Edward King-Tenison
Edward King Tenison was an Irish Whig and Liberal politician and photographer.
Early life and family
Born in 1805 at Kilronan Castle, King Tenison was the son of Thomas Tenison and Lady Frances King. He was also the grandson of Edward King, 1st Earl of Kingston, and cousin of Robert King, 6th Earl of Kingston. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge where he achieved an MA before, in 1825, joining the army and serving as an officer of the 14th Light Dragoons until 1836.Having retired from the army, he then served as a Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff for County Leitrim, County Roscommon and County Sligo, and later became a Lord Lieutenant for Roscommon and Sligo.
In 1838, he married travel writer and artist Lady Louisa Anson, daughter of Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield and Louisa Catherine Philips. Together, they had two children: Louisa Frances Mary and Florence Margaret Christine Tenison.
Photography
In the 1840s, he took up photography, beginning with daguerreotypes and paper negatives, after receiving a licence granted by former Chippenham MP William [Henry Fox Talbot].Between 1850 and 1852, King Tenison and his wife travelled in Spain for their artwork where, as an early adopter of the calotype photographic process, he aroused suspicion and curiosity due to his bulky equipment and outdoor work. The work was later published as Memories of Spain in 1854, while his wife's 50 lithographs appeared in Castile and Anadalucia in 1853.
In 1853, he joined the Photographic Society of London, and first displayed his work at the Great [Industrial Exhibition (1853)|Great Industrial Exhibition] in Dublin. The next year, he then helped to found the Dublin Photographic Society.
Further works of his were later put on display in London between 1854 and 1855, encompassing photos taken using calotype and waxed paper processes in Spain, Belgium and Normandy. He then travelled to Algeria, before concluding his career taking photos in his home nation of Ireland.
An album of his work, calotypes and salt print photos of Ireland taken in 1858, is now preserved in the National Photographic Archive in Dublin, while further work is held in private collections. In 1999, one album was sold at Christie's for more than $10,000.