1169
Company but he continued to operate for another thirty
years keeping secrets which are still only partially under-
stood. He remained an independent pioneer: a sign outside
his shop in Dorchester reinforces the proprietary nature
of his claims “John Pouncy Inventor of Photographs in
Carbon and Oil Colours on Canvas Panels. Inspection
invited. To be only obtained from John Pouncy”
Ian Leith
Biography
Pouncy lived his entire life in the market town of
Dorchester maintaining his business in decorative
materials as well as photography. Born in 1808 or
1809 he owned a succession of shops and studios in
the town at least one of which proudly advertised his
quite justifi able claims to photographic fame. His son
Walter (1844–1918) collaborated with him and later
operated in Swanage, Dorset. Elsewhere, he exhibited
in Edinburgh)[1858, 1863, 1864) and London ([1862)
receiving medals in Berlin (1865), Edinburgh (1863),
and Paris. He died in Dorchester in March 1894.
See also: Fenton, Roger; Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson;
Poitevin, Alphonse Louis; Pretsch, Paul; Sutton,
Thomas; Braun, Adolphe; and London Stereoscopic
Company.
Further Reading
The Builder, June 24 1865, 447 “Photography in Printing Ink”
[noting demonstration at King’s College London].
The Builder, 22 February 1868, “Photography in Printers’ Ink and
Colours” [reproduces part of an address to the British public
made by Pouncy on the treatment he received in France].
The Builder, 31 October 1868,p.800, “Photographs in Printers’
Ink.”
Dorset County Chronicle, 29 March 1894 [Obituary].
Gill, A T., “One Hundred years Ago Photographic Journal,
(Feb/March, 1965).
Heathcote, B. and P. A Faithful Likeness: The First Photographic
PortraitSstudios in the British Isles 1841 to 1855, Lowdham,
Nottinghamshire: Bernard & Pauline Heathcote, 2002.
Johnson, J R., “On a greatly simplifi ed process of printing in
carbon or other permanent pigment.” Photographic Journal
(15 May 1869): 31–33.
Photographic Journal (11 December 1858): 89–94.
Pouncy, J., Dorsetshire Photographically Illustrated...the detail
and touch of nature faithfully reproduced by a new process
on stone, by which views are rendered truthful, artistic and
durable, London: Bland & Long; Dorchester: John Pouncy,
1857.
——, “On Carbon Printing,” in British Journal of Photography
(January 13 1865) [read at the Photographic Society of Scot-
land, December 13, 1864].
Robinson, J. B., Joseph Barlow Robinson: A Record of the
Great International Exhibition...United Kingdom Class 14
Photographic Apparatus & Photography, Victoria & Albert
Museum X.754, 1862. [A compilation of original 1862 Exhi-
bition photographs which contains a carbon print by Pouncy
so far unidentifi ed but almost certainly showing Melrose
Abbey, Scotland].
Sutton, T., Photography in Printing Ink, being a description of
the process recently patented by John Pouncy, of Dorchester,
London: Sampson & Low, Son & Co., 1863.PRESTWICH, WILLIAM HENRY
(1831–1912)
English photographer
William Prestwich was the head of a talented family
most of whose members were engaged in some form of
the photographic business. From 1870– 892, Prestwich
ran a string of photographic studios in the London area,
and at the same time took out a series of patents for
improvements in lenses, emulsions, stereoscopes and
lantern slides. This in turn led to the formation of the
Prestwich Manufacturing Co., in T ottenham in 1895
with his son John, destined to become one of the pioneer
fi rms in the fi eld of cinematograph equipment.
The fi rm started as the Moto Photo Supply Co., in
the City of London, and sold their products through the
established fi rm of W C Hughes. Prestwich illustrated
his fi rst camera in the Magic Lantern Journal Annual
(1897– 1898), following this with a demonstration at
the Hackney Photographic Society. Several early motion
pictures used it, notably by Prestwich’s son Edward,
including Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and W.G.
Grace at Lord’s. A fi ction fi lm, The Artist’s Model, was
made in 1898.
Prestwich retired at the end of the century, and the
fi rm, later known as J A Prestwich Industries Ltd con-
tinued under John Prestwich’s direction until his death
in 1952. The fi rm was taken over by Villiers Engineering
in 1964. William Prestwich died in Laughton, Essex
November 1, 1912.
David WebbPRETSCH, PAUL (1808–1873)
Austrian photographer
The publication in 1856 and 1857 by Paul Pretsch’s
Patent Photo-galvanographic Company of the fi rst part
of Photographic Art Treasures or Nature and Art Il-
lustrated by Art and Nature was heralded as a new era
of photo-mechanical reproduction, and as a practical
means of bringing lower costs to the publication of
photographically illustrated works.
However, the limitations of the process, the need
for extensive retouching, and the lack of subtlety in the
important mid-tones of the image, brought criticism and
acclaim in equal measure from the photographic press.
Five parts were published, each containing four im-
ages. Photographers included Roger Fenton, appointed