214
plate, and the similarly speeded “Ilford Isochromatic
Instantaneous” plates. The isochromatic plate, dye sensi-
tised with erythrosin extended sensitivity into the green
and yellow bands of the spectrum, giving Harman his
fi rst orthchromatic emulsion.
Since 1884, before the split with Marion, he had also
been developing a range of printing materials, and by
1889 had a range of bromide emulsions available on
paper, opalescent glass and lantern slides.
With the company well established, and with a
growing business, Harman set about expanding his
workforce. In 1889 he appointed Andrew Agnew to
supervise quality control, and John Howson as his fi rst
business manager. Howson was responsible for raising
the company’s profi le through advertising and through
publications such as Photographic Scraps, a magazine
offering tips to photographers and promoting Ilford
plates, which appeared within a year of his appoint-
ment. His most enduring contribution was The Ilford
Manual of Photography which fi rst appeared in 1891
under the editorship of Charles Herbert Bothamley,
ran to many editions, and became the standard primer
for generations of photographers and photographic
students. Over 300,000 copies had been sold by 1920,
and its successor, The Manual of Photography remains
in print to this day.
By 1891, the Britannia Works Company claimed to
be the largest manufacturer of photographic plates in
the world, and in that year it became a limited com-
pany, with an innovative structure which extended the
possibility of share ownership to Harman’s employees.
The share capital in the new company was £120,000,
and of the 24,000 ordinary shares however, employees
acquired only 46, while Harman held 23,540!
The acquisition of a smaller manufacturer in 1895
expanded the company’s product range to include sheet
fi lm, and over the next two years, Harman’s chemists
experimented with cellulose rollfi lms. In 1897, he re-
jected a proposal from George Eastman that their two
companies should merge their interests, and Eastman
went on to establish a manufacturing facility in London.
In the following year, with profi ts rising rapidly, Har-
man converted his company from a private to a public
limited company under the name of “The Britannia
Works Company (1898) Limited.”
Shortly thereafter, Frank Forster Renwick (1877–
1943)—who as Scientifi c Director of Ilford Limited
would later pioneer multigrade printing papers—joined
the company.
One further company name change, in 1901, estab-
lished “Ilford Limited.”
John Hannavy
See Also: Maddox, Richard Leach; Wratten,
Frederick; Swan, Joseph; and Vogel, Hermann.
Further Reading
Bothamley, Charles Herbert, The Ilford Manual of Photography,
Ilford: The Britannia Works Company, 1891.
Hercock, Robert, and Jones, George, Silver By the Ton, London:
McGraw Hill, 1979.BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY,
THE
First published in Liverpool, The British Journal of
Photography began as the Liverpool Photographic
Journal on 14 January 1854 and continued through to
December 1856 (vols 1–3). It continued as the Liver-
pool & Manchester Photographic Journal from January
1857 to December 1858 (vols 4–5). Following this it
continued as the Photo graphic Journal from January to
December 1859 (vol 6) and then as The British Journal
of Photography from January 1860 (vol 7) to the present.
Initially a monthly journal belonging to the Liverpool
Photographic Society, it was sold during 1856 to Henry
Greenwood, the printer and publisher since inception.
The fi rm moved from Liverpool to London in 1864
remaining as the journal’s publishers. From 1 January
1857 the Journal became a fortnightly and from 1 Janu-
ary 1865 a weekly publication. At the same time, the
earlier size of large 8vo also changed to 4to.
The Liverpool Photographic Society and later the
Liverpool Amateur Photographic Society included
amongst its membership; Francis Frith, then a printer;
George Berry, a professional photographer; Henry
Greenwood, a printer; as well as B.J.Sayce, W.B.Bolton,
Peter Mawdsley and later Vero C. Driffi eld. It was a
suggestion made by George Berry that led to the pub-
lication of the Journal. The fi rst editors were members
of the Liverpool Photographic Society; Charles Corey,
Frank Howard and George Berry. For a short period it
was edited by William Crookes, and from June 1857
to February 1858 by T. A. Malone, one-time assistant
to William Henry Fox Talbot. With the March issue of
1858 it came under the editorship of George Shadbolt,
and from January 1865 William Crookes and George
Dawson edited it for a few months until J. Trail Taylor
took over in the same year. Taylor remained editor until
1879 when he left for New York to take over the Photo-
graphic Times. W. B. Bolton held the reins until 1886
when Taylor returned to his previous post, remaining
editor until shortly before his death in 1895.
The British Journal of Photography was far more
informative than its contemporary, The Photographic
Journal published monthly by the Photographic Society
of London. The scope of contributions and contributors
were both national and international and was admired
wherever English was spoken. This was due in part to
the magazine’s separate Colonial and Overseas edition;