Monsieur Williams
Chipping Norton,Oxfordshire, England
- MONS. WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHER, AMERICAN SALOON, CHIPPING NORTON.
Scott Archer published the details of his wet collodion positive technique in 1852. The following year, a French photographer, Adolphe Martin, is said to have described a variant of Archer’s positive process which came to be known as the ferrotype. In the ferrotype, the glass support which carried the collodion was replaced by a thin sheet of iron coated with black enamel. However, it was to be in America, that the ferrotype was to enjoy its greatest commercial success.
The 1870s saw a resurgence in the use of the gem tintype process, popular in North America, largely explained by the rapid expansion of chains of American-style studios owned by companies Anglo-American Photo and American Gem. In the 1880’s travelling photographer Frank Walton (1833 to 1923) began to use the term ‘American Studio’ in his promotional information and in relation to all four of his locations – Leeds, Southport, Boston and Manchester.
According to Walton in 1921, he specialised in photography ’63 years ago in the days of the old, wet collodion plates’ (i.e. 1858), otherwise known as ambrotypes. At the time he was a travelling showman and later went on to have several travelling studios operated by himself and others. Without a doubt, the ferrotype in Victorian Britain was regarded as the cheapest, nastiest and lowest form of photographic life such that little attention was paid to it in the editorial sections of the photographic press. This makes any account of its history difficult and conjectural.
This carte bears signs of all the features of the ferrotype business: the designation Monsieur Williams is evocative of the French origins of the process while his American Saloon joins Chipping Norton to the chains of American-style studios. The use of a hand stamp on the back suggests a smaller, perhaps shorter-lived studio, consistent with the lack of information about Williams.
Sources: Photographers of Great Britain & Ireland; wikipedia collodion process
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