Collection of engravings, photographs and prints relating to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
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TitleCollection of engravings, photographs and prints relating to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
ReferenceYA1983.9
CreatorBury, Thomas Talbot
Shaw, Isaac (junior)
Mudd, James
The architect and engraver Thomas Talbot Bury was born in London in 1809. He studied under Augustus Charles Pugin as an articled apprentice from 1824-1830. In 1830, he established his own studio at 7 Gerrard Street, Soho. From 1845-1849, Bury was in partnership with Charles Lee. Alongside his architectural practice, Bury produced engravings and lithographs of his own and other architects' drawings, notably those of Augustus Welby Pugin and Owen Jones. Bury worked with A W Pugin on designs for the details of the houses of parliament under Sir Charles Barry. Bury became an associate of the Institute of British Architects in 1839, and a fellow in 1843. He became a vice-president in 1876. In 1863, he was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was also a member of the council of the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, a member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, and an associate of the Society of Civil Engineers.
The first edition of his Coloured Views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was published by Rudolph Ackermann in 1831. Bury’s prints are the finest of the various series of prints published to commemorate the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on 15 September 1830. The prints include thirteen hand-coloured aquatint plates engraved by H. Pyall and S. G. Hughes from drawings made by Bury.
Bury died on 23 February 1877 at home at 50 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, and is buried at Norwood cemetery.
The first edition of his Coloured Views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was published by Rudolph Ackermann in 1831. Bury’s prints are the finest of the various series of prints published to commemorate the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on 15 September 1830. The prints include thirteen hand-coloured aquatint plates engraved by H. Pyall and S. G. Hughes from drawings made by Bury.
Bury died on 23 February 1877 at home at 50 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, and is buried at Norwood cemetery.
Shaw, Isaac (junior)
Isaac Shaw junior was an engraver working in Liverpool in the 1830s. He worked with Ackermann & Co in 1833 to produce a series of coloured prints of locomotives travelling on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
Mudd, James
James Mudd was born in Halifax in 1821, the son of Alice and Robert Mudd. In the late 1830s, the family moved to Manchester and James began an apprenticeship as a pattern designer. In 1846, James and his brother Robert opened their own textile design business at 44 George Street. A year earlier, James had married Ann Peacock and their only child, James Willis, was born in 1848.
James Mudd's interest in photography probably began soon after his apprenticeship. His earliest known photographs were landscapes taken using the waxed paper process in 1854. It seems likely that he learned most of what he knew about photographic techniques and processes from Joseph Sidebotham, whom he met in the same year, and Sidebotham’s teacher, John Benjamin Dancer. Dancer was an important Manchester scientific instrument maker who had practised photography since its introduction in 1839.
In 1857, James and Robert Mudd opened a photographic studio at 94 Cross Street, Manchester, where they also sold photographic equipment. By 1861, James Mudd had acquired a new studio in his own name in the fashionable area of St. Ann's Square, Manchester. He also hired an assistant, George Wardley, to help with studio portraiture. After six years, Wardley left Mudd's employment to open a studio of his own in Salford.
In about 1862, James S Platt, a pattern designer, became Mudd's business partner in the textile design business he had started with his brother. Two years later, Platt took over the design business on his own account. This suggests the photographic studio was doing well enough for Mudd to rely on it for his income.
In 1873, James Willis Mudd joined his father in the photographic studio, the new company becoming known as James Mudd & Sons. The company hired a new assistant, George Grundy, in about 1880. Grundy remained in Mudd's employment until the studio officially passed to him in about 1900, although it seems likely that he was already managing the studio before then. The business continued to be known as James Mudd & Sons until the death of Mudd in 1906, when it became G. Grundy & Sons. George Grundy stayed in business until about 1924, having moved his studio to St Ann's Passage, off King Street, Manchester.
