William Thompson in Weymouth, Dorset

 

'WILLIAM THOMPSON
1822–1879
NATURALIST AND
PIONEER OF UNDERWATER
PHOTOGRAPHY
LIVED HERE'

It was here in the town of Weymouth, at 11 Frederick Place, that William Thompson also worked as a solicitor, although this certainly wasn't of great interest to him: amazingly, in 1856 – when photography was still in its very early years – he produced the first ever underwater photograph. This, as is perhaps to be expected, was a little fuzzy, although it is clear that Thompson had photographed rocks and seaweed.