Richard Beard
Richard Beard was an English photographer and businessman who bought the rights to make Daguerreotypes in England. He paid a royalty of £150 per annum - begun shortly before the process was published by the French government. In June of 1841 he obtained outright Daguerre's patent rights in England.
Beard opened London's first studio on 23 March 1841 on the roof of the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now the University of Westminster) in Regent Street, London. Beard became immensely rich on proceeds from this and later studios and his patent rights.
It was Beard who employed various people to improve his business; one of these was J G Goddard, who discovered that adding Bromine to the sensitization process greatly improved the speed of the Daguerreotype plates.
Links
- Beard Daguerreotypes in the National Portrait Gallery in London
- Richard Beard in 2009 Encyclopædia Britannica online
- Beard's Daguerreotype lawsuits by R. Derek Wood
