B. J. Edwards facts for kids

Benjamin Joseph Edwards (born 1838, died 1914) was an important person in the early days of photography. He helped invent new ways to take pictures. Edwards created better camera parts and improved how photos were developed. He also made a special type of photographic plate that captured colors more accurately.

Edwards lived at Wistowe House in Hayes, Middlesex. This house was also home to a small factory. Here, he made a special kind of printing paper. He called this paper "Wisto." It was popular with photographers for a while. Edwards passed away in 1914, just before the start of the First World War. You can find a picture of Edwards in a book from 1926 called the British Journal Photographic Almanac.

A Pioneer in Photography

Benjamin Edwards was very clever at making cameras better. He worked on designing and building "instantaneous shutters." These shutters allowed cameras to take pictures much faster than before. This was a big step forward for photography!

He also found a new way to make plates (the early version of film) stronger. He used a special chemical called mercuric iodide to "intensify" them. This made the images clearer and brighter.

In 1887, Edwards was the first person in Britain to make orthochromatic plates. These special plates were important because they could capture different colors more realistically. Before this, some colors, like blue, would look too light in photos. Orthochromatic plates helped photographers get better, more natural-looking pictures.

Edwards' Company

The company named B. J. Edwards became a limited company in 1900. This meant it was a formal business with many owners. In 1906, an advertisement in the British Journal Photographic Almanac said that Edwards himself was once again fully in charge of the company.

However, in 1909, another company called Leto Photo materials Co. (1905) Ltd. bought Edwards' company. The factory in Ealing stayed open. The name Edwards then became a brand name for photographic products.