John Dillwyn Llewelyn
Encyclopedia
History of photography
The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.- Etymology :The word photography derives from the Greek words phōs light, and gráphein, to write...
.
Early life
He was born in SwanseaSwansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, the eldest son of Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Member of Parliament.He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn and Sarah Dillwyn...
and Mary Dillwyn, née Adams, the natural daughter of Col. John Llewelyn of Penllergare and Ynysygerwn. Upon coming of age he inherited his maternal grandfather John Llewelyn's estates of Penllergare
Penllergare
Penllergare is a country park in Britain. It was the estate of John Dillwyn Llewelyn adjacent to what is now the village of Penllergaer, Swansea...
and Ynysygerwn, near Swansea, and assumed the additional surname of Llewelyn. Educated privately, he met through his father (a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
and the Linnean Society, and at one time a member of Parliament) many of the eminent men of his time. These included Sir David Brewster
David Brewster
Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA FSSA MICE was a Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, writer and university principal.-Early life:...
, Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
and Charles Wheatstone
Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS , was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope , and the Playfair cipher...
. His father Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Member of Parliament.He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn and Sarah Dillwyn...
had been sent to Swansea in 1803 by Lewis' father William to take over the management of the Cambrian Pottery
Cambrian Pottery
The Cambrian Pottery was founded in 1764 by William Coles in Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales.In 1790, John Coles, son of the founder, went into partnership with George Haynes, who introduced new business strategies based on the ideas of Josiah Wedgwood....
.
Llewelyn's non-photographic exploits included assisting Wheatstone with the first ever experiments in sub-marine telegraphy, off the Mumbles
Mumbles
Mumbles or The Mumbles is an area and community in Swansea, Wales which takes its name from the adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay...
, South Wales, powering a boat with an electric motor on his lake and creating the first private orchid house to replicate the original conditions of the plants in the South American jungles, complete with heated waterfall.
In 1833 he married Emma Thomasina Talbot, daughter of Thomas Mansel Talbot and Lady Mary Lucy, née Fox Strangways, the younger daughter of the Earl & Countess of Ilchester. Thomas was related to William Davenport Talbot and Mary was the sister of Elisabeth Talbot, the parents of William Henry Fox Talbot. Henry Talbot, through his botanic interests was a friend of Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Member of Parliament.He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn and Sarah Dillwyn...
and spent some of his teenage years at Penrice, the home of the Welsh Talbots, also visiting Penllergare.
In 1835 he served as High Sheriff of Glamorgan
High Sheriff of Glamorgan
This page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires who were from the earliest times officers of the crown...
.
Photographic interests
In January 1839, following the announcements of photographic processes by both William Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, Llewelyn, with the encouragement of Henry Talbot, began to experiment himself. He tried all the processes available. His earliest daguerreotypeDaguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
is dated 1840. A few of his early photogenic drawings have survived, including some cliché verre, dated 1839. Some thousand calotype
Calotype
Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. The term calotype comes from the Greek for 'beautiful', and for 'impression'....
and wet collodion
Collodion
Collodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol. There are two basic types; flexible and non-flexible. The flexible type is often used as a surgical dressing or to hold dressings in place. When painted on the skin, collodion dries to form a flexible cellulose film...
negatives still exist together with albums in private and public collections and retained by the family.
When the Royal Photographic Society
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...
was founded in 1853, Llewelyn was one of those who attended the foundation meeting at the Society of Arts in London, and was, for some years, a founder Council member. It was suggested at one time that he become country vice president, but nothing seems to have come of that idea. He exhibited regularly in the early exhibitions of the Society as well as in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, the Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
Art Treasures exhibition and Paris exhibition
Exposition Universelle (1855)
The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...
in 1855. At this latter exhibition he was amongst those awarded a silver medal for his 'Motion' series.
In 1856 he announced his own oxymel process which allowed collodion negatives to be preserved over many days. This was hailed as a boon by the Illustrated London News of July 1856. They wrote "We have heard of a new method of preserving collodion plates for a week or a fortnight discovered by Mr Llewelyn of Penllergare a gentleman to whom all photographers owe a world of thanks. The plates may be prepared at home and a boxful taken out and think of this ye tourists, as you travel along and a fine prospect meets your eye you have nothing to do but to stop your carriage, get out your camera, and in a few minutes you may secure a picture, drawn by Nature herself, that would have taken you hours to sketch..."
He also took a number of stereo images using a camera he bought for his daughter Thereza's birthday in 1856.
His last images would appear to date from the end of the 1850s after which it is possible that his health prevented any further photographic activity. He never took his camera outside Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
, though the family frequently visited mainland Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The majority of his images were taken around his estate of Penllergare
Penllergare
Penllergare is a country park in Britain. It was the estate of John Dillwyn Llewelyn adjacent to what is now the village of Penllergaer, Swansea...
, near Swansea, and around the Welsh coast. There are also a number taken in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
over several years, many in Bristol including some pioneer animal and bird images in Clifton Zoo, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and a few in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. His circle of photographic friends included Philip Henry Delamotte, Robert Hunt, Hugh Welch Diamond and especially his distant relative Calvert Richard Jones. Another friend was Antoine Claudet with whom Llewelyn was, in the 1840s, conducting experiments on the daguerreotype process, though what these were is unknown beyond diary references to them having happened. It has been suggested that they were probably relating to the speed of exposure of the plate. It is, however, interesting to wonder why the leading daguerreotypist of the time turned to a wealthy gentleman amateur for such assistance.
Though he never published any photographic books, he did contribute to The Sunbeam edited by his friend Philip Henry Delamotte and other books. One book by Llewelyn that was scheduled for publication was "Pictures of Welsh Scenery" to be published by Joseph Cundall of Bond Street, in 1854. In "The Practice of Photography" published in 1853 written by Philip Delamotte (or Philip H De la Motte as the publication states) an advertisement in the back announced: "Now ready, price 16s .... "Series of Photographic Pictures of Welsh Scenery" by J D Llewelyn. Published in parts 10s 6d each." The book appears not to have been published for some unknown reason and there are no references to it in surviving letters either.
Later life
Llewelyn moved to London in 1879 and died in August 1882 at his London home, Atherton Grange. Emma died the previous year and both are buried at PenllergaerPenllergaer
Penllergaer is a village in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, UK, falling within the Penllergaer ward. Penllergaer is situated about 6 miles north west of Swansea city centre, near the M4 Motorway at Junction 47.-Features:...
Church, originally built by Llewelyn for his family and estate workers. Their eldest son John Talbot Dillwyn Llewellyn
John Talbot Dillwyn Llewellyn
Sir John Talbot Dillwyn-Llewellyn, 1st Baronet was a Welsh Conservative Member of Parliament who was notable for his links to Welsh sports.-Background and education:...
became High Sheriff of Glamorgan
High Sheriff of Glamorgan
This page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires who were from the earliest times officers of the crown...
in 1878, mayor of Swansea in 1891, and M.P. for Swansea, 1895-1900 and was created s baronet in 1890 .
Llewelyn's ancestors were both Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His great-great-grandfather, William Dillwyn, had emigrated to North America in the 17th century as a persecuted Quaker, and was granted land by William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
and some descendants of William still live in the USA; the Parrish Art Gallery and Museum, on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
being founded by one of them. Another descendant was the American painter Maxfield Parrish.
A brief explanation of the different spellings of Penllergare/gaer is of interest. At the time of John Dillwyn Llewelyn's ownership of the estate, it was, and still is on the estate office seal, spelled Penllergare. The former village of Cors Einon later changed its name to Penllergaer, and the modern village of Gorseinon is now located a few miles away.