Good portrait of two named scientists.

Probably George Houghton who was partner to Claudet and founded Houghtons. Another view taken at the same sitting is number 28209. The pair may form a stereo pair for viewing in the Wheatstone stereo viewer. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Claudet (Houghton's partner) states, 'By 1842 he had made stereo daguerreotypes for Sir Charles Wheatstone.' It seems likely that the sitter for such experimental plates would be somebody who happened to be around at the time. The absence of a typical Claudet, Anglo-American style housing also points towards these plates being intended for the Wheatstone stereo viewer.

Portrait of a woman and child. The woman is seated with the child on her lap. The boy is dressed in tartan. The woman is wearing a hat and has long ringlets.

Note on back of case 'Mr. Fred Holmes. Inventor of Dynamo for Lighthouses'. Frederick Hale Holmes pioneered the electrical illumination of lighthouses in the 1850s and 60s. He was the first to use a magneto to supply an arc lamp, in 1853. In 1856, he patented a system to use the magneto to light a lighthouse, which was demonstrated to Faraday in 1857 at Blackwall. Reference: Bowers, B. A History of Electric Light and Power. London: Peter Peregrinus, 1991.

Pair with 2003-5001/2/28300. Possibly a relative of Henry Peach Robinson.