New archive discovered in a second cousin's attic. Can you help with date and year of new images
Image 1 is believed to be of Frank Walton's two young daughters in late 1860's (Louisa and Emily Walton) and taken as tintype by Frank before he had a studio, so at fairgrounds probably in Lincolnshire or Warwickshire. Need expert opinion on the year the image was likely taken in terms of materials used, frame used and victorian dress of the children.
Image 2 is believed to Frank Walton's father, John Walton who was a Gingerbread Baker from Islington and Hackney who died in May 1860. Is the image from before 1860 in terms of dress and picture and frame styling ? It is not known if Frank would have taken this image.
Image 3 - is a nice imageof a young dark haired lady - touched up with ink maybe ? It cannot be Frank's mother who died in 1840 in Islington aged 35 in childbirth when he was 6. It could be his step mother Ann Walton or it coul be a picture of his young first wife who he married in Boston in 1858, Mary Ann Shaw.
Image 4 , the final image - is of an older man in a very early photograph. My family believe that this could be
Frank's father's father, also John Walton and a Baker, but who may have outlived his son. In 1850, he is likely to have been 80. Can you help with the year of the image ?
Comments
Thanks Graham. I appreciate your thoughts. I am pretty certain that the images DO relate to family members not necessarily Waltons but certainly cousins, as these 4 images are amongst a tranche of about 60 CDV's most of which are identiable and with pencilled notes by my great great grandfather made before his early death at 41 in 1894. I find it hard to reconcile the images of 2 and 4 as being of similar vintage to some of the CDV's we have that were taken by Frank or Robert Hammond in the 1870's and 1880's. Certanly the mans clothing in image 2 seems to be od and older vintage to me that typical CDV images of the later period.
But there we are - at least we can try to fix the lady in the 1850's I guess aged around her thirties.
Many thanks
Peter
I have had a read of the biography of Frank Walton , and still believe that image 1 is 1880/1890's - it is typical of many photographs taken by beach photographers at the time - it looks to be taken on the beach , images 2 & 4 are possibly 1860's by an itinerant photographer , but unlikely to be as early as 1860 , when the ambrotype was still quite an expensive item .
Although these have come through the family it may be that they are nothing to do with the Waltons , they could be from a different branch of the family entirely , attribution is difficult in these cases , although the man on Image 4 does look a bit like the portrait of Frank Walter in the biography , brother perhaps ?
Graham
Tony, Graham,
thanks for your comments. I will have to think more on the dates and who in the family they may be.
Ref. Frank Walton - please take a look at the biography of Frank on Ron Cosen's site - www.cartedevisite.co.uk. More images to be uploaded on it soon.
From a family perspective, what interests me is that Frank (Leeds, Manchester, Boston), his wife's half-brothers, Robert (Bacup and Accrington) and Henry Hammond (Mexborough), their sons William Henry Hammond and John W Hammond were all engaged in the photography business together, as was Frank's sister Marians brother in law, John Thomas Stewart down in Bicester. John's son..Orford was a Picture Framer.
What Graham said.
Wet plate collodion imagery from 1851 onwards.
Hello Peter
Comments on your photographs at the risk of getting shot down
Image 1 of the two girls looks to be an ambrotype which were produced from the middle of the 1850's through to the 20th century - the earlier ones were generally produced in a studio and cases and general production was better quality , the later ones were produced at fairgrounds , seaside resorts etc by itinerant photographers who used this process because they could take the photo , process it and hand it over to the customer in a few minutes - thereby taking the money straight away .
Your image no 1 definitely comes into the second gategory - poor quality photograph , in poor quality fittings - to me this looks to be on the grounds of the quality of the photograph and the type of clothes worn to be late 19th century rather than 1860's
Image 2 is similar poor quality , and doesn't look early again i would say more like late 19th century - although it is difficult as there were poor quality photographers in the 1860's , and mens clothes especially working mens didn't change much
Image 3 is definitely an earlier image , hand tinted - the case and production is better quality , ladies dress suggests late 1850's , or early 1860's
Image 4 cannot be 1850 as the process was not in use then - difficult to tell from the image as costume gives nothing away and it is not mounted in a case , which would help , but my feeling is that this is more likely to late 19th century than 1850's or 60's
Any further comments welcome ! would be interested in knowing more about Frank Walton as a photographer , being brought up near Leeds and now living in Warwickshire
Graham
grawood@ntlworld.com
Hi Tony, thanks for commenting. Image 1 of the little girls is definitely monochrome imaged to the rear surface of clear glass and then backed with a black opaque liquid that looks as if it was spread on to give opacity presumably. In places this black is eroded and thus you can see straight through now.
So, exactly what is this process and when would and how would it be likely in England in the late 1860's ?
Regards
Peter
Well image one you say is taken as a tintype, but it looks like you can see the table through it, top left corner, so if made of glass its an ambrotype or collodion positive and thus a tintype.