Lawson Insley
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Lawson Insley was a daguerreotyptist who operated in Australia and New Zealand during the 19th century.[1] He worked in portraiture and captured the earliest known portrait of Māori subjects.[2][3]
Insley arrived in Sydney in 1850. He set up a daguerreotype studio on George Street in September that year. Throughout the 1850s, Insley travelled between Australia and New Zealand, setting up studios and offering his services in portraiture.[4]
His most significant portrait was that of Caroline and Sarah Barrett, the daughters of trader Dicky Barrett and his wife Wakaiwa Rawinia. It was taken in New Plymouth in 1853.[3] He also took New Zealand's oldest surviving photograph, a portrait of Edward Catchpool in 1852.[5]
