1485
Photographic Review (1892–1897); the Junior Photo-
grapher, later entitled Practical & Junior Photographer
(1894–1903); and Photographic Life (1897, published
for 3 months), a title which Welford then reorganised
to combine his twin interests as “Cycle & Camera”
(1897–1898, published for 9 months). None of them,
apparently, was particularly successful.
Welford wrote a standard manual on the hand cam-
era (1892, 6th ed., 1901), and compiled with Henry
Sturmey, the pioneer cycle manufacturer and publisher,
encyclopaedias on photographic apparatus (1887), and
optical lanterns (1888).
Ill health blighted his later years, though he re-
mained a member of the staff of Kinematograph Weekly
throughout World War I, and wrote a number of plays
for the cinema. He died at his home in Islington in
July 1919. Welford’s wife Jeanie (1855–1949) was a
talented photographer in her own right, specialising in
topographical views, many of which were published in
her husband’s journals.
David Webb
WELLINGTON, JAMES BOOKER
BLAKEMORE (1858–1939)
J. B. B. Wellington was trained as an architectural
draughtsman, but following an early association with
George Eastman, his career was entirely concerned with
photography and photographic manufacturing.
He fi rst met Eastman in the 1880s, and became the
fi rst manager of Eastman’s British factory in Harrow,
England.
During a short but successful career with Kodak,
Wellington was responsible for, amongst others, a
popular printing-out paper, and, in 1889, one of the fi rst
intensifi ers for photographic negatives—formulated
from silver nitrate, ammonium thiocyanate and sodium
thiosulphate.
In 1896, after a short period of time with Elliot &
Sons of Barnet, Wellington and his brother-in-law H.
H. Ward, established the company Wellington & Ward,
manufacturing dry plates. Wellington was scientifi c
and technical director of the company, with Ward tak-
ing responsibility for engineering. This company was
eventually taken over by Ilford Ltd in 1929.
Wellington, however, was also a photographer of
note, joining the Linked Ring Brotherhood in 1892
with the pseudonym of ‘Duke.’ Like all ‘links’ he was
expected to perform the honorary role of ‘Centre Link’
for about a month—a presidential role with no authority
whatsoever—and assumed that position for three weeks
in February 1894.
His fi nest images, some printed in carbon, were pro-
duced in the early decades of the 20th century.
John Hannavy
WERGE, JOHN (unknown)
John Werge arrived in America from Scotland in June- Whilst travelling in the United States, he became
acquainted with the leading exponents of the daguerreo-
type, amongst them Samuel Root, Matthew Brady, Platt
D Babbitt and Jeremiah Gurney. He used examples of his
work to gain employment in the New York studio of the
Meade Brothers as a colourist and ‘teacher of colouring’
and, in his 1890 book The Evolution of Photography
recalled demonstrating his skills in colouring daguerreo-
types to Gurney and others. He met Babbitt at Niagara
Falls, and later recalled that his own photography at the
falls had been lost when a fi re destroyed the Glasgow
exhibition to which he had loaned them. He eventually
returned to Scotland.
Werge took over the Monteith Rooms in 1856, the
Glasgow photographic studio which had been estab-
lished in 1846 by John Bernard, and later operated by
Bernard and (from 1848) Cornelius Jabez Hughes. He
established himself as one of Glasgow’s leading portrait
photographers, operating the studio for three years.
He returned to America in 1859, and operated a
photographic and publishing business at 805 Broadway
until at least 1861. Moving to England, he served on the
committee of the South London Photographic Society
1868–70, and managed London’s Berners Portrait Com-
pany 1874/5. The Evolution of Photography, published
in London by Piper & Carter 1890, offered a fi rst com-
prehensive history of photography’s fi rst fi fty years.
John Hannavy
WET COLLODION NEGATIVE
The wet-collodion negative process was developed in
1848 by F. Scott Archer (1813–1857) and fi rst published
in 1851. The process achieved popularity by the mid-
1850s, dominating all other negative processes until
1881, gradually displacing both the daguerreotype and
the calotype processes. The wet-collodion on glass nega-
tive process was desired both because the transparency
of the glass yeilded high-resolution images, and because
exposure times were shorter than for Daguerreotype or
calotypes. Finished negatives were generally usually to
produce albumen or salt prints.
The process derived its name from the use of col-
lodion in liquid suspension to coat glass plates at the
beginning of the sensitizing process before exposure. In
the nineteenth century, the collodion used to coat glass
plates was made from guncotton, a commercially-avail-
able medical dressing. Guncotton was derived from or-
dinary cotton that had been soaked in nitric and sulfuric
acids, thoroughly washed, and dried. The guncotton was
then dissolved the in a mixture of alcohol and ether to
which potassium iodide had been added. The resulting
collodion was a syrupy mixture. This mixture could be