South Wales Circuit <1>
March 24. 1854
Dear Talbot
Your letter of the 16th <2> has been waiting for me here at Carmarthen hence the delay in answering it –
I have no opportunity here of seeing the case to which you refer but when I return to town about the 7th April I will endeavour to see it
My own impression is that you would not get an injunction with the evidence upon La Roche <3> at present but Bolton <4> can come & talk it over when I return There is one advantage in going to Chancery <5> that you learn something of the Dfts case from his affidavit, on the other hand it is a costly process if you do not succeed & if you go for a discovery you have in any event to pay your costs
Let Bolton know the case to which you refer he will probably get a better referral of it
Yours very truly
W R Grove
Notes:
1. Grove was a leading barrister on the South Wales circuit of assize courts. One such court was held at Carmarthen, the county town of Carmarthenshire.
2. Letter not located.
3. William Henry Silvester, whose professional name as a portrait photographer was Martin Laroche. In 1852, WHFT had thrown open his photographic patents as far as amateur photography was concerned, though he retained them regarding professional portraiture. He won several injunctions against professional portrait photographers who infringed them, and in December 1854 he sued Laroche, whose use of the collodion process, he claimed, infringing two important elements of his patents.
4. John Henry Bolton (1795–1873), solicitor, London.
5. One of the divisions of the High Court of Justice; patents disputes are one of the areas it deals with.