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crayon drawings. As early as October 1850, Mayall had
written to the Athenaeum detailing his process, and
had exhibited examples at the Great Exhibition. His
invention interposed a slowly revolving disc between
the camera and the object being pictured. The disc,
arranged on a support, had a star-shaped hole in its
centre. The revolving star design made the resultant
photograph similar to a vignette portrait. In 14 October
1855, Mayall also took out a patent for the making of
artifi cial ivory to receive photographic pictures. Another
area of expertise was in the enlargement of photographs.
He claimed credit for being the fi rst photographer to
successfully use the collodion process to enlarge and
copy daguerreotypes.
After the Photographic Society of London was
founded in 1853, Mayall took an active interest in its
proceedings, attending meetings and giving several
papers. He was also a member of the committee set
up to organise a testimonial fund for the widow of
Frederick Scott Archer. His perceived debt to Archer
is evident in that that, of the £747 raised, he was the
largest contributor.
When photography became a commercial medium,
Mayall was one of the principal benefi ciaries. Un-
like many of the gentlemen amateurs who dominated
photography in the mid 1850s, Mayall enthusiastically
embraced the rage for celebrity portrait carte-de-visites.
In 1858, he took part in a venture with D.J. Pound, the
publisher of the Illustrated News of the World. Together
they published a series of engravings of eminent per-
sonages that were based on photographs by Mayall.
Along with Maul and Polyblank’s Photographs of Liv-
ing Celebrities (1856–58), the venture represents one
of the earliest attempts to exploit the value of celebrity
photographs.
Mayall’s commercial prosperity was secured when, in
May 1860, he was again invited to Buckingham Palace
to photograph the royal family. Mayall’s Royal Album
was published in August 1860 and was a phenomenal
success. Consisting of fourteen carte-de-visites of Vic-
toria, Albert and their children, it was the ever fi rst set
of royal photographs that were widely available. The
Athenaeum claimed that each portrait reproduced “with
a homely truth, far more precious to the historian than
any effort of a fl attering court painting, the lineaments
of the royal race.” In March 1869, the British Journal
of Photography reported that Mayall had been paid
£35,000 by Marion & Co. for his royal pictures. He
went on to publish several sets of royal photographs,
including the wedding photographs of the Prince and
Princess of Wales in March 1863.
Mayall’s royal patronage led to numerous commis-
sions from distinguished personages such as Gladstone,
Lord Derby, and Lord Brougham:
Imitating this high example, distinguished persons of
rank and pursuit availed themselves of the photographer’s
services, and left him with a negative impression of
themselves, from which thousands could be printed.
(M.A. Root, Camera and Pencil, Philadelphia: J.P Lin-
nicot, 1864: 381)
Prior to the introduction of the Copyright Bill in
July 1862, one innovative feature of Mayall’s celebrity
cartes-de-visite is his attempt to counter the numerous
quasi-illegal reproductions. In the early 1860s, many of
his pictures are inscribed with his initials and the date of
their exposure. This inscription was intended to act as
the equivalent of an offi cial trademark, which it would
be illegal to copy.
Several London establishments were managed un-
der Mayall’s name from the 1860s to the 1890s, as he
himself moved to the genteel environs of Brighton in- His studio at 433 Strand later was complemented
by others at 224 Regent Street West 1853–94; 224 and
226 Regent Street (1857–67); 15 Argyll Place, West
(1859–67); 164 New Bond Street West( 1881–1886);
90-91 King’s Road, Brighton (1864–1904). Mayall
& Co. operated at 164 New Bond Street (1887–92);
73 Piccadilly West (1893–96); 126 Piccadilly West
(1897–1908). In Brighton he continued his work as a
photographer through a studio in King’s Road and his
career is remarkable for its sheer longevity. He was a
Photographic Society Council member in 1875 and, in
1880, his Bond Street studio was one of the fi rst London
establishments to use electric light. In Brighton, Mayall
also became involved with local politics. He was elected
as a councillor in 1871, an Alderman in 1874, and was
Mayor between 1877 and 1878. Other late honours in-
clude being elected a fellow of the Royal Institution in
1864 and of the Chemical Society in May 1871.
Mayall died on 6 March 1901, bringing to an end
a remarkable photographic career that spanned sixty
years.
John Plunkett
Biography
John Mayall was born in Oldham in Lancashire in 1813.
His father, John Meal, was a manufacturing chemist
in West Yorkshire. Mayall, who was born Jabez Meal,
married Eliza Parkin in 1834, with whom he had three
sons and one daughter. He left Britain for Philadelphia
in late 1841 or early 1842, returning to London in 1846
and resumed his professional career. His fi rst studio was
at 433 Strand (1847–55). Many of the later studios were
managed under Mayall’s name as he himself moved
to Brighton in 1864. Mayall was one of the foremost
daguerreotypists during the late 1840s and maintained
his reputation when he moved to collodion process dur-