combining many separate photographs of individual participants within a single, large-scale frame, Topley captured the scale of the event along with the details of each person’s costume. By the late 1870s, Topley had become the official photographer to John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll during his time as Governor General of Canada. This position attracted the attention of many politicians and other prominent figures who visited his studio to have their portraits taken. Over the span of his career, Topley photographed every prime minister of Canada from John A. Macdonald to William Lyon Mackenzie King. Furthermore, his studio also attracted the wives and daughters of nobility, political and business figures including Princess Louise, Lady Aberdeen and Laura Borden. Topley admittedly catered to the well-to-do crowd, once writing that "If I can see beauty in the human face, and reproduce it, I can command three times the reward for my work than he who simply shoots a plate at his patron. True, in a small city, such a course limits trade, but one-half of the business with three times the prices is much better for mind and body and pocketbook." Nonetheless, Topley is also known for his photographs of immigrants arriving at Quebec City commissioned by the Department of the Interior in the early twentieth century. In 1907, Topley's son William DeCourcy took over his studio. By this time, business had declined significantly and the studio was closed in July 1926. Throughout his long career as a photographer in Ottawa, Topley was involved with a variety of evangelical and philanthropic organizations. He was a member of the Ottawa Bible Society and served as president of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Ottawa in 1871 and 1881. Topley was also a founding member of the Camera Club of Ottawa (established in 1894), a Sunday school superintendent at the Dominion Methodist Church in Ottawa, and was involved in the Metropolitan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Following the closure of his studio, Topley spent much time with his daughter Helena in Edmonton. He died at Vancouver in 1930. The village of Topley in British Columbia is named in his honour. Gallery References External links William Topley: Exposure on Ottawa (39 minute podcast) at Library and Archives of Canada Camera Club of Ottawa, 75 Years of Photography, published 1970 Topley Studi fonds (R629) at Library and Archives Canada 1845 births 1931 deaths