Roger Fenton, Pioneering Photographer. [leisure trust, arts heritage, sports centres, fitness health, rochdale, link4life, entertainment, Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, museum, middleton arena, gallery, touchstones, local studies, central, bowlee, springhill, marland, heywood, littleborough,]
Crimble Hall, home of the Fenton family.
Rievaulx Abbey photographed by Roger Fenton (1856)
Roger Fenton was born at Crimble Hall in March 1819, the second child of John Fenton, M.P. and his first wife Elizabeth Apedaile.
At the beginning of 1838 Roger and his brother William began their studies at University College, London. After taking a Master of Arts degree, Roger became a pupil of the historical painter Charles Lucy.
In the early 1840s he went to Paris to continue his studies as a pupil of the then celebrated Paul Delaroche. It was during this period that he became interested in the new art form – photography.
In 1844 he returned to London to study law and was eventually called to the bar. However he still maintained his interest in painting and photography, and in 1847, with a group of other enthusiasts, formed the Photographic Club. Within a few years, the Photographic Society of London was founded. Roger Fenton was the Society’s first secretary and was later elected Vice President.
When he was 28 years old he married Grace Maynard with whom he had three daughters.
In 1851 he gave up his law practice and became a full-time, versatile and prolific photographer. He became a favourite at the Royal Court and was often called upon the take photographs of the Royal Family,
In February 1855 under the patronage of Queen Victoria and the War Minister, and financed by Thomas Agnew & Son, Manchester, publishers, Roger Fenton embarked for the Crimea to take pictures of “People and Scenes of Historical Value”. He was accompanied by two assistants William and Marcus Spalding. He took with him a horse-drawn van which he used for storing his equipment and personal belongings and also as a travelling “dark room”.
His photographs however showed little of the carnage of war. It may be that his pictures were taken so as not to offend the Victorian public. For example he showed us the Valley where the Charge of the Light Brigade took place, but there was no sign of corpses or spent cannon-balls. His pictures showed troops resting or grouped alongside cannons. However it has been suggested that his commission was semi-political – the intention being to demonstrate that reports in The Times about conditions in the British camps and trenches were greatly exaggerated. Fenton’s letters home from the Crimea reveal a war that is much different to the one pictured in his photographs.
On his return to England he resumed his photographic work and in 1858 spent about a year taking photographs in the Ribble Valley. In 1862 he returned to the legal profession, auctioning off all his photographic equipment and thousands of negatives.
The Photographic Society, in recognition of his work in its foundation, awarded him the Prince Consort Medal in 1866.
In 1869 Roger Fenton died, aged 50 years
Mr Roger Fenton’s Photographs.
Rochdale Weekly Banner. 6th October 1855
It will be remembered that some years ago this gentleman, a native of this neighbourhood, being a member of the banking firm of that name in this town, on an anticipated retirement of Mr Crawford from the representation of the Borough of Rochdale offered himself as a candidate for the suffrages of the electors of this borough, Mr Crawford, however, did not at that time retire, and the result was that Mr Fenton withdrew. Since then it would appear that he has been devoting his time and his talents to the art of photography, and has earned considerable praise for the diligence with which he has prosecuted the study. As the war artist of the Crimean struggle his name will live in the memory of his countrymen for the graphic sketches he has secured for this country. Many of the life-like portraits whom Mr Fenton has preserved to us are endeared to Englishmen from the fact that they have been cut down during the siege of Sebastapol. It must be flattering to the pride of the people of Rochdale to know that a fellow-townsman has rendered such signal services to his country. We honour him for it, and tender him our best thanks. Mr Fenton belongs to a wealthy family, and it is an honourable trait to fins that wealth devoted to the advancement of art, and to the perpetuation of painfully enduring scenes. Many of our townsmen will be anxious to secure copies of his works.
Photograph Pictures of the Seat of War.
Rochdale Sentinel. 1855
We have great pleasure in transferring to our columns the following interesting article from the Illustrated London News. It refers to the photographic exhibition now taking place in London. The pictures were taken by our talented and highly respectable fellow-townsman, Roger Fenton, Esq.
Mr. Fenton, as we are informed, having been engaged by Messrs. Agnew and Sons, of Manchester, proceeded to the Crimea for the purpose of taking these views and portraits, sailed in the early part of January from London bridge, in one of the Government vessels, direct for Balaclava. A travelling van, or dark room, being absolutely necessary for his operations, having been built and securely shipped on board the steamer, the vessel in due course made Gibraltar, where Mr. Fenton purchased three stout Andalusian horses, and in three weeks from the time of his embarkation he landed in Balaclava with all his material. At this point there seemed to be every probability that the van would be perfectly useless, as the Gibraltar horses were found utterly incapable of dragging it through the muddy and wretched roads from Balaclava to the camp. Un-harnessing one of his horses, and without saddle, Mr. Fenton endeavoured to make his way to the front, to present his introductions to Lord Raglan and to General Canrobert. He had not, however, passed a mile on his route, when the poor beast, which had never been broken in, became unable to proceed, and with a violent effort threw his rider senseless on the road, with a fracture of the ribs which necessitated hospital treatment for many days. At length, however, and after many hardships, Mr. Fenton presented his credentials to the authorities, and was received with extreme kindness by Lord Raglan, who ordered six artillery horses to be sent down to Balaclava for the photographic van and materials. Mr Fenton had Lord Raglan’s permission to go to Kertch with the expedition, of which he availed himself; but the order for the embarkation of the troops was so sudden, that he had not time to prepare his apparatus for the purpose of taking pictures. Whilst in the Crimea, Mr. Fenton was frequently under fire – especially when taking the photograph “The Valley of the Shadow of Death,” one of the most interesting in the collection, and the “Panorama of Inkerman,” which took him three days. The continuous panorama of the “Plateau of Sebastapol” was a work of much difficulty, owing to the nature of the ground, and the constant variation of the atmosphere, which affected the horizon line. It shows the entire ground occupied by the Allied forces. The “Council of War” was of course done by Lord Raglan’s permission, on the morning of the 7th of June; on which day, at head-quarters, Mr. Fenton took the three separate portraits of Pellissier. At General Bosquet’s table Mr. Fenton was a frequent guest; and but for the General’s kindness he would not have been permitted to make so many pictures of the French camp.
We have not space to enter into any detailed criticism of the various works of art – for such they are – which were thus created by the enterprising photographer. Mr. Fenton is an artist in the highest sense of the word; as we may see from the pose and grouping of his pictures. Among others equally, if not more beautiful as specimens of photography and of the highest interest illustratively of the war, we cannot omit to mention the characteristic portraits of General Sir de Lacy Evans, Sir George Escourt, Lieutenant General Pennefather, Lord Burghersh, Sir Harry Jones and Staff, Mr. Russell, the Times’ correspondent, and Colonel Gordon, and the Headquarters Staff – a group of eleven individuals. The “Council of War held at Lord Raglan’s Quarters on the morning of the successful attack on Mamelon” is another picture, as finely executed as it is historically interesting. Upon a future occasion, we hope to be enabled to devote a larger space to a review of Mr. Fenton’s labours.
