User:Caoimhe Byrne/sandbox

Early Life and Family

James Stack Lauder (Jacques Lafayette), who used James Lafayette as his professional name in his later career, was a portrait photographer born in Dublin on the 22nd of January 1853. He lived on Blessington Street in Co. Dublin with his five brothers and four sisters. He was the eldest son of Edmond Stanley Lauder and Sarah Harding Lauder. Sarah Harding was matron of Parsonstown Union workhouse. His father Edmond Lauder, who was an established and successful photographer, set up a photography studio in the early 1850s, known under the trading name of Lauder Brothers. Lauder brothers expanded and had three studios in Dublin. These were located at 45 Sackville Street lower, renamed O'Connell Street, and 22 and 32 Westmoreland Street. These studios along with other well regarded photography studios were situated on the photographic mile.

Westmoreland Street in the early 20th century

For a short time in the 1870s, James experimented with painting in France and Germany but realised that he did not wish to pursue a career in such art. Growing up, Lafayette and his brothers would have spent time helping in their father’s three studios and so in 1880 at the age of 27, along with his three brothers, Lafayette decided to set up a new photographic studio. Introducing the name Lafayette, helped James to create a new image for his business that became known to mirror Parisian art and culture. With his firm shortly later recognised as the leading portrait studio in Ireland, Lafayette was thriving in the photography business.