Frederick Coldrey
{{Short description|Early Australian portrait photographer active c.1855 to 1889}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Frederick Henry Coldrey (1827, Islington – 19 May 1889, Castlemaine) was an early Australian portrait photographer active c.1855 to 1889.{{Cite book|last=Barrie|first=Sandy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/866047822|title=Australians behind the camera: a directory of early Australian photographers, 1841 to 1945|date=2002|publisher=publisher not identified|isbn=978-0-9587883-8-0|location=Australia|language=en|oclc=866047822}}{{Cite book|last=Kerr|first=Joan|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/443910466|title=The dictionary of Australian artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870|date=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-553290-6|location=Melbourne [etc.|language=en|oclc=443910466}}{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Alan|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1255417592|title=The Mechanical eye in Australia: photography 1841-1900|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1985|isbn=9780195546040|location=Melbourne, Vic.|language=en|oclc=1255417592}}
Biography
Born in the United Kingdom Frederick Coldrey probably had married Eleanor Louisa Lloyd (1828–1901) of Clerkenwell, by the time of the first record of him in Australia which was in Melbourne.{{Cite news|date=3 January 1855|title=General Post Office|work=The Argus|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4802633}}{{Cite news|title=General Post Office|page=6|work=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4803390}} There they lived in Collingwood where a son Henry Thomas Coldrey was born in 1854.
Photographer
File:FrederickHCOLDREY-NotitleSma-De104679.jpg
In about 1856 Coldrey opened a collodion studio in Ballarat with Alfred R. Fenton{{Cite web|title=Alfred R. Fenton :: biography at :: at Design and Art Australia Online|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/alfred-r-fenton/|access-date=2021-10-25|website=www.daao.org.au}} on the Main Road "adjoining the Bailarat Horse Bazaar."{{Cite news|date=15 November 1856|title=The Fine Arts|page=2|work=The Star|publication-place=Ballarat|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250439079}} In 1857 he and Fenton (an enthusiastic amateur chemist who was likely the actual inventor) applied for a patent, effective 2 November, for a "new improvement in photography," a collodion print on black leather, known as a pannotype, which was promoted as convenient for posting; "Likenesses can be taken by this newly invented process on leather, and being once varnished, they become insensible to touch."{{Cite news|date=6 November 1857|title=Miscellaneous News|page=6|work=The Age}}
The procedure involved making an underexposed collodion negative, giving the added advantage for portraiture of a shorter exposure time, then transferring it from the original glass support to black oilcloth, leather or even wood, the result being an unbreakable photograph. Variations on the pannotype appear independently as a less fragile backing material was sought, and each practitioner used their own collodion recipe with good adhesion to its unusual substrate being the aim, so whether Fenton and Coldrey's application to leather was sufficiently unique to justify a patent is not recorded beyond their applying for one,{{Cite news|date=11 November 1857|title=Melbourne|page=2|work=Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64569782}} and only days after The Age announcement of their invention, The Mount Alexander Mail reported on an announcement of photographs on leather being invented by a Mr Smith in Tain, Scotland.{{Cite news |date=1857-11-27 |title=Romance Of The Sea. |pages=6 |work=Mount Alexander Mail |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197088778 |access-date=2023-05-16}} Other photographers took up its use, several in Sydney including Lawson Insley (1858), Alfred Winter (1859), and Henry Jones (1860); Frederick Frith in Melbourne (1861), G. M. Challinor in Hobart (1861), and Thomas Ham, Brisbane (1862). Few pannotypes remain, which historians Davies and Stanbury surmise is due to their having been posted overseas, surviving examples being of a quarter-plate size. The carte-de-visite replaced the pannotype within two years.
In Ballarat Coldrey was active in petitioning, with others, in support of nominations for the Municipal Council,{{Cite news|date=29 May 1857|title=Municipality of Ballarat East : To William Bickham Rodier, Esq..|page=2|work=The Star|publication-place=Ballarat}}{{Cite news|date=2 October 1857|title=Municipality of Ballarat East : To E. Scrase, Esq..|page=2|work=The Star|publication-place=Ballarat}} and in calling for removal of some serving councillors,{{Cite news|date=22 September 1857|title=Municipality of Ballarat East : To Messrs Clendinnin, Daniel Sweeney, R. Belford, and W. B. Robinson.|page=2|work=The Star|publication-place=Ballarat}} sporadic involvement in politics at a local level that he was to continue.
