Currently for sale on eBay is what the vendor believes may well be the earliest surviving piece of Daguerreian jewellery, a silver medallion, which measures c. 83 mm. x 63 mm. The images are the copyright of the vendor Robert Drapkin and are reproduced here with his kind permission.
According to the inscription the medallion was presented to Brother John Birch in open lodge on 22nd December 1840. It was intended “as a tribute of respect and to testify the high sense they entertain of his Musical Talent and Gentlemanly bearing”.
The photographer is not named, so who might it be? There are a couple of likely contenders, though other members may have additional suggestions.
The early date predates the opening of Beard’s studio at the Royal Polytechnic Institution in March 1841. It places the medallion in the period when the English patent rights were controlled by patent agent Miles Berry, and before he assigned them to Richard Beard in June / July 1841.
1840 was still an experimental period when improvements were being sought to the apparatus, lenses and the chemical process to reduce exposure times. Exposure times were initially measured in minutes, so most early daguerreotypes were landscape views, initially from abroad, however, by the summer of 1840 English views were being exhibited. The exhibition by Messrs Claudet and Houghton in November 1840 included London views as well as “portraits from nature and figures from the living model”. Although Antoine Claudet had obtained a licence to take daguerreotypes in England directly from Daguerre in 1839, in March 1840 he felt obliged to purchase a limited licence from Berry which allowed him to make and sell daguerreotypes. Claudet subsequently won the case that Beard brought against him.
It is also known that during the summer and autumn of 1840 Richard Beard and John Goddard were experimenting with a Wolcott mirror camera at Medical Hall, Holborn. Again Miles Berry threatened legal action and although they were using Wolcott’s ‘American camera and process’, Beard and Goddard paid Berry for the right to continue taking images. They were subsequently visited by a reporter from the Morning Chronicle who waxed lyrically about the sharpness of their portraits which had “a really astonishing appearance of life and reality”. Most of the portraits seen were the common size of miniatures, “while some were taken on plates not larger than a sixpence which are adapted for bracelets, lockets etc.”
The medallion records that John belonged to Lodge 19 of the Ancient Order of Druids which had been established in 1797. Their meetings were held in their Lodge Room at the Ram Inn, High Street, Uxbridge. A Brother Birch was one of those named in a report of their annual festival in April 1852, as was the host Brother William Trawley.
As to the man in the photograph, there seem to be a couple of options, depending on the perceived age of the sitter, 51 or 24. It looks like both men were members of AOD Lodge 19. So are we looking at John Birch (1789 – 1873) a tailor and draper, or his nephew John Trenly Birch (1816 – 1903). a Professor of Music, and the son of John’s younger brother William Henry? The musical connections suggest the latter, however, to me at least, the physiognomy suggests the former. Your thoughts and comments are welcomed.
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Having now seen a couple of images of John Trenly Birch in later life, I am now even more certain that the image is of John Birch (1789 – 1873) and so I add a brief biography.
John was the son of James and Harriott Birch, he was born on 11th February 1789 and baptised on the 8th March 1789 at the Providence (Independent) Chapel, Uxbridge.
The marriage bond he signed on 8th June 1809 still survives indicating his intention to marry Mary Ann Baker at the parish church of St. Andrew, Holborn. He was 20, her age was given as 18. As they were deemed to be minors, the form was also signed by their respective fathers to show that they had given their consent. John’s trade was recorded as “Tailor”. Their daughter Mary Ann was baptised on 2nd August 1809 at St. Margaret’s, Uxbridge. Their son Thomas James was baptised at the same church on 29th. August the following year.
In the June 1841 Census John, Ann and their 4 younger children were living at London Street, Uxbridge. Now aged 50, John’s trade was again recorded as a tailor; Anne’s age was given as 45. They were still living on London Street in 1851, John now aged 61, was described as a Tailor and Draper.
In November 1856, their youngest daughter Kate married a Mr. Miles, a grocer, of Stroud, Gloucestershire. The family notice said that John was a tailor and draper, High Street, Uxbridge. Kate died in December 1859 by which time it appears that John had retired and he and his wife had left Uxbridge.
The 1861 Census records that they were living with their son Thomas James in High Street Stroud where Thomas and his brother John were woollen drapers. John Snr. was now aged 73, his wife Mary Ann’s age was given as 67. Also resident was their daughter Ann who was unmarried and acting as Thomas’s housekeeper.
By the time of the 1871 Census John and Mary Ann were living at Rose Villa, Painswick, Stroud. Again the census return gives a five year age gap between them. John died on 16th October 1873, aged 84, he was buried at St. Laurence Parish Church Stroud. Mary Ann died the following January and was buried alongside him.
It is eBay eBay item number:274378061209. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274378061209
Is there a link to the eBay listing? I can't seem to find it. It's a fascinating piece