The Church of St. Aidan in the Northumberland coastal village of Bamburgh is “one of the largest, and in many respects one of the finest in the country.”
That’s the verdict of Mrs. A.E. MacLeod’s illustrated account simply titled Bamburgh first published in the 1930s.
Bamburgh by Mrs. A.E. MacLeod (Gloucester: The British Publishing Company).
Alongside Bamburgh’s spectacular castle, the book’s other prime focus is the historic church that has long gripped the imagination of visitors.
Pen and ink drawings illuminate the story of St. Aidan who helped spread the Christian gospel from Iona to nearby Lindisfarne and beyond in the 7th century CE.
In more recent times, the building plays a part in the story of Grace Darling whose grave is located in the churchyard.
In 1838, together with her lighthouse keeper father, she rescued 9 sailors from the stricken SS Forfarshire aground on Big Harcar in the Farne Islands.
Proclaimed a national heroine, Grace’s bravery was immortalised by artists and is celebrated today in the RNLI Grace Darling Museum directly opposite St. Aidan’s.
The Rescue of the SS Forfarshire by Grace Darling. Oil on canvas painting by artist F. S. Lowther (1886). Courtesy RNLI.
Photographers too have taken inspiration from the church as the latest addition to the Pressphotoman collection confirms.
It’s a carte de visite notated ‘Bamburgh Church, Northumberland’ on the verso in an unknown hand with a stamp for ‘J. Borthwick, Photographer, 61 Bondgate Street, Alnwick.’
Photographer Joseph Borthwick (1830-1894) was a fixture in the nearby neighbouring town of Alnwick for nearly four decades.
The Borthwick family ran a grocer’s shop and Joseph trained as a cabinet maker and joiner.
As to his photography, this newspaper advert from the Alnwick Mercury suggests that during his twenties, he was taking portraits, perhaps using a camera he had built.
From British Newspaper Archive.
Still listed as a cabinetmaker in the 1861 Census, Joseph used the Alnwick Mercury to announce in March 1863 that his ‘Permanent Photographic Gallery and Picture Frame Establishment!! … will shortly open in Bondgate Street.’
Alnwick Mercury (2nd March 1863). From British Newspaper Archive.
Two months later, ‘Borthwick’s Photographic Studio’ opened to the public and Joseph continued in business as a photographer and picture framer at various Alnwick town centre addresses into the 1890s.
Alnwick Mercury (1st May 1863). From British Newspaper Archive.
As to when Borthwick’s carte de visite of St. Aidan’s Church, Bamburgh, was taken, the lack of a roof at the right-hand side of the building offers a clue.
According to Mrs. MacLeod’s Bamburgh guide, the church was roofless at one point and in 1857, a new roof was pitched and covered in lead.
From Bamburgh by Mrs. A. E. MacLeod (Gloucester: The British Publishing Company).
Closer examination of Borthwick’s carte de visite confirms that the roof was missing at the point the photograph was taken.
If 1857 is the correct date for the church’s re-roofing, it must have been taken earlier in the decade, perhaps when Joseph Borthwick was an amateur photographer creating images for pleasure.
Subsequently, the image may well have ended up in his archive and been called in to service when his 61 Bondgate Street studio needed attractive ‘new’ images to sell to customers.
As to the unidentified figure in the churchyard, he’s been deliberately positioned in the foreground to give a sense of scale.
Taking all this information into account, the resulting photograph is a valuable relic of an important period in the long history of St. Aidan’s Church, Bamburgh.
Saturday (6th December) marks the Feast of St. Nicholas when celebrations take place in many western Christian countries.
It’s a tradition that dates back to the 4th century when St. Nicholas as Bishop of Lyra was venerated for his generosity to children.
His later transformation into Santa Claus and Father Christmas during the 19th century has rather overshadowed his earlier role in the Christian church.
That said, many churches are named after St. Nicholas including one of my favourite buildings in Britain.
Newcastle Cathedral with its distinctive lantern tower began life during the 12th century as St. Nicholas Parish Church.
It’s a structure that continues to dominate the urban skyline and has been portrayed by successive generations of photographers as my own collection bears witness.
For instance, this carte de visite dates from the mid-1860s when the firm of W. & D. Downey was establishing its Newcastle studio in the heart of the city.
Erroneously titled ‘St. Peter’s’ in an unknown hand, it’s a view that had its origins in a stereoscopic 3D image.
In July 1864 as Downey’s consolidated its reputation for high-quality work, the firm placed one of its regular ‘Now Ready’ advertisements in the local press.
Newcastle Journal (15th July 1864). From British Newspaper Archive.
Like most collectors, the search for a particular image sometimes ends when you are least expecting it.
So it proved with a Downey stereo of St. Nicholas’ Church that appeared on a well-known auction site recently courtesy of a seller in the United States.
The first image I saw featured the verso of the stereocard revealing its title details printed on the company’s familar blue sticker.
The only slight disappointment was that, as closer examination of the two stereo halves reveals, the full 3D effect was undermined by the images being slightly out of alignment.
One explanation for this might be a result of the laborious process of cutting the photographic prints to size by hand.
Whether this particular stereo failed to meet Downey’s own high standards and ended up in the bin isn’t known.
Despite this, the pleasure of handling an object that is around 160 years old never fails to pall.
The very first Pressphotoman post published in December 2022 featured a Channel 5 tv documentary about Queen Alexandra.
Portraying “the little celebrated and long-suffering wife” of King Edward VII, I questioned why a 70-minute programme rich in archive photographs had ignored one particular celebrated carte de visite portrait.
The resulting carte reportedly sold around 300,000 copies at a time when photography offered the public an affordable outlet for their fascination with the royal family.
That fascination continues as evidenced by another royal tv documentary broadcast in Britain last week.
Again, it offered an unmissable opportunity to utilise well-known carte de visite portraits of its subjects.
This time the programme makers did not disappoint.
Titled ‘Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage? Secret Child?’, Dr. Fern Riddell presented new evidence revealing a romantic relationship between Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown.
As its title hinted, this included the claim that they not only married, but even had a child together.
Photohistorians have long pored over carte de visite portraits of the couple that were produced during the 1860s and 1870s.
Among the earliest was taken by the Aberdeen photographer George Washington Wilson at the Queen’s Balmoral estate in October 1863.
Marking the anniversary of her last Highland ride with Prince Albert, Victoria together with her pony ‘Fyvie’ were flanked by two of her servants, John Brown and John Grant.
However, when the photograph was published as a commercial carte, Grant was edited out of the shot leaving Brown and the Queen together.
The photograph later became symbolic of the monarch’s deep mourning for her late husband and her relationship with Brown that was already the subject of much gossip.
Sales during the following year were just short of 13,000 copies of this and other portraits made on the same occasion though the ‘Fyvie’ carte was the most popular.
The documentary also made great use of a similar portrait of Victoria and Brown taken five years later.
In the documentary, it was used to provide physical evidence for its argument that the Queen had given birth to a child with Brown the previous year.
Photographers like the Downey brothers and George Washington Wilson were no doubt privy to all kinds of interactions between the Queen and members of the royal household.
Exactly what they knew and saw would no doubt have interested today’s royal documentary makers.
What these intimate photographs capture only adds to the mystery surrounding Victoria and Brown.
The previous Pressphotoman piece marking a significant photographic anniversary has sent this blog’s research into the firm of W. & D. Downey of Newcastle on Tyne in fresh directions.
On 29th June 1863, William Downey took this group portrait in the garden of the London home of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
It features Rossetti and William Scott Bell, known as the Northern Pre-Raphaelite, together with the movement’s champion John Ruskin.
