Horsham’s photography genius

Horsham resident Thomas Honywood had a broad range of interests but, during National Photography Month, we are looking at just one of his talents.

It is claimed that Honywood, born in the town in 1819, brought photography to Horsham. He had an interest in local characters, places and events, but this fascination was a mere sideline to his love of capturing images of nature.

As part of this interest he created a unique way of taking photographs, creating positive prints of nature.

Having done so he was awarded a patent in 1884 and he used this new process to print textiles, tiles, wallpaper and a wide variety of items, with images of ferns, ice crystals, seaweed, spiders’ webs, and bird nests.

The following year he had a stand at the International Inventions Exhibition, held at the Royal Albert Hall.

You can see some of the nature prints in the Thomas Honywood gallery at Horsham Museum & Art Gallery (open Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm).