William James Topley | |
---|---|
Born | 13 February 1845 |
Died | 16 November 1930 | (aged 85)
Occupation | Photographer |
Spouse | Helena de Courcy McDonagh (m. 1872; died 1927) |
William James Topley (13 February 1845 – 16 November 1930) was a Canadian photographer based in Ottawa, Ontario. He was the best known of Ottawa’s nineteenth-century photographers and the most socially prominent one.[1] Topley was noted for his portraiture of Canadian politicians and was a business partner of William Notman, having taken over Notman's Ottawa studio in 1872. A large number of photographs by Topley are now in the collection of Library and Archives Canada, including approximately 150,000 glass plates negatives and a set of 66 index albums covering the entire history of his Ottawa studios from 1868 until 1923.[2]