Peter Wickens Fry (1795 – 27 August 1860) was a pioneering English amateur photographer, although professionally he was a London solicitor. In the early 1850s, Fry worked with
Frederick Scott Archer
]
Frederick Scott Archer (1813 – 1 May 1857) was an English photographer and sculptor who is best known for having invented the photographic collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. He was born in either Bishop's Stortfor ...
, assisting him in the early experiments of the wet
collodion process
The collodion process is an early photographic process. The collodion process, mostly synonymous with the "collodion wet plate process", requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed, and developed within the span of about ...
. He was also active in helping
Roger Fenton
Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers.
Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an Arts degree, he became interested i ...
to set up the
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...
in 1853. Several of his photographs are in the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London.
Early life and family
Fry was born to Peter Fry (b.c. 1768–1846) and Joanna Chapman in
Compton Bishop
Compton Bishop is a small village and civil parish, at the western end of the Mendip Hills in the English county of Somerset. It is located close to the historic town of Axbridge. Along with the village of Cross and the hamlets of Rackley and We ...
, a village in northern
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, some time during 1795.
He had two younger brothers and two sisters. His younger brother Bruges later lived at Hill House in
Cheddar
Cheddar most often refers to either:
*Cheddar cheese
*Cheddar, Somerset, the village after which Cheddar cheese is named
Cheddar may also refer to:
Places
* Cheddar, Ontario, Canada
* Cheddar Yeo, a river which flows through Cheddar Gorge and th ...
and Peter lived at Compton House in Compton Bishop.
He trained as a solicitor and began his career in the legal profession but later he became one of the pioneers of photography in the country.
Career
In the early 1840s he developed an interest in the emerging art of photography.
He apparently experimented with photogenic drawing before
Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later ...
developed the
calotype
Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low co ...
process in 1841. The first stage of experimentation was with
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...
portraits.
His interest and developments in photography led to his being elected to the
Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
(RSA) in 1845.
He established the Calotype Club to pursue his keen interest with friends at his own home.
The first meeting of the club was held in 1847. It was an informal gathering of 12 photographers involved in the calotype process.
Meeting once or twice a month, the club discussed technical developments and applications. The club was renamed the Royal Photographic Club in 1848.
Some of the other members of the club were:
Robert Hunt, Fellow of the RSA who was director of the Museum of Practical geology and in early days of photography was on authority on the subject; Archer, a sculptor and Dr.
Hugh Welch Diamond
Hugh Welch Diamond (1809 – 21 June 1886) was an early British psychiatrist and photographer who made a major contribution to the craft of psychiatric photography.
Early life
Diamond was educated at Norwich School and later studied medic ...
who was superintendent of the
Surrey County Lunatic Asylum.
In the early 1850s, Fry worked with Archer, assisting him in the early experiments of wet collodion.
''The Photographic Journal'' reported that he had done much to support the application of the collodion process.
[ Fry's first picture using the collodion process was exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Arts in 1851.] It was Fry who introduced Archer to Richard Horne; and Horne's exposition case at The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...
(1851), may have contained the first collodion picture which was publicly exhibited. Fry, in 1852, collaborated with Archer in applying the collodion positive, or ambrotype
The ambrotype (from grc, ἀμβροτός — “immortal”, and — “impression”) also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Like a pr ...
process for portraiture
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...
, which found extensive application. This process, which is a different improved version of the wet collodion process, involved under exposure of the negative which would be coated by black paint that would make the picture appear like a frame of velvet lining. In the winter of 1852–53, Fry and the Society held its first exhibition of photographs. He was active in helping Roger Fenton to set up the Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...
in 1853.
He was active on the Council of the Royal Photographic Society until he was forced to resign his seat when he became ill, shortly before his death.
The attorneys John Loxley and Henry William Bull were articled to Fry; Fry and Loxley practised together as solicitors at 80 Cheapside, London. During his legal career, he became a London Commissioner to administer oaths in Chancery. He also served as Director of the Legal and Commercial Life Assurance Society whose offices were close by at 73 Cheapside.
At the end of his career, he appeared as the solicitor for James Henderson in the court case known as "Talbot Vs Henderson", a case for infringement rights claimed by Talbot for his calotype patent. Fry eventually was successful in getting a court order which awarded a compensation of 330 pounds to his client.
Fry died at 14 Montague Street in London on 27 August 1860 and is buried in a family vault in Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
. Several of his photographs belong to the Society and the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London, including his portrait taken in 1851.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Peter Wickens
1795 births
1860 deaths
19th-century English photographers
Pioneers of photography
Photographers from Somerset
Burials at Highgate Cemetery