Photographic portrait of Rev. William Curnow, Wesleyan minister and journalist, Sydney, 1865-68

Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format (107 x 64 mm, mount; 60 x 48 mm, oval image); inscribed beneath image in ink in a contemporary hand 'Rev. W. Curnow'; recto and verso with imprint of J.H. Newman, 53 South Head Road, Sydney; recto with light staining and rubbing.

Wesleyan Methodist clergyman and journalist William Curnow (1832-1903) arrived in Sydney from Cornwall in 1854. In the years that followed he served as a Wesleyan minister in Newcastle, Maitland, Brisbane and Ipswich, then in separate parishes in Sydney (1862-65 and 1865-68) and Goulburn (1868-1871), before being based permanently in Sydney from 1871. He later worked as an editor on the Fairfax owned Sydney Mail and Sydney Morning Herald, serving as chief editor of the latter newspaper for 15 years from 1886 until shortly before his death. For a biography of Curnow see the entry in the ADB online. 

Davies and Stanbury (Mechanical Eye) list the photographer, J.H. Newman, at his 53 South Head Road address between 1865 and 1869. In all likelihood, therefore, this studio portrait of Newman was taken between 1865 and 1868.