James Mudd is thought to be the first Englishman to photograph industrial subjects on a regular basis. In 1856 he took on the first of several commissions to photograph locomotives and machinery made at the Beyer, Peacock works, Gorton, Manchester. Mudd experimented with the wet collodion process but found it too difficult to produce a picture of acceptable quality. As a result, he reverted to using waxed paper negatives for a few months, until the beginning of 1857 when he began using the dry collodion process. He then used dry collodion almost exclusively until he retired in about 1900.
In 1861, Mudd began applying dark varnish to industrial photographs to mask out the background so that the subject was clearly delineated. This was more useful for foundry records and publications than if parts of the surrounding factory intruded on the picture. Mudd's assistant, George Grundy, may have taken over the production of Beyer, Peacock photographs in the 1880s.
Mudd's photographic inventory of locomotives built by the local firm of Beyer, Peacock was published in 1861 by Cundall & Co. Mudd's success with the Beyer, Peacock photographs may have led to other non-industrial commissions. In the summer of 1857, James and Robert Mudd were commissioned to take 11 photographs as evidence for the Pendleton Alum Works indictment. James Mudd also took 'pictorial' photographs and entered many of them in important exhibitions. The first of these was a Manchester Photographic Society exhibition in 1856. He received his first medal at the 1860 Photographic Society of Scotland exhibition for Waterfall near Coniston.
Towards the end of his life, James Mudd concentrated on painting and drawing. His subjects were the landscape and marine views which had been the subjects of his exhibition photographs. He exhibited paintings at least five times in the 1880s, including some work at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition held at the Walker Art Gallery.
In the early 1870s, Mudd was inspired to illustrate Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The drawings were published in a booklet by the Coleridge Society in Manchester.
James Mudd died in Bowdon in 1906 at the age of 85. He was a very versatile photographer who took many important photographs, portraits and prize-winning photographs of artistic subjects. His technical expertise was much greater than many other photographers of his time.
James Mudd's interest in photography probably began soon after his apprenticeship. His earliest known photographs were landscapes taken using the waxed paper process in 1854. It seems likely that he learned most of what he knew about photographic techniques and processes from Joseph Sidebotham, whom he met in the same year, and Sidebotham’s teacher, John Benjamin Dancer. Dancer was an important Manchester scientific instrument maker who had practised photography since its introduction in 1839.
In 1857, James and Robert Mudd opened a photographic studio at 94 Cross Street, Manchester, where they also sold photographic equipment. By 1861, James Mudd had acquired a new studio in his own name in the fashionable area of St. Ann's Square, Manchester. He also hired an assistant, George Wardley, to help with studio portraiture. After six years, Wardley left Mudd's employment to open a studio of his own in Salford.
In about 1862, James S Platt, a pattern designer, became Mudd's business partner in the textile design business he had started with his brother. Two years later, Platt took over the design business on his own account. This suggests the photographic studio was doing well enough for Mudd to rely on it for his income.
In 1873, James Willis Mudd joined his father in the photographic studio, the new company becoming known as James Mudd & Sons. The company hired a new assistant, George Grundy, in about 1880. Grundy remained in Mudd's employment until the studio officially passed to him in about 1900, although it seems likely that he was already managing the studio before then. The business continued to be known as James Mudd & Sons until the death of Mudd in 1906, when it became G. Grundy & Sons. George Grundy stayed in business until about 1924, having moved his studio to St Ann's Passage, off King Street, Manchester.
James Mudd is thought to be the first Englishman to photograph industrial subjects on a regular basis. In 1856 he took on the first of several commissions to photograph locomotives and machinery made at the Beyer, Peacock works, Gorton, Manchester. Mudd experimented with the wet collodion process but found it too difficult to produce a picture of acceptable quality. As a result, he reverted to using waxed paper negatives for a few months, until the beginning of 1857 when he began using the dry collodion process. He then used dry collodion almost exclusively until he retired in about 1900.
