212
States, wrote to Talbot to introduce his new friend and
suggest the two should meet in England.
Bridges arrived in Malta on the 2nd March 1846
armed with his new camera. He met up with Calvert
Jones, who had been asked by Talbot to help Bridges,
and Talbot’s wealthy Welsh cousin Christopher Rice
Mansel Talbot (1803–1890) who were on a yachting
tour of the Mediterranean.
Bridges wrote to Talbot from Malta on March 30th
1846 telling of the death of Kit Talbot’s wife, Lady
Charlotte Butler, and also sends condolences to Talbot
on the loss of his mother, Lady Elizabeth Feilding. A
further letter, in April 1846, tells of Bridges’ fi rst suc-
cess, producing negatives of the local landscape, often
including fi gures in his compositions. In his letters
Bridges asks for any further technical advice Talbot can
offer as well as constantly requesting further prepared
paper. He often laments on the quality of the paper he
receives, complaining that many iodized sheets are
“specky.”
Bridges left Malta for Sicily in mid 1846 where he
made many studies, including the Benedictine Convent
at Catania (where he stayed) and Etna. Generally he
made two exposures of each subject, one example of
which was returned to Talbot’s “Reading Establishment”
where Talbot’s business agent and land agent, Benjamin
Cowderoy (1812–1904), arranged for them to be printed.
Bridges generally signed and titled his negatives in ink
and copies were returned to the photographer at Malta
for display and possible sale there, although it appears
that Bridges’ work met with little commercial interest
both at home and abroad.
In October 1846 Bridges sent at least 73 negatives
of Sicily to Talbot and in a covering letter mentions
photographing an erupting Mount Etna, exposing the
negative for three and a half minutes. Other exposure
times mentioned were as long as seven minutes. As well
as negatives Bridges often sent seeds taken from native
plants to Talbot, who was a keen botanist.
During his photographic travels Bridges also visited
Greece, where he made many studies of the Acropolis,
Constantinople, The Holy Land and Egypt. By No-
vember 1850 Bridges had arrived in Jerusalem and by
January 1851 he was in Egypt on the fi nal leg of his
seven year journey.
He returned to Gloucestershire in 1852 where he was
appointed private secretary to the Bishop of Gloucester
and Bristol, James Henry Monk (1784–1856), who was a
former tutor of Talbot at Cambridge University. Bridges
later became Vicar of Beachley near Chepstow, where
he received a stipend of £40 per annum.
Bridges attempted to publish selections of some of
the 1,700 photographic studies that he had struggled
to make over the previous seven years. A Cheltenham
print-seller named Alder had a selection of his views
for sale, however Bridges complained that the studies
of Syria and Egypt were ignored, although the “more
picturesque Athens, Pompeii, Sicily and Naples sell.”
Bridge’s pictures never really appealed to the public;
people were wary of buying photographs and his views
of parched landscapes weren’t to all tastes.
Bridges had a selection of his work published lo-
cally: Selections from seventeen hundred genuine
photographs: Views-Portraits-Statuary-Antiquities
taken around the shores of the Mediterranean between
the years 1846–1852, with or without notes, historical
and descriptive by a Wayworn Wanderer. Mary Hadley,
Cheltenham (containing 12 calotypes). This, along with
a two-part supplement showing a total of 65 studies
of The Acropolis, is listed by Gernsheim (Incunabula
nos. 11–13).
There was a proposed series depicting views of Pal-
estine, due to be published in 20 monthly parts, with
four prints in each, by the Hogarth Press, beginning in
December 1858, but was probably uncompleted.
On the death of his estranged wife in 1862 Bridges
had a booklet privately printed in which he tried to
explain the breakdown of his marriage: Outlines and
Notes of Twenty-Nine Years is a sorry tale of life without
his wife from 1834. Bridges himself died in 1863 and
his remains were placed with those of his wife beneath
a rock inscribed with an epitaph remembering their
daughters, in the churchyard at Beachley.
Ian SumnerBiography
George Wilson Bridges was an English clergyman,
author, traveller and early photographer. Married Eliza-
beth Raby Brooks, they had six daughters (two died in
infancy, four drowned Jan 1st 1837) and two sons. Lived
in Jamaica and Canada and produced 1,700 calotype
negatives during seven years’ travels (1846–52) in the
Mediterranean and Middle East.
See Also: Talbot, William Henry Fox.Further Reading
The Annals of Jamaica. 2 vols. John Murray. London. 1827–
28.
Private publications:
Selections from seventeen hundred genuine photographs... folio.
Mary Hadley. Cheltenham. c.1852.
Illustrations of the Acropolis... folio, two supplements.
Palestine as it is: a series of photographic views illustrating the
Bible... 20 monthly parts. Hogarth. London. Dec.1858. series
not completed.
Outlines and Notes of Twenty-Nine Years 1834–1862. octavo.
Published anonymously, Beachley, June 1862.