Photograph, cabinet card

Cabinet card portrait of Emily King, wife of Jonathan King, junior. The front bottom of the card is printed with the photographer's name in silver ' W J Barker' 242 St Paul's Road, Highbury, N. Emily married Jonathan King in 1860.
Similarly to his Father, Jonathan was a manufacting stationer based in Euston specialising in the making of valentines and christmas cards. In 1869 on the death of his Father, Jonathan junior & his wife Emily moved to two villas in Essex Road where they established 'The Fancy Valentine Shop'. Alongside the two villas a factory was constructed for the manufacture of greetings cards, valentines and stationery. Here in a work-room under the supervision of their eldest daughter Ellen Rose King, some thirty local girls, men and women made individually unique hand made valentines that there then sold either in the shop or by travelling salesmen. Just before his death in 1912 Jonathan gifted to the Museum a vast collection of toy theatre sheets and theatrical portraits he had accumulated over the previous 50 years