This work presents a detailed picture of middle-class family life in mid-Victorian England, which is full of charm and wit and is almost without parallel. Claire Constable's happy discovery of the vast Constable family archive of letters and personal journals has allowed her to share this remarkable story of one of photography's pioneers. In the current digital age, when pictures are instant and disposable, it is hard to imagine the excitement that greeted the opening of William Constable's Photographic Institution in Brighton in 1841. However, the excitement was such that even Prince Albert and his brothers came to have their portraits made. Before taking up photography, William Constable's life had been far from dull. In 1806, William, his brother Daniel and their dog Frank went to America and travelled for two years. They covered thousands of miles, largely on foot, while writing letters home that vividly described the new world. The Constables of Brighton and Reigate also details William's nephew Clair James Grece who was also a pioneer, but in the field of local democracy. Clair became the first Town Clerk of Reigate in Surrey in 1841, a post he was to hold for more than forty years.