Case stamped with crest of Beard, 31 King William Street, see digital image / Portrait of Katherine Smee, the niece of Thomas and Lydia Eaton. See EP297

Mrs Hinde of Norwich

Portrait of Thomas Damant Eaton (1800-1871), the Norwich silk merchant and pioneer local photographer. Case is hinged on the short side.

A heart is scratched on the verso of the plate with the name J Jones next to it. In the 1851 census a 24 year old Mary Elizabeth Fisk (sic) was recorded as living at St Giles Road, Heigham. Visiting the household was Elizabeth Eaton a 42 year old ‘landed proprietor’: it is quite possible she was a relative of the Eaton’s of Chapelfield (see http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/view/ncc117702 ). Short side opening case bottom half deeper than top half with paper label saying who it is.

The sitter is possibly related to Katherine Smee (see EP295) as it is part of a small group of daguerreotypes and is in an identical case to that portrait. It is also possible that this could be the artist William Howes Hunt, see http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/view/ncc117702