had at least five sons and three daughters (1851 & 1861 censuses and IGI). His son Charles was also a solicitor and his son Edmund Russell became a leading Chancery barrister. His daughter Fanny alluded to in the note, married James Charles Stuart, a merchant, in 1868.

£30

In the 1861 census (before Mary's birth), we find Francis G Selby in Spalding, Lincolnshire, aged 8, the son of Francis J. Selby, aged 45, an attorney solicitor, and his wife Ellen, aged 31. There are 5 other siblings listed.

£100

Thomas Sharp was an locomotive engine fitter, born about 1835 in Leeds. He was married in 1857 in Selby, Yorkshire, and he and his wife Hannah had several children, of whom Kate, born in 1862 in Hull, (the informant in the death certificate) married Henry Lazenby Parkinson in 1886 in Bradford. In the 1861 census the Sharps are living  in York, and by 1891 in Selby. At both addresses there are a high proportion of neighbours working on the railways. The photograph was taken when aged 21, shortly before his marriage.

£60

The connection between these families is via the marriage of Emily Wakem (featured in the photographic print) to Arthur Skitt in 1882 in Lambeth. Dr John Wilcox Wakem (b.1827) was a surgeon and apothecary, and evidently a photographer, who married Adelaide Hooper (middle of back row in the photo).

£300

Thomas Smith and his wife Elizabeth lived at Colebrooke Park, Tonbridge, Kent. Their daughter Elizabeth Solesby Smith (1828-1892) married William Benson JP in 1852, by whom she had six children, of which the eldest was William Arthur Benson (1854-1924). William, encouraged and supported by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, established himself as a successful metalwork designer. In 1884 he became a founder member of the Art-Workers' Guild, and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society came into being through his initiative. After William Morris's death in 1896, Benson also became the first chairman of William Morris & Co. Decorators Ltd. (ODNB). The ambrotype of the lady is misattributed to Mrs Smith - Elizabeth wife of Thomas Smith died in 1853 aged 48, so cannot be the sitter given the photograph is dated 1857. It is undoubtedly instead Elizabeth Solesby Benson (nee Smith), who would have been 29 when the photograph was taken.

£120

William Henry Thwaites was one of at least four children of Adam Thwaites a brewer and Sophia Amelia née Beckington of Newcastle upon Tyne. William is listed as a bookseller in Newcastle upon Tyne in the 1871 and 1881 census returns and in 1891 as a Weslyan Home Mission preacher in Wells, Norfolk. He married Florence Redman in 1881 by whom he had at least two children (Henry and Florence).

£80

The initials RWT might possibly be those of Robert William Tomlinson, born in Whitby in 1841. Local research in the Whitby area may help identify the family of this young man.

£75

In the 1861 census we find in Limehouse, Middlesex, Emma Walker, age 40, born in Westbury, Wiltshire, the wife of Edmund Walker, age 41, "Manr. pat.topsails", with Edmund's four children, and Emma's nephew Edwin Eyres. Emma and Edmund married in 1858 in Westbury, Wilts.

SOLD

William Deeping Warwick was born in Newark in 1843, the eldest son of Richard Warwick and Sarah Robinson née Bousfield. His father, initially a banking clerk later entered the brewing business and founded the famous Newark brewery Warwicks & Richardsons, which his son William Deeping joined in adulthood. William Deeping Warwick married Emily Sarah Branston in 1868 and settled later at Balderton Hall where they raised their children, and remained to the end of their lives.

This photograph is interesting for carrying quite an early date of 1854, the method of wet-collodion negatives on glass having been invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, which he developed the following year to produce positive images. It is also interesting for being taken outdoors.

£100

Henry Thornton Wharton was born in 1846 in Mitcham, Surrey, the son of Henry James Wharton (1798–1859), vicar of Mitcham, whose ancestors had long been settled at Winfarthing in Norfolk. His mother Mary was a daughter of Thomas Peregrine Courtenay. He was educated at Charterhouse and at Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours in natural science in 1871. He was best known for a book on Sappho (1885) which passed through four editions. He was also one of the joint compilers of the official list of British birds issued by the British Ornithologists' Union (1883), his special task being to supervise and elucidate the Latin nomenclature; and he contributed a chapter on the local flora to a work entitled Hampstead Hill (1889). (ODNB)

PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF YARDLEY SOAP MAKERS

YARDLEY - BINNY - BLAKE - GALE. A small archive of photographs and documents/ ephemera relating to the Yardley family, makers of soap and toiletries. The group comprises the following:

1. A fine hand-coloured portrait on a photographic print base, of a young lady in her wedding dress, named on the reverse Mrs Yardley. Mounted under a plain cream card with oval cut-out measuring circa 7 x 9 inches.

