This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

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Glass plate negatives

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

      CUNDALL & HOWLETT

      Sergeant William Knapp

      1856

      Wet collodion negative | 25.3 x 20.3 cm (whole object) | RCIN 2084908

      10" x 8" glass plate negative showing Sergeant William Knapp seated, facing front, holding a rifle in one of his hands. He is wearing military uniform and has a rucksack on his back. There is a round water bottle and a bearskin hat on the table beside him.

      Sergeant William Knapp served with the Coldstream Guards during the Crimean War. Throughout the war Queen Victoria had taken an active interest in the welfare of the troops and on their return from the Crimea she met a number of the veterans at Buckingham Palace, Chatham Military Hospital and Aldershot Garrison. Following these meetings she commissioned a series of photographs of the veterans from the photographers Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett. 

      The glass plate negative has been photographed showing the coated side and therefore the image appears laterally reversed. Prints from this negative do not seem to exist in the Collection but a variant is represented by RCIN 2500202.

      • Creator(s)

        Cundall & Howlett (photographer)

        Subject(s)

        Army-GB-Infantry-Coldstream Guards (1819-)
        Sergeant William Knapp (active 1855)

      • 25.3 x 20.3 cm (whole object)

      • Commissioned by Queen Victoria

      • Subject(s)
        • Science, Medicine and Technology
          • Industries, Crafts and Trades
            • Clothing
              • Costume
                • Uniforms
                  • Military uniforms
          • Engineering & Technology
            • Military engineering
              • Arms (weapons)
                • Firearms
                  • Guns
        • Arts, Recreation, Entertainment & Sport
          • Plastic arts
            • Numismatics
              • Medals
                • Campaign medals
                  • Crimea Medal (1854-56)
        • Social sciences
          • Military affairs
            • Wars, Campaigns & Battles
              • Wars
                • Wars of the nineteenth century
                  • Crimean War (1853-1856)
        Object type(s)
          • visual works
            • photographs
              • negatives
                • glass plate negatives
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