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.

1. A 19th century glass plate lantern slide 3.5 x 4.5 inches of Sir Francis Beaufort, which underneath the oval paper mount shows this to be a photographic copy of a daguerreotype.

2. Three 1/9th plate ambrotypes all with the same style brass mattes and preservers, featuring a gentleman (on the reverse the initials FLB); a lady (on the reverse the initials FLB); and a young man (on the reverse the initials AFB Oxford 1862).

3. A 1/6th plate ambrotype of a boy in a hanging half case with suspension loop.

£350

The image of Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) naval officer and hydrographer comes from a daguerreotype taken at the Adelaide Gallery studios of Antoine Claudet (his visit to Claudet's studio is recorded in the letters of Maria Edgeworth). A reproduction of this same image is illustrated in Alfred Friendly's biography Beaufort of the Admiralty Hutchinson 1977, who gives a date of 1848 for the daguerreotype.

The 3 1/9th plate ambrotypes can be identified as Beaufort's son Francis Lestock Beaufort (1815-1879), Bengal civil servant, Calcutta judge, and legal writer; his wife Mary (born c1817 Hookerswell, Oxford); and their son Augustus F Beaufort (born c1848 Bengal). In the 1861 census the family of Francis Lestock Beaufort are found staying in Hampstead. The 1/6th plate ambrotype of a boy is consistent with being either their son Charles E Beaufort (b.c1849) or Cecil W Beaufort (b.c1852).

£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)

£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.

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.

£100

The young lady in the small ambrotype is more likely to be a daughter of Dickson, than a sister.

£30

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

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.

£450

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.

£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.

SOLD

Thomas Thursfield was born in Broseley, Shropshire in 1805, the son of William Thursfield, surgeon, and Elizabeth Asbury. He married Sarah Pardoe, and settled in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, where he practiced as a surgeon. The younger of their two sons, Sir James Richard Thursfield (1840-1923), was a well known naval historian and journalist (ODNB).

£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.

£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)