On the Tayside (Scotland) Maritime History website, the following details emerge about Anckorn:

William Anckorn: Photographer

“W J Anckorn was a Town Councillor in Arbroath and a professional photographer. Many of the modern books on Arbroath gives his name as “Wilfred” but we have it on the good authority of his grandson that his name was, in fact, William John Anckorn. He took a large number of photographs of Auchmithie (and some of Arbroath) in the 1880s and 1890s, many of which he sold as postcards. He was, apparently, a livewire into his eighties and his party piece was standing on his head.”

An advertisement from the 1890 Arbroath Year Book on the site states William Anckorn worked along with his wife as “Art photographers & Publishers, Brothock Bank, Arbroath, N.B. …Under the Special Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen, H.R. H. the Prince of Wales, H.I. and R.H. the Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, &c.”

The advertisement further states:

“We again thank our patrons and the public who have supported us in every branch of the Photographic Art; and, in asking still further patronage, we offer our very best abilities in all work entrusted to our care.  It has been the endeavor of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Anckorn to make, not only a name for themselves, but to give a name in the photographic world to Arbroath.”

Anckorn’s printed on tissue guard and listed in Table des Planches.