Identified as being of a "Mr & Mrs Warner", might anyone be able to confirm whether this double portrait (by William Croft of Torquay) is of the Herefordshire photographer William Harding Warner, and of his wife Annie Taylor nee Johnston? Warner's family had settled at Cotmaton House, Sidmouth, which is not far around the coast from Torquay, so the couple certainly had occasion to visit Devonshire, and Warner published many stereographs of the area.
The couple had been married in Philadelphia in May 1853, although they subsquently appear to have become estranged by about 1870. Annie certainly had many American connections: her father the Hon. Robert Johnston was owner of the Annandale estate in Jamaica, and was buried at Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1839. Correspondence concerning the family is among the Powel papers in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, but it seems uncertain whether there are any photograph albums with portraits associated with the collection which might confirm their identity
Any further information would be most gratefully received.
Peter Klein, Herefordshire
Replies
Dear Peter,
I have an old note that a portrait of Warner is on leaf 51 of the Richard Williats Album
at Princeton University. My old link which enabled a detailed inspection seems now defunct
and the new one gives, by comparison, a superficial overview.
Warner seems to have taken a second wife, Ellen Somerville of Anchor Cottage, Sidmouth
at Sidmouth on 18th June 1873. Which ever wife features her hat looks very 1870's.
Best. Geoffrey.
Hello again Geoffrey
Further to my last, I'm very happy to say that I've found the Richard Willats album at Princeton, and your link should read - https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/k930bx11x .
I'm a little puzzled by the portrait on leaf 51v, because it appears to be clearly labelled "Mr With Her ...." , with most of a reference on the line above to the Blue Coat School at Hereford in the same handwriting, but the surface of the paper has been peeled away and so part of the text is missing. I have to say that I doubt whether this is a portrait of Warner. What I am delighted to see is the three Warner images on the same page: one of the Old House in High Town, which I haven't seen anywhere else, although there are contemporary pictures of the house by others such as Pumphrey and Bedford. Another Warner is of the preaching cross of the Blackfriars, and also that splendid GW locomotive. Great to see them.
Thank you so much for drawing this to my attention, but the jury must remain out on my tantalising double portrait. Very frustrating!
Best regards, PK
Dear Peter,
Thanks for the fresh link to the album and yes,I can now see that the caption is indeed puzzling and so apologies for
sending you on a false quest.
A couple of other Warner scraps that may be of interest both from The.Photographic News of 1863. On page 226, the 8th.May he writes about photography and murder and then on the 22nd.May page 251 photography and wind.
Also the Sidmouth Directory & Journal of 1st.March 1871 describes a lecture on photography he delivered to the citizens of the town quite a number of which had been dabbling with the medium since it's earliest days.
Best, Geoffrey.
Dear Geoffrey,
No false quest - it was an interesting and useful addition to what I already know. Yes, I had previously encountered several arcane references to Warner when I was researching the article in Stereo World, and I was amused to learn that his glass negative of the calf's retina had been broken, but the fragments had now mysteriously disappeared, and invaluable evidence just gone! Warner wasn't the only contemporary photographer interested in the arcane - John Beattie in Bristol was an enthusiastic spiritualist, taking "spirit" photographs, but he was also very keen to expose deliberate fakes.
I note that you're in Devon, and rather assume that you're interested in Warner on account of his Devon connections. If you haven't already seen it, there is a link to my 2016 article on Warner at: https://stereoworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/stereo-world-vol... which might interest you, although I'm afraid there are only two of his Devon stereos in there. I do have around twenty of his Devonshire ones here, if you would ever like to see any scans.
Best regards, PK
Dear Geoffrey
Very many thanks indeed for that tip-off about the portriat of WHW. I'll certainly be following that one up - Richard Williat's album at Princeton University sounds very promising indeed, so thank you! The question of Ellen Somerville of Anchor Cottage is one of those mysteries still unresolved, and I referred to her in my article in Stereo World (Sept/Oct 2016, p.16). The marriage announcement in the Pall Mall Gazette of the 25th June appears to have been entirely fictitious, as there is no record at GRO or even locally in Sidmouth that it ever took place, and I suspect that Warner placed it there himself hoping that it might provoke Annie into granting him a divorce. From 1878 onwards Annie received an annual income from him of £80, and this continued after his death in Malvern in 1895 up until her death at Ross in 1900, and I don't think he ever remarried. I also suspect that Warner had become infatuated with his assistant, Margaret Milner Cockburn, but she died tragically young at Bristol in December 1874 of kidney failure. She was only 25.
Many thanks again - much appreciated.
PK