In 1861, Mudd began applying dark varnish to industrial photographs to mask out the background so that the subject was clearly delineated. This was more useful for foundry records and publications than if parts of the surrounding factory intruded on the picture. Mudd's assistant, George Grundy, may have taken over the production of Beyer, Peacock photographs in the 1880s.
Mudd's photographic inventory of locomotives built by the local firm of Beyer, Peacock was published in 1861 by Cundall & Co. Mudd's success with the Beyer, Peacock photographs may have led to other non-industrial commissions. In the summer of 1857, James and Robert Mudd were commissioned to take 11 photographs as evidence for the Pendleton Alum Works indictment. James Mudd also took 'pictorial' photographs and entered many of them in important exhibitions. The first of these was a Manchester Photographic Society exhibition in 1856. He received his first medal at the 1860 Photographic Society of Scotland exhibition for Waterfall near Coniston.
Towards the end of his life, James Mudd concentrated on painting and drawing. His subjects were the landscape and marine views which had been the subjects of his exhibition photographs. He exhibited paintings at least five times in the 1880s, including some work at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition held at the Walker Art Gallery.
In the early 1870s, Mudd was inspired to illustrate Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The drawings were published in a booklet by the Coleridge Society in Manchester.
James Mudd died in Bowdon in 1906 at the age of 85. He was a very versatile photographer who took many important photographs, portraits and prize-winning photographs of artistic subjects. His technical expertise was much greater than many other photographers of his time.
Date
c.1830-c1860
Scope and ContentThe collection includes: Manchester & Birmingham Railway share certificate (MS0335); file of photographs and prints compiled by C. F. Dendy Marshall relating to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway; engravings and prints of Liverpool & Manchester Railway scenes by T. T. Bury and R. Ackermann; aquatint of Liverpool & Manchester Railway at Newton by R. Havell; photographic portraits and prints of Victorian railway engineers compiled by C. F. Dendy Marshall; engraving of Rainhill Bridge by Isaac Shaw; albumen photographic prints of Neilson & Co locomotives by John Stuart & Co (MS0127/2); albumen photographic prints of Sharp Stewart & Co locomotives by James Mudd (MS0127/2).
Extent2 linear metres
Archival historyCompiled by C F Dendy Marshall during his research for the centenary history of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Sold at auction in 1945 following Dendy Marshall's death. Resold at auction in 1983 and purchased by the Museum of Science and Industry as nine lots (Lot 65, 79, 113, 115, 119, 122, 173, 174 and 186) with grant in aid from the Science Museum Fund for Preservation of Technological Material.
Levelfonds
Repository nameScience and Industry Museum
Associated people and organisationsDendy Marshall, Chapman Frederick
Liverpool & Manchester Railway Co
Manchester & Birmingham Railway Co
Bury, Thomas Talbot
Ackermann, Rudolph
Pyall, Henry
Hughes, S. G.
Havell, Robert (senior)
Mudd, James
Cannell, J F
Shaw, Isaac (junior)
Neilson Reid & Co Ltd
Sharp Stewart & Company
Stuart, John
Chapman Frederick Dendy Marshall was a railway historian known for his studies of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and the Southern Railway. He was born in Brentford in 1872, educated at Hurstpierpoint and Trinity College, Cambridge. On graduating, he trained as a barrister, but never practised. He died at his home Chinthurst Lodge, Wonersh, in Surrey on 14 June 1945. His collection of railway documents and memorabilia was auctioned at Sotheby's on 13 November that year.
Liverpool & Manchester Railway Co
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was first proposed by William James and Joseph Sanders in 1821. In 1826 George Stephenson was appointed chief engineer. The company originally intended to use fixed locomotives to pull freight trains between Liverpool and Manchester, but following the Rainhill Trial competition of 6 October 1829, locomotives in the style of Stephenson's Rocket were commissioned. The company opened the line between Liverpool and Manchester on 15 September 1830. The first passengers travelled along the line two days later and goods on 1 December. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was absorbed into the Grand Junction Railway on 8 August 1845.
