State Library of South Australia

Portrait of Corporal William Hill, 1st Adelaide Rifles [B 73609/1] • Photograph

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Summary

A half-plate hand-coloured ambrotype of Corporal William Hill in the uniform of the 1st Adelaide Rifles with corporal's chevrons, holding an Enfield rifle. A printed scorecard (until recently affixed to the rear of the frame) for a match between the Adelaide and Strathalbyn shooting clubs, held on Easter Monday, 28 March 1864, has the name of the winner of the competition highlighted in red ink, one Sergeant Hill.

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Physical description

1 photograph : ambrotype, black and white (tinted) ; 9.6 x 7.4 cm

Dates / Publication details

1862

Collection

Part of Portrait Collection

Subject

Hill, William

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

The original ornate frame is of wood surrounded by attractive moulded plaster painted to match (external dimensions 220 x 195 mm, internal dimensions 132 x 107 mm). The half-plate image, nominally 160 x 100 mm, has been matted down to a visible image size of 95 x 72 mm, with a slightly arched top. [From vendor's catalogue.]

Historical information

"William Hill transferred to the City Rifles in October 1862 with the rank of sergeant; prior to that, he had been promoted to the rank of corporal in July 1861, while a member of the 1st Adelaide Rifles. [Many thanks to local military historian Tony Harris for his invaluable assistance in identifying the uniform and William Hill.] The ambrotype is still in its original frame, complete with the recycled newspaper used to seal the verso. Extraordinarily, and with much thanks to our digital overlords, we have been able to identify it as a sheet from Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of 2 February 1862; the reports on the New Hartley Colliery disaster were the clues. At about the same time the newspaper ended up in the framer's recycled paper bin (having made its way by sea from England and been read in Adelaide), William Hill, wearing his corporal's uniform, had this unique image taken of himself as a well equipped and accoutred volunteer; we suggest this happened around the winter of 1862." [From vendor's catalogue.]

Digitisation information

Date

11/02/2014

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

3,500 x 3,953 pixels (13.8 MP)

Size

41.55 MB

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