Can you tell me anything about this photo of my unidentified ancestor?
QThis ambrotype is one of my favourite family photos, and was most likely taken in south Buckinghamshire. It is in a small case, measuring 6 x 7.5 cm, and I found strands of human hair behind the photo. He looks like such a character – I would dearly love to know more about him.
Kevin Standage
AThis is indeed a collodion positive or ambrotype, as you suggest. Ambrotypes comprise the original glass-plate negative, the image bleached and one side of the glass usually blackened with shellac (lacquer/varnish) to create an apparently positive image. The ambrotype was set into a metal surround and framed, or presented in a folding case, as here. Most, like this example, date from 1855 to the early 1860s, when they were superseded by card-mounted prints.
Ambrotypes, considerably cheaper than luxury daguerreotype portraits, introduced photography to more ordinary people. Like most ambrotypes, the studio/photographer here is unnamed, although your ancestor’s appearance confirms a late 1850s/early 1860s date. He wears the tall, formal top hat of a mid-Victorian gentleman or respectable working man, and a traditional black silk cravat typical of the mid-1800s. Yet he is not dressed in sober business attire, but a comfortable jacket/coat and light-coloured waistcoat and trousers more typical of country wear, reflecting his possible Buckinghamshire roots. Jayne Shrimpton
1 SURROUNDS
Styles of daguerreotype and ambrotype surrounds (mats/mattes) can help with dating. Early examples were plainer, while this decorative chased metal mat supports a late 1850s/early 1860s date.
2 OCCASION
This confident-looking man, perhaps in his 40s/early 50s, must have been born between the early 1800s and c1820.
3 FACIAL HAIR
His bushy sideburns were typical before beards grew fashionable in the late 1850s/ early 1860s. Some mature men continued to favour conservative whiskers over beards.
4 WORK APRON
The white band around his waist is an apron. Often carpenters and other craftsmen, rather than removing their aprons for photos, carefully rolled them up, as seen here.
5 ACCOUTREMENTS
It is hard to discern exactly what this ancestor holds, although chandlery-related items seem possible. On the left could be a candle, on the right a bowl, cup or pan.
6 TOKENS OF AFFECTION
Locks of hair were often slipped behind a cased or framed photo, or inside pieces of sentimental jewellery as tokens.