Peter Wickens Fry

Peter Wickens Fry
Peter Wickens Fry
Born	Peter Wickens Fry 1795 Compton Bishop, Somerset, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	29 August 1860 (aged 64–65) London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Nationality	English
Occupation	Photographer and solicitor
Years active	1841–60 The photo is from the personal album of Jane Martha St. John.

1841–60

Peter Wickens Fry (1795 – 29 August 1860) was a pioneering English amateur photographer, although professionally he was a London solicitor. In the early 1850s, Fry worked with Frederick Scott Archer, assisting him in the early experiments of the wet collodion process. He was also active in helping Roger Fenton to set up the Royal Photographic Society in 1853. Several of his photographs are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Fry was born to Peter Fry (b.c. 1768-1846) and Joanna Chapman in Compton Bishop, a village in northern Somerset, some time during 1795. He had two younger brothers and two sisters. His younger brother Bruges later lived at Hill House in Cheddar and Peter lived at Compton House in Compton Bishop. He trained as a solicitor and began his career in the legal profession but later he became one of the pioneers of photography in the country.

In the early 1840s he developed an interest in the emerging art of photography. He apparently experimented with photogenic drawing before Henry Fox Talbot developed the calotype process in 1841. The first stage of experimentation was with daguerreotype portraits. His interest and developments in photography led to his being elected to the Society of Arts (RSA) in 1845. He established the Calotype Club to pursue his keen interest with friends at his own home. The first meeting of the club was held in 1847. It was an informal gathering of 12 photographers involved in the calotype process. Meeting once or twice a month, the club discussed technical developments and applications. The club was renamed the Royal Photographic Club in 1848. Some of the other members of the club were: Robert Hunt, Fellow of the RSA who was director of the Museum of Practical geology and in early days of photography was on authority on the subject; Archer, a sculptor and Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond who was superintendent of the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum.