417
of Insanity.” In 1856 he presented “On the Application of
Photography to the Physiognomic and Mental Phenom-
ena of Insanity” to the Royal Society of Medicine. He
opened a private asylum in Twickenham House, Middle-
sex in 1858, which he operated until his death in 1886,
and discontinued his psychiatric photography. From
1859 until 1869 he edited the Photographic Society’s
journal and served as a secretary and vice-president. In
1867 he was awarded the medal of excellence from the
Photographic Society.
See also: Royal Society, London; Calotype and
Talbotype; Talbot, William Henry Fox; and Robinson,
Henry Peach.
Further Reading
Bloore, Carolyn, Hugh Welch Diamond, 1808–1886: Doctor,
Antiquarian, Photographer. London: C. Bloore, 1980.
Gilman, Sander L., The Face of Madness: Hugh W. Diamond
and the Origin of Psychiatric Photography. New York: Brun-
ner/Mazel, 1976.
Gilman, Sander L., Disease and Representation: Images of Ill-
ness from Madness to AIDS. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1988.
Marable, Darwin, “Photography and Human Behaviour in the
Nineteenth Century,” History of Photography 9 (April–June
1985), 141–147.
DICKSON, WILLIAM KENNEDY-
LAURIE (1860–1935)
French-born photographer
Born in France in August 1860, to an English father
and Scottish mother. Dickson emigrated to the USA
1879 and joined Edison around 1883, working as his
‘offi cial’ photographer. He married Lucy Agnes Archer
- Dickson became involved in motion picture work
from 1888; fi rst micro-motion pictures on cylinders,
then perforated 35mm fi lm. The electrically-driven
kinetograph camera supplied motion pictures for the
kinetoscope peepshow viewing boxes, the fi rst com-
mercial motion picture fi lm machines, which were set
up in arcades. In 1894 Dickson and his sister Antonia
wrote a biography of Edison. Meanwhile he was
secretly working with a rival motion picture group,
the Lathams. Edison found out, leading to Dickson’s
departure. Disenchanted by the Lathams he joined
Elias Koopman, Harry Marvin, and Herman Casler;
the beginnings of the American Mutoscope and Bio-
graph Company, responsible for large-format Biograph
fi lms and the Mutoscope coin-operated arcade viewer.
Dickson shot many subjects for the company. Settling
in England in 1897, he became European cameraman
for the British Mutoscope and Biograph Co., and the
parent company. In 1898 he fi lmed Pope Leo XIII in
Rome. From late 1899, he fi lmed the Boer War in South
Africa. Subsequently, he worked on experimental
industrial projects. Dickson remarried when fi rst wife
died, and adopted a son. He died September 28, 1935
at Twickenham, England.
Stephen HerbertDILLWYN, MARY (1816–1906)
English photographerMary Dillwyn was born in Wales in 1816 to Mary
Llewelyn Dillwyn and the wealthy industrialist Lewis
Weston Dillwyn. Before taking up photography, she was
a student of the artist Peter de Wint and made drawings
of family members. Her family, which includes William
Henry Fox Talbot and John Dillwyn Llewelyn, is well
known for their pioneering contributions to photography.
Mary Dillwyn is considered one of the fi rst women to
experiment with photography. “The Mary Dillwyn Al-
bum,” in the collection of the National Library of Wales,
is a small photograph album (110 × 90 mm) that contains
43 photographs dated to c. 1853, seventeen of which are
initialled by Mary Dillwyn. Her photographs consist
of fl ower studies, fowl studies and portraits of family
and friends, mainly in outdoor settings. Her portraits
are known for their informality and spontaneity, which
she achieved by using a smaller camera that allowed
for shorter exposure times. Most often noted are her
portraits that include family pets and the two images
that record the building of a snowman. She married the
Reverend Montague Earle Welby in 1857, after which
time her photographic activity declined. She died in
Wales in December of 1906.
Andrea KordaDISDÉRI, ANDRÉ-ADOLPHE-EUGÈNE
(1819–1889)
André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri’s (1819–1889) tena-
cious entrepreneurial spirit led him to open his fi rst
photographic studio in 1848 or 1849 in Brest where he
had moved from Paris with his wife and infant daughter.
Their choice of Brest as a location was precipitated by
the fact that his wife’s brother, who helped fi nance this
new endeavor, lived there. Disdéri appears to have been
self-taught daguerreotypist and became fairly skilled
in obtaining natural poses and lighting despite the
limitations and challenges of the technique. From the
beginning, his wife assisted him in the studio. Around
this time, Disdéri also entered into business with Joseph
Diosse and opened a diorama to the public in Brest in
mid-July 1852. After the diorama failed fi nancially and
closed within six months, Disdéri left Brest and his