John Jabez Edwin Mayall 17 Sept 1813 – 6 March 1901

J.J.E.Mayall self portrait

Converting peoples loft spaces occasionally throws up stuff of interest, usually in the form of old newspapers, but recently at a job in Southwick we stumbled upon a pamphlet dated July 20th 1875, in almost perfect condition. The customers had told me that they believed the original owner, who had commissioned the place to be built, may have been involved in the moving pictures industry in its infancy, but they knew no more. In the early stages of setting out for steels and joisting, I had found an old, and barely discernable business post card with the name J.J.E.Mayall, and four addresses from London, Paris, Dublin, and Brighton in each corner, stating his  business as ‘Photographic Artist’, I had something to go on.

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When back home I checked him up on the ancestry.com web site, and Googled his name too, finding that he had originally been called Jabez Meal when born on 17th September 1813, at Chamber Hall near Oldham, son of John and Elizabeth Meal.  John Meal was described as a manufacturing chemist and is believed to have specialized in the production of dyes for the linen industry, by 1817 John Meal and his family were living at Lingards, near Huddersfield in the cloth manufacturing region of West Yorkshire. In Baine’s Directory of 1822, Mayall’s father, John Meal, is listed as a dyer in Linthwaite. John and Elizabeth had two other sons, (that I know of), Joseph, born 16 Oct 1814, and Samuel, 1818. Joseph emigrated to America in 1834, setting up business as a Bleacher and Dyer

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Since that first search, I’ve found out that Jabez married Eliza Parkin in 1834, had three sons, Edwin, (1835), Joe Parkin, and John by 1842, then emigrated to Philadelphia, America, where he studied and perfected the photographic process known as the Daguerreotype, invented by the Frenchman, Louis Daguerre. Setting up business at 140 Chestnut Street, with Samuel Van Loan in 1844, he also gave lectures on the art of photography, one being a, ‘Memoir on the Daguerreotype’ to the Philosophical Society of the United States in 1846. He was regarded as being the first photographer to use Daguerreotypes to illustrate a story. Returning to England in 1846, now under the name, John Jabez Edwin Mayall, he soon set up business as a ‘Photographic Artist’ in London at 433 West Strand.

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Once back in England, Mayall advertised himself as, ‘Professor High School’, a nickname he had earned in Philadelphia, later dropping the nickname, and advertising as the, ‘American Daguerreotype Institution’. The reason for this mis-direction was quite possibly because the French Government had made a gift of the Daguerreotype process to the world, with the exception of Britain, owing to a shrewd Daguerre instructing a patent agent to file for the patent in England just five days before the French gesture, so Mayall led people to believe he was in fact American.

J.M.W. Turner R.A

Between 1847-’49, the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner, RA (baptised 14 May 1775 – 19 December 1851) a British Romantic landscape painter, water-colourist, and printmaker, visited Mayall’s photographic studio, although Mayall was at the time unaware that this man was indeed the great painter of world renown.

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The following was published in “The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished by his Friends and Fellow Academicians” by Walter Thornbury (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1862), Volume II, p.259-264. :-

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CHAPTER XIV.
THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE IN OLD AGE.One of the most admirable things about Turner’s mind was, that it never grew old. It never froze and petrified into unchangeable fixity, but remained to the last thirsty for knowledge, and ready to grow as the world grew..One of the most interesting proofs of the perpetual growth of Turner’s mind is the following account of the interest he took in the science of optics and in the science of photography. It is kindly furnished to me by that eminent professor of the progressing and wonderful art, Mr. Mayall, of Regent-street:.

“Turner’s visits to my atelier were in 1847, ’48, and ’49. I took several admirable daguerreotype portraits of him, one of which was reading, a position rather favourable for him on account of his weak eyes and their being rather bloodshot. I recollect one of these portraits was presented to a lady who accompanied him. My first interviews with him were rather mysterious; he either did state, or at least led me to believe, that he was a Master in Chancery, and his subsequent visits and conversation rather confirmed this idea. At first he was very desirous of trying curious effects of light let in on the figure from a high position, and he himself sat for the studies. He was very much pleased with a figure-study I had just completed of ‘ This Mortal must put on Immortality;’ he wished to bring a lady to try something of the kind himself. This was in 1847; and I believe he did fix a day for that purpose. However, it happened to be a November fog, and I could not work. He stayed with me some three hours, talking about light and its curious effects on films of prepared silver. He expressed a wish to see the spectral image copied, and asked me if I had ever repeated Mrs. Somerville’s experiment of magnetizing a needle in the rays of the spectrum. I told him I had.

