Colour Develpment
Bury Knowle, Headington, Oxford, c.1910
Janet and Iris Laing, c.1910
Janet and Iris Laing, c.1914
Janet in Japanese costume, c.1914
Iris and Janet, c.1914
Janet and Iris, c.1911
Etheldreda Janet Laing
(1872-1960)
Etheldreda Janet Winkfield was born in Ely, where her father was headmaster of the King's school. She met Major Charles Miskin Laing in Oxford and they were married in 1895. Charles Laing was a barrister and a member of Oxford City Council. From 1901 until 1923 the family lived in Bury Knowle, a large well-appointed house in Headington, Oxford. Laing was a gifted artist. Before her marriage, she had studied drawing in Cambridge and in later life she discovered a talent for painting miniatures, becoming a member of the Royal Miniature Society. She seems to have taken up photography in the late 1890s and had her own darkroom at Bury Knowle. She first used the Autochrome process in 1908, continuing until about 1915. Her favourite subjects were her two young daughters, Janet and Iris.