John Ashton Papillon (1838–1891) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and

Royal Engineer The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

who was commissioned to accompany and photographically document the Anglo-French military expedition to northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

during the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

in 1860. Papillon produced images taken from between Canton and the

Taku Forts The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts, also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, in northeastern China. They are located southeast of the Tianjin urban center. History The f ...

but became ill and was evacuated on 29 September 1860 before completing his mission.

References

* Bennett, Terry. ''History of Photography in China, 1842-1860'' (London: Bernard Quaritch Ltd., 2009). (hbk), (hbk) * Thiriez, Régine. ''Barbarian Lens: Western Photographers of the Qianlong Emperor's European Palaces'' (Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1998), 6. 19th-century British photographers British people of the Second Opium War War photographers Photography in China 1838 births 1891 deaths {{UK-photographer-stub