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“I was not then aware that the inquisitive old man was Turner, the painter. At the same time, I was much impressed with his inquisitive disposition, and I carefully explained to him all I then knew of the operation of light on iodized silver plates. He came again and again, always with some new notion about light. He wished me to copy my views of Niagara then a novelty in London and inquired of me about the effect of the rainbow spanning the great falls. I was fortunate in having seized one of these fleeting shadows when I was there, and I showed it to him. He wished to buy the plate. At that time I was not very anxious to sell them. I told him I had made a copy for Sir John Herschel, and with that exception did not intend to part with a copy. He told me he should like to see Niagara, as it was the greatest wonder in nature; he was never tired of my descriptions of it. In short, he had come so often, and in such an unobtrusive manner, that he had come to be regarded by all my people as ‘ our Mr. Turner.’ 

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“This went on through 1848, till one evening I met him at the soiree of the Royal Society; I think it was early in May, 1849. He shook me by the hand very cordially, and fell into his old topic of the spectrum. Some one came up to me and asked if I knew Mr. Turner; I answered I had had that pleasure some time. ‘ Yes,’ said my informant, rather significantly, ‘ but do you know that he is the Turner?’ I was rather surprised, I must confess; and later on in the evening I encountered him again, and fell into conversation on our old topic. I ventured to suggest to him the value of such studies for his own pursuits, and at once offered to conduct any experiments for him that he might require, and, in fact, to give up some time to work out his ideas about the treatment of light and shade. I parted with him on the understanding that he would call on me; however, he never did call again, nor did I ever see him again.

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“I recollected putting aside a rather curious head of him in profile, and, you may be sure, on the following morning after this interview I lost no time in looking up the portrait, which, I regret to say, one of my assistants had without my orders effaced. I am almost certain you will be able to trace some of the daguerreotypes of him, for I made at least four, for which he paid me; and some I rubbed out where we had tried the effect of a sharp, narrow cross light, in which some parts of the face were left in strong shadow.

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“I need not add, that at that time I was a struggling artist, much devoted to improving my art, and had just bought a large lens in Paris, six inches in diameter. I let Turner look through it, and the expressions of surprise and admiration were such that I ought at once to have known him in his true character; however, he was very kind to me, and by some sort of inuendo he kept up his Mastership in Chancery so well, that I did not. He sent me many patrons. I used to hear about him almost daily. When somewhat desponding of my success one day, I told him London was too large for a man with slender means to get along. He sharply turned round and said, ‘No, no; you are sure to succeed; only wait. You are a young man yet. I began life with little, and you see I am now very comfortable.’ ‘ Yes,’ I replied; ‘ and if I were on the same side of Chancery you are, perhaps I might be comfortable also.’ I was at that time fighting the battle of the patent rights of the daguerreotype. He smiled and said, ‘ You’ll come out all right, never fear.’ My recollection now is, that he was very kind and affable to me, rather taciturn, but very observant and curious; he would never allow me to stop working when he came, but would loiter and watch me polish the plates and prepare them, and take much interest in the result of my labours.

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“I recollect Mr. Spence, the naturalist, sitting to me, and was much struck at the time with the resemblance of the two heads. I mentioned this to Turner, and I showed him the portrait of Mr. Spence. Mr. Spence was stouter. Turner stooped very much, and always looked down; he had a trick of putting his hand into his coat-pocket, and of muttering to himself.

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“Whatever others may have said of his parsimonious habits, I cannot recollect one act of his that would lead me to infer he was other than a liberal, kindhearted old gentleman.”

