1389
London (1877), combined his Woodburytypes with de-
tailed essays on the images. His collaborator, Adolphe
Smith, wrote most of the texts, although Thomson wrote
some of them, and in all likelihood they collaborated
on many of the rest. The authors stated their intentions
in the Preface:
we have sought to portray [the] harder phases of life of
bringing to bear the precision of photograph in illustra-
tion of our subject. The unquestionable accuracy of this
testimony will enable us to present true types of the
London Poor and shield us from the accusation of either
underrating or exaggerating individual peculiarities of
appearance.
Street Life of London represents a major breakthrough
in street photography, which until that time had been a
minor sub-genre of photography. While photographers
like Charles Marvill, Charles Negre, and Henry Mayhew
had occasionally ventured into the streets, the bulkiness
of the cameras and slow exposure speeds were obstacles.
But the obstacles extended considerably beyond techni-
cal limitations: with few exceptions, art and literature
before the mid-nineteenth century seldom dealt with
the common man, much less the impoverished or the
homeless. However, a combination of political, intel-
lectual, and cultural factors had developed since the
late eighteenth century that led writers and artists to
begin to pay attention to the under classes. Thomson’s
extensive experience in Asia made him uniquely suited
to take on the poverty in his own back yard. Thomson’s
London photographs are beautifully rendered, but they
also function as moving documents of people who were
living on the edge of society.
Unfortunately, this was not the kind of work that
could sustain Thomson’s still growing family. Accord-
ingly, in 1879 Thomson set up a studio in London
where he specialized in portraits and took on various
commercial assignments. He continued his studio work
until around 1910, when he fi nally retired.
Thomson’s legacy lies in his extraordinary versatil-
ity as a photographer and his ability to capture in his
photographs and writing the salient features of a broad
range of subject matter. He photographed and wrote
about individuals from all walks of life with remark-
able equanimity. His work can be seen as a precursor
to much ethnographic and anthropological work that
developed in the twentieth century. Thomson brought to
his photography a rare combination of visual virtuosity
and keen intellectual curiosity.
David Jacobs
Further Reading
Judith Balmer (ed.). Thomson’s China: Travels and Adventures
of a Nineteenth Century Photographer,. Hong Kong: Oxford
University Press, 1993 (a reprint of the part of John Thomson’s
original book, The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China
(1875), dealing with China).
Judith Balmer (ed). The Straits of Malacca, Siam and Indo China.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993 (a reprint of the part of
John Thomson’s original book, The Straits of Malacca, Indo-
China, and Chin (1875) dealing with Indo-China).
John Thomson, China and Its People in Early Photographs.
New York: Dover, 1982 (a full reprint of the original four
volumes of John Thomson’s Illustrations of China and Its
People, 1873–74).
John Thomson, Street-Life in London, Dortmund: Harenberg,
1981 (a full reprint of the entire English text; Dover Publica-
tions has also published the full version (1994), and the British
Arts Council has published excerpts).
Stephen White, John Thomson: A Window to the Orient. New
York: Thames and Hudson, 1986 (paperback version printed
by University of New Mexico Press, 1989).THORNTON, JOHN EDWARD
(c. 1865–1940)
John Edward Thornton was born around 1865 and started
his photographic career in 1885 when he was twenty. By
the end of 1886 he was trading under his own name in
Manchester selling photographic equipment. By then he
had also been granted several photographic patents.
He started the Thornton Manufacturing Company
and introduced several cameras and his patent roller-
blind shutter which proved popular. A need for capital
to expand the business seems to have been required and
by 1887 Thornton was working with Edgar Pickard
and a formal partnership, under the name The Thorn-
ton-Pickard Manufacturing Company commenced in
January 1888. The success of Thornton’s roller-blind
shutter which had sold 12,000 units within three years
allowed the fi rm to build a new factory in Altrincham.
The factory, which was mechanised, produced shutters
and an extensive range of cameras starting with the Ruby
fi eld camera. Thornton-Pickard became a signifi cant
British volume manufacturer of cameras in the period
1890–1914.
Edgar Pickard died in 1897 and his brother George
Arthur Pickard joined Thornton as joint managing
director. The same year Thornton reported that shut-
ter sales had shown an increase of 11 percent and
camera sales 264 per cent with profi ts of £7255. The
company began to concentrate on producing cameras
where greater profi ts were to be had. In 1898 after an
Extraordinary General Meeting Thornton was forced
out of the company the result of him trying to respond
to increased competition by developing new products,
notably sensitised fi lm, in the face of the opposition of
Pickard who wanted to maintain the company’s existing
product range. Over the long term Thornton’s strategy
was shown to have been the correct one.
Under Pickard the Thornton-Pickard company ini-
tially continued to expand. The factory was increased