Henry Beaufoy Merlin (1830–1873) was an Australian photographer, showman, illusionist and illustrator. In the 1850s he worked as a theatrical showman and performer in Sydney, Newcastle and Maitland. In 1863, he was the first person to introduce Pepper's ghost to Australia. After this, he took up photography and between 1869 and 1872 turned the American Australasian Photographic Company into one of the most respected studios in Australia. Between 1872 and 1873, he worked extensively documenting the goldfields and mining towns of New South Wales. In 1873, as an employee of Bernhardt Holtermann, he photographed Sydney and many rural New South Wales towns. He died on 27 September 1873.Geoff Barker, Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018
Early life
Merlin was born in Norfolk, England, the son of a chemist, Frederick Merlin, and his wife, Ann Harriet (nee Beaufoy). He was baptised in Wells-next-the-Sea in March 1830.England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975 Merlin and his mother arrived in Sydney from London on 8 December 1848.
In 1851, Ann Harriet married Henry John Forster.Bradshaw also notes that Merlin's step-father, Henry Forster, had sometimes appeared in reports as 'Foster'. Richard Bradshaw, 'Henry Beaufoy Merlin', Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald records that the bride's name was Anne Harriett Murlin, daughter of Benjamin Beaufoy. and R. Bradshaw, 'The Merlin of the South', Australasian Drama Studies, no. 7, Oct 1985, 87. After his mother's marriage to Foster, Merlin took to using a number of different names before finally settling on Beaufoy Merlin, leading to some confusion around his early history.R. Bradshaw, 'The Merlin of the South', Australasian Drama Studies, no. 7, Oct 1985, 87.
Theatrical showman
In May 1853, Henry Murlin took out a licence to establish a Marionette theatre, 'executed with mechanical figures.'These shows, popular in London, were a mixture of technology, farce and music incorporating live actors, puppets, panoramas, magic lantern shows and song. Geoff Barker, Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018 Merlin opened in the old Olympic Circus building in Castlereagh Street and a month later went on the road with the 'burlesque theatre' holding a number of shows, including a performance of Bombastes Furioso by William Rhodes.Unknown, 'Classified Advertising', The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, (1 June 1853), 3.
By 1855, Merlin had set up an amateur theatre in Maitland where he started referring to himself as Henry B. Muriel. Around the middle of 1856, Merlin opened a 'beautiful little' theatre in High Street named the 'Queen's Theatre' which accommodated 300 people. The Following year, after the Maitland theatre burned to the ground, he moved to Newcastle, where he worked as a manager, actor and painter of scenery for 'The Newcastle Theatre.'Unknown, 'Newcastle', The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, (3 February 18573), 2.
After a few shows, Merlin left Newcastle and, in May 1857, he applied for a license to exhibit panoramas in Sydney. A year later, he was still in Sydney, and in June 1858, he opened a new exhibition at the Lyceum Theatre, Sydney.Unknown, 'Sydney', Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle, (19 June 1858), 2.
Merlin's Indian panorama, painted by himself and a Mr. Guy, seems to have involved a series of scrolling panoramic scenes and projections over which a narrator would recount tales, offer scientific snippets, sing songs and offer humorous vignettes.Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018 Within a few weeks of its, opening Merlin added a new scene to the production titled The Storming of Delhi, from the Cashmere [sic.] Gate, presumably highlighting events from the Indian rebellion the year before.Unknown, 'Advertising', Empire, (21 June 1858), 1. At the end of November 1858 Merlin sold the 'Indian Panorama'.for notes on the auctioneer Robert Muriel sharing the same last name being used by Merlin -see Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018
While details of Merlin's general movements are sketchy, over the next few years by 1863, he was back in England. In January, Henry Beaufoy Merlin married Louisa Eleanor Foster at the church of St Mary in Bow, Middlesex, and it was under this name that he and Louisa moved back to Australia.R. Bradshaw, 'The Merlin of the South', Australasian Drama Studies, no 7, Oct 1985, 121. By July Merlin was settled in Melbourne where he embarked on a new theatrical enterprise which projected a spectral illusion onto a stage.Unknown, 'Parliamentary Intelligence', The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, (14 August 1863), 3.
This spectral illusion, popularly known as Pepper's ghost, used a series of angled sheets of glass to project a ghost onto the stage alongside the actors. A provisional patent had been lodged in England by John Henry Pepper and Henry Dircks in February 1863, and this may have been why it was possible for Merlin to lodge one here in Australia.Professor Pepper, The True Story of the Ghost, Cassell and Co., London, 1890, 4.for more on the possible sources of Merlin's knowledge of the illusion and challenges to the patent, see Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018
Merlin's consortium was the first to successfully perform the trick for the theatre here in Australia and the first play they chose was a popular drama entitled The Castle Spectre. It was well received according to contemporary accounts.Unknown, 'News and Notes', The Star, (10 August 1863), 2.
