Welsh Journals

THOUGHTS ON THE MARY DILLWYN ALBUM The history of photography in Wales is a subject yet to be fully explored. Some names are well known, such as John Dillwyn Llewelyn and Calvert Richard Jones. It is also not often realised that Henry Fox Talbot of Lacock Abbey had Welsh relations through his uncle Thomas Mansel Talbot of Penrice. Some of the earliest images of Margam are probably by Henry Talbot. Less well known are images by members of the Llewelyn family, his brother Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn, sister Mary Dillwyn, daughter Thereza, who later married Nevil Story Maskelyne, and his second son William. Mary Dillwyn was photographing by 1853 and may have started even earlier using Talbot's calotype process, though there are no surviving images from that period. John's wife Emma did most of his printing and at one stage Talbot offered the help of his own assistant Nicolas Henneman. Thereza especially was most enthusiastic, and in her few surviving journals hints at more than just simply taking photographs; she enjoyed the technical aspects as well. In 1856, as a birthday present, her father presented her with a stereo camera which she often used to make stereo images at the same time as her father was making large format ones. So it is extremely fortunate that the National Library of Wales has been able to purchase, through grants from the National Art Collections Fund, Friends of the National Libraries and Friends of the National Library of Wales, a small album (c. 4" x 5") of photographs sold through Christies, the London auctioneers, in 2002, to an American collector but which was refused an export licence. The album contains 42 stuck in photos, plus one loose one, featuring largely flower groups but also photos from life, a splendid small portrait of Willy Llewelyn, one of Thereza's younger brothers, and snow scenes, amongst others. In the auction it was listed as being by Mary Dillwyn and dated between 1840 and 1850. Many of the images have the initials MD against them, whilst others are not credited. Inside is an inscription to Susan M. Franklen, Clemenstone. Susie, as she was usually known, was the daughter of Isabella and Richard Franklen of Clemenstone near Cardiff. Isabella was one of Henry Fox Talbot's Welsh cousins and therefore a sister of Emma Llewelyn and Christopher Rice Mansel (Kit) Talbot of Penrice and Margam. One of the other Franklen children became Sir Thomas Mansel Talbot, Clerk to Cardiff City and himself an amateur photographer. In 1923 he gave a lecture in Cardiff on the photography of John Dillwyn Llewelyn.