S. OGLESBY

On 14 July 1849 an item in the Mercury & Sporting Chronicle said: ‘We strongly recommend our fellow colonists pay a visit to Mr Oglesby's Daguerreotype establishment at the rear of the Clarendon Hotel, where the sight of the specimens which adorn his room – coupled with the truly wonderful improvements that have been introduced by him into the method of taking them will amply repay the trouble. His portraits are exceedingly beautiful, and are really first-rate likenesses, not having the cadaverous look so common to these productions.’ In another column Oglesby placed an advertisement in which he identified himself as ‘S. Oglesby’ of London, and said that his daguerreotype portraits were being fixed by a new chemical process and would not fade. ‘Invalid ladies and gentlemen waited upon at their own residences. Terms moderate. Hours from 10 till 5.’ A few months later he was advertising hand-coloured daguerreotypes, possibly the first to be made in South Australia.

In his Story of the Camera in Australia (1955) Jack Cato states that ‘William Oglesby, whose advertisements are to be found in the papers of most states, opened in Adelaide at the end of 1849.’ With but one exception, all known references in South Australian newspapers are for a Mr Oglesby, the exception being the Mr S. Oglesby who advertised in the Mercury and Sporting Chronicle, and it seems the references to him working in other states have yet to be re-discovered. Carte de visite portraits (NC) exist which were made by a photographer, S.Oglesby, who called himself ‘Photographer to the Queen and Emperor of the French’ who had a studio at Preston, north of Liverpool in England, and then at Llandudno in Wales.

At the end of December 1849 Oglesby left Adelaide on a tour of South Australian country districts, and his ‘establishment’ was removed from the back of the Clarendon Hotel and merged with Norwood Potter’s daguerreotype establishment in Rundle Street. Oglesby had returned to Adelaide by May 1850 and taken rooms at Doran’s Family Hotel in Currie Street where he was again making coloured daguereotype likenesses. These, he said, were made ‘in the latest and most approved style, well put up in Morocco cases of the best quality. Entrance by the private door. A separate waiting room for ladies. Invalids, Ladies and Gentlemen, waited upon at their own residence. Terms Moderate. Portraits taken daily from ten o'clock until dusk. N.B. – To remove an erroneous impression, it is distinctly announced that portraits can be taken by Mr Oglesby, with certainty and accuracy, in all weathers, and in half the usual time.’

In August Oglesby moved to Mr Dyke’s Freemason Tavern in Pirie Street, where his coloured daguerreotype portraits cost 15s and the Adelaide Times reported: ‘We heartily recommend our fellow-colonists to wait upon this gentleman [Oglesby] and see his likenesses. They are not what is sometimes the case with daguerreotype pictures, flat unmeaning faces, with correct outline, and features confused and distorted, but real portraits, the result of scientific adjustment, and artistical treatment. Besides, the colouring is a great improvement, the tints being clear warm and natural, and rendering the pictures true specimens of art.’

By October Oglesby had moved again, to Morphett Street, nearly opposite Trinity Church, where, he said, ‘a new and commodious glass room has been constructed for the purpose of introducing all the recent improvements, and to which the most perfect colouring is now added. Persons desirous of sending to their friends those invaluable remembrances of themselves, can send them per post to any part of Europe. Open daily, wet weather being no objection.’ He also pointed out that he could made ‘the most faithful copies’ for ‘families possessing valuable portraits’.

On 5 April 1851 the Observer reported: ‘Daguerreotype Likenesses. We have just seen a sketch of a jovial party, taken by Mr Oglesby, at the pavilion lately erected for the Old Colonist's Festival, wherein are introduced three well known persons; but as all seem half seas over, we refrain from giving their names; so true to life are the portraits, that nothing but a looking glass can come up to the style in which Mr O. has finished them off.’

End.