stereoscopic photograph & stereograph

Summary

Studio portrait of Mrs Mary Hartley, in commemoration of her donation to the Royal National Lifeboat Institutution. Full length standing pose. Mrs Hartley holds a certificate of thanks and is stood next to a covered table on which is presented a model of a lifeboat. Painted backdrop with boats and harbour scene. Mrs Hartley wears silk dress with full skirt and fitted sleeve with double puffs at upper arm. Part of a stereoscopic series including 2008.40.4.3 Printed on the back is a caption: "THE LIFEBOAT/ In May 1861, the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION presented its thanks, inscribed / on vellum, to MRS. MARY HARTLEY, of Bideford, in admiration of her zealous services in col- /lecting nearly £300 to enable the Society to pay the cost of a Lifeboat; and as a further mark of / its high appreciation of Mrs. Hartley's valuable exertions in the cause of humanity, a Model of the / Lifeboat, as represented on the other side, was presented to her by the Institution." /