1412
from paper, to which he immediately returned. In May
1857 he travelled to Amsterdam to make some of the
earliest photographs of the city. His sixteen surviving
images from this journey concentrate exclusively on
the canals. In 1860 he volunteered as an ensign in the
Queen’s Westminster’s regiment but resigned in 1862.
He moved from Haymarket to Tulse Hill, London in
- From 1873 he became concerned about the decline
of his tallow chandling business and moved to a smaller
house in the area but continued photographing until the
1880s, keeping pace with technology by making large
carbon prints but showing much the same picturesque
subjects he had explored in the 1850s. Agnes Turner
died in 1887; her husband who passed away at Tulse
Hill on 29 April 1894.
Martin Barnes
Biography
Benjamin Brecknell Turner was born on 12 May 1815
at 31–32 Haymarket, London, the eldest son of Samuel
Turner and Lucy Jane Fownes. He attended school at
Enfi eld, London until 1831. At sixteen he was appren-
ticed to his father as a tallow chandler in the family fi rm
Brecknell, Turner Ltd., which made and sold candles
and soap from their premises at Haymarket. In 1836,
the family moved to live in Balham, South London. In
1840, Turner travelled to Belgium, Switzerland, and
Paris. At his father’s death the following year he took
over the family business. He continued his continental
tour in 1845 with visits to Switzerland, Munich, Salz-
burg, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg.
In 1847 he married Agnes Chamberlain with whom he
had eight children. The family lived above their shop at
the Haymarket. In 1849, Turner took out a licence from
Talbot to practice calotype photography. Throughout
the 1850s he excelled in photographing rural scenes
and ancient architecture in England and participated in
photographic society exhibitions around the country. At
a studio above his London business, he took portraits
in collodion of family, friends, and photographers. He
travelled to Amsterdam in 1857 to make some of the
earliest photographs of the city. In 1860 he volunteered
as an ensign in the Queen’s Westminster’s regiment but
resigned in 1862. He moved from Haymarket to Tulse
Hill, London in 1864. From 1873 he became concerned
about the decline in the tallow chandling business and
moved to a smaller house in the area. He continued
photographing until the 1880s. Agnes Turner died in
1887 followed by her husband who passed away at Tulse
Hill on 29 April 1894.
See also: Expositions Universelle, Paris (1854, 1855,
1867 etc.); and Great Exhibition of the Works of
Industry of All Nations, Crystal Palace, Hyde Park
(1851).
Further Reading
Barnes, Martin (with introduction by Daniel, Malcolm and
biography by Haworth-Booth, Mark), Benjamin Brecknell
Turner: Rural England through a Victorian Lens. London:
V&A Publications 2001.TURNER, SAMUEL N.
(active 1880s–1890s)
Camera manufacturer
Samuel N. Turner owned the Boston Camera Company
which he started in 1884 and by the late 1880s the Blair
Camera Company was acting as both his purchasing
and sales agent.
In 1888 Turner designed and introduced a roll fi lm
camera called the Hawk-Eye which incorporated a
roll fi lm holder. This attracted the attention of George
Eastman as it appeared to infringe the Eastman-Walker
patent. In June 1889 Eastman and Thomas Blair agreed
that the Eastman Company would supply the roll hold-
ers for the Hawk-Eye camera taking a royalty on each
one sold.
In 1894 Eastman sought an injunction against the
Boston Camera Manufacturing Company and their
Bulls-Eye camera which had been designed by Turner
and incorporated a daylight-loading film system.
Turner’s patent described using a fl anged spool with
sensitized fi lm protected by opaque paper at each end
to form a light-tight roll. He had developed a new
system of roll fi lm photography which did not infringe
Eastman’s patents.
The injunction was denied and Eastman began to
develop a camera to compete called the Bullet which
he introduced in March 1895. By June, after Eastman
had been advised he was infringing Turner’s patents, he
negotiated a sole and exclusive license except for the
Boston Camera Manufacturing Company to use Turner’s
system. Eastman introduced the Pocket Kodak in July
and in August he bought the Boston fi rm outright and
Turner’s agreement not to manufacture cameras for fi ve
years. Turner was put on a $100 per month retainer in
return for his ideas.
Eastman’s activities with roll fi lm opened a fl ood of
litigation with Thomas Blair, Anthony & Scovill and
Hannibal Goodwin which was to drag on into the early
twentieth century.
Michael PritchardTYTLER, HARRIET CHRISTINA
(1827–1907) AND ROBERT
CHRISTOPHER (1818–1872)
The son of an offi cer in the Bengal Medical Service,
Robert Tytler was born in Allahabad on 25 September