The forgotten Brighton photographer who captured royalty and helped invent modern photography

Nearly 185 years after Brighton became home to one of Britain’s earliest photographic studios, researchers from the University of Brighton are uncovering fresh details about William Constable – the Victorian photographer believed to have taken the first royal photographic portrait.

On Friday 29 May, University of Brighton researchers will join descendants of Constable at the unveiling of a heritage plaque at 57 Marine Parade, the site of Brighton’s first photographic studio. Long before Brighton became known for its creative industries and cultural life, curious visitors gathered along the seafront to witness one of the great marvels of the Victorian age: photography itself.

In 1841, just two years after photography was first announced to the world, Constable opened ‘The Photographic Institution’ overlooking the Channel. At a time when the medium was still unfamiliar and technologically astonishing, visitors could step inside his studio and see their likeness captured permanently by light. 

From his Brighton seafront premises, Constable helped introduce Victorian Britain to photography, attracting royalty, aristocrats, artists, and tourists eager to experience the extraordinary new invention for themselves. Among his achievements, Constable is believed to have produced the first ever royal photographic portrait – an image of Prince Albert – while operating one of the very first photographic studios in Britain at the time.

Now, almost two centuries later, researchers at the University of Brighton have been helping piece together the story of Constable’s life, studio, and photographs through the William Constable: Brighton Daguerreotypes Project.

Jointly led by Professor Annebella Pollen, Professor of Visual and Material Culture at the University of Brighton, with Shannon Perich, Curator of the Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C., the project has uncovered new information about 130 surviving Constable photographs created between 1841 and 1861.

Many of the surviving daguerreotypes – early photographs captured on silver-coated metal plates – have not been publicly seen for generations. Held within the National Museum of American History’s internationally significant collection, they offer a rare glimpse into the earliest years of photography and Brighton’s unexpected place at the forefront of that history.

Professor Annebella Pollen said: “William Constable played an unparalleled role in Brighton’s early photographic history, but much of his story has remained untold and many of his photographs have not been seen for nearly two centuries. Working with the Smithsonian’s remarkable collection of surviving daguerreotypes has offered a unique opportunity to better understand both Constable’s work and the beginnings of photography.

“This project has also been a wonderful example of international research networks, bringing together the University of Brighton, the Smithsonian Institution, postgraduate researchers, collectors, archives, and descendants connected to Constable’s legacy.

“It has been especially rewarding to support our postgraduate researchers in gaining hands-on experience working with a globally significant museum collection and contributing new research that will make these photographs digitally accessible for the first time. Seeing the project coincide with in the unveiling of a plaque at the site of Constable’s original studio makes the moment particularly meaningful for Brighton’s cultural history.”

Curator Shannon Perich said: “The new research will improve the museum’s catalogue records and will be visible to the public in future web labels. Having experts in Brighton conduct this research has been invaluable. Their ability to access archives and many other resources while on the ground has enlivened and deepened the historical narrative to give regional specificity and international context.”

University of Brighton postgraduate researchers Sally Jones and Sylvie Jane Lewis have each contributed to the project through a semester-long collaborative research placement through the AHRC-funded Technē Doctoral Training Partnership. Their research and writing, providing new catalogue descriptions and interpretations, will enable the museum’s William Constable collection to become publicly accessible online for the first time this summer.

The blue plaque has been organised by Constable’s descendant Claire Constable, author of several books exploring the family’s history.

Professor Pollen’s research at the University of Brighton offers new histories of photography, especially focusing on untold stories and overlooked archives of visual and material culture.

The project – supported throughout by the University of Brighton’s Centre for Design History – reflects the growing role of the University of Brighton in collaborative international research partnerships connecting art, heritage, photography, and public history.