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When Mr. Mayall, the photographer, whose fame is now European, was first known as a young struggling American photographer in a small shop in the Strand, the wonderful art was then uncertain in its results, and few there were who could at that time foresee the influence it would exercise over art. It was one day during that moral epidemic, the railway mania, when Mr. Hudson ruled England, and all the world, from the countess to the costermonger, knelt down and beat their heads on the pavement of Capelcourt, in passionate idolatry to the golden calf. The age of chivalry had indeed gone. At Mr. Mayall’s door there were hanging photographs intended to satirize the folly of the day. On one side there was a Stock Exchange man radiant, shares being at a premium; on the other, the same man in maniacal despair at the Great Bubbleton railway shares falling down to nothing. These pictures (almost the earliest attempts to make photography tell a story) attracted crowds, and among them Turner. So interested was he, indeed, that he came into the shop, and asked to see the gentleman who designed them. After this, he came so often, that an Abernethy chair was habitually placed for him, so that he might watch Mr. Mayall, without interrupting him at work. He took great interest in all effects of light, and repeatedly sat for his portrait in all sorts of Rembrandtic positions.

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This next extract is courtesy of ‘The Project Gutenburg’, who digitised the:-

 ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF

THE GREAT ARTISTS.

JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER
ROYAL ACADEMICIAN.

(Talking about Turner)

‘He did not, however, lose his love of art and his desire of acquiring knowledge relating to it. It was in these last years, 1847-49, that he paid several visits to the studio of Mr. Mayall, the celebrated photographic artist, passing himself off as a Master in Chancery, and taking very great interest in the development of the new process which had not then got beyond the daguerreotype. To the interesting account of these visits printed by Mr. Thornbury, we are enabled by Mr. Mayall’s kindness to add that at a time when his finances were at a very low ebb in consequence of litigation about patent rights, Turner unasked, brought him a roll of bank-notes, to the amount of £300, and gave it him on the understanding that he was to repay him if he could. This, Mr. Mayall was able to do very soon, but that does not lessen the generosity of Turner’s act.’

Dutch Boat in a Gale, by J.M.W. Turner

Engraved print of J.E.Mayall Daguerreotype taken at the Great Exhibition 1851

At the Great Exhibition of 1851,  in what was effectively the first photography competition, with entries from six of the greatest nations of the time, J.J.E.Mayall had 72 of his daguerreotypes exhibiting among a total of 700 entered in the Daguerreotype and Calotype section, this helped secure Mayall’s name, if it hadn’t been already, with the interest and encouragement of Prince Albert, who with Queen Victoria, later commissioned him to take a series of photographs of the Royal Family as, ‘Carte De Visite’, the first to do so. His pictures of Prince Albert sold over 60,000 copies after the untimely death of the Queens Consort, doubtless adding a few digits to Mayalls wealth. He also photographed many of the most eminent people in the country, including such luminaries as Charles Dickens, William Gladstone, Alfred Tennyson, not to mention virtually the entire Royal family of the time.

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I took this from the Spartacus,schoolnet.co.uk site, regarding the Great Exhibition of 1851 :-

 “Mayall received an “Honourable Mention” for the daguerreotypes he exhibited at the Crystal Palace and looking back over Mayall’s career nearly thirty years later the, “Photographic News”, stated that the pictures he showed at the Great Exhibition, “brought him to the front rank.”.

Carte de Visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, taken by J.J.E. Mayall

By the 1864, J.J.E. Mayall had opened new premises at 90 and 91 Kings Road, Brighton, leaving his eldest son, Edwin, (1835-72) to run the London establishments, while his other two sons, Joe Parkin, (1835-1922), and John, (1842-1891),also photographic artists, were located around Brighton at this time too, John marrying Eliza Caroline Josephine Dabbs of Lancing, (whose parents were running the Farmers Hotel in Lancing), in Worthing 1865, and Joe Parkin’s first born, Marian Emma Mayall, born in Brighton in 1868. J.J.E also had a daughter with Eliza, Harriet, who married Arthur William Woods, a solicitor, at Brighton in 1867. A Royal family portrait photo of Queen Victoria and eight of her children taken in 1863, has, ‘Mayall, Photo’, in the bottom left corner, and ‘London & Brighton’ in the right hand corner. Throughout John Jabez Edwin Mayall’s life, he called himself an ‘Artist’ on his census reports, but from early on after arriving in Brighton, he became involved in local politics, going on to serve as Mayor of Brighton between 1877/78, and, I discovered while working in that loft space in Southwick, played a huge part in saving Shoreham harbour, and driving through a bill in Parliament to have a reconstitution of the Trust Port, with the power to borrow funds from Government to improve the port, and make it a viable ongoing business that would benefit the local area and people, and not a few greedy speculators.

