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craft. Richard’s photographic work between 1873 and
1892 consisted almost entirely of single-lens and stereo
landscape views, chiefl y along the British Columbia and
Alaska coastlines, as well as construction of the Cana-
dian Pacifi c Railway between 1880 and 1886. Hannah
confi ned herself almost exclusively to studio portraiture,
starting with unsophisticated carte-de-visite poses and
progressing to elaborate studio backdrops and props for
group portraits by the 1890s. Recognized as an artistic
genius for her multiple exposure or trick photography,
she was likely aided in this work by Arthur S. Rappertie
(1854?–1923), her studio assistant for over 30 years. The
British Columbia Archives preserves their negatives and
personal papers. Buried in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria,
the Maynards’ photographic work continues to be widely
reproduced and analyzed.
David Mattison
MCCOSH, JOHN (1816–1894)
British photographer, doctor, writer, and poet
The life of military surgeon Dr. John McCosh was full
of incident. Present during some of the many wars of
Victorian India, he took to photography as a hobby, and
perhaps as a relief from the stresses of surgery under
military conditions.
He was widely travelled, and survived a terrible
shipwreck when the SS Lady Munro was lost en route
to Tasmania from India in 1836. McCosh, sent on the
voyage to recuperate after a serious bout of fever, went
on to write about the incident in great detail. He later
published his account, and during his lifetime published
several volumes of writings on subjects as diverse as
travel, photography, poetry, and medicine.
The early calotypes by Dr. John McCosh embrace
a number of applications of photography, and at fi rst
glance defy simple classifi cation. Their diversity is
perhaps the key to understanding them. McCosh, a
British military surgeon, used the medium simply to
preserve images of the people and places he came into
contact with, much as the majority of camera-users do
today. Attributing to him the accolade of being the fi rst
war photographer—as many writers have done over the
years—is to place his work within a context the photog-
rapher himself would not have recognised.
In the introduction to a surviving album of his work,
we noted
These photographs have no pretensions to merit. The nega-
tives were taken on paper before the present process of
collodion was known. Their fi delity will, however, make
amends for their sorry imperfections. Like fragile remains
of lost ages, their value is enhanced because the originals
are no longer forthcoming.That single album, assembled in 1859, contains over
three hundred prints, the majority from calotype nega-
tives, and thirty-one from collodion negatives. It is now
in the collection of the National Army Museum, London.
Contained within its pages are many portraits of friends
and fellow offi cers, portraits of Burmese men and wom-
en, a number of views of the architecture, landscape and
military installations of the places in which he served
as an army doctor—Burma, Bengal, and elsewhere in
India, and a single calotype image by Calvert Jones.
Included are a number of images unquestionably taken
while on active service in war zones, but these are far
removed in subject and treatment from the photography
at war—or of war—created by Roger Fenton, James
Robertson, Alexander Gardner, and others.
Writing in 1856 in Advice to Offi cers in India, after
he had retired from the army, McCosh wrote
I would strongly recommend every assistant-surgeon to
make himself a master of photography in all its branches,
on paper, on plate glass, and on metallic plates. I have
practised it for many years, and know of no extra pro-
fessional pursuit that will more repay him for all the
expense and trouble (and both are very considerable)
than this fascinating study—especially the new process
by Collodion for the stereoscope. During the course of his
service in India, he may make such a faithful collection
of representations of man and animals, or architecture
and landscape, that would be a welcome contribution
to any museum.
These remarks confi rm that he had used collodion, and
certainly thirty-one of the prints in the album are from
collodion negatives, but the architectural views are all
on paper.
While two of his early calotype self-portraits are
captioned “the Artist”—two others taken on collodion
are untitled—his advice to other aspiring photographers
makes reference only to representation and not to any
aesthetic sensibilities or intentions.
McCosh was introduced to photography some time
in the 1840s. The earliest image for which a date can be
conjectured is 1848, and the naivety of the images from
this date suggests that these may be early examples of
his photography. His interest in the medium may have
been triggered some time between 1844 and 1847, when
he was stationed near the Nepal border at Almra. Much
of his work is small format, with images measuring no
more than 10cm x 8cm, and typically limited to simply
posed studies of colleagues and friends. The format
of his portraits varied little whether on paper or glass,
suggesting the same camera might have been used for
both.
Amongst his subjects were Vans Agnew, photo-
graphed in 1848. Shortly after posing for McCosh’s
camera, Agnew was murdered by the local Hindu Gov-
ernor, Mulráj during the 2nd Sikh War. The combina-
tion of a small camera with which to make his calotype