In late September, he was presenting 'The Ghost' in Castlemaine, Victoria, but with no theatrical accompaniment. Instead, the illusion was presented by Merlin himself as part of a lecture on spiritualism.Unknown, 'The Ghost Again', Mount Alexander Mail, (29 September 1863), 2. When a presentation of 'The Ghost' arrived at the Victoria Theatre in Adelaide in October 1863, it was Woollaston and a Mr. Solomon who were being credited as the main instigators.Unknown, 'Topics of the Day', The South Australian Advertiser, (17 October 1863), 2.
Photographer 1865–1872 On 21 January 1865, H. Merlin opened the 'Kyneton Photographic Studio' in Piper Street, Kyneton, a small town in northern Victoria. The studio was completed at considerable expense and advertised instantaneous portraits, landscape and stereoscopic views, enlargements from carte de visites in crayon and in oil, as well as an operating room, 'constructed on the principle recently designed by Mr Matheson of the Crystal Palace, and until the present occasion, never introduced to this colony.H Merlin, 'Advertising', The Kyneton Observer, (26 January 1865), 3.
Importantly, Merlin was already advertising his services to take photographs of public buildings and private residences, 'at moderate terms and on the shortest notice', as this would become one of the features of the American and Australasian Photographic Company. However, it seems Merlin had dangerously extended his credit to set up the studio and without enough customers, was, by May 1865, filing for insolvency. In particular, he pointed out how 'he had been deprived by the owner of the use of certain necessary implements he had on hire for the purpose of carrying on his business.'Unknown, 'New Insolvents', The Age, (6 May 1865), 7.for comments on the deficiency sought by creditors and Merlin's wealth see Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018
By December 1865, the insolvency proceedings had been resolved and, with no more creditors, Merlin appears to have moved to Ballarat where his mother, now a widow, was also living.Although she was travelling under the name of Mrs Forster, her husband had died in 1856. R. Bradshaw, 'The Merlin of the South', Australasian Drama Studies, no 7, Oct 1985, 106. Included in a description of the Ballarat District Exhibition for 1866, photographs by Roberts and Merlin of Ballarat are mentioned alongside Mrs Forster's wax flowers and fruits, which were described as being, 'so beautiful that it is difficult to wish for anything better.'Unknown, 'Ballarat District Exhibition', The Ballarat Star, (3 September 1866), 4.
By February 1869, his contemporaries were touting him as a successful travelling landscape photographer, and he was working on an album of landscapes for His Excellency the Governor of Victoria as well as taking photographs for the Prince of Wales who was to visit Sydney in the same year.Unknown, 'Landscape Photography', Border Watch, (17 February 1869), 2.
In June 1869, he was at Emerald Hill giving a 'highly-interesting and instructive lecture, The Pilgrim's Progress, illustrated with beautiful dissolving views.' His experiences over this period must have convinced him that there was money to be made taking landscape and architectural views, but the failure of his studio in Kyneton and his prior experience as a travelling showman seem to have encouraged him to set up a different kind of photographic business. On 21 June 1869, he formed the American and Australasian [sometimes recorded as Australian] Photographic Company (AAPC).
Initially, the office in Melbourne was located at 73 Little Collins Street but it seems Merlin opened a second office at 4 Barrack Street, Sydney, in September 1869.On 16 September 1869 an advertisement for the American and Australasian Photographic Company records the sole main office as being 73 Little Collins Street. A second advertisement from 28 September adds a second city office at 4 Barrack Street Sydney. Unknown, 'Advertising', The Record, (16 September 1869), 7 and 'Advertising', Ovens and Murray Advertiser, (28 September 1869), 3. Although the AAPC offices were located in the city, much of the business was being done in rural areas. The AAPC business model adopted a new methodology to increase efficiency and mitigate the costs of travelling to country towns. And this seems in part shaped by the many years Merlin had spent promoting his theatrical events.For comments on this model and the employing other photographers, including Charles Bayliss, see Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018
Firstly, advertisements in local papers would alert the residents that a representative of the company would be arriving. Once there, the photographer would take a photograph of every house and building. The negatives would then be sent back to head office where they could be stored. As orders came in, either through the AAPC photographer or AACP representatives in the town, prints were made and sent to the purchaser.Unknown, The Benalla Ensign and Farmer's and Squatter's Journal, (8 October 1869), 2.
This approach appears to have been set in place almost from the inception of the company. In September 1869, the company arrived in Beechworth, where advertisements in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser stated the town's residences would be photographed.'Advertising', Ovens and Murray Advertiser, (25 September 1869), 2.
As the year drew to a close, Merlin still appears to have been handling the bulk of the photography work.Merlin is the photographer mentioned in the advertisements but it is presumed that Charles Bayliss was also travelling with him. see Henry Beaufoy Merlin Showman and Photographer, 2018 The AAPC advertisements from this period also make it clear he was making his way towards Sydney through Emerald Hill (June), Beechworth (September), Shepparton (October) and Wangaratta (November). In December, he was at the El Dorado Goldfields, where he photographed the turning of the sod for the Devon Company's first mine shaft.'El Dorado', Ovens and Murray Advertiser, (7 December 1869), 4.