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J.J.E’s wife, Eliza, died at Brighton in 1870, and in the April 2nd  1871 census, J.J.E is living at Hove Place House, Dyke Road, Brighton, as a widower, his occupation given as ‘Artist’. By late 1871 he has met and married Celia Victoria Hooper (nee Gardiner 1834-1922), a widow with one daughter, Celia Victoria Hooper (1863-1942). In 1872 they had a daughter, Elsie Lena (born Brighton 1872-1953), but unfortunately that same year, Mayall’s eldest son, Edwin, died after a long illness. In the Morning Post of 2nd March 1872, it read:-

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 ‘Death of Mr Edwin Mayall- The Photographic News announces the death of Mr E. Mayall, son of Mr J.E. Mayall, the well known photographer of London and Brighton, which event took place, after many months of great suffering, on the evening of Monday last. The deceased was only 37 years of age, but had great experience in photography, having worked it from the earliest days of daguerreotype and calotype. He twice made the tour of the United States of America, and at other times he travelled through France, Germany, and Italy, always in pursuit of his art, and always bring back hints and ideas suggested by the working of photography in those countries. His death will be greatly regretted by a large circle of friends.’

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Two years later, J.J.E and Celia had another son Oswald, (born Lancing 1874), and lastly, Sybil, (born Lancing 1876).

Shoreham Harbour

A Speech

On Tuesday July 20th 1875, Alderman Mayall, having been appointed by the Brighton Corporation to be one of the trustees of the Shoreham Harbour Board, gave a speech at a meeting of the trustees at the Dolphin Chambers, Shoreham, where he laid out his plan to get a new bill passed through Government to allow the port greater borrowing powers in order to make the most of Shoreham Harbour’s potential. In the speech, he proposes that Captain Walter Wood, and Mr William Hall, be heard to make statements regarding an offer that had been made to the shareholders, and submit a draft Bill  for the reconstitution of the trust, which would need the sanction of Government. In this address, Mayall goes on to explain why they needed to go to Parliament to have a new bill passed to obtain greater borrowing powers for a necessary improvement of the harbour, and how the existing financial limit of £3000 a year was woefully inadequate. To make this happen, the shareholders would have to be bought out, which was where Captain Wood came in, having already helped underwrite Milford Haven Docks work, his name stood on the Bill as promoter of the Milford Haven Improvement Bill of 1874, an operation that had already cost half a million sterling at that time. Alderman Mayall had also sought the guidance of an ’eminent engineer who knew something of harbour works’, and the Harbour Master, to determine what was immediately required. He even conferred with ship owners from the north, to find what would encourage them to send their ships to Shoreham. With all the available information at his hands, he deduced that, ‘Here is a revenue slumbering, it only requires ways and means in order that it may be rendered available’.

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Having enlisted the help of Captain Wood, the Alderman decided it necessary to introduce him to the former Chairman of the Harbour Board, Mr William Hall, he states, ‘I believe these two gentlemen have now foreshadowed a policy which will be of great advantage to this harbour from a public point of view. And under no circumstances will I tolerate any policy from anybody that shall be of a private character, We must look to the  interests of the public, who are pre-eminently concerned; and we must look well to the trading and shipping interests of the port’.

Having explained all the reasons for the necessity of the proposition, how it would work, he finished by telling the gathered menbers, ‘I will but add, in conclusion, that I shall always be found to the fore in anything that concerns the prosperity of the port of Shoreham, with a view to making its harbour one of the first on the South Coast. (Cheers)’

The resolution was carried.

Ulysees S Grant, President of the United States

On October 22nd 1877, the President of the United States, Ulysees S Grant, while on his tour of Britain, spoke in response to an address by Mayor John Mayall of Brighton. (Taken from his papers).