The explanation for the hat and wig he is wearing is that his facial hair including his eye brows had recently fallen out due to an attack of alopecia.
This dramatic change is evident in an earlier Bell Scott portrait, also attributed to W. & D. Downey.
It is one that features in the collection of the Watts Gallery, Surrey (my thanks to Antony Ryan for this information).
The exact dating of the portrait is unknown, but it has the hallmarks of the company’s early celebrity cartes de visite published around 1860 when the Downeys were still based in South Shields.
As head of the Government’s School of Design in nearby Newcastle on Tyne (1843-1864), Bell Scott was a significant figure in the North East of England.
Eight of his best-known artworks completed between 1857 and 1861 feature in the Central Hall of Wallington, Northumberland, a stately home now in the care of the National Trust.
Rear view of Wallington, Northumberland. June 2025. Author’s photo.
Commissioned by Lady Pauline Trevelyan, Bell Scott’s brief was to decorate the hall with ‘wall paintings to illuminate the history and worthies of Northumbria.’
These are titled ‘The Roman Wall,’ ‘King Efrid and Cuthbert,’ ‘The Descent of the Danes,’ ‘The Death of Bede,’ ‘Spur in the Dish,’ ‘Bernard Gilpin,’ ‘Grace Darling’ and ‘Iron & Coal.’
The Central Hall designed by the Newcastle architect John Dobson took its inspiration from John Ruskin’s vision of an Italian Renaissance courtyard.
A recent opportunity to visit Wallington confirmed the impressive nature of both the hall and its paintings.
Central Hall, Wallington. June 2025. Author’s photo.Central Hall, Wallington. June 2025. Author’s photo.
On 29th June 1863, photographer William Downey set up his equipment in the garden of a house in the Chelsea district of London.
The house was home to the poet and illustrator Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882).
Joining him for the photoshoot were his friend and fellow Pre-Raphaelite artist William Bell Scott (1811-1890) together with the writer and critic John Ruskin (1819-1900).
Earlier in the year, Rossetti and Bell Scott had been photographed separately by William and his brother Daniel for their company, W. & D. Downey of Newcastle on Tyne.
Newcastle Daily Journal (21st March 1863). From British Newspaper Archive.
Hence, adding Ruskin to the line-up had a commercial caché.
The resulting photographs featuring the trio were then published by Downey in a variety of formats including cabinet cards and cartes de visite.
As to how the photoshoot came about, Bell Scott may well have been pivotal.
He was a Tyneside connection of the Downey brothers from his years as head of the Government School of Design in Newcastle (1843-1864).
In later years when interviewed about his own career, William Downey (1829-1915) recalled an incident about the Bell Scott/Rossetti/Ruskin photoshoot “hitherto unpublished.”
“I was taking their portraits together, and for the purpose of grouping would have had Mr. Ruskin sit down.
“But no. His reverence for Rossetti was so great that he would not sit down in his presence, and so had to be taken standing” (from ‘The Queen’s Photographer,’ English Illustrated Magazine, March 1896).
For the collector and those with an interest in the Downey photographic dynasty, these images are high on any wish list.
But their scarcity and budgetary constraints make adding such images to the Pressphotoman collection highly unlikely.
Given this, it was a moment of high excitement this week to obtain this carte portrait of John Ruskin taken on the same occasion.
The attribution ‘Unknown Photographer’ is like catnip to the photohistorian.
Sometimes the pieces of the jigsaw fall neatly into place and a credible name for the author of an image emerges.
That’s exactly what happened during the writing of this blogpost.
It began with a portrait photograph that is more than 160 years old and among the earliest protected by UK copyright law.
Copy 1/1/279. National Archives/OGL.
It features the veteran statesman and philosopher Henry, Lord Brougham (1778-1868) and was taken by Daniel Downey, one of the Tyneside brothers behind the celebrated photography firm of W. & D. Downey.
These facts are known because of a vital piece of legislation that early photographers in particular were quick to embrace.
On 29th July 1862, the Fine Arts Copyright Act became law and required anyone wanting to protect their paintings, drawings or photographs to complete a form and attach a copy of the work.
The first photograph (COPY 1/1/1) was registered on 15th August at Stationers Hall in London where the act was administered.
A few months later, according to a document stored in the National Archives at Kew, Daniel Downey submitted a form together with a copy of the photograph (seen above) that he had taken.
Copy 1/1/279. National Archives/OGL.
Dated 19th November 1862, the resulting form complete with his signature is numbered ‘279.’
For a researcher like me with an ongoing interest in charting the history of the Downey company, seeing such a document in the flesh as I did recently was a real privilege.
As regular readers will be aware, 1862 was a pivotal year for the Downey brothers, William and Daniel, who had started their photography business in South Shields several years earlier.
That January, their photographs of the aftermath of the New Hartley pit disaster claiming the lives of 204 men and boys were acclaimed by Queen Victoria.
Then, in March, their new studio at 9 Eldon Square, Newcastle on Tyne opened and quickly became a go-to destination for the great and good seeking a high-quality photographic portrait.
Daniel’s portrait of Lord Brougham was subsequently issued commercially as a carte de visite.
An example of this carte marked ‘Copyright’ and ‘W. & D. Downey’ on the front is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
As to when the photograph was taken, an article in the Newcastle Daily Journal (12th January 1863) reported how Downey had been honoured with repeated commissions from Brougham, who it called “the great opponent of the slave trade.”
The paper went on: “… only recently they were on a professional visit to his residence in Westmoreland, when they had the rare good fortune to obtain, in one small carte de visite, the portraits of both Lord Brougham and Mr. Gladstone.”
Searching online for this carte featuring Brougham with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Prime Minister in four British governments, I came across this image.
Titled ‘Henry Brougham …. and William Ewart Gladstone’ and described as an ‘albumen print, late 1850s,’ the website of the National Portrait Gallery, London states that it was purchased in 1991 and attributes it to an ‘unknown photographer.’
Looking at the chair being used and the stone wall background, the visual evidence suggests a number of similarities with Daniel Downey’s copyrighted portrait of Lord Brougham.
Copy 1/1/279. National Archives/OGL.
Press reports also help identify a possible date and location at which these portraits featuring Brougham alone and together with Gladstone were taken.
In a report headlined ‘Mr. Gladstone’s visit to Newcastle’, the Newcastle Courant (10th October 1862) described how “the right honourable gentleman [Gladstone] and Mrs. Gladstone, who had been staying with Lord Brougham at Brougham Hall, near Penrith … arrived at Blaydon-on-Tyne, on Monday afternoon, by train from Carlisle.”
Newcastle Courant (10th October 1862). From British Newspaper Archive.
This account points to the period prior to this when the sittings took place with Brougham Hall being a strong candidate as the location.
It would also connect neatly with an event that took place in Newcastle the day after Gladstone and Mrs. Gladstone’s arrival in the city on Monday 7th October 1862.
The next day, the Newcastle Courant reported that Gladstone paid a visit to “the studio of Mr. Downey, photographer, Eldon Square, where the Chancellor of the Exchequer sat for a portrait.”
This resulting carte de visite issued by W. & D. Downey is part of my collection and also features in several versions in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Taken together, the sequence of events strongly suggests that Daniel Downey not only took the portraits featuring Lord Brougham and Mr. Gladstone at Brougham Hall, but also as that of Gladstone at Downey’s Eldon Square studio in Newcastle.
Whatever the exact details of their provenance, the resulting photographs capture two of Britain’s best-known politicians in their Victorian pomp.
