John Thomas (photographer)
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John Thomas (14 April 1838 – 14 October 1905) was a Welsh photographer, specialising in landscape images of
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and Welsh chapels, and portraits of notable
Welsh people The Welsh ( cy, Cymry) are an ethnic group native to Wales. "Welsh people" applies to those who were born in Wales ( cy, Cymru) and to those who have Welsh ancestry, perceiving themselves or being perceived as sharing a cultural heritage and sh ...
, particularly church and chapel
ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...
.


Biography

Thomas was born at Glanrhyd, in the parish of
Llanfair Clydogau Llanfair Clydogau is a small village and Community (Wales), community encompassing , located about north-east of Lampeter on the B4343 road, in Ceredigion, Wales. It has a population of 634 as of the 2011 UK census, 87.5% of whom are Welsh lang ...
, near
Lampeter Lampeter (; cy, Llanbedr Pont Steffan (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, ...
, Cardiganshire in 1838, the son of David, a labourer, and his wife Jane. Thomas was educated in the village of Cellan, first as a pupil and then a pupil-teacher. For a short time he worked as an assistant in a
draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...
's shop in Lampeter. While still a teenager, in May 1853, he travelled to
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, walking to
Tregaron Tregaron ( "town of St Caron") is an ancient market town in Ceredigion, Wales, astride the River Brenig, a tributary of the River Teifi. Tregaron is northeast of Lampeter. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the ward of Tregaron wa ...
and then for to
Llanidloes Llanidloes () is a town and community on the A470 and B4518 roads in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn), Wales. The population in 2011 was 2,929, of whom 15% could speak Welsh. It is the third ...
via
Pontrhydfendigaid Pontrhydfendigaid () is a village in Ceredigion, Wales. It lies on the western flank of the Cambrian Mountains, between Devil's Bridge and Tregaron. The village lies on the River Teifi, whose source is just 3 miles (5 km) to the east at Ll ...
,
Devil's Bridge Devil's Bridge is a term applied to dozens of ancient bridges, found primarily in Europe. Most of these bridges are stone or masonry arch bridges and represent a significant technological achievement in ancient architecture. Due to their unusua ...
and
Plynlimon Pumlumon (historically anglicised in various ways including ''Plynlimon,'' Plinlimon and Plinlimmon) is the highest point of the Cambrian Mountains in Wales (taking a restricted definition of the Cambrian Mountains, excluding Snowdonia, ...
, before completing his journey by canal boat and train. He worked for ten years in Liverpool, in a draper's shop, starting in 1853, but was then obliged to change his way of life due to poor health. Before 1870 he got a job travelling, selling writing materials and selling photographs which enabled him to work in the country. Thomas realised that he was selling the very fashionable pictures called ''
carte-de-visite The ''carte de visite'' (, visiting card), abbreviated CdV, was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. Each photograph was the size of ...
s'' that were of well known people, but few were from Wales. In 1863 he became manager of Harry Emmens' photographic studio in Liverpool, where he specialised in photographing non-conformist ministers. In 1867 he established The Cambrian Gallery in Liverpool, a photographic business where he produced ''carte-de-visites'' and '' In memoriam'' cards. He ran a conventional studio photography business but he also took thousands of photographs of people and landscapes on long journeys through Wales at a time when a photo took time to both prepare and develop. Thomas faced many technical challenges in transporting the materials necessary to take photographs in remote rural locations, not the least of which was finding a suitable dark place in which to develop the negative. In his memoirs he reports: "I used many sorts of places for the purpose – a chicken coop, a stable many times, and once a cave when I took the group of
Bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
s in
Ruthin Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and ...
Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
..." The darkest place he claimed to have found was a half-dug grave in Liverpool's Smithdown Lane Cemetery when taking the photograph of the grave of Rev Pearse. He found the empty grave nearby, with a ladder in it, and with the help of his assistant, arranged his apparatus and chemicals at the bottom, placed a second ladder over the top and made the grave completely dark with the use of yellow curtains. Before his death, Thomas selected 3,113 glass plate negatives which were bought by the educationalist and historian
Owen Morgan Edwards Sir Owen Morgan Edwards (26 December 1858 – 15 May 1920) was a Welsh historian, educationalist and writer. He is often known as O. M. Edwards. Biography Owen Edwards was born in Llanuwchllyn near Bala, the eldest son of Owen and Beti Edw ...
to illustrate his Welsh language magazine ''Cymru''. The negatives are now in the collection of the
National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...
. Edwards commented "that no-one has such a complete collection of views of Welsh historic sites". Thomas's second child was Professor William Thelwall Thomas
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
, Ch.M.,
FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...
(1865–1927), president of the surgery section of the
British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...
. Thomas died on 14 October 1905 at the house of his son Albert Ivor (1870–1911) and was buried at
Anfield Cemetery Anfield Cemetery, or the City of Liverpool Cemetery, is located in Anfield, a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It lies to the northeast of Stanley Park, and is bounded by Walton Lane (A580 road) to the west, Priory Road to the south, ...
in Liverpool.