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 ‘Mr Mayor and Gentlemen: I have to rise here in answer to a toast that has made it embarrassing to me, by the very complimentary terms in which it has been proposed. But I can say to you all, gentlemen, that since my arrival in England, I have had the most agreeable receptions everywhere; and I enjoy yours most exceedingly. In a word, I will say that Brighton has advantages which very few places have, in consequence of its proximity to the greatest city in the world. There you can go and transact your business, and return in the evening. If I were an Englishman, I think I should select Brighton as a place where I should live, and I am very sure you could not meet a jollier and better people anywhere.’

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 In the 1881 census, Mayall and family are living at, Storks Nest, Lancing, a property south of the railway station, his occupation listed as, ‘Artist’, something that never changes throughout his life, despite his political importance by this time. In this census, they have two servants, Ellen and Kate Clapshoe, and on further investigation I found they had a brother, Harry Clapshoe, (all Lancing born), who was employed by the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company, and their records show that he came recommended by J.E. Mayall.

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By the time of the 1891 census, J.J.E was now living in Southdown Road, Southwick, where I discovered his pamphlet in the roof space, just 122 years later. He was still giving his occupation as ‘Photographic Artist’, and living with his wife, Celia Victoria, daughters, Elsie Lena, Sybil, and step daughter, Celia Victoria Hooper.  John Jabez Edwin Mayall died on the 6th March 1901, at 88 years old, and was buried next to his first wife, Eliza, in Lancing. His wife and daughters continued to live out their lives at the home in Southwick, Celia Victoria Mayall passing away in 1922, and her daughter, Celia Victoria Hooper, on 18th June 1942, leaving the impressive sum of £66,407 to her step sister, Elsie Lena Mayall, who died in 1953, at 61 The Drive, Hove.

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I consider myself lucky to have found that pamphlet of a meeting held 138 years ago, and to have retrieved a little piece of Shoreham Harbour history, but more importantly, to have discovered about the life of this remarkable man involved in the birth of photography, who went on to exhibit in the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace, won the patronage of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, producing Carte de Visits of the Royal Family, photographed many of the most eminent people of his time, became Mayor of Brighton, and throughout his working life, approached his chosen medium with the mind of an artist. On top of all that, he involved himself with the concerns of the world around him, bringing his wealth of life experience and contacts to assist in any way he could.

Rest in peace John Jabez Edwin Mayall, aka Jabez Meal, your work here was done, and done well.

Sources

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/DSmayall.htm

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp53668

http://www.brontesisters.co.uk/John-Jabez-Edwin-Mayall.a.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jabez_Edwin_Mayall

http://www.photolondon.org.uk/pages/details.asp?pid=1251

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/

ancestry.co.uk

 

Introducing Freddie Junior

Freddie discovers he likes tea

10-12-13

It’s been a couple of months now since our sad loss of Freddie, the Bichon dog we inherited, and such was his impact on us, that we determined it had to be another Bichon to take his place. We tried to get a rescue dog, but there were no Bichons available, so eventually we bit the bullet and went for a pup, driving up to Eltham, near Dartford, to pick him up.  There were two boy pups for us to choose from, one was ‘spirited’, and one ‘docile’, according to the lady, we wanted the spirited pup, but the docile pup had other ideas, and was talking to Ma, capturing her heart during our short stay. When asked which one we were going to take, Fred junior, the so called docile pup, had chosen Ma, so that, we decided, was that, and we drove back with the wee ball of fur between Ma and Squire on the back seat.
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That first week I said to Ma, how time seemed to have stopped still since Fred Juniors arrival, as opposed to the late in life scenario when time seems to fly by, like you’ve made it to the top of the hill on the tea tray of life, and now time speeds  past ever faster as you go down the other side. It honestly seems a lifetime away since we picked him up now.

