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Glass plate negatives

Albert and Victoria’s collection of glass plate negatives show photographers’ working methods

CUNDALL & HOWLETT

Amputees at Chatham Military Hospital

1856

Wet collodion negative | 20.3 x 25.3 cm (whole object) | RCIN 2084928

8" x 10" glass plate negative showing three soldiers who were injured during the Crimean War sitting on a bed covered by a tartan blanket. From right to left are William Young, Henry Burland and John Connery. Young and Burland have had both of their legs amputated while Connery has lost one of his legs and is holding his artificial limb on his lap. All of the men are wearing hospital clothing with caps and there is a sheet hanging behind them. 

The glass plate negative has been photographed showing the coated side and therefore the image appears laterally reversed. Prints from this negative exist in the Collection (e.g. RCIN 2500189). A handwritten note accompanying such photograph gives details of the men's injuries: Young lost his legs in a shell explosion on 18th June 1855, while Burland and Connery lost limbs due to frostbite suffered in the trenches.

Throughout the war Queen Victoria had taken an active interest in the welfare of the troops and on their return to Britain she met a number of the wounded veterans at Chatham Military Hospital. Following her visits to the hospital she commissioned a series of photographs of the veterans from the photographers Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett. She is also known to have paid for a significant number of artificial limbs and to have found employment for some of the men.

  • Creator(s)

    Cundall & Howlett (photographer)

  • 20.3 x 25.3 cm (whole object)

  • Commissioned by Queen Victoria

  • Subject(s)
    • Science, Medicine and Technology
      • Medical sciences
        • Pathology
          • Amputations (surgical operations)
      • Home economics
        • Furniture & accessories
          • Beds
      • Industries, Crafts and Trades
        • Clothing
          • Costume
            • Uniforms
              • Military uniforms
    • Social sciences
      • Military affairs
        • Wars, Campaigns & Battles
          • Wars
            • Wars of the nineteenth century
              • Crimean War (1853-1856)