James Hedderly (1815 – 1885) was a painter and signwriter until the mid-1860s, when he became a photographer. He lived in Duke Street, only a short distance from Whistler’s house at 7 Lindsey Row, from 1841 until the 1870s, when the street was demolished for the Embankment. He then moved to 21 Riley Street, where The Chelsea, Pimlico and Belgravia Diectory for 1885 notes him as a photographer (also listed is a Mrs Hedderly, laundress at 23 Riley Street).

Whistler was well-acquainted with Hedderly, and probably saw his photographs of old Chelsea before the completion of the Embankment in 1874. Whistler seems to have been a regular customer of Hedderly, who was one of his creditors in 1877.