A chance observation in an old newspaper has led to the discovery of two photos of Wick in the Royal Collection.
The photographs are held at Windsor because they were gifted to Queen Victoria by the Earl of Caithness in 1865.
What’s more, they are early examples of the work of Alexander Johnston, who with his brother James and the following two generations created a massive photographic record of Caithness in more than 100,000 images, known as the Johnston Photographic Collection.
Wick Society is custodian of the collection.
Their chairman Ian Leith sparked the detective trail to uncover the photographs when he spotted a small entry in an 1865 John O’Groats Journal stating that the Earl of Caithness had presented two Johnston photographs to Queen Victoria.
He wrote to the Curator of Photographs at Royal Collection Trust to find out more and received confirmation that they did indeed hold the photographs.
Mr Leith said: “They kindly sent copies to us.
“The Johnston team then began to trawl through the collection, and both have indeed been identified as Johnston photographs.
“Both depict scenes in Wick Bay, one showing the launch of the Ketty on the north side of the bay and the other depicting a stormy setting showing the schooner ‘Hunter’ during an easterly gale in February 1864.”
Alexander Johnston, born 1839, set up as a photographer in 1863.
The Royal Collection had previously recorded that the Wick photos were a gift to the Queen from the Earl of Caithness, but didn’t identify the photographer.
Mr Leith said: “As a result, the Royal Collection has been able to update their records, and the newly-identified Johnston photographs will soon be viewable on their website.”
While the Johnston team have managed to find the original of the ‘Ketty’ photograph, they’re still trawling the collection for the original plate of the 1864 gale image.
Mr Leith said: “While the Johnstons were great photographers, their record-keeping wasn’t so good.”
The two photos are held at Windsor in a 7×5” maroon leather-bound album with gilt decorative detail.
Prince Albert started a collection of albums, and this one is particularly poignant for bearing the inscription: “All the Photographs in this Volume as far as Page 10 were collected and arranged by His Royal Highness The Prince Consort 1860-61.”
Prince Albert died in 1861, and thereafter the album was added to by Queen Victoria.
Full of portraits of British and European royalty and aristocracy, the album also contains a handful of photographs taken at Balmoral, including an 1865 portrait of John Brown with his dog Tumbie, as well as an unidentified gentleman in full Highland regalia, and a landscape of Loch Dhu.