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In our fifth week with young Freddie, his thirteenth week, life hasn’t been dull for a minute. One of my cousins, Hannah Taylor, asked if he was real after seeing a picture of him on Facebook, “he’s real alright, a real handful”, I replied. It’s funny how we start to notice things, like when you get a new car, and hadn’t really noticed that type of car before, but suddenly you’re seeing them everywhere. So it is with Freddie’s breed, Bichon Frise, these little white balls of cotton are all over the place, and not just out being walked, George Osborne has introduced one to number 11 Downing Street, Lola is her name, then, inspired by this little story, Sarah Vine of the Daily Mail gives an enlightening article on what to expect from a Bichon, based on her own family experience of their beloved Snowy.  A family friend saw this news article and having heard all about Freddie from Ma, knew we would want to read it too, it gave us all a good laugh. Apparently Bichons share a lot of hilarious traits, but not all it would appear, she said she had never heard Snowy growl, Freddie is currently growling from inside my trainer as he fights it on the kitchen floor, he growls quite a lot, always when fighting a toy, sock, shoe, or trouser leg. It’s not a growl to instil fear, more to make you smile, especially when you see a growling shoe moving along the floor, with a little white body attached to it.

Freddie chillin

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After an evening of coming a comfortable second to Freddie’s boisterous behaviour, walking around with him hanging off our trouser legs like a ball and chain were attached, scuttling under the sofa to escape any possible censure, how do you not laugh as you watch his back legs wriggling to squeeze his little frame beneath the wooden frame, only to have his snout pop out and look up at you, ready to attack your feet again, it’s all a great game to him after all. When he’s in a lively frame of mind, he bounces around the house like a pocket rocket, our little boss eyed bullet, charging from one end of a room to the other, leaping into his bed, then springing up in the air and setting off again, with little growls or gruff barks, it’s impossible not to laugh at, Sarah Vine describes this behaviour as a ‘Bichon Blitz’, which sums it up nicely.

He really likes socks

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I’ve been trawling the net in search of wise advice, and we’ve since begun trying various methods to calm our bitey, barky, ball of fluff, such as holding his muzzle clamped shut after he bites, and saying, “no!”, firmly, but not shouting, also putting his harness and lead on when he starts barking, so he knows he can’t leg it when you go to pick him up and transport him out of the room in his bed, and into the hallway, our version of the naughty step for him. This soon turned out to be not so much of a hardship for Freddie, given that the shoe cupboard is in the hall, he just started dragging shoes, boots, insoles, into his bed, and happily set about trying to rip them apart.

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Yesterday it all went hilariously wrong for me, I had put Freddie’s harness and lead on after he had been once again been pushing the limits, but as it was the family Trough night, I had cooking issues to attend to, setting the table and getting the shepherds pie ready. There was a bit of dog related commotion coming from the lounge, so I went in to see what was up, and Freddie was in hypo mood, and set off for the security of underneath the sofa, forgetting he had his lead on. I grabbed the trailing tether and soon reeled our firey furball back out from under, only to realise quite quickly that something smelt wrong. Lifting my hands to my nose, the unmistakeable pong of poo became stronger, and on inspection the lead had traces of it, Squire then informs me that Fred had indeed just come back in from the conservatory, his favoured dumping ground. Grabbing the torch, I walked out to scan the area, only to see that he had left four separate deposits, obviously in quick succession, what I hadn’t spotted was the trap, the one he left right in the doorway, a fifth effort, now nicely plastered on the sole of my shoe. There I was, holding his fresh deposits in kitchen roll, a shit smeared lead and hands, and hopping to keep my soiled shoe off the deck too, this round definitely went to our pup.

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Ma mentioned the other day how we hadn’t laughed so much for a long time, and it’s all down to Freddie, his newest amusing trait is his silent bark, he looks at you, having either been chastised for some infraction, or challenging our authority. He looks at you all seriously, then makes all the received motions that go with a bark, without any noise coming out, not just once, but two or three times, generally followed by a tilt of his head. I often have to carry him down to the beach for his walk, letting out little whimpers of discontent which continue on and off until he knows we’re going back, then he’s straining at the leash for the rest of the way home, and the next game, drying him off.

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Freddie after his first grooming.

I wonder whether George Osborne has any idea of what he’s in for, certainly a lot of laughs, and doubtless some furrowed brows along the way, but the kids are going to love it.