
The Edinburgh Calotype Club (1843 – c.1850s) of Scotland was the first photographic club in the world.
Its members consisted of pioneering photographers primarily from
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
and
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's four ...
. The efforts of the Club's members resulted in the production of two of the world's earliest assembled photographic albums, consisting of more than 300 images.
Foundation
The group was formed after the introduction of
calotype photography to Edinburgh gentlemen by
David Brewster
Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optic ...
, then Principal of
St Andrews University
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
, and also a close friend of the inventor of the calotype process,
Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE Royal Astronomical Society, FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the Salt print, salted paper and calo ...
. Talbot sent Brewster examples of his work well before publishing on his findings, and it was Brewster who suggested that Talbot should only
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...
his invention in England, and not Scotland, which eventually allowed for the club's formation.
Talbot sent Brewster examples of his calotype photography, but Brewster had to turn to a colleague at St Andrews, the Professor of Chemistry Dr
John Adamson, in order to discover how to reproduce his friend's process.
Although John Adamson was the first person in Scotland to use calotype photography, it was his brother,
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...
, who was to take up photography as a passion and a profession, eventually establishing the country's first photographic studio,
Hill & Adamson
Hill & Adamson was the first photography studio in Scotland, set up by painter David Octavius Hill and engineer Robert Adamson in 1843. During their brief partnership that ended with Adamson's untimely death, Hill & Adamson produced "the first ...
, with painter and pioneering photographer
David Octavius Hill
David Octavius Hill (20 May 1802 – 17 May 1870) was a Scottish painter, photographer and arts activist. He formed Hill & Adamson studio with the engineer and photographer Robert Adamson between 1843 and 1847 to pioneer many aspects of ph ...
.
A visit from
James Montgomery, who was studying in Edinburgh to enter the
Faculty of Advocates
The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constit ...
, and a group of friends who were interested in Brewster's and John Adamson's reproduction of the calotype process, allegedly led to the formation of the Edinburgh Calotype Club itself.
Membership

The membership of the Club was composed of professional gentlemen from a variety of backgrounds - including clerics, academics and physicians - in both Edinburgh and St Andrews. Meetings of the club are described as being generally informal, and retrospective on the Club from an 1874 edition of ''
The British Journal of Photography'' states that had "neither laws, office-bearers, or formalities of any kind":
"The meetings were held periodically at the houses of the members alternately, and generally each took the form of a breakfast, although when some greater step than ordinary had been made in advance it was generally honoured by being introduced to the members at a formal dinner."
Despite the lack of records, the names of eight members have been traced, and the albums themselves include the names of five members as well as a number of associates.
Notable members
The club's membership included many notable figures of the time, particularly from Edinburgh and St Andrews, including:
:* John Adamson (1810-1870), doctor and chemist in
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's four ...
:*
David Brewster
Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optic ...
(1781-1868), Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, and writer
:*
John Cay (1790-1865), advocate
:*
Cosmo Innes
Cosmo Nelson Innes FRSE (9 September 1798 – 31 July 1874) was a Scottish advocate, judge, historian and antiquary. He served as Advocate-Depute, Sheriff of Elginshire, and Principal Clerk of Session.
He was a skilled decipherer of ancient ...
(1798-1874), Scottish historian and antiquary
:*
James Calder Macphail (1821-1908), minister
:*
James Montgomery (1818-1897), advocate and Episcopalian clergyman
:*
Mark Napier (1798-1879), historian
:*
Hugh Lyon Playfair (1786-1861), Provost of
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's four ...
:*
Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE Royal Astronomical Society, FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the Salt print, salted paper and calo ...
(1800-1877), inventor and pioneer of photography
:*
George Moir (1800-1870), advocate and author
:*
Robert Tennent
Robert Tennent FRSE (1815-15 December 1890) was an early Scottish photographer and major landowner in Australia.
Life
He was born in Edinburgh in 1813 the son of Margaret Rodger Lyon (1794-1867) and Patrick Tennant WS (1782-1872), living at 107 ...
(1813-1890) and his younger brother
Hugh Lyon Tennent (1817-1874)
Dissolution
The Edinburgh Calotype Club continued meeting until sometime in the 1850s; although the exact date when it ceased to exist is not known, curators at the
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in th ...
suggest that it was likely around the mid 1850s, "when the albumen and collodion processes superseded the calotype... The Edinburgh Calotype Club had, in a sense, outlived its usefulness."
The development of newer photographic technologies meant that photography was opened to a wider audience, and "spread like wildfire over the country."
Some members of the Club, in particular David Brewster, George Moir and Cosmo Innes, went on to become active in the later
Photographic Society of Scotland that was founded in 1856. Brewster became the President of the Photographic Society of Scotland, Moir one of its two vice presidents, and Innes a council member.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Albums of the Edinburgh Calotype Clubdigital gallery from the
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in th ...
Organisations based in Edinburgh
Scottish photography organisations
Photography organizations established in the 19th century
History of photography
Pioneers of photography
Culture in Edinburgh
1843 establishments in Scotland
1850s disestablishments in Scotland
Culture in Fife
Clubs and societies in Edinburgh