136
locations. The quality of the interior views available as
cartes rivals the very best in large format views.
A signifi cant boost to his reputation came with the
commission to accompany the Prince of Wales, later
King Edward VII, on a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land
in the spring and early summer of 1862. The resulting
images were exhibited in London in July 1862, and pub-
lished in four volumes by Day & Son in 1863. Selections
from Bedford’s Middle Eastern views were included
in The Stones of Palestine (1865) and The Holy Land,
Egypt, Constantinople, Athens &c (1866).
Bedford was an accomplished manipulator of his im-
ages, and many of his surviving negatives show evidence
of that manipulation. Skies painted out to be replaced by
clouds printed from separate negatives, areas darkened
in the negative by application of tissue paper to lighten
the print, and extensive work with the pencil and the
brush, are all devices Bedford used to ensure that perfect
prints were produced from often imperfect negatives.
In an essay on landscape photography published in the
1867 Yearbook of Photography and Photographic News
Almanac he wrote of further tricks—including pruning
foliage and tying plants back on windy days
If, however, the wind, our greatest foe, proves too much
for us, even then there is good work to be done. There are
often magnifi cent cloud effects at such times, and if the
photographer will set to work upon them, he may obtain
a stock of such cloud negatives as will serve to convert
comparatively uninteresting views into perfect pictures.
(Bedford, “Landscape Photography and its Trials” in The
Philadelphia Photographer v.XIII, No.148, 1876)
Prior to 1880, Francis Bedford retired from photogra-
phy and passed the business to his son William who died
in 1893. Bedford himself died the following year.
A major collection of Bedford’s negatives and
contemporary prints is held by the Central Library,
Birmingham, England.
John Hannavy
Biography
Francis Bedford was born in London in 1816, the el-
dest son of the architect Francis Octavius Bedford. He
studied art and architecture from an early age, and fi rst
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1833 when he was
only 17, and exhibited annually from 1844 until 1849.
He devoted the early part of his career to lithography
and chromolithography, his work being published wide-
ly. Turning to photography in 1851 or 1852, he quickly
earned a reputation as one of the fi nest architectural and
landscape photographers of his day. An early and enthu-
siastic member of both the North London Photographic
Association, and the Photographic Society of London,
on the Council of which he served for many years, and as
Vice President twice, being elected in 1861, and again in
- Little is known of his private life except that he had
one son, William born 1846, who later joined him in the
photographic business. After Francis’s semi-retirement
from professional photography in the 1870s, William
ran the business until his death in 1893 at the age of 47.
Francis Bedford died the following year, 1894.
See Also: Fenton, Roger; Frith, Francis; Victoria,
Queen and Albert, Prince Consort; and Cartes-de-
Visite.
Further Reading
Bedford, Francis, The Treasury of Ornamental Art. Illustrations of
objects of art and virtu photographed from the originals and
drawn on stone by F. Bedford London: Day and Son, 1857.
Bedford, Francis, Photographic Pictures made by Mr. Francis
Bedford during the Tour in the East, in which, by command,
he accompanied H.R.H. The Prince of Wales London: Day
and Son, 1863.
Bedford, Francis, “Landscape Photography & its Trails” in
Yearbook of Photography & Photographic News Almanac
1867, 23.
Bedford, Francis, “Landscape Negatives and Some Hints for Their
Improvement” in Yearbook of Photography & Photographic
News Almanac 1868, 24–25.
Bedford, Francis, Photographic Views of Bristol and Clifton
Chester: Catherall and Pritchard, ca. 1868.
Bedford, Francis, “Photography Applied to Architecture” in
Yearbook of Photography & Photographic News Almanac
1873, 21.
Mott, Augusta, The Stones of Palestine, London: Seeley Jackson
and Halliday, 1865.BEERE, DANIEL MANDERS (1822–1909)
Professional photographer
Daniel Manders Beere (1822–1909) came to New
Zealand in 1863 where he was employed as a surveyor
for the Auckland Provincial Government. During the
Maori Land Wars (1863–1872), he enlisted with the
militia and served not only in his professional capacity
but as a photographer, supplying photographic prints for
his friends and colleagues in the fi eld. Many of these
survive today in family albums. It seems he arrived
in New Zealand profi cient in the use of the collodion
method of photography. It is thought he acquired this
knowledge in Canada where he took part in the Assini-
boine and Saskatchewan Expedition of 1858. He used
his photography to record the terrain of where a supply
road was being put through heavily forested countryside
to supply the colonial forces in the Waikato. This area
was noted for frequent skirmishes and ambushes by the
Maori forces. One of his most striking images from this
period is a staged reenactment of the Maori War party
advancing across an open piece of ground with clubs
and hatches held at the ready! More common are his
studies of settlers posed in front of their cottages. His