Photographs by John Humphrey of King Street, Kilmarnock 1860-1889

[Jan Rulland]

Very helpful info.  The Victorian police ranks show him to be a senior constable, which was four ranks down from inspector. I always thought he looked rather young in photo. I do have a pic when he was about 34 but not in uniform. My gran was obviously remembering wrongly. I have tried further to locate more police info but it is still proving tricky to find. Never mind I have loads of time to persevere. Thanks again.

[todd whitmer]

Hi John - I just found this post -- I am going through some old photos from my aunt who recently died and came across a card like the one that you posted - from Kilmarnock - I am not sure who it is - but I know that I have some Scotland roots.  If you'd like a scan I would be happy to send - and would welcome any thoughts you might have.  the picture is faded - Thanks, Todd

[Humphreyjohn]

PM sent - John

[Humphreyjohn]

Hi Todd,
seems that I can't get a personal message to you - something to do with you haven't posted to this site at least 3 times.  Anyway, until that gets rectified - try posting a couple more times! - I can't forward my personal email address.  However, you could attach a scan of your photo (back and front would help) to a regular message here; that would enable me to suggest any clues as to the date etc of the photo.
Best wishes,
John (Canada)

[Dunedinguy]

I have five "tintype" photographs taken by "John Humphry, Kilmarnock" as well as a carte-de-visite with these same five men included in a group photo by "John Humphrey, Kilmarnock". Not sure if the printer made a mistake or that was the old phonetic spelling of his surname. But I cannot find any CDV's with "Humphry". But definitely same photographer.

[cecilstreet]

Hi Dunedinguy,
I find this very very interesting. I have a couple of similar-style tin-types by my great grandfather, but this is the only one that has his name printed on the front . On one of them I have has his name rather crudely hand-stamped on the back  “John Humphrey, photographer, Kilmarnock” – over the patch holding the tin-type to the card; the other has no identifier at all, but it came through the family, so I know it’s his.

I would date your tintype to the very early 1860s, perhaps very late 1850’s, but a bit later than those I’ve seen already, since it has the printed cardstock. It’s certainly before 1862, anyway, since that’s when he went into partnership with James Paton.

BTW, the spelling is interesting. I’ve not seen any examples of “Humphry” on his cards before, although I do have some later ones of “Humphreys”. Spelling irregularities were not uncommon in official documents up until about this time.

I wonder if you’re able to post here (or send me) a scan of the back of this card, and front & back of the other “John Humphry” tintypes that you have? And of the group CDV you have.  This sounds like a very interesting group of pictures – how did you come across them? Do you collect much of his output?

I will attach the front & back images of the tin-type I mentioned

Best regards,
John Humphrey (Toronto, Canada)

[Dunedinguy]

Hi John,
So pleased to hear from you. I know this will further confuse matters but my CDV and Tintypes are definitely dated to around 1882-1884 as a younger family member appears in them who was born in 1859 so there's absolutely no assumptions there. I'm writing a blog (the-lothians.blogspot.com/) about these photos (the connection between the CDV portrait and the individual tintypes, the history of "tintypes', and a little bio of those who were 'tintyped'. I'll post the link to this blog when I upload this but will probably be into next month. One of the "sitters" was my above Gt GT Uncle hence I have these photo but still don't know why a merry band of friends went from Dalserf / Stonehouse to Kilmarnock to have their photos taken, obviously for some sort of special occasion. Some of them have flowers in their lapel buttonholes.
Regards,
Donald Cochrane
Dunedin
New Zealand

[cecilstreet]

Hi Donald,
Well you’ve really got my brain buzzing with your information.
My dating is obviously all wonky.  I had assumed that tintypes, pretty rare in Scotland, were a survival of the past that were quickly and systematically replaced by cartes de visite.  I knew that the technique survived into the early 20th Century, but on a pretty small scale, and particularly in the USA, but your info about your relative’s date of birth clearly shows that John Humphrey was dabbling in it late in his career; he died in March 1889. I had also assumed that they predated his partnership with James Paton (1862-57), but evidently they came after that period.  I need to dig around to see how common that was in Scotland at the time.
In a way, it figures, since the mounting cards for these tintypes seem so crisp and colourful that it’s hard to imagine them being issued in the late ’50s and early ’60s.
It’s certainly possible that your relatives had a big family event or somesuch which brought them all to East Ayrshire, but, since tintype photography was very mobile, and often performed by itinerant photographers away from any fixed studio – at fairs or special sidewalk sessions -  it may be that John Humphrey was travelling on business in Lanarkshire at the time, rather than the other way around.
Anyway, I’ll await the appearance of your blog with great interest.  Thanks so much for your response.
John Humphrey (Toronto)

[Dunedinguy]

Will do John. The interesting thing is that the tintypes appear to be taken at the same time as the CDV, the latter being a standard studio portrait with backdrop. So i'm strongly assuming they went to Kilmarnock. One last thing, the tintype mounts are in two colours and three variants in style. I'll leave you in peace now till i'm ready to post my blog. I'm finding this so interesting.
regards,
Donald