After the death in March 1859 of his sons 6 year-old Frederick Henry William and 5 year-old Henry Thomas,{{Cite news|date=25 March 1859|title=Family Notices|page=2|work=The Star|publication-place=Ballarat|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66334774}} compounding misfortunes, including defaulting clients,{{Cite news|date=19 April 1859|title=Eastern Police Court|page=2|work=The Star|location=Ballarat|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66335273}} a robbery,{{Cite news|date=20 May 1861|title=News and Notes|work=The Star|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66339352}} floods, and the departure of Fenton from the partnership, meant Coldrey, unable to pay rent, was declared insolvent in August 1860.{{Cite news|date=3 September 1860|title=In the Insolvent Estate of Frederick Henry. Coldrey, of Ballaarat, in the Colony of Victoria, Photographic Artist|page=2|work=The Age|location=Melbourne|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154884987}} An £11 8s debt remained after the auction of his equipment and possessions.{{Cite news|date=30 August 1860|title=This Date : Gibbs v. Coldrey : Under Distress for Rent|page=3|work=The Star|publication-place=Ballarat|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66057945}} He remained in Ballarat until c.1862,{{Cite news|date=29 Sep 1862|title=News|page=3|work=The Star|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66327533}} then worked with Bendigo-based John W. Burrows as an itinerant photographer across the state from Avoca{{Cite news|date=7 December 1867|title=Advertising : Likenesses ! Likenesses ! ! : Messrs. Coldrey & Burrows|page=3|work=Avoca Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190704978}} to Jerilderie.{{Cite news|date=2 December 1867|title=General Post Office, Sydney, 15th November, 1867|page=3201|work=New South Wales Government Gazette|issue=22|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230057784}}
Castlemaine
Coldrey joined Charles Wherrett and his assistant W. G. Cearns{{Cite web|title=[Spirit Photography] Six studio portraits of actors in costume. Castlemaine, Victorian goldfields, 1869-71.|url=https://douglasstewart.com.au/product/spirit-photography-six-studio-portraits-of-actors-in-costume-castlemaine-victorian-goldfields-1869-71/|access-date=2021-10-26|website=Douglas Stewart Fine Books|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Western photographers in Hong Kong, 1861-1879 {{!}} Gwulo: Old Hong Kong|url=https://gwulo.com/node/35363|access-date=2021-10-26|website=gwulo.com}} in Castlemaine as an ‘operator’ at a studio known for its ‘spirit photographs’,{{Cite news|date=1869-09-15|title=Items of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197310464|access-date=2021-10-26}} until 1874 and likely departing on the death of Cearns{{Cite news|date=28 August 1871|title=Items of News|page=3|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198992305}} and Wherrett's relocation to Hobart in 1871,{{Cite web|title=Charles Wherrett :: biography at :: at Design and Art Australia Online|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/charles-wherrett/biography/|access-date=2021-10-26|website=www.daao.org.au}} before taking up management of Kerr's Portrait Rooms a few doors away in Barker St.{{Cite news|date=1874-10-03|title=Advertising|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197106665|access-date=2021-10-26}} which he rented from H. Winks.Sec 3 lot 12 in Rate records, Mount Alexander Shire, Castlemaine Historical Society, accessed 27 October 2021 There he made a living from cartes-de-visite portraits, which he sold at 7s 6d per dozen copies, "ivory" type copies being 10 shillings per dozen, and portraits on glass from one shilling each. He offered life size enlargements of cartes de visite then being achieved with the solar enlarger.
To his studio business he added an employment agency{{Cite news|date=1877-11-26|title=Advertising|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199008934|access-date=2021-10-26}} and secured a wine licence.{{Cite news|date=1872-12-21|title=Licensing Bench.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201767321|access-date=2021-10-26}} He enjoyed minor celebrity for his ‘glee’ singing around town.{{Cite news|date=1868-07-21|title=Advertising|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200521009|access-date=2021-10-26}}{{Cite news|date=1871-09-01|title=Items of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198991177|access-date=2021-10-26}}{{Cite news|date=1 September 1871|title=Items of News|page=2|work=Mount Alexander Mail|location=Castlemaine|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198991177}} He acted as auditor for Mount Alexandershire Co., Boatswain's Gully mine,{{Cite news|date=8 November 1871|title=Mining|page=2|work=Mount Alexander Mail|location=Castlemaine|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198992924}} and he took interest in municipal affairs{{Cite news|date=1887-06-10|title=Castlemaine Borough Council.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198281658|access-date=2021-10-27}} and the Independent Order of Oddfellows benevolent society,{{Cite news|date=1872-08-16|title=Items of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201765858|access-date=2021-10-26}}{{Cite news|date=1886-04-15|title=Loyal Prince Of Wales' Lodge Social.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208478046|access-date=2021-10-27}} to which he was appointed guardian in 1887.{{Cite news|date=1887-06-03|title=Items Of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198280847|access-date=2021-10-27}}
