A Formidable Female Network: The Role of Women in William Henry Fox Talbot’s Establishment of Early Photography

Abstract

This paper explores how women assisted William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) to establish his Photogenic Drawing and Calotype photographic processes in Great Britain and Europe. Utilising preserved contemporary correspondence as a primary source of unedited transcribed conversations, the genesis of photography can be revisited from an alternative viewpoint of extensive familial collaboration. Letters between Talbot and his female relatives exposed a sophisticated network of interconnected mid 19th century social elite, providing multiple opportunities for informal advocacy and timely dissemination of the new scientific art. Epistolary exchanges from 1839 to 1858 provide new insights into women’s subtle, less visible influence on the progress of early photography, emerging through a complex framework of revelatory dialogues between Talbot and dedicated female photographic conduits. The study also acknowledges photographic advocacy continued by Talbot’s granddaughter in 1934 marking a century of women’s unique support in promoting the birth of photography. The paper concludes that women in Talbot’s extended family played a key role in the promotion of early photography in Britain and Europe