This 'metal plate' photograph has been passed down in the family. It was taken using early photographic technology - the so-called metal plate. Demand for portraiture emerged during the Industrial Revolution. The growing middle classes were doing well and exports of the goods that were being produced were being sent all round the world. As a result these people wanted their images recorded - oil painting was costly and time-consuming and so came the developments in photography.
In this picture the two men are dressed in what appears to be Shakespearean costumes - apparently it was the fashion at the time to dress up like characters from the Elizabethan era! Contributed by Chris Ralph.
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