Photography | Francis Bedford (1815 – 1894)

Mavi Boncuk |
Francis Bedford (1815 in London – 15 May 1894) was an English photographer.

Bedford was the son of the successful church architect Francis Octavius Bedford. He was christened at St Giles in Camberwell on 11 September 1815. He began his career as an architectural draughtsman and lithographer, before taking up photography in the early 1850s.

He helped to found the Royal Photographic Society in 1853. In 1854, at Marlborough House Queen Victoria commissioned him to photograph objects in the royal collection.


On 1 November 1843 he married Mary Graham at St Andrew's in Holborn, London. The couple appear on the 1851 census living at 23 Rochester Road, Kentish Town, London, with their two young sons, Arthur and William. Francis gave 'Lithographic Artist' as his profession. When the 1861 census was taken, Francis, now an 'Artist', was staying at a hotel in Peterborough. Ten years later he and Mary were living at 326 Camden Road, London. Francis now gave 'Photographic Artist' as his profession. He was still at the same address in 1881. Also present that night were his wife Mary, his son William, his daughter-in-law Wilhelmina, and his six-year-old grandson Francis.

The fountain of Sultan Ahmed III stands at the entrance to the Topkapi palace. The photograph is signed and captioned in the negative, 'F Bedford Constantinople'. See RCIN 2861683 for another print of this image. Provenance: Acquired by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), 1862.

Constantinople. View from the Serakah Tower [Photographic Pictures Made By Mr. Francis Bedford During the Tour in the East in which, by command, he accompanied His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales] 1862, 24 May (taken) 1862, July (printed, after) Albumen silver print 23.7 x 28.3 cm National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada Purchased 1975, no. 20800.166

Constantinople. The South-west Front of the New Palace [Photographic Pictures Made By Mr. Francis Bedford During the Tour in the East in which, by command, he accompanied His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales] 1862, 23 May (taken) 1862, July (printed, after) Albumen silver print 23.3 x 29.4 cm National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada Purchased 1975, no. 20800.164 LL/48739 31 of 60 

Smyrna [Photographic Pictures Made By Mr. Francis Bedford During the Tour in the East in which, by command, he accompanied His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales] 1862, 18 May (taken) 1862, July (printed, after) Albumen silver print 23.7 x 28.8 cm National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada Purchased 1975, no. 20800.153 LL/48759 

Constantinople. The Obelisk of Theodosius, in the At-Meidan, or Hippodrome [Photographic Pictures Made By Mr. Francis Bedford During the Tour in the East in which, by command, he accompanied His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales] 1862, 22 May (taken) 1862, July (printed, after) Albumen silver print 24.3 x 29 cm National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada Purchased 1975, no. 20800.159 LL/48745 30 of 60