Sometimes on this blog we look at artefacts and sometime we study a photograph. Today we’ll do both, showing you what is probably the oldest photograph in our collection. It has been classed as a Daguerreotype and dates from 1861.
Here’s the photo.
An 1861 photo – believed to be a Daguerreotype found in Market Lavington
The man in the photo is identified on the back.
Information on the back of the photo
He is Sergeant Tarrant and the photo was taken on February 12th 1861. It would seem Sergeant Tarrant was from Devizes but we can’t identify just who he was.
This photo was found under the floorboards in an upstairs room at 9 High Street, Market Lavington in the 1950s. This was the building which, at that time, housed Lloyds Bank on the ground floor.
Of course, we’d like to know more about any connection between Sergeant Tarrant and Market Lavington.
Tags: 1861, daguerreotype, P{hoto
Market Lavington Museum 
December 7, 2014 at 7:54 am |
What a hazardous chemical process. Halogen vapour (iodine, bromine and/or chlorine) to sensitise the silver plate then mercury vapour to develop it! Fixing it, then, with saturated salt solution was the safest part of it all.
December 7, 2014 at 8:19 am |
Gosh. What a nasty process!