Mary Rosse
Mary Field Rosse, (1813-1885) Countesse of Rosse, was a British amateur astronomer and pioneering photographer. She was one of the early practitioners of making photographs from waxed-paper negatives.
Life
Rosse was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1813, the daughter of a wealthy estate owner. Through her family she met William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, and they were married in 1836. In the early 1840s both William and Mary became interested in astronomy, and she helped her husband build a giant telescope that was considered a technological marvel in its time. She was an accomplished blacksmith, which was very unusual for higher class women of this time, and much of the iron work that supported the telescope was constructed by her. During the Great Famine of 1845-47, she was responsible for keeping over five hundred men employed in work in and around Birr Castle where she and her husband lived. Mary gave birth to eleven children, but only four survived until adulthood. She died in 1885.
Photography
In 1842 William began experimenting in daguerreotype photography, possibly learning some of the art from his acquaintance William Henry Fox Talbot. In 1854 Lord Rosse wrote to Fox Talbot saying that Lady Rosse had just commenced photography as well, and he sent some examples of her work. He replied saying that some of her photographs of the telescope "are all that can be desired". Lady Rosse was a member of the Dublin Photographic Society and received a silver medal for "best paper negative" from the Photographic Society of Ireland in 1859. Fox Talbot was reportedly very impressed with her work, especially her close-ups of the telescope. Many examples of her work are in the Birr Castle Archives. Her work has unusual significance because most of the scenes she took of Birr Castle have remained unchanged to this day, and it is possible to directly compare many of her original photographs with the actual places.
References
Taylor, Roger. Impressed by the Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840, 1860. (NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007)