The name of John Hunter Rutherford (1826-1890) lives on in a number of educational institutions.
An evangelical preacher from the Scottish Borders, he came to Newcastle on Tyne in 1850.
Among his many achievements as an educationalist, he is best known for setting up a series of elementary schools in the surrounding area.
Rutherford College named after him gave birth to what today is Northumbria University.
When Dr. Rutherford died suddenly, his reputation was such that 5,000 people took part in his funeral procession.
Newcastle Daily Chronicle (28th March 1890). From British Newspaper Archive.
In addition, the Newcastle WeeklyChronicle estimated that more 100,000 lined the processional route.
This line drawing of him in later life accompanied the newspaper’s three-column report of the occasion.
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (28th March 1890). From British Newspaper Archive.
However, in his younger days, a recent addition to the Pressphotoman collection reveals that he posed for his portrait with leading Newcastle photographers W. & D. Downey.
The slogan ‘Patronized By Her Majesty’ was used by the company before being replaced by ‘Photographers To Her Majesty’ in the middle of the decade.
This information and the lack of Downey branding on the front of the carte allows it to be dated c. 1862-1866.
At that point, Dr. Rutherford was in his late-30s and in the midst of his studies as a medical doctor.
A surprising twist to this blogpost is that his death occurred only a few doors away from where the Downey carte portrait was taken.
As part of its funeral report, the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle published a letter from Dr. Rutherford’s son John sent from 6 Eldon Square, the family home.
It indicates the esteem in which his father was held.
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (28th March 1890). From British Newspaper Archive.
Given this, the Downey carte de visite of John Hunter Rutherford as a younger man making his way in the world seems all the more poignant.
It was taken during a visit to Newcastle on Tyne in October 1862 when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Prior to a lavish banquet in the city’s Town Hall, Mr. Gladstone together with his wife toured several Newcastle locations.
These included the Literary & Philosophical Society, St. Nicholas Church (now the Anglican cathedral), the Castle and Old Norman Keep, and Central Exchange reading room.
According to the Newcastle Courant (10th October 1862): “The next move was to the studio of Mr. Downey, photographer, Eldon Square, where [Gladstone] sat for a portrait, which, our readers will, no doubt, by and by have an opportunity of inspecting.”
The verso of the resulting carte, with its seller’s stamp (bottom left) for ‘A. Mansell,’ a photograph and bookseller in Gloucester, illustrates the subsequent nationwide appeal of this one shilling photograph.
A copyright form for Downey’s carte of Gladstone was lodged several months later in July 1863.
This gap between the sitting and publication perhaps indicated a delay in securing the politician’s agreement to the photograph being put on general sale.
Indeed, Gladstone was a popular carte subject.
During the period 1862-1870, he was second only to members of the Royal Family with more than 50 registered copyrights for his photographic portrait.
It was only when Disraeli succeeded Lord Derby as Prime Minister in 1868 that Downey secured a sitting with Gladstone’s political adversary.
On 3rd October 1868, the Newcastle Journal reported: “Our townsmen, Messrs. Downey, have had the honour of photographing the Right Hon. B. Disraeli during their sojourn at Balmoral.”
Queen Victoria’s diary records that he stayed at her Scottish home for 10 days during the second half of September.
As Downey busied themselves with the latest round of royal portraits, they also took the opportunity to photograph the Queen’s new Prime Minister.
It well illustrates how Downey set up the shot, allowing for a variety of framings that were used to produce different sized versions.
Later ennobled by Queen Victoria as Lord Beaconsfield, his death in 1881 allowed firms like Downey to re-issue its archive of Disraeli portraits to new customers
The carte that recently joined my collection with the company’s later ‘London & Newcastle’ branding falls into that category.
The prominent seller’s stamp for ‘Pawson & Brailsford,’ publishers and stationers in Sheffield, shows that the wider photographic trade was also keen to exploit such commercial opportunities.
stephenmartin81
Interesting to see how the Victorians liked portraits of their Prime Ministers and probably thus treated them with due respect. How times have changed!
Few today would want a portrait of recent Prime Ministers – except perhaps for darts’ practice!!! – and even the present Prime Minister and cabinet have reportedly removed portraits of certain recent Prime Ministers or senior Cabinet ministers from Government offices.
The man looking back at me had certainly made a good choice of photographer to capture his likeness.
H. S. Mendelssohn was one of Newcastle’s leading portrait studios during the 1870s and, later in his career, went on to photograph members of the British royal family.
Many of his Newcastle clientele came from well-to-do families, suggesting that our subject might be a person of means and status.
Arms folded and wearing a stylish jacket, the young man looked relaxed and at ease with the world, his eyes radiating a degree of self-confidence.
As regular readers might expect, the carte verso contained helpful clues.
An unknown hand, possibly Mr. Mendelssohn’s own, had recorded the man’s identity: ‘Edward H. M. Elliot, Esq. 82nd Reg. Aged 25. 1878.’
Armed with this information, it did not take long to track down Edward Hay Mackenzie Elliot (1852-1920)
He was a career soldier who made his mark on history at various points in his life.
Born in India, Edward’s father was the celebrated Scottish naturalist Sir Walter Elliot (1803-1887).
Schooling in England concluded at Harrow where skill on the football field led to him representing Scotland in two unofficial international matches against England staged in 1871 and 1872 (‘E. Elliot’ named bottom right-hand corner below).
Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Cheronicle (18th November 1871). From British Newspaper Archive.
That sporting prowess resurfaced between 1897 and 1903 when Edward played cricket for the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) in four matches against county opposition.
When he sat in front of HS Mendelssohn’s studio camera in 1878 as a 25 year-old, his career in the Army was already well underway.
Promoted to Lieutenant in the 82nd Regiment of Foot, he later reached the rank of Captain before serving as ADC (aide-de-camp) to Lord Glasgow when Governor of New Zealand between 1894 and 1899.
The Army and Navy Gazette (13th January 1894). From British Newspaper Archive.
Despite retiring on full pay, Edward rejoined his former colleagues during the South African War of 1899-1902 before later returning to the Scottish family home at Wolfelee in Roxburghshire, which he had inherited.
In 1905, Edward, by now a Major in his early fifties, married Miss Edith Margaret Crawford, the 30 year-old daughter of a Surrey clergyman.
As the Surrey Mirror & County Post newspaper reported of the occasion: “The presents were numerous and costly.”
After their honeymoon in The Hague, the couple returned to live at Wolfelee.
If newspaper reports are to be relied upon, Major Elliot’s later years seem to have been characterised by brushes with the law.
In September 1910, the Hawick News reported that he had “forfeited a pledge of 30s [shillings] by non-appearance to a charge of disorderly conduct on Tower Knowe [Hawick] on Sunday morning.”
By 1913, by which time Edward and his wife had sold Wolfelee and moved to Herefordshire, he was again making headlines.
Returning to Newcastle on Tyne where he had been photographed by H.S. Mendelssohn, he was summoned to appear in court.
A Daily Citizen front-page court story was headlined ‘Major Who Hated Pigs: Fine For Disturbing Railway Dining Car.’
The report described an incident on a train journey from London to Edinburgh.
The Daily Citizen (29th November 1913). From British Newspaper Archive.
The death of Edward Hay Mackenzie Elliot in December 1920 at the Middlesex Hospital in London was marked by a notice to his creditors in the London Gazette.
His estate amounted to £3258, around £220,000 in today’s money.
Looking at a rather severe portrait taken later in Edward’s eventful life, that by H.S. Mendelssohn photograph of his younger self is all the more poignant.
