| RCS contains: |
|---|
| <-- See earlier |
|---|
| Y303B |
Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka] Views |
| Y303C |
Colombo Harbour completed 1885 [Construction of South-West Breakwater, Colombo Harbour, 1875-1885] |
| Y303D |
The Knuckles (Colombo, 1868) |
| Y303E |
Photograph collection of John Abercromby Alexander |
| Y303F |
Plumbago in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], c.1886 |
| Y303G |
Views in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], 1890s |
| Y303H |
Arrival of Sir Edward Stubbs in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], December 1933 |
| Y303I |
Holbrook Tea Estate, Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka] |
| Y303J |
The Ceylon War Council, 1942 |
| Y303K |
Photographs of Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], (?)1950s |
| Y303L |
Photographs of Ceylon, 1960s |
| See later --> |
|---|
|
Views in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], 1890s
| Title |
Views in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], 1890s |
| Reference |
GBR/0115/Y303G |
| Creator |
Various |
| Covering Dates |
1890–1899 |
| Extent and Medium |
14 images; generally in fair condition, with some yellowing and fading. |
| Repository |
Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library |
|
| Content and context |
|
A collection of loose albumen prints, the majority measuring approximately 260 x 205 mm, some captioned on the reverse. Titles composed for this catalogue are enclosed in square brackets. The collection shows scenes mainly in Colombo and Trincomalee. Photographs by A.W.A. Plâté and Co., William Louis Henry Skeen and Co., Aldolphus William Andree and the Colombo Apothecaries Company.
A.W.A. Plâté and Co.
Founded in 1890 by A.W.A. Plâté and his wife Clara in a studio in the Bristol Hotel, Colombo, the business moved to larger premises in Colpetty in 1892. In the following year a studio was also opened at Nuwera Eliya and a bookstall in the Queen's Hotel, Kandy. The firm became a private limited company in 1900 and was enlarged to include the sale of postcards, photographic equipment, apparatus and materials. On the demise of the firm of Skeen and Co. the stock of that business was possibly incorporated into Plâté's concern. It has not been determined when Plâté and Co. ceased trading, but the firm was certainly still in business in the late 1960s.
W.L.H. Skeen and Co.
For a history of the firm see Y303E.
Adolphus William Andrée.
The photographic firm of A.W. Andrée was founded in the mid-1860s by A.W. Andrée Senior who left government service in the Telegraph Department to start the business at 32 Pedlar Street, Colombo. His son Adolphus William Andrée (b. 1869) joined a ferrotype studio in Chatham Street, Colombo in 1887 and later set up a photographic studio at his house in Norris Road; he was also employed during this period by the Colombo branch of the National Bank of India. After his marriage in 1893 he started afresh as a photographer in Union Place, Colombo, with his brother Bertie as chief assistant. This later became the Hopetoun Studio. The firm was no longer trading by 1919, although Bertie Andrée was still in the photographic business working as an assistant with Plâté and Co.
Colombo Apothecaries Company
A mercantile concern founded in 1883 by W.M. Smith and James Smith Finlay, the company expanded its interests to include photography in around 1890. A Kandy branch was opened in the early 1890s and the firm probably took over the stock of Charles T. Scowen and Co. when that firm closed down in the mid-1890s.
|
Access and Use
|
Please cite as Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Views in Ceylon [i.e. Sri Lanka], 1890s, Y303G |
| Further information |
|
Indexed
This item level description was entered by NE and MJC using information from the original typescript catalogue.
This collection is available on microfiche: South Asia, fiche number 96.
|
| Index Terms |
| Asia |
| Sri Lanka |
| RCS/Y303G contains: |
|
1
|
Colombo Breakwater. 270 x 214 mm. View looking along the breakwater during the South-West Monsoon, with waves breaking along its length and shipping anchored in the protected waters of the harbour beyond. For a more detailed account of the breakwater, see Y303C.
Creator: Andree Family.
Fair condition, some bends and fading.. |
1890–1899 |
|
2
|
Breakwater during S.W. Monsoon. 278 x 217 mm. (mounted on card). Carbon print shows a similar view to the Y303G/1.
