The Hill and McGlashon Collaboration

 

It is well known that after Adamson Octavius Hill’s only other photographic partner was Alexander McGlashon. They exhibited in Edinburgh in December 1861 and in the London International exhibition which ran from 1st May to 1st September 1862; they also published an album in 1862 of fifteen photographs titled: “Towards the Further Development of Fine Art Photography”. A selection of their work can be found at the following link:- https://www.nationalgalleries.org/search-all/McGlashan

While the Rock House garden in Edinburgh was the location for some of these images it was not the only location.

Of the Rock House images particularly notable is that of Hill’s daughter Charlotte, “Burd Alane”. She is not identified as the subject of this portrait by the National Gallery or indeed by the Met in New York which also holds a copy, but the title of the photograph clearly points to it being her and comparison with John Adamson's 1855 portrait of her is conclusive.

However the image which won the plaudits is entitled “Horae Subsecivae” and is of the author John Brown and his cousin John Taylor Brown. This and several other images are in an indoor setting which may be inside the Rock House but it is noticeable that a curtain and table feature in various McGlashon CDVs suggesting that these images may have been taken in McGlashon’s studio at 130 Princes Street.

A further group of photographs includes one titled “Our First Grandchild: May-Day at Millfield” conveniently identifying the location as Millfield House in Polmont, the home of railway engineer, volunteer soldier and subsequently Edinburgh Member of Parliament, John Miller. As Miller’s first grandchild Marjory Cunningham was born on 11th August 1859 from the appearance of the child in the photo we can readily date this photograph to 1st May 1861.

Was this the end of Hill’s involvement with photography? Perhaps not. Certainly his association with McGlashon continued and there is a CDV of Hill with his wife Amelia Paton in which both are very smartly dressed, including in Hill’s case a top hat and cane, leading to the suspicion that this was taken at the time of their wedding on 18th November 1862.

However the story does not end there as very intriguingly I have discovered an 1864 newspaper report (The Scotsman, 25 January 1864) that during his recent visit to Edinburgh the portrait of Dean Stanley of Westminster by McGlashon & Walker (McGlashon’s then partner) “was arranged by Mr D. O. Hill, R.S.A.” Whether this meant that Hill was actively involved in the sitting or just that he introduced Stanley to McGlashon cannot now be ascertained but it does point to Hill’s continuing appreciation of McGlashon's photographic skill and may even represent Hill’s final photographic involvement.

 

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