Paul Frecker’s recently published book Cartomania: Photography & Celebrity in the Nineteenth Century (September Publishing) is a veritable feast for collectors of cartes de visite.
Cartomania: Photography & Celebrity in the Nineteenth Century by Paul Frecker. (September Publishing (2024), £40).
It’s the culmination of more than two decades working as a specialist photography dealer.
In particular, it showcases Paul’s collection of the palm-of-the-hand-sized cards that reached peak popularity during the 1860s.
More modest in size, my own collection started amid ongoing research into the photography firm of W. & D. Downey of South Shields, Newcastle on Tyne and later London.
The company’s story, achievements and several examples of their cartes feature in Paul’s book, which I’m thoroughly enjoying reading.
One early Downey carte that I obtained several months ago via a well-known auction site continues to intrigue me.
It features a woman in full riding habit and hat sat side-saddle on her horse with a smartly-dressed groom in attendance.
This striking example of the carte format prompted questions in my mind as to who it featured and when and where the photograph was taken.
Looking for clues, what appear to be footprints in the snow in the foreground suggest a winter’s day.
Shadows are cast onto the building in the background.
The low sun has also brought to life the horse’s coat, indicating that its groom had worked extra hard to prepare his charge for the camera.
As to who the carte features and when and where the photograph was taken, further research produced a helpful press report.
In May 1861 under the headline “The Photographic Art,” the North & South Shields Gazette printed an article about Downey’s activities.
It described how “the Messrs Downey” had just added “a series of local portraits” to “their photographs of illustrious men and legislators.”
Among those “local portraits” were the Lord Bishop of Durham, Henry Montagu Villiers, and his family, who had “honoured them [Downey] with sittings at Auckland Castle.”
A previous Pressphotoman post (1st July 2024) revealed that the photoshoot for the carte below featuring the Lord Bishop of Durham took place in late-1860.
Among other “local portraits’ credited to Downey were several featuring Sir Edward Blackett and his family “taken at Matfen Hall.”
The Blacketts were a long-established Northumberland family and Matfen Hall near Corbridge, built in the early 1830s, was their stately home.
Today it’s a luxury hotel, spa and golf estate.
But it was the newspaper article’s next sentence that offered a tantalising clue as to the identity of Downey’s woman on horseback.
It continued: “Let us add, as exemplified in the case of one of Sir Edward’s daughters and one of the honourable Misses Villiers [my italics] that the artists have exhibited much felicity in their management of a figure on horseback.”
This information helped narrow the field of likely candidates.
Looking at other sources, the 1861 Census records Sir Edward Blackett in residence at Matfen Hall with his daughters Louisa, Anna Maria and Georgiana Emma, who were all in their twenties.
As to the Villiers family, they were not at Auckland Castle when the census was taken, but at their London residence – 30 Cavendish Place, Marylebone not far from Oxford Street.
It listed the bishop together with his wife Amelia Maria Villiers and three of their daughters.
At the time, Gertrude, Mary and Evelyn Villiers were 17, 14 and 8 respectively though they had an elder sister Amy, who would have been 19.
Given this information, I was pleased to come across a further piece of evidence that points firmly in the direction of a member of the Villiers family being the Downey woman on horseback.
The collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London includes three horseback portraits featuring the ‘Hons. Mrs. Villiers.’
They are all by the celebrated portrait photographer Camille Silvy, who is a significant presence in Paul Frecker’s book Cartomania mentioned at the start of this post.
All three Silvy horseback portraits are dated 1860.
Given the physical similarity to the woman on horseback in Downey’s carte, might the ‘Hon. Mrs. Villiers’ (above) be the mother of “one of the honourable Misses Villiers?’
Often, as this blog illustrates, the versos or backs of photographs can provide a wealth of additional information about the subject captured on camera.
That was the case recently with a series of cartes-de-visites that emerged during research on the celebrated portrait photographer HS Mendelssohn (1847-1908).
A Jewish refugee, his early years in Newcastle on Tyne involved photographing well-connected clients for the firm of W. & D. Downey.
That apprenticeship was followed by a brief partnership operating as ‘Downey & Mendelssohn’ before setting up a studio in his own name at 17 Oxford Street in the heart of the city.
The design of cartes-de-visites, both front and back, can assist researchers in dating a photographer’s work and informed my earlier blogpost.
But one of the cards from his studio produced an unexpected twist.
It featured a young boy wearing a smart suit staring intently at the camera.
Turning the card over, handwritten details on the verso revealed that his young life had been cut short.
Using these brief details, a newspaper search produced a notice published in the Newcastle Journal identifying who the young boy was.
Newcastle Journal (3rd October 1874). From British Newspaper Archive.
Fast approaching his 12th birthday, Gibson Blenkinsop Youll lived with his father, a Newcastle solicitor, his mother, two younger sisters, and two domestic servants in the house where he died.
The cause of his premature death was not given, however child mortality in industrial cities such as Newcastle in Victorian times was far higher than today.
Looking at Gibson’s portrait photograph, I reflected on the long-term impact such a tragedy must have had on his family and how they fared subsequently.
The answer was a testament to human resilience.
Gibson’s father, John Gibson Youll, continued with his legal career in Newcastle, working as a partner in the firm of Chartres and Youll.
Politically ambitious, he first served as a Town Councillor, then Alderman, Sheriff and Deputy Mayor, before being appointed Clerk of the Peace in 1890.
In this prestigious role, he oversaw Newcastle’s courts and trade organisations for 25 years.
Mr. Youll’s celebrity was reflected in his appearance in a newspaper feature devoted to ‘Familiar Figures in Newcastle’ illustrated by a fine double-column line drawing.
From Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (2nd September 1899). From British Newspaper Archive.
As to the Youll family, they moved following Gibson’s death to the Newcastle suburb of Jesmond.
Three more sons, Harold, Chartres and Geoffrey, were born and all later joined the legal profession.
Harold and Chartres worked as solicitors in the family firm whilst Geoffrey was a barrister.
Like their late elder brother, Ethel and Maude Youll were also photographed as children by HS Mendelssohn in his Newcastle studio.
At this point in the 1870s, he was establishing a reputation, and both portraits demonstrate his ability to capture the girls’ personalities and characters.
The use of a sofa arm for Ethel to lean on and a pile of cushions on which Maude sits reflect the techniques needed to engage a young child having their photograph taken.
The Youll family’s patronage also indicated their trust in HS Mendelssohn’s skills as a portraitist.
As the two Youll girls became young women, their status in Newcastle society attracted the attention of the press.
In September 1892, Miss Ethel Youll married Mr. Mortimer Ash with younger sister Maude as one of her bridesmaids.
Under the headline ‘Fashionable Wedding at Jesmond,’ the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle described how “the bride wore a white satin gown trimmed with lace and orange blossom and Limerick lace veil.”
Of particular note was that the bridegroom was from another Newcastle – that in New South Wales, Australia.
Public records reveal that Mort and Ethel Ash later lived in London and had three sons before her death in Surrey in 1935 at the age of 67.
Meanwhile, Maude lived with her brothers at the family home in Newcastle until the deaths of their parents.
First, their mother Frances passed away in 1909 followed six years later by their father.
John Gibson Youll’s passing, aged 78, was widely reported in the national press and marked by fulsome obituaries in the Newcastle papers.
One described how “he was for many years identified with the public life of the city, and was held in high esteem.”
From Newcastle Daily Journal (27th March 1915). From British Newspaper Archive.
His photograph, reproduced as a half-tone by the Newcastle Daily Journal, was credited to ‘Bacon’ whose photographic studio and later camera shop in the city thrived well into the 20th century.