2. A 1/9th plate ambrotype of an elderly lady in a full leather case. A rather dark exposure.

3. A faded photographic print mounted in a 1/9th plate half case with suspension loop, labelled on the reverse Charles Yardley.

4. A 1/9th plate ambrotype of a young gentleman in a top hat, in a full leather case with a label on the reverse reading Charles Yardley (Jun) Born May 1824 Married 1857 Died March 1872.

5. A 1/9th plate ambrotype of a young lady, in a full leather case with a label on the reverse reading Fanny Blake. A rather dark exposure.

6. A 1/6th plate ambrotype of a young lady with a child, in a full leather case with an enclosed label reading Mrs Charles Yardley & Robert Blake Yardley about 1870. In a full leather case with the trade mark of The London School of Photography. A rather dark exposure.

7. A collection of photographs of Robert Blake Yardley comprising 3 carte-de-visites of Robert as a child; 2 cabinet cards; 2 prints, one large in grey card covers with the photographer's name Theresa Yardley - Broadstairs.

8. One miniature carte-de-visite (1.5 x 2.5 ins) featuring a young lady in a coat and hat, with the (incomplete) photographer's stamp CLARKE & SON. AL.......

9. 4 postcards (3 are duplicated) of Rudley Old Hall with the photographer's details J.Wareham, The Studio, Audley, Staffs.

10. 2 small envelopes made out to Robert Blake Yardley (one upon his birthday).

11. An indexed genealogical notebook (12 leaves in card covers) principally relating to the Yardley and Dewes families, with about 90 handwritten entries up to 1940 recording dates of births, marriages and deaths. Also included are modern copies of relevant census returns and Yardley London history.

£450

The Yardley family are first associated with soap manufacturing in the early 17th century in London. William Yardley took charge of the business in the early 19th century and upon his death in 1824 left the soap and cosmetics side of the business to his son Charles Yardley (c1795-1882) (item no.3). In 1822 Charles married Mary Ann Gale (1795-1871) - almost certainly the older lady of the ambrotype (item no.2) - who bore him a son Charles Yardley (1824-1872) (item no.4). Charles Yardley junior married Fanny Susannah Blake (b. 1832) (item no.1, 5 & 6) whose son Robert Blake Yardley (1858-143) (8 photos - item 7) married in 1895 Margaret Murray Binny (b.1874) (item no.8).

Charles Yardley senior (c1795-1882) took little interest in the business and in 1841 brought in his son Charles Yardley junior (1824-1872) alongside a partner to establish the business as Yardley & Statham. Charles Yardley senior outlived his son who died in 1872, and Robert Blake Yardley being too young to take over, Thomas Exton Gardner was brought in to run the business known as Yardley & Company. In the event Robert Blake Yardley was able to follow his own career in the law (he was author of the standard work Land Value Taxation and Rating), and in his spare time became a distinguished philatelist, becoming Vice-President of the Royal Philatelic Society London in 1923 and President from 1931-1934.

ISLE OF MAN CONNECTIONS

CADMAN - DENTON - GELL - HOUSON - McBURNEY - WOOD. A Victorian carte-de-visite photograph album containing 89 CDV cards of which 83 are portraits and 5 are places (Venice and New York). 31 CDVs are by Isle of Man photographers; 15 Lancashire photographers (nb Blackburn and Manchester); an others include London, Bradford, Edinburgh and Dublin. All of the sitters are adults and nearly every one is named in pencil on the album pages, and there are 11 gaps where names are written down but the CDVs are missing. It is possible that this album is mainly a collection relating to friends of the compiler rather than being an album primarily of their own family. There are six groups of 4 to 6 CDVs all bearing the same surname. The landscape format leather album (9 x 6 inches) has a brass clasp, and the spine is damaged and repaired.

£120

CDVs of members of the Cadman, Gell, McBurney and Wood families are particularly associated with the Isle of Man in terms of the photographers, while those of Houson and Denton are mainly taken in Lancashire.

JACK THE RIPPER CONNECTION

GARDNER - APPLEFORD of Great Coggeshall, Essex.  A Victorian carte-de-visite photograph album containing 36 CDV cards relating to the Gardner and Appleford families of Great Coggeshall, Essex, plus extended family portraits relating to the Freeman and Alderson families. All but one of the CDVs are identified in pencil script on the album pages and/or on the back of the cards. The majority of CDVs are by photographers in London (mainly Mile End Road) plus others in Colchester, Brighton, Norwich, Sunderland, Stockport and Rouen (France). Many of the cards are protected by mica sheet inserts. The leather album (6 x 8 inches) has a locking brass clasp (location ferrule missing). The front board of the album is split but not dtached. The album comes with a number of copies of census records.

