ANONYMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER

The sitter is believed to be John Peel, the famous huntsman born in 1776 in Caldbeck, Cumberland.

There appears to be very little record of Peel's appearance, a likely consequence of his fame having spread after his death rather than during his life. Peel's reputation can be largely attributed to the song celebrating his hunting prowess, penned by his friend John Woodcock Graves. The five verse "D'ye ken John Peel", originally set to an old Cumberland tune ("Bonnie Annie") was written during the winter of 1829, when Peel and Graves were planning a hunting expedition. The song attracted little attention until George Coward, a Carlisle writer and bookseller, included it in his 1866 book "Songs and Ballads of Cumberland". Because the original verses had been written by Graves in such broad dialect, Coward spent a great deal of time securing copyright and obtaining Graves's consent to revise the wording. In 1869 William Metcalf, choirmaster of Carlisle Cathedral, set the verses to its actual music, which he composed. Metcalf sang the song in 1869 at the annual dinner of the Cumberland Benevolent Institution in London and again in 1874 for the Prince of Wales. The Border Regiment adopted it as their marching song and took it to every corner of the British Empire. At the time of composition, Graves had joked with his friend "By Jove Peel - you'll be sung when we're both run to earth". True to this, Peel's song is indeed one which has firmly established itself in popular estimation.

The daguerreotype was acquired by its present owner with three newspaper cuttings, relating to John Peel and his descendants, inside the case.

A definitive identification of the sitter as John Peel is, however, not straightforward. A number of artists have depicted the huntsman over time, but for the most part it seems unlikely that they saw their subject either in the flesh or from a photographic reproduction. A daguerreotype by an unknown photographer in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London (although now unfortunately lost) is believed to have been taken circa 1845 when it is understood Peel travelled to Carlisle to sit for a photographer. At this time he would have been aged about 69. Peel died in 1854 at the age of 78. The current daguerreotype can be dated to the late 1840s or early 1850s. The plate maker's credit, 'A. Gaudin', is imprinted on the plate, and Gaudin plates were particularly popular in the early 1850s. At this time Peel would have been nearing the end of his life, but the hand-tinting to the image disguises the sitter's true age.

A copy of the conservation report is available on request.