33
Barnet, Hertfordshire. The second marriage produced
one daughter. For many years, Abney lived in South
Bolton Gardens, close to his South Kensington labora-
tory, but moved to Folkstone in 1920 because of failing
health. He died there of bronchitis and kidney failure
on December 2, 1920.
John Ward
Biography
William de Wiveleslie Abney was born on July 24, 1843
in Derby, England. He was given a scientifi c education
at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. The army
also encouraged him to develop a boyhood hobby of
photography and he later instructed offi cers and men in
the subject. Abney became a Civil Servant in 1877 and
from his laboratory at the back of the South Kensington
Museum undertook most of the work for which he is
remembered today. He undertook signifi cant researches
into the nature of gelatin silver halide emulsions at a
time when they were being widely adopted by photog-
raphers. His most important practical innovations were
the introduction of hydroquinone as a developing agent
in 1880 and silver gelatin citrochloride emulsions for
printing-out paper (POP) in 1881. However, Abney was
at the forefront of many aspects of photographic research
during a period of great innovation in photography. He
devised new techniques of photomechanical printing and
conducted signifi cant researches in the fi elds of colour
photography, photochemistry and spectral analysis.
Abney published prolifi cally throughout his career.
He was instrumental in establishing what became the
Science Museum Photography Collection, now at the
National Museum of Photography Film and Television
at Bradford. Artefacts relating to Abney are preserved at
Bradford and in the Science Museum, London. Abney
died in Folkstone on December 2, 1920.
See also: Emulsions; and Hurter, Ferdinand, and
Driffi eld, Vero Charles.
Further Reading
Davis, H.W.C. and Weaver, J.R., ed. “Abney, Sir William de
Wiveleslie (1843–1920),” Dictionary of National Biography
1912–1921. London, Oxford University Press.
Eder, Josef Maria. History of Photography. Translated by Edward
Epstean. Columbia University Press, 1945.
Ferguson W.B. “Obituary, William de Wiveleslie Abney, K.C.B.,
D.C.L., F.R.S.” in The Photographic Journal, New Series, vol.
XLV, no. 1, January 1921, 44–46
Ferguson, W.B., ed. The Photographic Researches of Ferdinand
Hurter and Vero C. Driffi eld (facsimile edition). London,
Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, 1974.
Jones, Chapman, “Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, K.C.B.,
D.C.L., D.Sc., F.R.S., Hon. F.R.P.S. Etc.” in The Photographic
Journal, New Series, vol. XLV, no. 7, July 1921, 296–310
Notices of Fellows Deceased, “Sir W. de W. Abney, K.C.B.,
1843–1920.” Proceedings of the Royal Society” Series A,
vol. 99, 1921, i–v.
Pritchard, H. Baden, “Captain Abney at South Kensington Mu-
seum” The Photographic Studios of Europe, London, Piper
and Carter, 1883.
Thomas, D.B., The Science Museum Photography Collection,
London, HMSO, 1969.ACKLAND, WILLIAM (1821–1895)
English optician and photographer
William Ackland was connected for nearly forty years
with the fi rm of Horne and Thornthwaite up to his
death. He directed the optical works of the fi rm and in
later years gave much attention to equatorial stands and
refl ecting telescopes.
Ackland was the author of several pamphlets on
photographic matters including How to take stereo-
scopic pictures (1857) and Hint’s on Fothergill’s Pro-
cess (1858) which were all published by Horne and
Thornthwaite. He also wrote on the collodion process
on glass in 1857 in Horne and Thornthwaite’s catalogue.
As part of his wider involvement in optics he wrote
Hints on Spectacles. When to wear and how to select
them (1866).
Dr Ackland became a member of the Photographic
Society in 1869 and was for many years a member of the
Society’s Council. Shortly before his death he was made
an Honorary Fellow. From 1856 he wrote several articles
for the Journal of the Photographic Society mainly on
different processes and was an active participant in the
Society’s meetings. He was a Fellow of the Institute of
Chemistry.
His interest in photographic matters continued
throughout his life and he designed a Photographic
Exposure Scale, a form of exposure calculator, in 1888.
He applied for a patent for this in 1891 under the title
‘Registering Photographic Expsoures’ (British patent
number 12409) which was subsequently abandoned.
Ackland died in Brixton aged 74 on 30 March
1895.
Michael PritchardACRES, BIRT (1854–1918)
American photographer
Born in the U.S. to British parents, 23 July 1854. Trained
in art and science in Paris and was a frontiersman on the
North American plains. Moved to Britain in the early
1880s. In 1888 Acres lectured on the use of isochro-
matic (color sensitive) plates for correct representation
of tones, projecting his own examples to acclaim. His
slide subjects included European cathedrals, boats, and
the sea. Married Annie Elizabeth Cash, 1891. Working
as a photographer, he eventually became manager of