£175

The album centres upon two branches of the Gardner family - that of William Gardner (1803-1880) brewer of Great Coggeshall, Essex, and his wife Elizabeth Gardner and four children Emily, Arthur, Fredrick and Walter; and that of Dr John Gardner (1804-1880) physician, and his wife Julia Emily née Barton, and t heir children. Other portraits are connected with family marriages to Freeman, Alderson, Lett and Miller.

One of the more interesting portraits is that of Emily Appleford born in 1846 in Great Coggeshall, who married Frederick Gordon Brown in 1869. This was Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown (1842-1928) later surgeon to the City of London Police, best known for his post-mortem report on Catherine Eddowes, one of Jack the Ripper's victims. He also examined the body of Alice Mackenzie, and took part in the investigation into the Pinchin Street Torso.

£50

This family has been difficult to trace through the usual English census and birth, marriages and deaths records, but relatives will doubtless recognize names amongst those recorded here. The Rev. Canon Alfred White who may or may not be a relative (there is also a CDV of Mr John White taken in Dublin) was a Roman Catholic priest, born in London in 1825 and died in 1904 in Hammersmith. The Berington family have strong associations with Malvern, Shropshire - photographs of Mrs Frank Langton were also taken in Malvern.

£175

The album centres upon the family of Edward Lord (1831-1903) born at Sellinge (Sellindge), Kent, the son of George Lord and Mary (1798-1866). Edward is found in the census records as a tea dealer 1861 and later a grocer and postmaster in 1881. He married in 1872 Elizabeth Mary Rogers daughter of James and Mary Ann Rogers of Gwithian, West Cornwall, and they settled in Ramsgate,  Kent, where they raised at least 9 children.

£175

William Mackey Esq of Lismatigiley, Raphoe, County Donegal married Sarah McDonnell, daughter of Captain McDonnell in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland, on December 16th 1848. The majority of family members in the album appear to be resident in Ayrshire and other Scottish locations, with some others with Irish connections.

SOLD

The compiler of the album appears to be the sister of James Smith of Liverpool. Several portraits are found of her aunt Sally Taylor, mainly taken in Liverpool, but the Rawcliffe family feature most of all, in particular the family of the compiler's uncle George Rawcliffe. This appears to be George B. Rawcliffe (born Burnley c.1846) architectural draughtsman, who married Elizabeth Smith at West Derby, Liverpool in 1868. They are found in the 1881 census in Burnley, Lancashire where most of the portraits were taken. At least two of George and Elizabeth's children are represented - Roland (born 1872, Atcham) and Lucy (born 1876, Atcham). There are also photographs of the Rev William Maynard and his wife who are probably relatives judging from a CDV of a baby and an elderly lady annotated 'Maynard & his grandmother Taylor'. The Rev William Maynard (died 1875) was chaplain of  the Mariner's Floating Church, the former frigate HMS Tees moored in George Dock, Liverpool. Maynard became chaplain in 1832 following the vacancy by its first chaplain the arctic explorer and clergyman William Scoresby Jr.(1789-1857).

£75

William Spain whose portrait is present as well as the photograph of his headstone, was born about 1816 in Dover, Kent and in 1848 married at St George Hannover Square, London, Thirza Ledbury, born circa 1815 at Warminster, Wiltshire, where she died in 1882. William and Thirza are found in the 1861 census employed as butler and cook in the household of George & Alfred Christy, hat manufacturers. Henry Spain was a gorocer's manager, born in Canterbury circa 1831, who settled in Liverpool with his wife Charlotte.

£250

Richard Blaney Wade (1821 -1897) was born in Kilkenny, Ireland. A painting is known of him dating from 1824 when just 3 years old, made by the Irish born artist Adam Buck (held in the National Gallery of Ireland). Wade trained as a lawyer, then entered banking becoming in 1867 Chariman of the National Provincial Bank of England. He married in 1850 Adelaide Amelia Louisa Teresa Caroline Shadwell at Richmond, Surrey. Over and above a very successful banking career, Richard Wade held office within a number of charitable organisations including the St. Marylebone Female Protection Society and the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women and Children.

Richard and Adelaide Wade had at least 10 children, 8 of whom feature in the album.  Their son Cecil (1857-1908) became a stockbroker, and in 1883 married Fanny Mackay Frew at Cardross, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Fanny, whose photograph by G.McKenzie of Paisley is found in the album next to that of Cecil, became in 1866 one of the first significant commissions for the portrait painter John Singer Sargent after his move to London. The painting is now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri (see http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/Mrs_Cecil_Wade.html )