Photographs by Thomas

Thomas sold a selection of negatives to Sir
Owen Morgan Edwards Sir Owen Morgan Edwards (26 December 1858 – 15 May 1920) was a Welsh historian, educationalist and writer. He is often known as O. M. Edwards. Biography Owen Edwards was born in Llanuwchllyn near Bala, the eldest son of Owen and Beti Edw ...
and the descendants of Sir Owen later donated them to the National Library of Wales. The negatives are now part of the National Library's photographic collection. During the 1970s the collection was catalogued and access prints were prepared for reference by using new techniques to reproduce the tones of the negatives. Work to digitise the whole collection and make it available online was carried out in 2001. The photographs by Thomas not only depict Wales during the nineteenth century but also provide a general illustration of the Victorian period. In an age when the portraiture was dominated by respectability, he chose to photograph ordinary people, with some of his less conventional portraits showing beggars, drunkards and vagrants. As well as taking portraits Thomas also photographed the events, such as country fairs, that were the fabric of country life, street scenes with notable buildings and new developments, including chapels that had been built recently. Aspects of social progress like banks, post offices and particularly the railways are common features in Thomas' photographs. In 1863, he arranged for a group of Welsh ministers to visit Liverpool and have their portraits taken during Whitsun. These portraits were well received when they were advertised for sale in Welsh newspapers and periodical. This group of negatives are some of the earliest of datable examples of Thomas' photography in the National Library although there are also copies that he made of earlier works. A memorial card, made from the portrait of Reverend John Phillips, was particularly popular and Thomas noted that over a thousand prints of this negative were sold in the six weeks following the death of the minister in 1867. In the same year, Thomas first travelled to take photographs in Wales. He attended the General Assembly of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, where he portrayed the ministers gathered on a plot of land used for growing potatoes behind a chapel in Llanidloes. During this tour he also visited his home at Lampeter, where he took a photograph of his mother, Jane Thomas, sitting between two other women all in traditional Welsh dresses. In 1868 he made the journey to Wales again, this time attending the Eisteddfod festival at
Ruthin Castle Ruthin Castle ( cy, Castell Rhuthun) is a medieval castle fortification in Wales, near the town of Ruthin in the Vale of Clwyd. It was constructed during the late 13th century by Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the brother of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, o ...
, and took a group portrait of the literary and musical stars. The success of these first visits to Wales encouraged Thomas to return regularly. A catalogue that Thomas published lists the portraits he took of celebrities, most of whom were nonconformist religious ministers, although poets and literary figures are among the secular figures he depicted. In addition to portraits of the celebrities themselves, many of the houses that Thomas photographed are of interest as they are a former home of a notable author, poet or minister.


References


Further reading

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External links

* * John Thomas photographs posted by the National Library of Wales * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, John 1838 births 1905 deaths People from Ceredigion 19th-century Welsh photographers Burials at Anfield Cemetery