Photograph by Henry Bedford Lemere, 'Clerkenwell Gaol, December 13, 1867', albumen print, 1867. Acquired as part of the Townshend Bequest

Sepia-coloured photograph of the exterior facade of a large building with small windows with bars.

Bequeathed by Chauncey Hare Townshend

On 13 December 1867, Fenian (Irish Nationalist) sympathises detonated a bomb beneath the perimeter wall of Clerkenwell Goal, London, EC1, in an unsuccessful attempt to free two Fenian prisoners held inside. This view by well-known architectural photographer Bedford Lemere captures the aftermath of the explosion that injured more than 100 men, women and children and demolished many of the surrounding houses.

Bedford Lemere, living only a mile and a half from the bomb site, likely documeted this dramatic event with a view to profit from the popular interest in Fenian activity at the time. The photographs were first published as eight carte-de-vistes, entitled: 'Scene of the Feninan Outrage at Clerkenwell, 13th Dec. 1867'. On the back of these photographs are the emblems of both Bedford Lemere and Henry Hering, a well-established photographer who also operated as a printseller and publisher. A note on the back of these photographs indicated that 'larger copies may be objtained'.

This is one of four 10 x 12" albumen prints of these views in the V&A collection, bequethed to the Museum in October 1868 by Chauncey Hare Townshend, a major collector of early photographs in Britain. While they lack identification emblems, the close correspondence to the set of eight images suggests that Townshend's source was most probably Henry Hering, whose business was located only a few streets away from Bedford Lemere's at 137 Regent Street. This distribution relationship between Bedford Lemere and Hering also points to the probable source for many of the other photographs in the Townshend bequest, including works by Roger Fenton and seascapes by Le Gray, photographers Hering promoted, along with a range of architectural views, in his advertisements in the local press.

This research is based upon the article by Anet Blackmore (1989) 'Photographs by Henry Bedford-Lemere', History of Photography, 13:4, 369-371.

68043