Hugh Welch Diamond (1808-1886)

Artist associated with 3 portraits
From 1848 to 1858 Diamond took photographs documenting the facial expressions of patients suffering from mental disorders at the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum where he was Superintendent of the Female Department. An avid amateur, he made his first photograph just three months after William Henry Fox Talbot introduced his invention of photography in 1839. Diamond held weekly gatherings of artistic friends at his home, which developed into the Photographic Society of London. Diamond was a founding member, Secretary, and editor of the Society's Photographic Journal for ten years. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, he also photographed antiquities and wrote articles on photography for an antiquarian periodical.