In 1882 Coldrey was awarded a prize for a case photograph at the town's agricultural show and in 1881 had produced a framed composite of eighty-one portrait cameos of members of the Castlemaine Pioneers and Old Residents Association,{{Cite news|date=1881-03-21|title=Items Of News|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198695246|access-date=2021-10-27}}{{Cite news|date=1881-03-26|title=Items Of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198693613|access-date=2021-10-27}} which is archived in its offices in the heritage Telegraph Office. He also made one for the Maldon branch in 1883.{{Cite news|date=1883-09-20|title=Items Of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200414908|access-date=2021-10-27}}
In the last decade of his career, portraiture was being offered more cheaply in the form of tintypes. At Castlemaine Market an itinerant franchisee of the American Gem company{{Cite news|date=24 October 1881|title=Correspondence|page=3|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201031247%5C}} offered their tiny prints on metal. At 20mm to 25mm wide and 30mm high, like the carte de visite they were exposed in a multi-lens camera but directly on a single metal photographic plate that was then cut. Special albums for the miniature portraits were also being marketed. It had become the most prolific form of photograph in 1860s America. Their local manifestation presented competition for Coldrey and he raised futile objection at a borough council meeting,{{Cite news|date=21 October 1881|title=Castlemaine Borough Council|page=2|work=Mount Alexander Mail|publication-place=Castlemaine|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201035454}} but capitulated and advertised in Melbourne for one of the Gem cameras for his own studio.{{Cite news|date=1881-10-29|title=Advertising|work=Age|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201987879|access-date=2021-10-27}} A successor to Coldrey as photographer in Castlemaine was Adolphus Verey, who took over Wherrett's studio in 1883.{{Cite web |date=2014-07-30 |title=The discovery of the Verey collection :: Historic Castlemaine photographs |url=https://tracesmagazine.com.au/2014/07/the-discovery-of-the-verey-collection-historic-castlemaine-photographs/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=Traces Magazine |language=en-AU}}
Personal life
The family lived in rented accommodation in Bull and then Bowden streets Castlemaine where in 1869 the second last of their six living children, Albert George was born.{{Cite news|date=1869-11-29|title=Family Notices|work=Herald|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244907245|access-date=2021-10-26}}{{Cite news|date=1869-12-04|title=Family Notices|work=Leader|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196483748|access-date=2021-10-26}} Coldrey Street, on the corner of which the family lived, is a short lane that runs between the northern stretches of Bowden and Farnsworth streets, and is named for him.
Coldrey's sons played cricket for Castlemaine and at least one was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers,{{Cite news|date=1889-01-29|title=Amalgamated Society of Engineers|page=2|work=Bendigo Advertiser|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88582587|access-date=2021-10-27}} and when in 1886 son Henry was admitted to Castlemaine Hospital with typhoid fever, Coldrey tended to him there despite his own injury from an earlier fall at the railway station.{{Cite news|date=1885-12-28|title=Items Of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208475089|access-date=2021-10-27}}
Coldrey died at Castlemaine Hospital on Sunday 19 May 1889,{{Cite news|date=1889-05-21|title=Items Of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198267213|access-date=2021-10-27}} after taking ill on the Friday.{{Cite news|date=1889-05-20|title=Items Of News.|work=Mount Alexander Mail|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198265546|access-date=2021-10-27}} Following his death, his wife Eleanor lived at 51 Farnsworth St Castlemaine with their only daughter, who was unmarried (also named Eleanor). The three are buried in lot 120 EE in Castlemaine Cemetery, Campbells Creek.Cemetery records, Mount Alexander Shire, Castlemaine Historical Society, accessed 27 October 2021
Work in collections
- National Gallery of Victoria{{cite web | url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2113/ | title=Artists | NGV }}
- John Jenkins Collection{{Cite book|last=Coldrey|first=Frederick Henry|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/794844178|title=Portrait photographs by F.H. Coldrey, Barker Street, Castlemaine, Vic.|date=1888|language=en|oclc=794844178}}
- State Library of Victoria{{Cite web|title=State Library Victoria - Viewer|url=https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/|access-date=2021-10-27|website=State Library Victoria}}
Gallery
File:Coldrey Woman Port 2.jpg|Frederick H. Coldrey (c. early 1870s) Carte de Visite portrait of a young woman.
File:Coldrey Woman Port.jpg|Frederick H. Coldrey (c. early 1870s) Carte de Visite portrait of a woman.
File:Coldrey Man Port.tif|Frederick H. Coldrey (c. early 1870s) Carte de Visite portrait of a man.
File:Coldrey Verso CdV.jpg|Frederick H. Coldrey (c. early 1870s) Carte de Visite portrait of a man (verso).