Figure 1.--This 1/4 plate ambro type has no information associated with it. We think we have the mother and her two children. The younger woman might be a daughter or perhaps an aunt. The boy look to be about 13-years old. He wears a suit withn vest that does not match. It looks to be a striped vest or perhaps corduroy. He has what looks like an Eton collar, although not a large one which he wears with a stock bow. loking somewhat like a large bow tie. Both women war similarly styled dresses, alhough with different fabric. Mother holds a plain straw hat. The younger wonman holds a book.

Photography was becoming more common in the 1850s. New photographic processes were developed. We note Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, and tintype portraits in America, For some reason we have been unable to find many of these portraits from Britain. We are not sure precisely why. Surely there must have been many such portraits taken. Trade mark rules seem to have impeded the industry's development and thus the number of available images. We see younger wear pantalttes with tunics and older boys wearing pants with tunics, both white pants and pants matching the tunic. Boys that had not yet been breeched. After breeching boys from fashionable families wore tunics for several years. We see some boys wearing capes. Vested suits werecommon. Boys wearing shortened-length pants might wear stripped stockings.

Wellington Family (about 1851)

Here we see the ging Duke with his grandchildren, two boys and a girl. They look to be 3-7 years old. The girls and the younger boy wear dresses. The older boy wears a black jacket and holds a matching hat. Notice the toys. Wellington died shortly after the painting was completed in 1852. That would probably date the pinting to 1850 or 51. The artist was Robert Thornburn, a minaturist who turned to oil painting because photography had destroyed the market for painted minatures.

The Alexanders (1850s)

Here we see a substantial Victorian family in the 1850s. Unfortunately we do not know where in England they lived. This is the family of John B. and Anna Alexander. They had 10 children. Victorian families could be quite large. This print came from the photographer's personal album, which had a date range of 1853-1857 on the album itself. The photographer appears to be Richard Dykes. There appear to be seven girls and three boys, although I am not positive about the younger children. The younger boys wears a tunic and notice that it is not a suit in that the tunic and trousers do not match. He also wears what looks like an Eton collar.

The Camerons (1850s-60s)

Julia Margaret Pattle after being educated un France and spending some time with her sisters in London society returned to India where she was born. While still in India she married Scottsman Charles Hay Cameron, a jurist and member of the Law Commission stationed in Calcutta (1838). He also had investments in Ceylon. She was still quite young, 23 years old. Cameron was was much older than Julia , but provided a comfortable life style for her. This was fairly common at the time. When her husband retired, they returned to England where they raised five children. A a sixth child was born in England (1857). They also adopted Mary Ryan. Julia's sister, Sarah Prinsep, help the Cameron's enter English society, especially the artistically and intelectually inclined. [Lukitsh, p. 286.] Sarah lived in London and hosted a salon frequented by smart artistic society. She lived at Little Holland House, the dower house of Holland House in Kensington. Popular artists and writers regularly visited. Thus when the Camerons returned to England, they had an easy entry into smart London society. It was here , Cameron met Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson. He invited them to his estate on the Isle of Wight. Julia was so taken with the location that she convinced her husband to purchased a nerarby property. They named it Dimbola Lodge after the their Ceylon coffee plantation. She also met Lewis Carol who photographed her and thge family. This probably raised her interest in photography.

Idealized Victorian family (early-1850s)

Artist Rebecca Solomon has left us a thoughtful image of an idealized Victorian family during the early-1850s in a painting entitld 'The Governess'. A well etablished Victorian gentleman has a young wife. The family is rather small, only one boy who is dressed in a velvet tunic and lacy pantalettes. He is being cared for by a governess who eens to have missed her change for marriage, perhaps because her family has no monet to attract a suhitor. At the time, gentele young woman had few possibilities up employment. Working as a governess in someone else's home was a rare possibility. Some even worked on the Continent.

Poor Rural Family (1855)

Here we have a William Morris Grundy stereoview photogrph. The caption read,"A poor but eager family sits at the bottom of the stone steps - awaiting the opportunity to ask for work in trade for room and board, on an adjacent (and rather successful) property." It is not clear where the father is.

Poor Cottager Family (1855)

Here we have a William Morris Grundy stereoview photograph. The caption read, "A very poor peasant family." Of course we cam see that from the photograph. No other details are provided. Of interest here is that ythe familynis posed in front of their home--a cottage. These people were commonly called cvottagers, meaning rural labor, but also workers on an estate living in cottages provided vby the lord or landowner. Rather than idelic, rural life in the 19th century was a time of great hardship. During the medieval period, serfs or peasants lived on the lord's land. Thy received little in wages, but were allowed to live in a cottage and grow food in a small plot of land in return for working the lord's fields. By the 18th century the wnclosures began as land oners began trying to imbrease earmings. Some land owners had turned raising sheep for wool as less lanor was needed. In thev18th centyry this meant encloing the commons. Parliament dominated by land owners passed the Enclosure Acts (18th and 19th centuries). These Acts denied free access to land that the landless peasantry had bebefitted from for centuries. This made them increasingly dependent on paid agricultural work and lessened their bargaining power. Rents were often minimal and seen as of the employee's weages. Large country estates had tied cottages for estate workers. Thomas Hardy in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Land lords commomly provided tied accommodation to rural workers which also undermined their security. It mean if they refused to work for commonly low wages, they lost their home.

Unidentified London Family (late-1850s)

This 1/4 plate ambro type has no information associated with it (figure 1). We think we have the mother and her two children. The younger woman might be a daughter or perhaps an aunt. The boy look to be about 13-years old. He wears a suit withn vest that does not match. It looks to be a striped vesgtor perhaps corfuroy. Hehas what looks like an Eton collar, although not a large one which he wears with a stock bow. loking somewhat like a large bow tie. Both women war simuilarly styled dresses, alhough with different fabric. Motherholds a plain straw hat. The younger wonman holds a book. All have razor parts. Notice the boy's sharp hair part and hair combed down ovrr his upper ear. This is one of the few Englush cased Ambros that we have managed to find. The cased was elegabtly tooled leather, different from the cases we note in America. The studio was Negretti & Zambra, foreign sionding names. They had studios in Hatton Garden and Cornhill, London.

Created: 2:29 AM 12/14/2013
Last updated: 7:20 PM 8/20/2022