43 
Ordinary Meeting, December 11th, 1877. 
E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., President, in the Chair. 
“ Note on the Daguerreotype Portrait taken of the late 
Dr. Dalton,” by J. B. Dancer, F.B.A.S. 
I was not present at the meeting of this Society on the 
27th November, but have read in the printed Proceedings 
of that meeting that a photographic portrait of the late Dr. 
Dalton was presented to the Society ; and that this photo- 
graph was enlarged from a Daguerreotype, taken by the 
late Mr. John Parry, about the year 1841. I have a 
doubt as to the correctness of the latter statement, and I 
will briefly give my reasons for that doubt. I worked at 
the Daguerreotype from the first announcement of its dis- 
covery, and when I came to reside in Manchester, in June, 
1841, I still continued to amuse myself and friends with 
the process. The late Mr. John Parry was an acquaintance 
of mine, and he was not experimenting in the Daguerreo- 
type at that period ; if he had been, I think I should have 
been aware of it, and especially so if he had taken any 
photograph ®f Dr. Dalton. Mr. Beard of London (the 
gentleman who purchased the patent of the Daguerreotype 
process for England) opened a photographic gallery on 
November 18, 1841, in rooms over the Manchester Ex- 
change ; and the late Mr. Nicklin was the principal photo- 
grapher, and through my acquaintance with that gentleman 
Dr Dalton received an invitation to sit for a photograph. 
The Dr. did not give his consent willingly, and his intimate 
friend the late Mr. Peter Clare had much difficulty in get- 
ting him down to the gallery. When in the photographic 
room the Dr. intimated that he would not sit for more than 
one picture, but Mr. Nicklin contrived to take three por- 
traits. Mr. Peter Clare had one of these; Mr. John Dale 
Proceedings — Lit. & Phil. Soc. — Vol. XYII. — No. 4 — Session 1877-8. 
