Strictly speaking the 'Pig' picture is not one of my ancestral photographs. It is of the great-grandfather (John Freeman 1802-?) of an uncle by marriage the Revd. G. Sydney Freeman.

Pasted on the back of this very interesting picture is a handwritten note by my uncle which reads as follows:

"This picture of my great-grandfather hung on the wall of my grandparents' (John 1848-1922 and Louisa Freeman) cottage in Welford, near Rugby. On their deaths it came to me. I do not know its history, or the Christian name of my great-grandfather. He was John Freeman b.1802 at Draughton, Northants.

I submitted the picture to Mr. R. E. Lassan, A.R.P.S., curator of the Fox-Talbot Museum at Lacock, Wilts. He assures me that it is a genuine photograph taken by a professional photographer using the collodion method (though not sure whether wet or dry) and that it would have been touched up (artistically) at the time, after printing, either by the photographer himself or an assistant, probably to give the impression of a painting. Its dating would be in the early 1850s, when the collodion process was introduced.

The frame is the original of maple wood - a wood which Fox-Talbot often used for his frames.

G Sydney Freeman June 1978"

When I showed a copy of this picture to my family history adult education classes in February, 1995 one of the members - Jennifer Lowe - offered to make a pastel drawing of it. This is shown below:

Much to the relief of my aunt (who never liked it) the original is now in the possession of my cousin, Dr Peter Freeman of Lancaster. His brother John, in Bristol, has a photograph of it - and I have my pastel drawing. So now it hangs in three places instead of one!!