James Townsend Wigney (1816-1892)
James Wigney was born in Hudderfield about 1816 and worked there for a number of years as a photographer between 1863 and 1868. Prior to this (1850) there is a James Townsend Wigney listed as a hotelier at the Imperial Hotel in Huddersfield, presumably this is the same man. At a similar time between 1861 and 1867 Wigney worked in the season at Scarborough in the Assembly Rooms, Huntriss Row. In the Scarborough Gazette recommended Wigney out of the large number of photographers in the town when people asked ‘to whom much we sit?’ By 1867 he had established an art gallery on Marine Parade where he held annual exhibitions of modern paintings charging 6d entrance.
He settled in the town after the creation of this gallery, giving up photography and settling in favour of dealing in pictures and fine art.
Portrait of an unknown woman,
Carte de Visite
Portrait of an unknown man,
Carte de Visite
Portrait of an unknown man
Carte de Visite
Portrait of an unknown woman
Carte de visite
Photographic Practice
Portraiture
Studios
The Imperial Hotel, Huddersfield, 1850
The Assembly Rooms, Huntriss Row, Scarborough, 1861-1867
Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, 1863-1868
Marine Parade, Scarborough, from 1867
References
Adamson, K.I.P., 1996, p9
Bayliss, A. and P., 1998, p72
Leeds Intelligencer, 23 February 1850, (British Newspaper Archive)
Museum Collections
National Portrait Gallery, London - Katherine Hickson