Hervé, Alfred, Count de la Monniere

Introduction:

Profile cutter, portrait miniaturist and latterly grocer and photographer ALFRED HERVÉ (1812-1879) was one of 6 Hervé silhouettists working to a greater or lesser extent in the first half of the 19th century. Settled in London by the beginning of the 18th century, the Hervés were of French Huguenot (Protestant) ancestry. The title 'Count de la Monnière' was bestowed prior to the expulsion of all Huguenots from the country in 1685 and was intermittently resurrected by Alfred, his brother Charles Stanley Hervé (1809 - 1897) and others of their generation to 'enhance' their varying circumstances.

Few bust sized or full length profiles attributable to Alfred Hervé are extant. Most  bear a 'Mr. A. Hervé. 145 Strand' stencil stamp, or are dated and signed 'A. Hervé'. Though plain black profiles are known, virtually all others evidence a dark grey ground overpainted with black or gum arabic, enhanced by well-applied gold, chinese white or mid-grey highlights.

Until recent research Hervé family connections were largely speculative and unfortunately McKechnie's extensive suggestions regarding them in British Silhouette Artists and their Work (1978) are comprehensively in error.

Alfred's father, Charles Hervé (1785 - 1866), was already a profilist by the 1st decade of the 19th century. He later became the proprietor and inventor of 'Prosopographus the Automaton Artist', which, after debuting its profile-taking abilities in London in July 1820, toured England and Scotland extensively until 1835. Of Alfred Hervé's paternal uncles, Francis (1787 - 1851) and more famously, Henry (1783 - 1853) were both silhouettists.

Alfred was the second of 3 sons and 3 daughters born to Charles and Catherine Elizabeth Walpole née Stanley (1784 - 1848) between 1809 - 1821.  Both of Alfred's brothers - lithographer, musician, versifier and author Charles Stanley (1809 - 1897) and Edwin (1816 - 1882) are both recorded profilists and photographers. It's probable all three honed their profile taking skills travelling with their father's 'Prosopographus' enterprise, as in a January 1893 interview in THE PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHER Charles Stanley Hervé relates how he was "...initiated into the art...[of profile taking]...at the early age of sixteen...[owing to his father's]...partial blindness".

First recorded in the BRADFORD OBSERVER of the 6th of February 1834, Alfred Hervé "...from long experience under the tuition of First Masters in London...[offered likenesses]...superior to those of travelling artists in general". Doubtless the 'First Masters' were his father and paternal uncles -  Francis, and Henry who was the most adept of the Hervé profilists, though an absence of further advertising indicates Alfred's travelling career was brief.

However between ca.1837 - 1851 he was most actively employed  at 145 Strand, London, from where he sent 3 portrait miniatures to be exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1841-1843, Bearing the address, a handbill illustrated in McKechnie is headed by a poem likely penned by versifying brother Charles Stanley Hervé, promoting the sentimental worth of profiles. Likenesses are advertised "...TAKEN BY THE INSTRUMENT...For 1 shilling... [or]...Two For 1s.6d".

A bewildering number of Hervé family studios and abodes are recorded in McKechnie. However, between 1851-1859 POST OFFICE directories list him an "Artist" of 158 Strand. 1860 - 1863 directories and the 1861 Census record him "Artist and Photographer" of 260 Oxford St.

As far as known, no silhouette work is recorded after ca. 1850, and though he adopted a photographic career, it's probable keen competition from others in Oxford St. caused Alfred to turn, perhaps surprisingly, to greengrocery for a more stable income. Listed a grocer of 8 Montpelier St., Brompton, London in the 1865 POST OFFICE directory, his father Charles and Alfred's sole surviving offspring would die there in May 1866 and May 1867 respectively.

At some point thereafter, resurrecting his photographic career, Alfred Hervé and wife relocated to the garrison town of Aldershot, Hampshire, where brother Charles Stanley had by 1861 established a photographic studio. The 1875 POST OFFICE and WHITES 1878 directories list both men photographers in the town's Grosvenor Road.

Regarding Alfred Hervé's personal life: in April 1835, aged 23, he was baptised at St. George's Hanover Square, London. In January 1841 he married Charlotte Georgiana Dray (1814 - 1889), daughter of a Walworth surgeon, at St.Mary's Newington, London. Charlotte bore 2 sons: Alfred William (1847 - 1867) and Francis Charles (1851 - 1862). Both predeceased their parents. Charlotte herself died at the Aldershot home of her brother-in-law, Charles Stanley Hervé, in the spring of 1889.

Alfred Hervé's obituary appears in the ALDERSHOT MILITARY GAZETTE 11th January 1879 "on the 6th inst. at Wimbledon, Mr. Alfred Hervé, Photographic Artist (late of Grosvenor Rd., Aldershot) aged 66 years deeply regretted".

Revised 5 March 2024 (Brian Wellings)