Creator: Colombo Apothecaries' Co.
Fair condition, some dirt marking.. |
1890–1899 |
|
3
|
Colombo Harbour. 274 x 208 mm. View from the water's edge looking across the harbour, with small boats and lighters moored in the foreground and larger craft beyond. The view appears to have been taken from beside the passenger jetty just north of the Grand Oriental Hotel.
Creator: Skeen and Co, fl 1860-1920.
Fair condition, some yellowing.. |
1890–1899 |
|
4
|
Pettah, Colombo. 275 x 211 mm. View of Main Street, Pettah, with pedestrians, bullock carts and street traders in the roadway. On the right a small part of the Town Hall can be seen. On the left are the premises of W.D. Carolis; see Arnold Wright, 'Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon' (London, 1907) pp. 482-484. Photographer unknown, probably W.L.H. Skeen & Co.
Fair condition, slight fading and yellowing.. |
1890–1899 |
|
5
|
Provincial Officer's residence, Ceylon. 260 x 204 mm. Showing a large, tile-roofed bungalow with the Union Jack flying from a pole in the garden in front of the verandah. A group of Europeans with Singhalese servants is posed in the garden for the photographer.
Creator: Platé and Co. |
1890–1899 |
|
6
|
Washing clothes, Ceylon. 260 x 204 mm. View showing Singhalese men washing clothes at the edge of a river or lake, with laundry drying on the ground beyond and a plantation of palms in the background.
Creator: Platé and Co.
Fair condition, some curling.. |
1890–1899 |
|
7
|
The Inner Harbour, Trincomalee. 274 x 209 mm. View from the upper storey of an unidentified house, looking across a garden to a jetty and the harbour beyond. The photograph appears to have been taken from a point N.E. of the Naval Yard looking towards it and the Ostenberg Ridge, with Little Sober Island in the right middle ground.
Creator: Skeen and Co, fl 1860-1920.
Fair condition, some folds and fading.. |
1890–1899 |
|
8
|
Entrance to Second Harbour, Trincomalee. 275 x 209 mm. View from Dutch Point looking north across Dutch Bay towards the promontory on which Fort Frederick stands. Army quarters can be seen on the foreshore, with the ramparts of the fort itself partially visible on the left. See also BAM 2/30, 32-33. Photographer unknown, probably W.L.H. Skeen & Co. |
1890–1899 |
|
9
|
Trincomalee. 260 x 205 mm. Showing two British warships at anchor in Trincomalee Harbour. The buildings on the shoreline are probably the Naval Yards, with Ostenberg Fort on the ridge behind.
Creator: Platé and Co.
Fair condition, some curling.. |
1890–1899 |
|
10
|
Trincomalee. 260 x 204 mm. View looking down on ships anchored in Trincomalee Harbour. The viewpoint has not been positively identified, but is probably from the Ostenberg Fort looking S.W. across the harbour towards Clappenberg Point.
Creator: Platé and Co.
Fair condition, a few tears.. |
1890–1899 |
|
11
|
[Trincomalee]. 260 x 204 mm. View looking down on shipping at anchor in the harbour. The three ships appear to be the same vessels seen in Y303G/10, possibly photographed from Little Sober Island.
Creator: Platé and Co.
Fair condition, some folds.. |
1890–1899 |
|
12
|
[Trincomalee Harbour]. 260 x 203 mm. View looking across a channel towards a long ridge. With palm trees in the foreground. Exact location unidentified, but probably part of Trincomalee Harbour.
Creator: Platé and Co.
Fair condition, slight fading and curling.. |
1890–1899 |
|
13
|
[The Saami Rock, Trincomalee?]. 205 x 259 mm. View looking along a sheer ridge of cliffs towards a headland. This is possibly the Saami Rock at Dutch Point, a place of pilgrimage to the Singhalese, see Henry W. Cave, 'The book of Ceylon' (London, 1908), pp. 630-633.
Creator: Platé and Co. |
1890–1899 |
|
14
|
[The Saami Rock, Trincomalee?]. 191 x 260 mm. Close up view of a cliff face, probably at the same location as Y303G/13.
Creator: Platé and Co. |
1890–1899 |
|
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