Peter Wickens Fry
Peter Wickens Fry (1795-1860) was a pioneering English amateur photographer, although professionally he was a London solicitor. In the early 1850s, Fry worked with Frederick Scott Archer, assisting him in the early experiments of the wet collodion process. He was also active in helping Roger Fenton to set up the Royal Photographic Society in 1853. Several of his photographs are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Born at Compton Bishop, Somerset, the son of Peter Fry (c1768-1846) and Joanna Chapman. He had two younger brothers and two sisters. His younger brother Bruges later lived at Hill House in Cheddar and Peter lived at Compton House in Compton Bishop.[
Trained as a solicitor and began his career in the legal profession but later he became one of the pioneers of photography in the country
In the early 1840s he developed an interest in the emerging art of photography. He apparently experimented with photogenic drawing before Henry Fox Talbot developed the calotype process in 1841. The first stage of experimentation was with daguerreotype portraits. His interest and developments in photography led to his being elected to the Society of Arts (RSA) in 1845. He established the Calotype Club to pursue his keen interest with friends at his own home.