Hello. I am new here and I do not know a lot about photography, but I am hoping that someone can answer a question that has been puzzling me.
My great-grandfather was a missionary and sailed off to the South Pacific in 1842, not returning until 1860, when he was an ill man and died soon afterwards. The story goes that his sons were able to look through some of the records at the London Missionary Society in London and wrote home to their mother, "We soon found out father's likeness from all the likenesses at the Mission House". This would mean that the "likeness" which they found had been made no later than August 1842. I understand that photography was in its infancy at this time.
I do not know for certain but I believe an image that was in my father's possession, of which I only have a photocopy, may have been that early photo. It was labelled "Alexander Chisholm the Missionary?" and was apparently taken in Perth, Scotland. (Alexander was actually from Aberdeenshire but sailed from London so it is quite possible that he visited Perth on the way.) My question is, was there a photographic studio in Perth at that time? I would be grateful for any comments, and especially delighted if anyone can either confirm, or refute the possibility. I attach the image I have.
Many thanks, Eleanor
Replies
The London Missionary Society archive is held at SOAS, London. See: https://www.soas.ac.uk/research/missionary-collections The image image appears to be a photocopy of a carte-de-visite so would probably date from the later 1850s or 1860s. Perth had a number of studios operating. Torrance's Scottish Studio Photographers to 1914 is ordered alphabetically by photographer name so it is not easy to search by location. Others here may be able to assist. Any image prior to August 1842 (and back to 1841) would be a daguerreotype - an image on a metal plate. Your copy appears to be an image of paper affixed to a card mount which is typical for a c-de-v.
Thank you very much for your reply, Michael. That is very helpful. I didn't know of this archive and have been using an archive at the National Library of Australia which I was led to for some reason. There are letters there written by my great-grandfather but no portraits as far as I know. The SOAS archive seems easier to use and as well as letters, it has a section called Missionary Portraits, but disappointingly I have not found one of him. The boys who reported that they had found his "likeness" at the Mission House were only young teenagers at the time. If they did indeed identify his image correctly, I don't suppose they would have been able to take it away. So there is still a mystery about this photo that was in my father's possession. It seems unlikely it was taken after his return in 1860 as he was poorly and died in 1862. I suppose the clue was in the question mark. He didn't really know who it was .. I was very much clutching at straws in the hope that there might have been a very early photographer working in Perth.
Regarding daguerreotypes, the family do have a set of these (held by a relative of mine) which were made around 1856, of family members back in England, so that they could be shipped out to the missionary family in the South Seas. I have some copies of photos made from these.
Thanks again for your help,
Eleanor
I'd recommend contacting the archive direct as they photo may be there but might not be listed in the online catalogue and the archvisits may be able to help locate it.
Thanks very much. I'll certainly try that.