Manchester & Birmingham Railway Co
The Manchester and Birmingham Railway was built between Manchester and Crewe. Its locomotive works was at Longsight.
Planning for the railway begain in around 1835. The final scheme was to run from the Grand Junction Railway at Chebsey, with branches to Macclesfield and Crewe, into Manchester Store Street, which received Parliamentary authorisation in 1837.
A section between Heaton Norris and a temporary station at Travis Street in Manchester was opened first in 1840 carrying nearly two thousand passengers in the first twenty weeks. However there still remained to be built an enormous 22 arch viaduct over the River Mersey at Stockport.
In 1846, the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, the Grand Junction Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway merged to form the London and North Western Railway.
Planning for the railway begain in around 1835. The final scheme was to run from the Grand Junction Railway at Chebsey, with branches to Macclesfield and Crewe, into Manchester Store Street, which received Parliamentary authorisation in 1837.
A section between Heaton Norris and a temporary station at Travis Street in Manchester was opened first in 1840 carrying nearly two thousand passengers in the first twenty weeks. However there still remained to be built an enormous 22 arch viaduct over the River Mersey at Stockport.
In 1846, the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, the Grand Junction Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway merged to form the London and North Western Railway.
Bury, Thomas Talbot
The architect and engraver Thomas Talbot Bury was born in London in 1809. He studied under Augustus Charles Pugin as an articled apprentice from 1824-1830. In 1830, he established his own studio at 7 Gerrard Street, Soho. From 1845-1849, Bury was in partnership with Charles Lee. Alongside his architectural practice, Bury produced engravings and lithographs of his own and other architects' drawings, notably those of Augustus Welby Pugin and Owen Jones. Bury worked with A W Pugin on designs for the details of the houses of parliament under Sir Charles Barry. Bury became an associate of the Institute of British Architects in 1839, and a fellow in 1843. He became a vice-president in 1876. In 1863, he was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was also a member of the council of the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, a member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, and an associate of the Society of Civil Engineers.
The first edition of his Coloured Views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was published by Rudolph Ackermann in 1831. Bury’s prints are the finest of the various series of prints published to commemorate the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on 15 September 1830. The prints include thirteen hand-coloured aquatint plates engraved by H. Pyall and S. G. Hughes from drawings made by Bury.
Bury died on 23 February 1877 at home at 50 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, and is buried at Norwood cemetery.
The first edition of his Coloured Views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was published by Rudolph Ackermann in 1831. Bury’s prints are the finest of the various series of prints published to commemorate the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on 15 September 1830. The prints include thirteen hand-coloured aquatint plates engraved by H. Pyall and S. G. Hughes from drawings made by Bury.
Bury died on 23 February 1877 at home at 50 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, and is buried at Norwood cemetery.
Ackermann, Rudolph
Rudolph Ackermann was born on 20 April 1764 at Stollberg, near Leipzig, in Saxony. When he was fifteen, Ackermann was apprenticed to his elder brother Friedrich, a saddler. During his apprenticeship, he also learned to draw and engrave. In 1782 started training as a carriage designer, first in Dresden and then at Hueningen, in Switzerland. In 1784 he was employed for six months by Antoine Carassi in Paris. He worked for the carriage maker Simons in Brussels in 1785–6. He moved to England in 1787, where his model of a state coach for the carriage maker Goodall led to his first important commission in 1790, to design a state coach for the lord lieutenant of Ireland. Between 1791 and 1820 he published thirteen books of designs for carriages.
Ackermann formed close connections with other émigrés from Saxony, most significantly with the Facius brothers and with J. C. Stadler, who worked as engravers for the leading print publisher John Boydell. From 1795-1805, he ran a drawing school in Strand, and in 1796 he published the first of many drawing books. In 1797, he began publishing decorative hand-coloured prints.
During the first decade of the 19th century, Ackermann continued to design state and other carriages.
He became a United Kingdom citizen on 24 March 1809.