One report of Mr. Youll’s funeral listed dozens and dozens of mourners by name, though in the midst of the First World War, Mort and Ethel’s son Beresford “was unable to attend the funeral because of his military duties.”
From Newcastle Daily Journal (30th March 1915). From British Newspaper Archive.
Following their father’s death, Maude and Harold Youll as the eldest surviving children were appointed executors of his will.
As a prosperous and successful solicitor, J. Gibson Youll’s estate was valued at nearly £15,000 (more than £1.9 million today).
Like her elder sister, Maude Youll too got married, later settling in the West Country where she died in 1955 at the age of 85.
The loss of Gibson, the Youll’s eldest child, was one that must have stayed with members of his family throughout their lives.
Years after his death, the young boy still featured in public records such as the 1911 Census, which his father completed and signed.
Asked to record the number of children born during the Youll’s marriage, he recored the figure ‘1’ in the extreme right-hand column for ‘Children who have Died.’
Extract from 1911 Census for Beechwood, Clayton Road, Newcastle. From My Ancestry.
Had it not been for HS Mendelssohn’s surviving carte-de-visite, this chapter in one family’s visual history might have been lost completely.
Instead, the details captured on its verso poignantly record Gibson Blenkinsop Youll’s death 150 years ago, his features immortalised in a fine portrait photograph.
The absence of company records means it is difficult to identify individual Downey photographers as their names rarely appeared in print alongside their work.
Researching John Edwards life and career in photography is further complicated by his name being so commonplace.
Fortunately, he features in the 1881 census which recorded that he was born in the ‘East Indies,’ that he was a ‘photographer,’ and that he was 67 years old.
At that point, he was living with his wife Harriet together with a servant in London’s Kensington district.
In that same year, 1881, an advertisement in the London press highlighted ‘Mr. John Edwards’ photographic portrait studio near Hyde Park Corner, a well-known London landmark.
The Morning Post (11th June 1881). From British Newspaper Archive.
Given the reference to ‘for many years,’ it seems reasonable to conclude that Edwards employment as Downey’s ‘principal photographer’ covered the early decades of the company’s history.
This was a period from 1860 to 1880 during which it consolidated its base in the North East of England and established a London studio on Ebury Street in Belgravia.
It would also point to John Edwards photographing key Downey clients from royalty to celebrities, working alongside co-founders William and Daniel Downey and a growing team of staff.
His own studio at 1 Park Side, Hyde Park Corner attracted the sort of well-to-do individuals and families that he would have been well used to photographing.
A cabinet card, recently added to the Pressphotoman collection, well illustrates his studio’s appeal to a particular class of customer.
Helpfully, the verso featured the names and ages of those appearing before his studio camera in 1884.
Mrs. Laura Hoare is pictured with her children Geoffrey, aged 5, two year-old Lionel and Richard, aged 10 months.
All three took their mother’s maiden name as their middle name, which is also recorded in pencil on the verso.
The daughter of a baronet, Laura Lennard had married William Hoare in 1878.
Educated at Eton and Cambridge University, William was a partner in both Hoare’s Bank and a family brewery business, which included a chain of more than 100 public houses.
Label for Hoare & Co’s Imperial Ale.
The couple went on to have four children including a daughter Mary, whose ‘personal occupation’ is recorded in the 1911 census as ‘poultry keeper.’
However, one of the boys who featured in the 1884 cabinet card, like many of his generation, pre-deceased both his parents.
Their youngest son Richard was killed in 1916 whilst serving as a captain during the First World War.
When Laura died in 1929 aged 78, the press report of her funeral recorded both Geoffrey and Lionel as being Lieutenant Colonels, perhaps indicating military careers rather than banking or brewing.
Their father, who was absent from the family photo created by John Edwards, had died in 1925.
The former Downey principal photographer continued to portray London’s leading families for posterity.
He also supplied images to the illustrated press as the halftone revolution enabled photographic reproduction.
By the mid-1890s, his studio at 1 Park Side shared its address with three other businesses – a waterproofers, an undertakers, and an auctioneer – reflecting that a golden era of portrait photography was nearing its end.
Extract from 1895 Street Directory. From My Ancestry
Shortly before his death, John Edwards’ business including its negatives was taken over by yet another Downey graduate, the celebrated Australian photographer H. Walter Barnett (1862-1934).
However, ‘John Edwards’ portraits continued to appear in newspapers as stock images.
A small number of other portraits credited to John Edwards (1813-1898) feature in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
If you have any further details of John Edwards biography or know other examples of his photography, please use the comments box below.
In part 3 of this mini-series, how a Mawson & Swan apprentice in Newcastle on Tyne became a trusted Downey assistant, photographing Queen Victoria and the future Edward VII and George V.
Research into the photographic firm W. & D. Downey of South Shields, Newcastle upon Tyne and London is regularly published on this blog.
A number of photographers who worked for the Downey brothers, William (1829-1915) and Daniel (1831-1881), later went on to enjoy successful careers of their own.
Over coming weeks, a Pressphotoman mini-series will share new research on a selection of Downey luminaries.
When the celebrated portrait photographer Hayman Seleg (H.S.) Mendelssohn died in 1908, aged 59, a brief obituary in the Royal Photographic Society Journal described how his career began.
Born in 1847 in Germany and raised in Poland, “… political reasons obliged him to leave that country, and he settled at Newcastle-on-Tyne where he commenced his photographic career.”
It went on: “After serving with Mr. D. Downey for some time, he went into business for himself.”
This passing reference to Daniel Downey points to an apprenticeship with the company’s Eldon Square studio in the late 1860s.
W. & D. Downey’s Newcastle on Tyne studio was located in Eldon Square. Courtesy of Private Collection, Zurich.
Married with two very young children, the transition to life in a different country must have been unimaginably hard.
The Mendelssohns were one of only 160 Jewish families living in Newcastle at that time.
By 1871, they were sharing a house with jeweller Simon Falk and his family in Blandford Street, a short walk from the city’s railway station.
Evidently, employment with W. & D. Downey proved life-changing.
In the 1871 census, Mr. Mendelssohn’s stated ‘trade or profession’ was ‘photographer.’
He then formed a business partnership with another of the Downey brothers, John (1823-1906), who was also a photographer.
In late-January 1872, the firm of Downey & Mendelssohn opened for business in premises at 111 Northumberland Street.
Interestingly, this was the address that W. & D. Downey used when it opened its first studio in Newcastle on Tyne a decade earlier.
Advertisements placed by Downey & Mendelssohn in the Newcastle press offered a range of services.
These included ‘photographs taken of any animate or inanimate object’ and ‘Rembrandt portraits taken to perfection,’ however conventional portraits were their stock-in-trade.
Another notable detail was the addition of the term ‘Photo Artists’ in line with an array of competitors in the city, adding ‘sepia, oil or water colors [sic]’ to their products.
Within 12 months, their studio moved a short distance from 111 Northumberland Street (left of map below) to 17 Oxford Street (bottom right).
Studio moved from Northumberland Street (left) to nearby Oxford Street (bottom right). From John Tallis map of Newcastle on Tyne (1854).
The firm also adopted a distinctive orange-coloured card for presenting its products.
In December 1873, Downey & Mendelssohn’s two-year long partnership came to an end, and ‘H. S. Mendelssohn, Photo Artists’ became sole proprietor of 17 Oxford Street.
By this point, he was an active participant in the photographic life of the city.
This 1874 newspaper advertisement promoted an exhibition of his portraits using the carbon print process invented in Newcastle by (Sir) Joseph Swan.
