George Washington Wilson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Washington Wilson
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Self portrait
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| Born | 7 February 1823 Alvah, Banffshire
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| Died | 9 March 1893 (aged 70) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
George Washington Wilson (born February 7, 1823 – died March 9, 1893) was a very important Scottish photographer. He was one of the first to do many things in photography. In 1849, he started his career painting tiny portraits. These were called miniatures. By 1852, he switched to taking photographic portraits.
He even got a special job to photograph the Royal Family. This included working for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Wilson was a pioneer in taking photos outdoors. He also found ways to make many copies of his pictures. By the 1860s, he mostly took landscape photos. By 1864, he had sold over half a million copies of his work!
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George Washington Wilson's Life Story
Wilson was born in a place called Alvah, in Banffshire, Scotland. He studied art in Edinburgh and London. In 1849, he came back to his hometown of Aberdeen. There, he started a business painting small portraits for rich families. These families lived in the North East of Scotland.
Starting in Photography
After a few years, Wilson decided to try something new. In 1852, he opened a portrait studio in Aberdeen. He worked with John Hay. Wilson was very good at both the technical side of photography and running a business.
Photographing Royalty
His big break came in 1854–1855. He got a special job to photograph the Royal Family. He took pictures while Balmoral Castle was being built. By 1860, he was one of Scotland's top photographers. He worked directly for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
New Photography Techniques
Wilson was a leader in developing new ways to take photos. He found ways to take pictures outside of a studio. He also learned how to make many copies of his photos. Because of this, he started taking more landscape pictures in the 1860s.
He also made stereoscopic pictures. These pictures had a special effect that made them look 3D. A key feature of his stereoscopic pictures was that they needed very short exposure times. This meant the photos could be taken quickly. By 1864, he proudly announced that he had sold more than 500,000 prints.
His Business Grows
Wilson handed over his business to his sons in 1888. Their names were Charles, Louis, and John Hay Wilson. When George Washington Wilson died in 1893, his company was very big. It had 40 employees. It was one of the largest companies in the world that published photographic prints. They competed with James Valentine, another famous photographer from Dundee. Wilson's business continued until 1908, when it closed down.
George Washington Wilson passed away on March 9, 1893. He is buried in Nellfield Cemetery in Aberdeen.
George Washington Wilson's Photo Collection
Over 40,000 of Wilson's original glass plates still exist today. These are the special glass negatives he used to make his photos. They survived because he was very careful with how he cleaned and treated them.
Where the Photos Are Kept
Aberdeen University now has about 38,000 of these plates. They were given to the university in 1958 by a photographer named Archie Strachan. These photos were taken from the late 1850s to the early 1900s.
What the Photos Show
The collection shows pictures from many places. It includes photos of Aberdeen and the North East. It also has pictures from all over Scotland and most of England. There are also photos from parts of Wales and Northern Ireland.
Beyond the UK, the collection includes pictures from Gibraltar, Morocco (including Tangier), and the South of Spain. There are also many photos from colonial South Africa and Australia.
How the Collection Grew
From about 1870 onwards, Wilson started to rely on other people to add to his collection. This means that many of the photos from the Mediterranean Sea were taken by other photographers. Many English and Scottish photos were also taken by his staff. Some were even ordered from other photography companies in the UK.
The photos from Australia and South Africa were added later, in the 1890s. These were taken by George's son, Charles Wilson, and other staff photographers like Fred Hardie.
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Wilson c.1865
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Edinburgh from the Grass Market
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John Struthers (at left, in top hat) with the Tay Whale at John Woods' yard, Dundee, 1884, photographed by Wilson
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Queen Victoria on 'Fyvie' with John Brown at Balmoral, 1863, National Galleries of Scotland
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Wilson's August 1885 photograph of the Glen Tilt looking upstream toward Forest Lodge. Location: 56°49′29″N 3°47′38″W / 56.82461°N 3.79392°W
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