After the introduction of photography in the 1840s the early Victorians soon recognized the medium’s potential for portraiture. At first only the rich could afford high prices at fashionable city photographic studios. Alongside the professionals, gentleman amateurs worked to master photography’s complicated chemistry and optics. It was the children or other relatives of these first photographers who sat for their early experimental portraits. Below is a collection of 39 rare portrait photos of people taken in the 1840s.
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| Charlotte Lockhart, later Mrs Hope, grand-daughter of Sir Walter Scott, circa 1846 |
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| Couple in winter clothes, ca. 1840s |
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| Daguerreotype portrait of an unidentified man holding a book with another man moving into frame behind him, ca. 1840s |
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| Daguerreotype portrait of Edgar Allan Poe, 1842 |
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| Portrait of Edgar Allen Poe, taken several months before his death, 1849 |
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| Fisher Lassie and her child by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Fishwife from Newhaven by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1847 |
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| Girl wearing a white chemisette, holding long watch on chain, 1845 |
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| Handsome gentleman in the late 1840s |
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| James Fillans with his two daughters by Hill and Adamson, 1845 |
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| Jane Webster (née Binny); Justine Gallie (née Monro); Mrs Marrable (née Binny) by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Lady Eastlake by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways (1773-1846), ca. early 1840s |
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| Lady Georgina Elizabeth Wharncliffe (née Ryder), John Stuart-Wortley by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1846 |
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| Matilda Smith (née Rigby) by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Miss Elizabeth (Betsy) Etty, daughter of John Etty, by Hill and Adamson, 1844 |
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| Miss Kemp by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Miss Munro by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Mother and child in the late 1840s |
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| Mrs. Jameson by Hill and Adamson, 1843-47 |
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| Mrs. Rishton (née McCandlish) by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Mrs. Shanker by Hill and Adamson, 1843-1847 |
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| Portrait of a beautiful bride, ca. 1840s |
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| Portrait of a gentleman, 1845 |
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| Portrait of a lady, possibly a domestic servant, in a striped dress, late 1840s |
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| Portrait of a lovely couple in the early 1840s |
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| Portrait of a woman, 1844 |
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| Portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Eastlake (17 November 1809 – 2 October 1893) in the early 1840s |
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| Portrait of Jane Sophia Barker (née Harden) by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1844 |
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| Portrait of Miss Dorothy Catherine Draper in 1940 |
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| Portrait of Mrs. Isabella Morrison Bell by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Portrait of old woman in 1848 |
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| Portrait of two young women by Carl Ferdinand Stelzner, 1849 |
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| Sophia Finlay by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 1843-1848 |
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| Styling it up in 1842 |
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| Woman holding a Daguerreotype portrait, ca. late 1840s |
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| Woman with two daughters, circa 1940s |
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| Young lady in dress, ca. 1940s |
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| Young woman in 'bead print' dress, circa 1845 |
