A stop to further travels

I have always assumed that Morris uses the customary rules of documentary. Recreation of moments is commonplace, interrupting action to allow a camera to change position is normal, repetition of interviews is de rigueur, slicing, dicing and restacking statements is part of the craft. I am left to wonder if he is fascinated by this situation precisely because the nitpicking seems so outlandish.

But I started to write this because I am taken by the picture of Marcus Sparling, who was described by Morris’ informant Gordon Baldwin like this:

Sparling is a fairly funny character. He isn’t simply Fenton’s assistant although he functions that way for a long time and advertised himself as being assistant to Mr Fenton. He was a very smart guy. He wrote a manual on photography that is extraordinarily clear and beautifully phrased, but he didn’t have Fenton’s class advantages.

Sparling returned the favour, photographing his master/colleague dressed as a Zoave:

According to this genealogy thread Marcus was born in 1826 in Ireland, and became a printer by trade. He enlisted in the 4th Light Dragoons in 1846, after which he joined the regimental band. In 1850 he is said to have “constructed a field camera with ten wooden frames in a magazine”. After marrying, he left the army in 1853, paying a £20 bounty. He was lucky - this regiment was cut to pieces at the Charge of the Light Brigade, and his comrades-in-arms slaughtered. He had four sons: the youngest was called Omar, who apparently became a prize fighter, killed a man in the ring and fled to America before deserting his wife, Veronica, and three children. Veronica went insane and the children were committed to orphanages. That tale is so conventional I wonder about its accuracy.

Marcus Spurling’s book on photography, Theory and Practice of the Photographic Art, was published after he came home from the Crimea in 1856. Though he had cheated death once, he did not have long to live - here are the details of his death certificate:

Marcus Sparling, male aged 39 yrs, Photographic Artist. Cause of death, Hepatitis 6 week, Palore-absess Certified. Informant Jane Ball, present at death at 57 Gerard St. Liverpool Registered on 20 April 1860.

I hope there is more of him in the visual record than a) one absurd photo of his employer and b) perhaps the first ever photograph of a truly alarmed man.