Newcastle Daily Journal (15th October 1874). From British Newspaper Archive.
However, the adjoining ‘Notice’ hints at a form of intimidation that could be viewed as anti-semitic, which he was willing to confront publicly.
From this point, H.S. Mendelssohn’s career went from strength to strength.
He opened a further studio in nearby Sunderland in 1881 and the following year, his business expanded to London where his growing reputation attracted prestigious clients.
Queen Victoria’s diary entry for 20th December 1883, made at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, recorded: “A new photographer, named Mendelssohn, has taken lovely photographs of [Victoria’s grandchildren] Daisy [Margaret of Connaught] and little Arthur [Duke of Connaught].”
Whether W. & D. Downey’s royal warrant to Her Majesty (1879) played a part, it proved to be the first of many royal commissions.
H.S. Mendelssohn’s career is celebrated in various collections including the National Portrait Gallery, London where he is credited with 70 portraits.
This cabinet card featuring the actress Miss Ellen Terry taken in 1883 demonstrates his skills and how far he had travelled since arriving in Newcastle on Tyne as a refugee fleeing persecution.
Miss Ellen Terry by H.S. Mendelssohn. National Portrait Gallery, London. NPG Ax5571.
In the next post in this mini-series, how Downey’s principal photographer in the 1860s and 1870s used that calling card to attract clients to his own successful portrait studio.
Collectors on the hunt for a particular item or object will be familiar with the daily visit to online auction sites.
This involves entering a few well-chosen words into a search engine and hoping that a ‘new’ or ‘recently added’ result appears.
Even when this happens, the item description often suggests little to indicate that the seller is offering what you are looking for.
This was the case recently when a ‘Victorian Gentlemen’ appeared in a trawl for cartes-de-visites produced by W. & D. Downey during their early years in South Shields.
Initially, the card’s dirty and stained verso looked unpromising.
The NPG’s portrait matched my ‘Victorian Gentleman’ in almost every detail except that his top hat was placed on a cloth-covered table nearby.
Removing the top hat allowed the light to fall on his face producing, to my eyes, a more detailed and pleasing portrait.
Which of the two portraits was taken first is hard to tell.
In the NPG version, the bishop is using his cane for support rather than leaning on the table, so perhaps this came later in the shoot when (minus his top hat) he felt (and looked) more relaxed.
Another interesting feature of these portraits is that they are slightly smaller than other Downey cartes-de-visites of the period.
Both measure 3 and 5/8 inches (rather than 4 inches) by 2 and 3/8 inches.
The accuracy of the NPG’s dating of ‘around 1860’ is supported by the Bishop of Durham’s installation in September of that year.
By December, a lengthy article about W. & D. Downey in the North & South Shields Gazette titled ‘Photography in South Shields’ described how “the portrait of the Lord Bishop of Durham has also been taken by Messrs. Downey.”
Whether or not these portraits were made available to the public, they soon had an added commercial value.
In August 1861, the national press reported the death of Henry Montagu Villiers “whose health has long been in a precarious state … in his 48th year.”
A fortnight later, his funeral was held in Bishop Auckland when, according to the Brighton Gazette, “the shops of the town were closed, as were also the principal shops in the city of Durham.
“And the bells of the cathedral in Durham and of the churches of Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland and other towns, tolled solemnly during the course of the day.”
The arrival of the carte de visite format in the late 1850s was enthusiastically embraced by public figures such as Guthrie, who features in commercially available cards produced by several companies.
Downey’s version, which so impressed me, dates from the early 1870s towards the end of Guthrie’s life.
At that point, the company’s London studio at 61 Ebury Street off Eaton Square ‘opened occasionally,’ according to press adverts.
This ties in with the proviso stated on the verso that ‘portraits taken by appointment.’
As Downey’s business expanded from its Newcastle upon Tyne base to the capital, it encountered a number of accomplished competitors.
Founded in 1863, Elliott & Fry went on to establish itself as ‘one of the most important in the history of studio portraiture in London,’ according to the National Portrait Gallery, London website.
Its own carte de visite of Thomas Guthrie, also produced in the early 1870s, is in a similar style to Downey’s, perhaps suggesting that they kept an eye on each other’s products.
Guthrie’s death in February 1873 generated national newspaper headlines, and such carte de visites offered customers an affordable keepsake of a respected figure.
Given a choice, which of these Guthrie portraits would you have bought and why?
One of the intriguing aspects of photography’s commercialisation in the middle of the 19th century is its impact on the established medium of art.
It’s a collision that continues to fascinate researchers who spend time investigating the 1850s and 1860s.
The new invention of photography offered an affordable alternative at a time when artists still dominated the portraiture market.
A figure who epitomises the emergence of the ‘Photo Artist’ is the subject of this blogpost.
Pressphotoman first came across Edward Sawyer (1828-1902) during research into the early days of W. & D. Downey of South Shields, Newcastle upon Tyne and London.
After touring Northumberland and Durham in a horse-drawn van christened “Downey’s Crystal Place Portrait Gallery,” brothers William (1829-1915) and Daniel (1831-1881) were rapidly expanding their business.
North & South Shields Gazette, 11th April 1857. From British Newspaper Archive.
Shortly after this advert’s appearance in April 1857, Downey’s announced they had secured a “First Class Artist for Colouring Photographs” adding that “Photography Like Nature Needs A Handmaid.”
Edward Sawyer, a native of neighbouring North Shields across the River Tyne, had established a local reputation for his artistic skills.
With Sawyer on the payroll, Downey again used the columns of the North & South Shields Gazette (8th July 1857), this time to report a “royal” commission.
“Mr. Moffet of the Queen’s Head Inn, North Shields, has just had painted, at the Photographic Establishment of Messrs. W and D. Downey, South Shields, by their artist, Mr. Edward Sawyers [sic], a beautiful full-length portrait of her Majesty.”
This royal likeness of Queen Victoria, the paper informed its readers, had been placed by the landlord “in front of his house on the Tynemouth Road.”
Whether this portrait was an up-market hand-painted pub sign, it was followed by a recognisably photographic assignment.
Downey’s had produced “a fine negative” of the Mayor of South Shields “sitting in the civic chair in his official robes.”
Some of the copies taken from this were then “coloured in oil in a superior style by Messrs. Downey’s artist” (North & South Shields Gazette, 29th July 1857).
This was highly-skilled work and early photographic portrait studios successfully combined the new and established forms of visual media.
How long Edward Sawyer worked for the Downey brothers is not known, but the 1861 Census recorded he was living in Sunderland with his wife and young family and that his occupation was “portrait painter and photographic colourist.”
By then, his commissions had moved into another league as demonstrated by this portrait dated by various sources to 1862.
It features John Clayton (1792-1890), the then long-serving town clerk of Newcastle upon Tyne and a man who is widely credited with saving Hadrian’s Wall.
In the background of the portrait can be glimpsed prominent Newcastle landmarks including Grey’s Monument, the Theatre Royal and Grey Street itself.
Because of his background, it’s possible that Sawyer used a photograph of his illustrious client as the basis for the portrait .
Around this time, the artist set up his own business at 40 Grey Street, arguably the city’s most prestigious address.
By the spring of 1863, E. Sawyer & Co had moved to 95 Clayton Street, a neighbouring Newcastle thoroughfare named after the subject of the portrait above.
Advertisement from Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 28th April 1863. From British Newspaper Archive.
As this newspaper advertisement confirms, Sawyer’s company was offering its services as both “photographers and portrait painters” whilst offering customers the opportunity to view “Six First-class Life Size Photographs of Local Celebrities.”
