SHREWSBURY

The first Lafayette studio was founded in Dublin in 1880 by James Stack Lauder, the eldest son of Edmund Lauder, who opened a daguerreotype studio there in 1853. Lafayette met immediate success, exhibiting his work and winning prize medals throughout the world. Lauder joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1884 and in 1885 took his first royal sitting when Princess Alexandra visited Ireland. Two years later he photographed Queen Victoria in Windsor.The coronation of Edward VII and his wife, Alexandra, as king and queen took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 9th August 1902. Originally scheduled for 26th June of that year, the ceremony had been postponed at very short notice, because the King had been taken ill with an abdominal abscess that required immediate surgery.