Serjeant Ballantine before 1882

This portrait of Serjeant Ballantine by Lock & Whitfield was made sometime in the 19th century using a photographic process. It’s important to understand that portraiture in this era became more accessible to the middle classes thanks to photography, challenging traditional notions of who deserved to be represented. The image and accompanying text offer a glimpse into the life of a prominent lawyer within the British legal system. Ballantine's success speaks to the social mobility possible within Victorian England, but we should also consider how the legal system itself served to uphold existing social hierarchies. Historians might explore legal archives, census records, and period newspapers to further contextualize Ballantine's career, as well as books of photography and printed ephemera to better understand the institutional histories of portraiture and the emerging status of photography in Britain.