906
replacing Mawson, the company continued to innovate
and in 1871, addressed the growing market for silver
emulsions, in liquid form, and later as dry plates. Dur-
ing preparation, Mawson & Swan utilised a heating
stage to improve sensitivity. Production, however, was
hampered by the need to coat dry plates by hand, a
procedure George Eastman later dismissed as “tedious
and slow.”
To augment its negative materials, the company
achieved a singular success in 1879, when Swan devised
and patented the gelatino-bromide paper process based
on silver bromide. Improved machinery was installed to
ensure uniformity of coating of the paper base, which
was “adapted to the production of bold and vigorous
prints.” Because of its sensitivity, it was “specially useful
for enlargements and the matt surface made it “scarcely
distinguishable from the fi nest Platinotypes.”
At the time, Europe was considered to be the centre
of photographic expertise, and English companies suc-
cessfully traded in America. A young American entre-
preneur, George Eastman, was impressed that the high
prices were not affected by the lively competition. He
had invented a machine which would replace hand-coat-
ing and once he received patent-protection in London,
he intended to persuade the important manufacturers
to purchase it.
He sailed to Liverpool in 1879, and received in-
troductions to some English companies, including
Mawson & Swan, but only made a few unsatisfactory
sales. Eastman returned to America, and two years later,
relinquished his position at Rochester Savings Bank
so as to concentrate on the manufacture of dry plates
at his own small factory. Soon he received complaints
about product quality and he was forced to shut down
production. Lacking a solution, he returned to England
in March 1882 and appealed to Mawson & Swan. He
was permitted to “stand in the works” for two weeks,
during which time Eastman realized that his supplier of
gelatine had changed its specifi cation. He immediately
struck a deal with his hosts whereby Eastman agreed to
exchange manufacturing secrets for Mawson & Swan’s
emulsion-making knowledge.
Mawson and Swan published a catalogue covering
chemicals, scientifi c apparatus, microscopes, electrical,
magnetic and physical apparatus, and part four was “a
singularly comprehensive work, enumerating everything
in the way of photographic apparatus and materials, and
containing prices and graphic illustrations of all articles
used by the amateur or professional photographer.” In
addition, the company issued helpful booklets, such as,
The Wet Collodion Process, How to Make Transparen-
cies, Photography Simplifi ed, and Gelatino-Bromide
Paper Process, Contact Printing and How to Make
Enlargements, to promote its papers. To encourage
the use of its premium plates, the company regularly
awarded silver medals for areas of specialisation, such
as “instantaneous marine photography.”
In 1892, the company adopted Hurter and Driffi eld’s
procedures for plate testing, and with justification
claimed its “Mawson” was “the quickest plate” on
the market, but recommended its Castle Plate “for all
ordinary purposes.” In a private note to Vero Charles
Driffi eld, however, J. Smith Green, Mawson & Swan
works manager, complained that “those who use Oxalate
Iron for development are quite exceptional ....” Im-
provements continued, and in 1896 Mawson & Swan
was producing “extra rapid” plates for studio work, and
special plates for the emerging “instantaneous” market
(i.e., the use of hand-held cameras.) A representative’s
report stated: “Electric plates are taking on splendidly;
the professional photographers appreciate them this dull
weather, and everyone who has tried them is delighted
with them.”
Although much altered from the pharmaceutical
company established early in the nineteenth century by
John Mawson in a shop in Mosley Street, Newcastle,
and which had evolved as the Head Offi ce, Mawson
& Swan had also established works in Newcastle and
Gateshead, a dry plate factory at Low Fell, (on the
south side of Gateshead), and offi ces and warehouses in
Soho Square, London, to handle distribution throughout
Europe and America. Despite the staff pension fund
terminating in 1973, Newcastle recognised the com-
pany on October 12, 1978, by hosting an exhibition of
its achievements.
Ron CallenderSee also: Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson; Carbon Print;
Emulsions; and Eastman, George.Further Reading
Anon, (1890), Mawson & Swan, The Tyneside: An Epitome
of Results and Manual of Commerce, London : Historical
Publishing Company.
Brayer, E, (1996), George Eastman: A biography, Baltimore:
The John Hopkins University Press.
Local Studies and Family History Centre, Newcastle City Library,
Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Tyne & Wear Archives Service, Gateshead, England, collection
DT.MSM, and collection DF.SW/A/b/1 to 49.MAXWELL, JAMES CLERK (1831–1879)
English physicist and inventorThree photographic plates of a tartan ribbon, taken in
1861 by Thomas Sutton through red, green, and blue
fi lters, were used by James Clerk Maxwell to demon-
strate that photography in colour could be a practical
proposition. Positive lantern slides made from those
plates, each projected back through the taking fi lter,