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Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom
The Photographic Convention of United Kingdom (PCUK) was founded in 1886 and held its first convention in the city of Derby, England in August of that year. The founding members were a mixture of professional photographers and wealthy amateurs. Prominent professional photographers present at the first meeting included William England, principal photographer with the London Stereoscopic Company; Henry Peach Robinson, a leading pictorialist photographer and Richard Keene, who later became a member of The Brotherhood of the Linked Ring.

Attendance at the first meeting was 48 but grew rapidly over coming years to reach 328 by the 1898 event. The pattern of the convention was to choose a town where they would be 'hosted' by a local photographic society. A large hotel was chosen as the convention headquarters and three to four days were devoted to a programme of lectures, outings, exhibitions and dinners.

Conventions of the Victorian era were held at: 1886 Derby 1887 Glasgow 1888 Birmingham 1889 London 1890 Chester 1892 Edinburgh 1893 Plymouth 1894 Dublin 1895 Shrewsbury 1896 Leeds 1897 Great Yarmouth 1898 Glasgow 1899 Gloucester 1900 Newcastle upon Tyne 1901 Oxford

During the nineteenth century the Convention was a lively focus for debate and experiment around photography. After the First World War interest waned and the PCUK was kept running by an increasingly ageing and declining membership. It finally ceased operating in 1935.