William H. Illingworth

William H. Illingworth (1844–1893) was an English photographer who accompanied both Captain James L. Fisk's 1866 expedition to the Montana Territory and Lt. Colonel George Custer's 1874 U.S. military expedition into the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory (now western South Dakota).

William Henry Illingworth was born in Leeds, England on 20 September 1844. He immigrated with his parents to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania while still a young child. In 1850, his family relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota, where his father operated a jewelry business. Illingworth helped in the business until he was about 20 years old, when he moved to Chicago to study wet plate photography.

Shortly after Illingworth's return to St. Paul in 1866, he joined Captain James L. Fisk's fourth expedition to the Montana Territory. Working with photographer, business partner and expedition member George Bill, Illingworth produced 30 stereographs from this expedition that likely became the basis of a gallery and studio that he and Bill opened the following year in St. Paul. From 1870 to 1873, Illingworth worked as a photographer for railroad construction crews. Sometime in the 1870s, Illingworth and William McLeish formed a partnership called Illingworth & McLeish, that produced stereographs.

Probably due to his experience on the fourth Fisk expedition, Illingworth was selected as photographer to Custer's 1874 military expedition by then-Captain William Ludlow (referred to as "Col. Ludlow" by journalists covering the expedition, perhaps because he received a brevet during the Civil War). Ludlow was the Chief Engineer of the Department of Dakota, and was in charge of mapping and scientific data collection for the expedition. He provided Illingworth necessary equipment, rations and supplies, and added Illingworth to the civilian payroll as a "teamster", with a salary of $30 per month. In return, Illingworth was expected to provide six sets of his exposed plates to the US Army. The wagon carrying Illingworth's equipment is estimated to have weighed nearly 400 lbs (c. 182 kg). Illingworth and the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment departed for the Black Hills on 2 July 1874 from Fort Abraham Lincoln on the west bank of the Missouri River, seven miles south of what is now Mandan, North Dakota, and returned 30 August 1874.

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