Update on William Saville-Kent
added 4 May 2006
Photography
William Saville-Kent was a noted photographer and I am indebted to Ray Williams for this letter written by Saville-Kent that throws light on the subject
The Rowans, Wallington
Surrey - 22.1.'98
Dear Mr Morton Middleton
Thank you for yours of the 20th inst. I shall look [at] your Notes to Nature on the Camaeleons [sic] at the earliest opportunity*. I had five myself this last summer and autumn; in fact only lost the last about two weeks ago. They all proved to be females and after laying a number of eggs (unfertilised) died. I wonder whether your experiences were in any way analogous.
[The paragraph below, as a side-note marked by an asterisk, is written along the left-hand side of the page at right-angles to the rest of the letter.]
* Anger and fear evinced in Chamaeleons [sic] (as observed by myself) by puffing up of their bodies, gaping mouths, hissing, and a rocking to and fro on two stilt-stiff legs. Have made some characteristic sketches ther[e]anent.
I am contributing a paper mostly on Lizard life in Australia with lantern illustrations at the Camera Club Meeting on Thursday. They have put a liberal number of Invitation Cards at my disposal. In case you or friends may care to make use of them I enclose a couple.
Yours very sincerely
W. Saville-Kent
PS The C.C. Meetings are I regret for members only. I enclose a fairly successful little snapshot which will appear among the slides, as a solatium.
R. Morton Middleton Esqr
FLS
"Founded in 1885, The Camera Club is one of the oldest and most distinguished photographic societies in Englnad, and many notable figures in the history of photography have been members. The club owns its' own London clubhouse This enables it to offer the outstanding facilities to members, which many might otherwise find almost unavailable or unaffordable. The club promotes interest in all aspects of photography as an art form accessible to all, and welcomes members who enjoy photography at all experience levels, young and old, amateur and professional.
To find out more about the club, and the facilities, events and services which it offers to members, please click on the index pages to your left.
16 Bowden Street, London SE11 4DS. _Phone: 020 7587 1809_www.thecameraclub.co.uk"
Regrettably the Clubs records were destroyed by German bombs in World War II so we have no record of WSK's membership.
Saville-Kent in Darwin in 1888
I have just discovered a photograph of HMS Myrmidon in Darwin taken by Foescher. The note accompanying the photo in the South Australian Musuem on line exhibition says that the photographer,Paul Foelsche, assisted Saville-Kent in his surveys of the coasts off Port Darwin. Foelsche was the Northern Territory's first police inspector, commanding its police force from 1870 to 1904. He not only policed the Top End - he also recorded it, in meticulous detail.
Pearl Culture
Now that the National Library has begun to digitise old newspapers more information is emerging on the visit to Australia of Tokichi Nishikawa and of Saville-Kent’s voyage back to England in 1908.
For theoriginal material on Saville-Kent Please click here then choose Fisheries Pages and scroll down to Biographies. William Saville-Kent is the first on the list.