In 1808 and 1809, Ackermann issued two publications which secured his reputation as a publisher of the finest colour plate books: The Microcosm of London, and the monthly magazine Repository of Arts. Ackermann employed the architectural draughtsman Augustus Pugin, and the figure drawer Thomas Rowlandson to provide illustrations and architectural drawings for his engravings.
Ackermann formally handed over his business, Ackermann & Co, to his younger sons in October 1832. He suffered a stroke in November 1833 and died on 30 March 1834 at his home at Cold Harbour, Finchley.
Ackermann formed close connections with other émigrés from Saxony, most significantly with the Facius brothers and with J. C. Stadler, who worked as engravers for the leading print publisher John Boydell. From 1795-1805, he ran a drawing school in Strand, and in 1796 he published the first of many drawing books. In 1797, he began publishing decorative hand-coloured prints.
During the first decade of the 19th century, Ackermann continued to design state and other carriages.
He became a United Kingdom citizen on 24 March 1809.
In 1808 and 1809, Ackermann issued two publications which secured his reputation as a publisher of the finest colour plate books: The Microcosm of London, and the monthly magazine Repository of Arts. Ackermann employed the architectural draughtsman Augustus Pugin, and the figure drawer Thomas Rowlandson to provide illustrations and architectural drawings for his engravings.
Ackermann formally handed over his business, Ackermann & Co, to his younger sons in October 1832. He suffered a stroke in November 1833 and died on 30 March 1834 at his home at Cold Harbour, Finchley.
Pyall, Henry
Henry Pyall was an engraver and aquatinter who sometimes worked in partnership with Charles and George Hunt. He produced a series of views on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with S. G. Hughes.
Hughes, S. G.
S. G. Hughes was a British engraver who produced a series of coloured views on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with Henry Pyall.
Havell, Robert (senior)
Robert Havell senior was born in Reading on 29 December 1769. By the beginning of the 19th century, he owned a printing and engraving shop in Marylebone, London. He married Lydia Miller Phillips in February 1793 and their eldest son Robert junior, who went on to become a successful engraver, was born in Reading in December the same year.
Robert junior joined his father’s engraving business in 1818. The company was known as Havell and Son until Robert junior left to establish his own business in 1825, and was well known for its expertise in aquatint engraving and colouring.
In 1827, John James Audubon approached Robert senior to engrave a portfolio of 240 drawings he had brought with him from America. Robert senior understood that the work required the assistance of another expert engraver, and he approaches his son Robert junior to re-establish their previous partnership. Robert junior engraved the plates and Robert senior supervised their printing and colouring. The partnership continued until Robert Havell senior's retirement in 1828.
Robert senior died on 21 November 1832, and was buried at the Old St Pancras Church graveyard in London.
Robert junior joined his father’s engraving business in 1818. The company was known as Havell and Son until Robert junior left to establish his own business in 1825, and was well known for its expertise in aquatint engraving and colouring.
In 1827, John James Audubon approached Robert senior to engrave a portfolio of 240 drawings he had brought with him from America. Robert senior understood that the work required the assistance of another expert engraver, and he approaches his son Robert junior to re-establish their previous partnership. Robert junior engraved the plates and Robert senior supervised their printing and colouring. The partnership continued until Robert Havell senior's retirement in 1828.
Robert senior died on 21 November 1832, and was buried at the Old St Pancras Church graveyard in London.
Mudd, James
James Mudd was born in Halifax in 1821, the son of Alice and Robert Mudd. In the late 1830s, the family moved to Manchester and James began an apprenticeship as a pattern designer. In 1846, James and his brother Robert opened their own textile design business at 44 George Street. A year earlier, James had married Ann Peacock and their only child, James Willis, was born in 1848.
James Mudd's interest in photography probably began soon after his apprenticeship. His earliest known photographs were landscapes taken using the waxed paper process in 1854. It seems likely that he learned most of what he knew about photographic techniques and processes from Joseph Sidebotham, whom he met in the same year, and Sidebotham’s teacher, John Benjamin Dancer. Dancer was an important Manchester scientific instrument maker who had practised photography since its introduction in 1839.