As demonstrated by the carte de visite from which this company logo is taken,’ E. Sawyer & Co’ produced affordable photographic portraits such as this one in a style that appealed to a range of customers.
The dividing line between portraits produced by photography and those produced by art is difficult to pinpoint.
But as far as Edward Sawyer was concerned, the marriage between photography and art produced a successful business empire.
By the 1870s, Sawyer senior was joined in running his ‘Photo Art Studios’ business on Barras Bridge, Newcastle by his eldest son Lyddell (1856-1927) and other Sawyer siblings.
Known as ‘Lyd,’ Lyddell Sawyer’s international reputation as an art photographer and member of the Linked Ring means that he is better known today than his father.
If you are interested in the Sawyer dynasty and, in particular, viewing examples of Lyddell Sawyer’s art photography, I can recommend ‘Don’t look at the Camera’ by Geoff Lowe published in 2017.
In the meantime, Pressphotoman’s research into the early years of Edward Sawyer’s career and his working relationship with the Downey brothers continues.
When he married in 1861, Gibson’s stated profession was ‘photographer’ and he soon established his own business in Hexham offering portraits and local views.
Advertisement from Hexham Courant, 14th September 1864. From British Newspaper Archive.
One of the gems of Hexham is its abbey, a building dating back to the late 12th century that is well worth a visit.
Gibson was well aware of the abbey’s appeal and this carte de visite dating from the early years of his career captures the magnificence of one of its transepts.
Tomorrow (16th January) marks the anniversary of the Hartley Pit Disaster in SE Northumberland, which claimed the lives of more than two hundred men and boys in 1862.
Photographically, the ‘catastrophe’ was recorded by the Newcastle firm of W. & D. Downey, who sent a selection of images taken at the pithead to Queen Victoria.
The firm’s celebrated photographs of William Coulson and his team of sinkers, who led the rescue efforts, plus mine owner Charles Carr and pit manager Joseph Humble now feature in the Royal Collection.
Twelve months ago, this blog presented new evidence raising doubts about the accepted dating of Downey’s Hartley photographs.
A few weeks after publishing this research, I was fortunate enough to see and handle a set of carte-de-visite published by Downey in the aftermath of the disaster.
They form part of the Mining Institute Collection housed at the Common Room in Newcastle and include images in addition to those sent to Queen Victoria.
These cdvs were included in my 2023 talk for the Royal Photographic Society’s Historical Group about the early years of the Downey company in the north-east of England.
You can view them at 31′ 30″ in the ‘1862’ section of the talk which includes a more detailed look at Downey’s photography of the Hartley Pit Disaster.
‘W. & D. Downey, Photographers: The Road to Balmoral’ for the Royal Photographic Society Historical Group. 15th March 2023.
A few days ago, a window opened on my laptop to announce that it was 12 months since the first Pressphotoman blogpost was published.
In the spirit of annual reviews that fill newspaper and magazine websites at this time of year, here is a selection of six favourite photos from the past 12 months along with links to the posts that accompanied them.
Twelve months ago, I presented new research on the early years of the celebrated photography firm W. &. D. Downey of South Shields, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and later London.
For its trip to Newcastle in November 2022, the Historical Group of the Royal Photographic Society visited locations with strong links to the early decades of photography in the North-East of England.
In the morning, the Literary and Philosophical Society (known as the Lit & Phil) hosted a talk about Sir Joseph Swan by fellow group member Paul Cordes in its Westgate Road headquarters.
Then in the afternoon, we moved to the Anglican Cathedral of St. Nicholas with its distinctive lantern tower where I presented an illustrated talk on Downey’s activities in the 1850s and 1860s.
St. Nicholas Church, Newcastle c. mid-1860s. From carte-de-visite by W. & D. Downey. Author’s collection.
This was repeated as a livestream event in March 2023 that can be viewed in the “Video Talks” section of this website.
As my Downey research is ongoing, this anniversary seemed a timely opportunity to share new findings from recent months about the company’s first decade.
One discovery in particular has added further detail to how and when the Downey brothers, William (1829-1915) and Daniel (1831-1881), began taking photographic portraits in the Northumberland port of Blyth.
The first mention in the press of their activities that I had previously found came in the North and South Shields Gazette (5th June 1856).
A brief article credited to “Correspondent” described Downey’s Crystal Palace Portrait Gallery as “a handsome, commodious, and substantial wood building” in the yard of the Star and Garter Inn, Blyth.
North & South Shields Gazette, 5th June 1856. From British Newspaper Archive.
However, a recent newspaper archive search has now revealed an earlier report in the Newcastle Guardian published on 10th May 1856.
It described how “Messrs. Downey Brothers of South Shields” had been taking photographic portraits “for several weeks past” at another pub in Blyth, the Ridley Arms Inn.
In addition, “Mr. W. Alder, bookseller” was named as providing a shop window where Downey’s “portraits of several public characters and others” could be seen.
The Newcastle Guardian, 10th May 1856. From British Newspaper Archive.
The revelation that Downey’s residency at the Ridley Arms pre-dated its time at the Star and Garter adds further detail to its beginnings as a photography enterprise.
Records held at Blyth Library reveal that the Ridley Arms started life in the 1770s as a private house and was one of the town’s original public houses.
By 1846, a “Mr. Grimson” was its landlord and “ran the daily post coaches to North Shields,” a service gradually replaced by the railways in most provincial towns in Britain during the 1850s.
In Northumberland, the Blyth and Tyne Railway (B&TR) began life in 1853, largely transporting coal from the area’s collieries.
These details about the evolution of mid-19th century transport links in the region shed further light on how the Downey’s maintained communication with their native South Shields fifteen miles to the south.
What is less clear is how the brothers processed their wet plate negatives and then produced prints for sale to the general public.
The mention of “Mr. W. Alder, bookseller” in the Newcastle Guardian article provides a clue.
The 1858 Post Office Directory for Blyth lists William Alder as “printer, bookseller, bookbinder, stationer and news agent.”
William Alder’s shop premises (left) from Blyth Through Time by Gordon Smith (2012).
Access to printing facilities in Blyth would have been helpful to producing Downey’s “life-like portraits” that were “much admired for their correctness.”
In identifying William Alder (1829-1883) as a suitable collaborator in their fledgling business, the Downey brothers chose well.
He went on to become a significant figure in Blyth, notably in publishing and printing The Blyth Illustrated Weekly News from 1874.
Masthead from an early issue of The Blyth Illustrated Weekly News published by William Alder.
The ultimate for Downey collectors is to find examples of the brothers’ early portraits produced in Blyth or from their photographic van during its tour of country towns and villages in Northumberland during the summer of 1856.
The name of John Mawson (1815-1867) is one that has featured in earlier posts on this blog, notably ‘The Hartley Catastrophe’ (16th January 2023).
As a chemist and druggist in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 1850s, Mawson was well placed to supply the needs of those taking up photography in the North East of England.
They included the fledgling company of W. & D. Downey of South Shields, Newcastle and later London whose activities I continue to research.
In 1854, Mawson was able to announce in the press that he held the sole license from William Fox Talbot for “the practice of photographic portraiture in Newcastle and neighbourhood.”
Advertisement from Durham Chronicle, 19th May 1854.
Mawson & Swan, the company formed with his brother-in-law Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Swan, went on to establish itself as a leading supplier of the collodion products that revolutionised wet-plate photography.
Their address at 13 Mosley Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne became known around the world and a plaque on the building marks some of their achievements.
Memorial plaque outside 13 Mosley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. Author’s photograph October 2022.
