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Thank you to Mike Delaney for sending me
the details below.
Mike wrote:
Artist and
Photographer
Edinburgh and Fife
"My great-great-grandfather, James Delaney, was born in Edinburgh
(probably St Mary's Wynd) around 1840. He was an artist in Edinburgh in
the late-1850s. He married in Dunfermline in 1859, describing
himself as an artist. I believe that he was at drawing school there.
By 1860, he was back in
Edinburgh , describing himself as artist-photographer. Later, he seems to have dropped the ‘artist’
part.
I suppose it was a logical step to make, but I wondered how
expensive
it was to buy the equipment at the time and how those who made the switch
were trained. Was it just trial and error.
At the time of the 1861
census, he was working in Pittenweem, Fife, presumably while
travelling around.
Edinburgh and Fife
He seems to have gone to England in the mid- to late-1870s, after living
in Edinburgh for most of that decade. He died in Wigan in 1888,
while still working as a photographer.
I have a couple of photos of family members which he seems to have taken
in his home. I haven’t come across any studio shots, but I know he
travelled around Scotland and England.
I suspect he would have been a street photographer, but are there any
sources where I could check this out?"
Mike Delaney, Edinburgh, January 29+31, 2008 |
