January 14th

01-15-1864 – 05-16-1952 Frances “Fannie” Benjamin Johnston – Born in Grafton, West Virginia. She was a photographer and photojournalist whose career lasted for almost fifty years. She is best known for her portraits, photos of southern architecture, and photos of African American and Native Americans. Johnston was from a wealthy and well connected family which gave her access to famous people. She took the last portrait of President McKinley before he was assassinated. She was involved romantically with Mattie Edwards Hewitt, a successful home and garden photographer in her own right. Johnston was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects for her work in preserving old and endangered buildings. Her photographs have been purchased by many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Virginian Museum of Fine Arts, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Johnston died in 1952 in her home in the French Quarter in New Orleans that she bought in 1940.

    

 Top right photo is a self-portrait. The photos below: Frances & Hattie in San Francisco (1903), portrait of Pres. McKinley (1898), and Booker T. Washington (c.1895)

01-15-1893 – 03-06-1951 Ivor Novello (David Ivor Davies) – Born in Cardiff, Wales. He was a Welsh composer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. In the early 1920s, Novello had an affair with the writer Siegfried Sassoon; it was short lived, but in the words of Sasson’s biographer, John Stuart Roberts, Novello “was a consummate flirt who collected lovers as he gathered lilacs.” He bought a country house in Littlewick Green, near Maidenhead and named it Redroofs. He entertained there with little regard for convention. Cecil Beaton, noting the frequent homosexual excesses, coined the phrase, “the Ivor/Noel naughty set.” Novello had a long term relationship with Robert “Bobbie” Andrews.

01-15-1957 Kate Hogan – Born in Lynn, Massachusetts. She is an American politician. A Democrat, she is a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Her first action on being sworn-in on January 7, 2009 was to turn down a pay raise. She donated the $3,000 increase in legislative salaries to the local libraries in Bolton, Hudson, Maynard, and Stow. Hogan is married to Susan Vick. She is one of five out LGBT members of the Massachusetts General Court.

01-15-1975 Marc Cartwright – Born in Orange, New Jersey. On Out’s 3rd Annual 100 Most Eligible Bachelors (2013). He is an American celebrity portrait photographer who runs a photography studio based in Los Angeles. He is known for portraits of film and television actors. His work has been published in Teen Vogue, Elle, Seventeen, People, and other magazines. Cartwright has won numerous photography awards.

01-15-1978   Jamie Clayton – Born in San Diego, California. She is a transgender woman. As an American actress, she is best known for starring in the Netflix series Sense8. In the series she played Nomi Marks, a San Francisco transgender female political blogger and hacker. Clayton appeared in the film The Neon Demon (2016) and The Snowman (2017). She was honored by Out magazine in 2011 as part of their annual “Out 100” awards.  In 2018, she plays the role of Niamh in the webseries Same Same.