Pioneering female Victorian photographer with Tipperary connection

On Tuesday

, in London, Bonhams will auction photographs described as “an exceptional archive of images, many previously unrecorded, by one of the most influential and illusive pioneers of fine art photography”.

They are the work of Lady Clementina Hawarden (1822-1865), the daughter of an English admiral and the wife of Cornwallis Maude, the 4th Viscount Hawarden who had an estate, Dundrum House in Co Tipperary. She began taking photographs, mainly family portraits, while living in Ireland and later set up a studio at her house in London's South Kensington.

She is regarded as one of the great pioneers of photography. Most of her surviving photographs are in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, and Bonhams said "The appearance of the present collection is totally unexpected, and represents a remarkable opportunity to obtain images by a photographer whose work is otherwise unobtainable." The estimate is £100,000-£150,000 (€116,049- €174,271).