William Cobb was a pioneer of

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. He subsequently moved to

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

in southeast London where he continued to work. Cobb had his premises in 1 Clarkson Street, Ipswich and also supported

Richard Dykes Alexander Richard Dykes Alexander (15 August 1788 – 1865) was a businessman and philanthropist based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Family life He was the son of Dykes Alexander (1763–1849) and Hannah Brewster. His parents were Quakers and he followed his f ...

, an amateur photographer who lived nearby. After taking over the business of William Heathman, 77-78 Wellington Road, Woolwich in 1872, Cobb took photographs of members of the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

for use in

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. He used his photograph of

Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial Napoléon, Prince Imperial (Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte; 16 March 1856 – 1 June 1879), also known as Louis-Napoléon, was the only child of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, and Empress Eugénie. After his father w ...

to promote his business. He contributed several articles to the ''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

'' in 1880, including a paper he delivered to the South London Photographic Society (SLPS) on "Ballooning from a Photographic Point of View" in which he suggested that the SLPS obtain a balloon of its own.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobb, William 19th-century English photographers Photographers from Suffolk