957
as one of the earliest uses of photography in support of
such a legal action. They are preserved in an album in
the collection of Salford Library.
Interaction between individuals interested in the
emergence of photography played a major factor in
its early development in the Manchester area. James
Mudd was a member of the Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Society being elected to membership in
- As a member he would have come in contact with
J. B. Dancer; while primarily a scientifi c and optical
instrument maker was a key fi gure in the early develop-
ment of photography. Other members included Joseph
Sidebotham; James Nasmyth, an engineer; James Mer-
cer, a dye-stuffs chemist; Charles Beyer, the founder of
the Beyer-Peacock Locomotive Works at Gorton, near
Manchester; and J. P. Joule, the chemist. In August 1855,
the Manchester Photographic Society was formed and
the fi rst Council included Joule, Sidebotham, Dancer
and Nasmyth. James Mudd and Alfred Brothers, who
was also a professional photographer, were members
of the society and on the Council by the second year
of its existence.
Mudd started photographing locomotives and other
machinery for Charles Beyer of the Beyer-Peacock
Locomotive Works in early 1856. Beyer would have
considered his choice of photographer with care. He was
meticulous in his control of the designs and production
of his locomotives. The photographs by Mudd show
his designs to be simple and effective both in aesthetic
and functional terms. Initially using the wet collodion
process without much success, Mudd reverted to the
waxed paper process. By 1857 he was using the dry col-
lodio-albumen process for this work with considerable
success. The majority of the photographs were taken at
the Gorton Works where he used a 12 × 15 inch camera
for pictures of locomotives and whole plate for many
of the machines. During the period 1870–75, and in
addition to his work for Beyer-Peacock, Mudd was also
photographing locomotives made by Nasmyth Wilsons
and the Sharpe Brothers.
By 1861, Mudd was in business as a portrait photog-
rapher in Manchester’s fashionable St. Ann’s Square
where he used collodion for his carte-de-visites and his
cabinet portraits. Later, with the popularity of the CDV
reaching its peak there were many “photographic artists”
within a small radius of St Ann’s Square. Mudd was in
direct competition with Alfred Brothers, Silas Eastham
and Lachlan McLachlan who all had businesses in the
Square itself. Like many of his contemporaries, Mudd
would have used the portrait business to form the basis
of his income to offset against his speculative activities
and also to keep his darkroom assistants in work when
other parts of the business were slack.
Mudd’s architectural photography shows a remark-
able sensitivity for the subject. His early work for Francis
Frith, of which “Deakins Entire” was a reject, shows an
exceptional range of tonal values as well as a remarkable
lens defi nition over the whole area of the image that is
superior to that of his contemporaries. Again he used dry
collodio-albumen negatives. For his 11 × 8 inch plates,
he uses 4 inch “Lerebour” lens “well stopped down,”
and for 7 × 5 inch plates, a Dallmeyer Triplet.
Mudd also used the photographic process as a sketch-
book for his paintings. Most known paintings date from
the period 1875 and 1895. They include “River Liffey,
Dublin,” “Alderley Church in Snow,” “Dunham Park,”
“Seascape,” and “Nant Francon Pass.” His ability as a
painter can be gauged from the catalogues of the period
where they are listed from £50 to £100. In 1977 a paint-
ing by Mudd of the opening of the Manchester Ship Ca-
nal in 1894 was discovered in Manchester. The painting
is described as having “meticulous detail of the Barton
Swing Bridge and patterns of the fl ags which could only
be done with (resource) to photographs.... The painting
shows all Mudd’s misty background effect.”
Many of Mudd’s photographs and paintings survive
as do his papers and writings on aspects of photography.
It is evident that he was a fi ne professional and versatile
photographer, a craftsman and painter who achieved
considerable stature in the eyes of his contemporaries.
Michael HallettBiography
James Mudd was born in 1821 in Halifax, the son of
Robert Mudd, whose occupation was described as a
cheese and bacon factor. James Mudd died in Bowdon,
Cheshire in 1906. In the Manchester Trades Directory of
1852, James Mudd and his brother, Richard, are referred
to as calico printers’ designers at 54 George Street. By
1854 they appear as calico printers’ designers and pho-
tographers at 94 Cross Street, while the George Street
address remains. In 1861, James Mudd appears as a pho-
tographer at 10 St. Ann’s Square while Richard is still at
George Street. In 1871 the fi rm is recorded as J. Mudd
& Son. The son is James Willis Mudd who seems to be
connected with the studio from about 1865 although no
particular work can be attributed to him. George Grundy
worked as an assistant from about 1880 and eventually
bought the business in 1895. By 1900 the fi rm still ap-
pears under the name of J. Mudd & Son although the
ownership had passed to Grundy some years previous
though the address was now recorded as 10 Police Street.
James Mudd and James Willis Mudd continued to work
in photography from Bowdon, Cheshire until 1905, after
which date all activity ceased.