Emily Peacock (1871) Julia Margaret Cameron
Miss Peacock and her sister appear in a large number of Julia Margaret Cameron's photographs between 1871 and 1875, but very little is known of her because she was not local. For models such as the Keowns and all the many Marys, finding them is easy as Freshwater is not a massive place in 1861 and so tracking them down and following them through birth, marriage, census and death records is fairly easy. Not only that but they crop up in local newspapers because in a small place, everything is news. I love tracing people in small areas with a thriving local press, it's ever so much fun. So, where does that leave us with the lovely Miss Peacock?And Enid Sang (1874) Julia Margaret Cameron
Books such as Tracing Echoes (2001) by Nicky Bird and Julia Margaret Cameron's Women (1998) by Sylvia Wolf made an effort to find out more about the various models, but poor Emily escaped them both. All that could be said was that she was probably a visitor to Freshwater between 1871 and 1875 as no Peacocks were resident in the 1871 census. In order to trace her, you would have to find every Emily Peacock in the World and work out if they were likely to be in Freshwater on holiday in 1871. Sounds like fun, eh?Emily Peacock (1873) Julia Margaret Cameron
You know me, I love a challenge (or rather my Aspergers manifests in my inexhaustible need to find out everything about everyone), so I could not let this one go. After all, Miss Emily Peacock is a pretty important model for at least four years of Julia Margaret Cameron's career. She deserves to be recognised as one of the faces of Cameron's work when it comes to some icon pictures such as Ophelia and And Enid Sang. Where to start?Aurora (1871-5) Julia Margaret Cameron
Always start with what we know: we can be fairly sure her name is Emily Peacock as that is written against her images. In the images of 1871-5 she looks around 20 years old, so we are looking for someone born in the early 1850s. We also know her sister was called Mary...The Sisters (Emily and Mary Peacock) (1873) Julia Margaret Cameron
Therefore we are looking for Emily and Mary Peacock, born in the early 1850s. That narrows it down a bit because although there are loads of Emily Peacocks, there are only a handful that have a sister called Mary (or Maria or anything that could be shortened to Mary). Marvellous. We can thin out the field further by making a reasonable assumption. If the Peacock family were not residents in Freshwater during the 1870s it is fair to say that they were on holiday at Freshwater when Mrs Cameron discovered the sisters. As Emily appears in images over a few years, the family had to be rich enough to take an annual holiday over at least four years. There is a sea of Agricultural Labourers (or Ag Labs, as they are often called), who cannot be expected to continually visit the Isle of Wight to pose for Mrs Cameron. Not only that, why did Emily stop? So who are we left with? Well, my money is on Miss Emily Denman Peacock and here's why...The Sisters (1873) Julia Margaret Cameron
First of all, I'll start with Mr Peacock, Emily and Mary's father. He is mentioned in a couple of Cameron's biographies, but not particularly flatteringly. Mr Peacock is described in Brian Hill's 1973 biography of Cameron as a 'neighbour' in Freshwater, but everywhere else as a 'visitor', so it can be guessed that he stayed in a house close to Dimbola for extended periods. Anyway, to quote from Hill's book:"His daughters were goodlooking enough to sit for Julia, but their father was an affected individual who was always stressing his devotion to 'the beautiful'. He was foolhardy enough to remark one day to Mrs Cameron that really it would be a good thing if all plain people were quietly eliminated. 'At which I said to the man, whom I hate, "Then what would become of you and me, Mr Pocock?"' She was quite aware, of course, of his proper name." (p.125-126)He sounds smashing. However, that does give you an idea of how Mr Peacock regarded himself and his place in the world. He doesn't sound much like an agricultural labourer to me. Anyway, armed with that bit of delightful fascism, I went in search of a man of independent means (and over inflated ego). Sadly, you can't search for 'cockwomble' in a census. 'Quietly eliminated', for heaven's sake.