Locating actual photographs featuring such pioneering figures in the medium’s evolution often proves surprisingly difficult.
During my ongoing Downey research, I have previously come across only one photograph of John Mawson.
Taken on 26th June 1862 by the London-based portraitist Camille Silvy (1834-1910), it features in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
At some point in its history, “Mr. John Mawson” has been written in pencil along the bottom of the card.
In the process, the credit, “W. & D. Downey. Phot.,” together with the word “copyright” have been partially obscured.
Aside from it being evidence of another photographic collaboration between Messrs. Mawson and Downey, the card’s verso contained the additional notation “Sheriff of Newcastle,” apparently in the same hand.
According to the Newcastle Daily Chronicle (7th October 1867), John Mawson was elected to the post of Sheriff after serving as a member of Newcastle Council for nine years.
Soon afterwards though, his life came to a tragic end.
As described by Roger Taylor in Impressed By Light (2007, p. 347): “Mawson, in his role as sheriff, was called in to dispose of barrels of nitroglycerin found in the basement of pub in the heart of Newcastle.
“Tragically, he and seven others were killed in the process.”
Whether this carte-de-visite was issued by Downey to mark Mawson’s appointment as Sheriff or following his death, it is a fine portrait with a natural quality lacking in the more formal posed version by Silvy.
The informality of this carte-de-visite may have reflected the long-standing relationship between the Downey brothers, William and Daniel, their studio and its staff and John Mawson.
Finally, another aspect of the card’s verso picks up a question first raised in my blogpost “If photographs could speak” (7th December 2023).
What is the explanation for the appearance of 4 Eldon Square as Downey’s Newcastle studio address rather than number 9 where the company’s best-known location in the city opened in March 1862?
Since writing my original post, I have seen several other Downey examples featuring the 4 Eldon Square verso together with the same list of “illustrious and eminent persons.”
That list, with its inclusion of “H.M. the Queen ” and “H.R.H the Prince and Princess of Wales,” who were first photographed by Downey in the Autumn of 1866, points to 4 Eldon Square cards being issued after that point.
Despite extensive searching, I have yet to come across a newspaper advert placed by Downey in the late 1860s or an article about the company from that period that features number 4 in any context.
Of the theories put forward in the earlier post, that suggesting human error, involving a mis-reading of “4” as “9” in the order for a batch of cards produced by a third-party printer, is fast gaining momentum.
My latest carte-de-visite purchase via a well-known auction site caught my eye for a number of reasons.
The gentleman featured in this full-length portrait has a magnificent beard, is wearing a smart suit and waistcoat complete with watch chain and is carrying a silk top hat which has caught the light.
But it was actually the painted background in front of which the gentleman is standing that particularly attracted my attention.
Detail from carte-de-visite.
Those familiar with Newcastle and the north east of England will recognise it as the lantern tower of the anglican Newcastle Cathedral, England’s most northerly.
Until 1882, it was known as St. Nicholas’ parish church, but the building’s distinctive lantern tower has been part of the city’s skyline since the 15th century.
The verso of the cdv confirms it to be by “W. & D. Downey of 9 Eldon Square, Newcastle upon Tyne” and states the firm is “Patronized By Her Majesty.”
This locates it to a period between March 1862 when Downey opened its studio in Eldon Square, and September 1866 when the firm took its first portrait of Queen Victoria.
After this point, it used the slogan “Photographers to Her Majesty” on its products even though its first Royal Warrant was not granted until 1879.
What I hadn’t realised until looking at the cathedral’s website is that in 1865, the celebrated architect Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to underpin and rebuild the lantern tower after it started to lean as a result of nearby building work.
This dating suggests that Downey’s use of the landmark in its branding was not merely a sign of its arrival in Newcastle from nearby South Shields where it started in 1856.
Work to correct the leaning lantern tower would have meant St. Nicholas Church was a talking-point and customers having their portrait taken may have wished to mark their connection with Newcastle and its revitalised skyline accordingly.
It also might inform the dating in the mid-1860s of another Downey cdv in my collection (erroneously titled by an unknown hand in pencil as “St. Peter’s”) in which the then St. Nicholas’ Church takes centre stage.
Cdv of St. Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle by W. & D. Downey.
Last night, I was delighted to accept an invitation from the Royal Photographic Society Historical Group to present new research on royal photographers W. & D. Downey of South Shields and Newcastle.
The talk is now available to view on the RPS YouTube channel and starts at 3′ 42″ into the recording.
An illustrated talk that I presented recently for the Royal Photographic Society’s Historical Group set me thinking about one image in particular.
The subject of the talk was the photography firm of W. & D. Downey and its first decade in the North-East of England in the 1850s and 1860s.
Downey’s celebrated image of Alexandra as Princess of Wales carrying her daughter Louise on her back featured in an earlier post (2nd December 2022).
In the past year, I’ve started collecting Downey carte-de-visites. Such was their ubiquity that many thousands are still in circulation.
The carte-de-visite format appeared in the late-1850s and immediately proved popular with the public.
Aside from its affordability, a carte-de-visite by design nestles conveniently in the palm of your hand
As the talk took place at Newcastle Cathedral, I was pleased to track down a card that featured the building’s distinctive ‘lantern tower’ and then included it in my presentation.
Confusingly though, at some point in its life, an unknown hand has written ‘St Peters’ in pencil on the front of the card, a point that members of my North-East audience were quick to point out.
In fact, the cathedral’s patron saint is St. Nicholas and not St. Peter.
However, that’s not the only aspect of the photograph that prompted a little head scratching.
When you turn the card over (to its ‘verso’), it lists ‘W. & D. Downey. Photographers’ as being based at ‘4 Eldon Square, Newcastle on Tyne.’
As proclaimed in regular adverts for its wares in the local press, the company’s studio in the city from 1862 to the late 1880s was at 9 Eldon Square rather than at number 4.
What then might be the explanation for this apparent anomaly?
Eldon Square, a group of impressive townhouses created by the eminent architect John Dobson between 1825 and 1831, became one of the most fashionable addresses in Newcastle by the mid-19th century.
Public records reveal that 4 Eldon Square was home to one ‘Thomas Humble MD,’ a physician who features in both the 1861 and 1871 censuses for that address.
According to a notice he placed in the Newcastle Courant (1st March 1867), Dr. Humble served the Newcastle Dispensary, a medical charity treating the city’s poor and destitute, for nearly 38 years. He was resigning the position, he said, due to his ‘increasing engagements.’
Given this background, is it possible that he needed to let out rooms to his photographer neighbour to earn additional income?
Downey’s photographic business was certainly booming and extra capacity to accommodate its growing clientele may well have been welcome, if only on a temporary basis.
This scenario is partly supported by other information on the card’s verso.
It lists ‘illustrious and eminent persons’ the firm had photographed including Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
This dates the card’s likely production to late 1866/early 1867 by which point Downey had recently photographed the Queen at Balmoral for the first time.
On the other hand, human error might have been responsible.
Simply put, a batch of carte-de-visite produced for Downey were printed with the wrong address featuring number 4 rather than number 9 Eldon Square.
Despite this error, they were used anyway and sold to a public whose main interest lay in a carte-de-visite photograph rather than its ‘advert’ verso.
There is one remaining possibility though and one that needs to be considered by collectors of all kinds of objects.
That the card is a fake.
If so, it’s a very convincing one.
The faker has even gone to the trouble of attaching a sales sticker for Allan, a bookseller, stationer and news agent in 1860s Newcastle, known to have been one of Downey’s sales outlets.
Pressphotoman 
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