| Introduction
- A Background to Studio Photography in England
Richard
Beard,
a successful coal merchant, and patent speculator, opened
England’s
first
photographic portrait studio in London on 23rd March 1841.
Beard
had recognised the advantages of securing a monopoly in the production
of daguerreotype portraits in England. In June 1841, he
concluded
negotiations with Miles Berry, Louis Daguerre’s
patent
agent
in England, and purchased the patent rights to the daguerreotype
process.
By the end of July 1841, Richard Beard had become the sole patentee of
the daguerreotype process in England and Wales, and thus had a virtual
monopoly in the production of photographic portraits using
Daguerre’s
method.
Until
the
patent rights
of British Patent No 8194 expired on 14th August 1853, any person who
wanted
to legally carry out the art of daguerreotype portrait photography on a
commercial basis had to apply to Richard Beard, to either purchase the
right of patent in a prescribed geographical area or to purchase a
licence
to work the process in a particular town or city.
In
June 1841,
Richard
Beard claimed to have “disposed
of licences for Liverpool,
Brighton,
Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham and Plymouth”.
The first
provincial
photographic studio in England was opened on 31st July 1841 at
Plymouth.
Over the next five months licensed daguerreotype studios appeared in
Bristol,
Cheltenham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Brighton, Bath and Manchester.
Edward
Holland's
Agreement with Richard Beard
On
9 November
1842, John
Johnson (1813-1871) an American
daguerreotypist and associate of
Richard
Beard obtained the patent rights for the daguerreotype process for the
counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire.
On
10 November
1842, Edward
Holland obtained a licence from
Richard Beard to use the
daguerreotype
process in certain specific parts of Yorkshire and
Derbyshire.
Under
the agreement, Holland was to pay Beard a total sum of £500,
made
up of an initial payment of £200 and two further instalments
of
£150
each. In return, Holland was granted "the
exclusive licence
power
and privilege within districts, towns and places in several counties of
York and Derby therein after mentioned i.e. the whole of a certain
district
situated in the County of York ... and also within the several towns of
Buxton and Bakewell in the County of Derby."
[Indenture,
dated
10 November 1842]
Under
the
terms of the
agreement, Beard was to supply Holland with "frame
cases and
metallic
plates and other apparatus"
necessary for the making of
daguerreotypes.
In addition to the licence fee of £500, Holland was also
required
to pay to Beard, 15% of all his takings from the sale of daguerreotype
portraits.
Edward
Holland
is the
first recorded example of an itinerant photographer. He
intended
to travel across Yorkshire and Derbyshire, setting up temporary studios
in various places. After making the down payment of
£200,
Holland
made daguerreotype portraits at Doncaster Race Course, Bradford and
Halifax,
but he experienced difficulty in paying the remainder of the licence
fee.
In July 1843, Richard Beard began legal proceedings against Holland to
recover the outstanding £300 and he was forced to abandon his
photographic
career before he even reached Derbyshire. [Court
of Chancery
Proceedings,
Beard v Holland 1843].
The
First Derby
Daguerrotypists : 1842-1844
In
the summer
of 1843, John
Johnson operated a temporary
daguerreotype portrait studio in
Victoria
Street, next to the Athenaeum [Derbyshire
Courier, 8 July 1843,
page 2, col 7], although by around September he had moved on to set up
another studio in Blackpool. In February 1844, an un-named
photographer
was operating a daguerreotype studio in Victoria Street, Derby [Derby
Mercury, 28 February 1844, page
2, col 3], and was still in
business
the following month. By September 1844, however, Thomas
Roberts
announced that he
had acquired the daguerreotype licence for
Derbyshire
and would be taking portraits at Johnson's former studio in Victoria
Street
[Derby Mercury,
25 September 1844, page 2, col 6]. He
continued
as a daguerreotype artist for the next 12 months, but later
concentrated
more on his bookselling business.
Early
Derby Studio
Photographers : 1854-1857
The
end of
Beard's daguerreotype
patent in August 1853 and the introduction of Archer's "patent free"
wet
collodion process at around the same time resulted in an explosion of
photographic
activity in Derbyshire.
-
James
Brennan
arrived in Derby around 1854 and established a
daguerreotype
portrait gallery at 14 Irongate [History
of the Derby Photographic
Society
by F E Birks (1934), pp. 3]. Brennan's studio continued in
Derby
for over 40 years. - Edmund
Stowe was
listed as a photographic artist at 9 Victoria Terrace, Macklin Street,
Derby in Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire (1855, probably compiled by
December
1854 ) but by August 1855 he had moved on to Hereford.
- Richard
Smith advertised
his photographic studio at 2 Regent Street, Derby in August
1855
[Derby Telegraph,
25 August 1855, page 1, col 3] and two years
later
he was still taking portraits in Derby [White's
1857 Trade Directory].
- William
Seville,
a silhouette artist from Manchester, established a photographic studio
at 51 St Peter's Street, Derby [Derby
Mercury, 12th
September
1855, page 4, col 6] and remained in Derby for a couple of years.
- James
Wilson operated
from a studio in Morledge, Derby [Derby
Telegraph, 22 September
1855, page 1, col 4].
- The
partnership of Charles
& Morris established a
studio in Station Street, Derby in 1855
[Derby Telegraph,
24 November 1855, page 1, col 5]. One of
the partners, Emmanuel
Nicolas Charles,
continued as a photographer in Midland Road, Derby for the next ten
years.
-
Thomas
Roberts had
returned to photography by 1857, establishing a studio in Oakes Yard [White's
1857 Trade Directory].
References
A
Faithful
Likeness
- The First Photographic Portrait Studios in the British Isles, 1841 to
1855, by Bernard &
Pauline Heathcote, publ. by the authors, 2002
The
Victorians:
Photographic Portraits, by
Audrey Linkman, publ. by Tauris Parke,
1993
The
Daguerreotype
in England: Some Primary Material Relating to Beard’s Lawsuits,
by
R. Derek Wood, in History of
Photography, October 1979, Vol.
3,
No. 4, pp. 305-9.
History
of the
Derby
Photographic Society, by F E
Birks, 1934.
All
original
newspaper
sources and much of the other content were taken from "A
Faithful
Likeness".
It is a magnificent piece of research and anyone interested in the
early
history of photography in the British Isles should consult the
Heathcotes'
book. Copies are available from Bernard & Pauline
Heathcote,
27 Plough Lane, Lowdham, Nottinghamshire, NG14 7AT, England.
by David
Simkin
Brighton,
Sussex,
England
Brighton
Photographers 1841-1910
David has made a
special
study of photographers active in Sussex during Victorian and Edwardian
times, and is happy to respond to enquiries related to studios in East
and West Sussex. Please contact him via his web site or email
him directly.
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