Three King's Daughters Fair (Mary and Emily Peacock and Annie Chinery)
(1873) Julia Margaret Cameron
I See a Hand You Cannot See (1874) Julia Margaret Cameron
In the 1871 census, Samuel Peacock is described as a 'Master Printer' and employed four men and two boys. He was incredibly nouveau riche which possibly explains why he would say something so naff in order to impress people he felt intimidated by. Anyway, as part of 1871, the family traveled to Freshwater to stay and there Julia Margaret Cameron discovered Emily and Mary Peacock...The Angel in the House (1873) Julia Margaret Cameron
It seems that either Emily was more willing and available to pose, or Cameron found her more inspiring because during the four years the girls were on the island, Cameron used Emily on her own as well as occasionally with Mary. She also took portraits of Emily that had no other title other than her name. Emily posed for The Angel in the House, from a poem by Coventry Patmore of the same name, personifying the ideal of docile, middle-class womanhood.Ophelia (1874) Julia Margaret Cameron
Ophelia (1874) Julia Margaret Cameron
Most famous of Cameron's images of Emily has to be her Ophelia photographs, the top one especially. The fragility and concern of her expression and the smattering of foliage underplays her madness beautifully, so you are left with a believable, worrying young woman. The fact you can see the grasp of her fingers in her hair in the first picture, and the furrowing of her brow, is very moving and make these some of the most artistically striking of Shakespeare's doomed heroine.'He thought of that sharp look Mother I gave him yesterday' (1875)
New Year's Eve (1875)
'He thought of that sharp look Mother I gave him yesterday' (1875)Julia Margaret Cameron
I wonder if part of the Peacock family's attempt at middle class-ness in their stay in Freshwater was also to meet Tennyson. Although Mr Peacock sounds a bit of a pretentious and slightly fascist ninny, I can imagine him being impressed by the presence of the poet laureate in the village, maybe even the reason the family stayed there. Imagine how chuffed he must have been when his daughter not only posed for images inspired by the great poet's work, but also posed with the great poet's son! 'He thought of that sharp look Mother I gave him yesterday' from 1875 is from Tennyson's 'The May Queen', and Emily is posed with Lionel Tennyson, young son of the poet, portraying the young May Queen and her erstwhile beau Robin. The middle image, Cameron ascribed to 'New Year's Eve' a different poem, but possibly she intended it to be part of the Robin and May Queen story as well.'For I'm to be the Queen of the May, Mother' (1875)
'So now I think my time is near' (1875)
Julia Margaret Cameron
Egeria (1874) Julia Margaret Cameron
Then Emily disappears from Cameron's art. So what became of her? Did her family just stop holidaying on the Isle of Wight? Did they too object to the scandalously high ferry charges? Did Cameron finally kill Mr Peacock for being an annoying wierdo? Well, if my Emily Peacock is the right Emily Peacock there is a really good reason for why her last appearance is in 1875. Don't worry, she didn't die. She got married. In Australia. That'll do it.Enid (1874) Julia Margaret Cameron
Miss Emily Denman Peacock, daughter of Samuel and Maria, of Herfordshire, married Professor Charles Henry Herbert Cook from Kentish Town, Middlesex on 2nd December 1876 in St Peter's, Victoria, Australia. Charles was a graduate of Cambridge who had just been employed as Professor of Mathematics at Canterbury College, Christchurch, New Zealand. His parents had emigrated to Australia where he had gone to school, returning to England for his degree and meeting Miss Peacock whom he whisked away to Oz.Charles Henry Herbert Cook
There is a lovely biography of Charles here and it seems he and Emily had a pretty decent life together. One of their five children, Charles Frederick Denman Cook died in 1918, during the First World War, of spinal meningitis. Other son Henry studied mathematics like his father and one of their three daughters was called Mary, after Emily's sister.Charles and Emily's grave
Emily died in September 1925 and is buried beside her husband (who had passed in 1910) at the cemetery in Wanganui, Rangitikei in New Zealand.Is this our Emily Peacock? Well, as she had children who married and had children of their own, hopefully somewhere out there (possibly in New Zealand) might be an image of Emily that could be compared to Cameron's photographs. Possibly on a wall in Christchurch hangs a Julia Margaret Cameron print, who knows? I'm really hoping so...