In 1857, James and Robert Mudd opened a photographic studio at 94 Cross Street, Manchester, where they also sold photographic equipment. By 1861, James Mudd had acquired a new studio in his own name in the fashionable area of St. Ann's Square, Manchester. He also hired an assistant, George Wardley, to help with studio portraiture. After six years, Wardley left Mudd's employment to open a studio of his own in Salford.
In about 1862, James S Platt, a pattern designer, became Mudd's business partner in the textile design business he had started with his brother. Two years later, Platt took over the design business on his own account. This suggests the photographic studio was doing well enough for Mudd to rely on it for his income.
In 1873, James Willis Mudd joined his father in the photographic studio, the new company becoming known as James Mudd & Sons. The company hired a new assistant, George Grundy, in about 1880. Grundy remained in Mudd's employment until the studio officially passed to him in about 1900, although it seems likely that he was already managing the studio before then. The business continued to be known as James Mudd & Sons until the death of Mudd in 1906, when it became G. Grundy & Sons. George Grundy stayed in business until about 1924, having moved his studio to St Ann's Passage, off King Street, Manchester.
James Mudd is thought to be the first Englishman to photograph industrial subjects on a regular basis. In 1856 he took on the first of several commissions to photograph locomotives and machinery made at the Beyer, Peacock works, Gorton, Manchester. Mudd experimented with the wet collodion process but found it too difficult to produce a picture of acceptable quality. As a result, he reverted to using waxed paper negatives for a few months, until the beginning of 1857 when he began using the dry collodion process. He then used dry collodion almost exclusively until he retired in about 1900.
In 1861, Mudd began applying dark varnish to industrial photographs to mask out the background so that the subject was clearly delineated. This was more useful for foundry records and publications than if parts of the surrounding factory intruded on the picture. Mudd's assistant, George Grundy, may have taken over the production of Beyer, Peacock photographs in the 1880s.
Mudd's photographic inventory of locomotives built by the local firm of Beyer, Peacock was published in 1861 by Cundall & Co. Mudd's success with the Beyer, Peacock photographs may have led to other non-industrial commissions. In the summer of 1857, James and Robert Mudd were commissioned to take 11 photographs as evidence for the Pendleton Alum Works indictment. James Mudd also took 'pictorial' photographs and entered many of them in important exhibitions. The first of these was a Manchester Photographic Society exhibition in 1856. He received his first medal at the 1860 Photographic Society of Scotland exhibition for Waterfall near Coniston.
Towards the end of his life, James Mudd concentrated on painting and drawing. His subjects were the landscape and marine views which had been the subjects of his exhibition photographs. He exhibited paintings at least five times in the 1880s, including some work at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition held at the Walker Art Gallery.
In the early 1870s, Mudd was inspired to illustrate Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The drawings were published in a booklet by the Coleridge Society in Manchester.
James Mudd died in Bowdon in 1906 at the age of 85. He was a very versatile photographer who took many important photographs, portraits and prize-winning photographs of artistic subjects. His technical expertise was much greater than many other photographers of his time.
James Mudd's interest in photography probably began soon after his apprenticeship. His earliest known photographs were landscapes taken using the waxed paper process in 1854. It seems likely that he learned most of what he knew about photographic techniques and processes from Joseph Sidebotham, whom he met in the same year, and Sidebotham’s teacher, John Benjamin Dancer. Dancer was an important Manchester scientific instrument maker who had practised photography since its introduction in 1839.
In 1857, James and Robert Mudd opened a photographic studio at 94 Cross Street, Manchester, where they also sold photographic equipment. By 1861, James Mudd had acquired a new studio in his own name in the fashionable area of St. Ann's Square, Manchester. He also hired an assistant, George Wardley, to help with studio portraiture. After six years, Wardley left Mudd's employment to open a studio of his own in Salford.
