James Gilchrist

J Gilchrist had studios in Edinburgh at:

1857-62	14 Nicolson Street
1863-78	105 South Bridge

The cartes de visite that I have seen all bear the 105 South Bridge address. Eight of these are reproduced below.

There are four different backs to the cards. The last five cards reproduced below all have back No 4. One of the eight cards also has the photographer's name on the front.

None of the subjects is named or dated, so I am not able to say, at this stage, which backs might have been used in which years. However, the armchair in use in Photo 1 appears also in Photo 5.

From the cartes that I have seen, it appears that James Gilchrist concentrated on photographing men rather than ladies. Even in his Group Photo (No 8) the majority of the subjects are men.

There seems to be some doubt as to how long James Gilchrist's studio remained in business at 105 South Bridge. The Edinburgh Trade Directories list the following studios at 105 South Bridge:

J McPherson	1863-64
James Gilchrist	1863-78
Mackie Brothers	1867
Charles Wright	1878-80
Willes & Adamson	1881
Thomas Jackson Bonne	1884-94
Mrs Thomas Jackson Bonne	1895-02
George Ritchie Mackay	1902-08
EW Parken	1910-12
TJ Bonne, & Co.	?

However I have been shown this carte de visite, by James Gilchrist, from the Victorian Image Collection, which has the date 1881 written in ink on the back. See cdv No 9 below.

Cartes de Visite - Nos 1 and 2 - by James Gilchrist