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his family Glaister moved to Sydney where he opened
his own prestige daguerreotype facility in Pitt St. He
photographed many eminent men and various places in
Sydney and specialized in producing stereo images
mounted in Mascher cases. In August 1855 John Watson
opened a branch studio for Glaister in Brisbane. Daniel
Metcalfe, Glaister’s stepson trained in the Sydney stu-
dio and in 1864 he joined Robert Millington, the pair
working as traveling photographers. In 1868 Metcalfe
set up in Brisbane with his half brother Thomas Skelton
Middleton Glaister. Their father operated his high class
studio for 14 years but after it was destroyed by fi re
in 1870 he migrated to Sonoma County in California
purchasing a vineyard and foregoing photography. He
died there in 1904. His son “Middleton” succumbed to
accidental cyanide poisoning in 1877.
Marcel Safier
GODDARD, JOHN FREDERICK
(1797–1866)
British photographer and popular scientifi c
lecturer
Although little is known of his early years, Goddard
developed an interest in science and became what to-
day might be called a physicist. In 1838, he received
a Society of Arts Silver Medal for his polariscope (an
apparatus for experiments on polarizing light). He was a
member of the British Association for the Advancement
of Science in the early 1840s, by which time he was as-
sociated with two popular scientifi c establishments—the
Royal Gallery of Practical Science, Adelaide Street
(Royal Adelaide Gallery) and the (Royal) Polytechnic
Institution in Regent Street—primarily as a lecturer on
optics.
In 1840 Goddard became involved with photography.
Richard Beard, who by that time owned the (English)
daguerreotype patent, had also secured the right to use
a refl ecting camera invented by an American, Alexander
Simon Wolcott. This did not work as well in Britain as
it had in America, owing to the different climate, and
exposure times were too long for successful portraiture,
the main commercial application. To this end Beard
sought advice from the Polytechnic Institution, and
was recommended to employ Goddard, then engaged
as lecturer on optics and natural philosophy at the Ad-
elaide Gallery, who carried out the necessary scientifi c
research at hired premises in Holborn. Goddard made
good progress, though of a chemical rather than an
optical nature. By September 1840, exposure times had
been reduced from four minutes to one minute, but this
was still too long.
He made further advances, announced in Decem-
ber, a day or two after Beard had completed his patent
specifi cation (incorporating Wolcott’s work). Referring
to his search for a way of making the daguerreotype
plates more sensitive, Goddard claimed a valuable
discovery; namely that when the bromide of iodine is
used instead of simple iodine (as specifi ed by Daguerre),
this objective is achieved. But he did not give too much
away, and the experiments continued. At the beginning
of March 1841, Goddard deposited a sealed package
containing laboratory notes made during January and
February with the Royal Society. No doubt he did so in
order to establish a priority claim for his work, should
this become necessary. Other documents in the Royal
Society’s archives give additional practical details of
his discoveries.
After assisting Beard at his London studio in 1841,
Goddard took to the provinces. He was certainly in
charge of Southampton’s Photographic Institution by
September 1842, holder of an exclusive licence for
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. What, if anything,
had he paid for this? His (1847) advertisements in a
little-known Southampton newspaper say: “Having for
his important discoveries received of the Patentee a
License for practising the science in Hampshire ...”, it
seems possible that he was rewarded by Beard, at least
in part, by the grant of the Hampshire licence.
Goddard temporarily abandoned Southampton
around July 1843. Perhaps the Photographic Institution
did not support him adequately, or maybe he wanted to
resume his career as a popular lecturer in London. How-
ever, he had not lost interest in photography. Although
still in London at the beginning of February 1844, he
was soon to be found at a new studio in Chester, where
he remained for a couple of months. Goddard returned
to London before the end of April, lecturing at the
Royal Adelaide Gallery. However on 3 August 1844, the
Hampshire Advertiser announced that Messrs Goddard
and Mullins, from the Royal Polytechnic Institution,
were taking portraits daily at No. 43, Pier Street, Ryde.
Apart from an almost identical advertisement in the
Hampshire Telegraph, this is the only evidence of what
must have been another short-lived venture.
In May 1846, the Hampshire Chronicle announced
the opening of Photographic Portrait Rooms in Win-
chester, conducted by Goddard and Alfred Barber,
who had been the fi rst professional photographer in
Nottingham. In January 1847, Goddard was back in
Southampton, though he seems to have departed by
June of the following year.
There can be no doubt that Goddard fell on hard
times. If he had not, probably much less would be
known about him. The 1861 census fi nds the unmarried
John F. Goddard, formerly Lecturer of Experimental
Philosophy, in St. Joseph Alms Houses, Brook Green,
Hammersmith. This deterioration in his circumstances
was noticed by several well-established professional