In Memoriam: Nichol Elliot

Men of Mark, Photographers, Portrait: Men, Warfare

Dimensions

Image Dimensions: 18.3 x 11.6 | 19.1 x 12.4 cm glued along right margin
Support Dimensions: 19.0 x 24.8 cm

The following poem by Alice Elliot appears full-page opposite this frontis portrait of Nichol Elliot:

To the Memory of Those who Answered the Call.

“That which it was Our Duty to do.”

NOT tears, not tears, ⎯but love’s exultant pride
Fills all my soul,
That of my brethren tens of thousands died
And faced their death like heroes open-eyed
For God’s own Cause, Whose Name be glorified, ⎯
Their shining Goal!

They named it duty, honour, freedom’s call,
But names are nought;
One viewless Power Divine upheld them all
As, jesting at the worst that might befall,
Each soul Eternity’s unwitting thrall,
They marched and fought.

The More than self, the Mightier than to-day
Called trumpet clear;
Past life and death it summond far away;
Up leapt the soul within the stubborn clay, ⎯
And Christ Himself led on their long array
As Pioneer.

They, mortal, rose to meet the Immortal hour, ⎯
Our men, our race:
And howsoe’er the lingering darkness lower,
Our eyes have seen the Spirit come with power,
Our souls have met, where death did worst devour,
God ⎯face to face.

Photographer Saul Langfier

This portrait is credited in the lower right corner of the primary support as follows:

From a Photograph by S. Langfier, Victoria ST., S.W. 1

As noted on the EdinPhoto.org website, Saul Langfier maintained photographic studios at 34-36, Oxford Street and 123a Victoria Street. Confusing matters is that another better known photographer from this period was Louis Saul Langfier, who along with his brother Adolph, were born in Poland and emigrated to Britain. It’s unknown if Saul was an extended family member. Louis Saul Langfier, who had  photographic studios in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, died in 1925.