Rosamond, Ela and Matilda Talbot standing in the cloister at Lacock Abbey by WHF Talbot

A salted paper print of William Henry Fox and Constance Talbot's daughters Rosamond, Ela and Matilda standing in the cloister of thier family home at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.

Before photography was invented, if you wanted to capture a scene you had to draw it. Frustrated by his poor drawing skills, William Henry Fox Talbot turned to chemistry instead. He experimented at home at Lacock Abbey, taking photographs of his house, gardens and family. He also travelled the world with his wife Constance, experimenting with photography. They were part of a community of people with time and money to spend on the new science of photography.

Talbot was one of a group of wealthy, dedicated experimenters tried different processes and shared their findings with each other.His work was central to photographic discovery in Britain. In 1834 he discovered the photographic negative process, though he did not share this with the world until 1839.