In about 1862, James S Platt, a pattern designer, became Mudd's business partner in the textile design business he had started with his brother. Two years later, Platt took over the design business on his own account. This suggests the photographic studio was doing well enough for Mudd to rely on it for his income.
In 1873, James Willis Mudd joined his father in the photographic studio, the new company becoming known as James Mudd & Sons. The company hired a new assistant, George Grundy, in about 1880. Grundy remained in Mudd's employment until the studio officially passed to him in about 1900, although it seems likely that he was already managing the studio before then. The business continued to be known as James Mudd & Sons until the death of Mudd in 1906, when it became G. Grundy & Sons. George Grundy stayed in business until about 1924, having moved his studio to St Ann's Passage, off King Street, Manchester.
James Mudd is thought to be the first Englishman to photograph industrial subjects on a regular basis. In 1856 he took on the first of several commissions to photograph locomotives and machinery made at the Beyer, Peacock works, Gorton, Manchester. Mudd experimented with the wet collodion process but found it too difficult to produce a picture of acceptable quality. As a result, he reverted to using waxed paper negatives for a few months, until the beginning of 1857 when he began using the dry collodion process. He then used dry collodion almost exclusively until he retired in about 1900.
In 1861, Mudd began applying dark varnish to industrial photographs to mask out the background so that the subject was clearly delineated. This was more useful for foundry records and publications than if parts of the surrounding factory intruded on the picture. Mudd's assistant, George Grundy, may have taken over the production of Beyer, Peacock photographs in the 1880s.
Mudd's photographic inventory of locomotives built by the local firm of Beyer, Peacock was published in 1861 by Cundall & Co. Mudd's success with the Beyer, Peacock photographs may have led to other non-industrial commissions. In the summer of 1857, James and Robert Mudd were commissioned to take 11 photographs as evidence for the Pendleton Alum Works indictment. James Mudd also took 'pictorial' photographs and entered many of them in important exhibitions. The first of these was a Manchester Photographic Society exhibition in 1856. He received his first medal at the 1860 Photographic Society of Scotland exhibition for Waterfall near Coniston.
Towards the end of his life, James Mudd concentrated on painting and drawing. His subjects were the landscape and marine views which had been the subjects of his exhibition photographs. He exhibited paintings at least five times in the 1880s, including some work at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition held at the Walker Art Gallery.
In the early 1870s, Mudd was inspired to illustrate Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The drawings were published in a booklet by the Coleridge Society in Manchester.
James Mudd died in Bowdon in 1906 at the age of 85. He was a very versatile photographer who took many important photographs, portraits and prize-winning photographs of artistic subjects. His technical expertise was much greater than many other photographers of his time.
Cannell, J F
J F Cannell was a printer active in Liverpool c 1830-1833, when he printed a number of coloured lithographic prints depicting scenes on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
Shaw, Isaac (junior)
Isaac Shaw junior was an engraver working in Liverpool in the 1830s. He worked with Ackermann & Co in 1833 to produce a series of coloured prints of locomotives travelling on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
Neilson Reid & Co Ltd
In 1898 the company changed its name from Neilson & Co to Neilson, Reid & Co. When the company became part of the North British Locomotive Company in 1903, Neilson, Reid & Co employed 3500 people and was producing around 200 locomotives a year. The works retained the name Hyde Park Works at amalgamation.
Sharp Stewart & Company
Stuart, John
John Stuart was an industrial photographer based in Glasgow. He is known to have had premises in Bath Street, Glasgow. He carried out photography of locomotive engines built by Sharp Stewart & Co and the North British Locomotive Co in Glasgow between 1888 and 1903.
SubjectRailway transport, Social history, Local history
Conditions governing accessOpen access.
Conditions governing ReproductionCopies may be supplied in accordance with current copyright legislation and Science Museum Group terms and conditions.
