Samuel Bourne (30 October 1834 – 24 April 1912) was a British

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 ...

known for his prolific seven years' work in India, from 1863 to 1870. Together with Charles Shepherd, he set up

Bourne & Shepherd Bourne & Shepherd was an Indian photographic studio and one of the oldest established photographic businesses in the world.

first in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

in 1863 and later in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(Calcutta); the company closed in June 2016.

Early life and education

Samuel Bourne was born on 30 October 1834, at Napley Heath, near

Mucklestone Mucklestone is a small village in Staffordshire, England. Population details taken at the 2011 census can be found under Loggerheads. It is about nine miles (14 km) northwest of Eccleshall, and four and a half miles northeast of Market Dr ...

, on the

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

and

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

border to Thomas Bourne (b. 1804) and his wife Harriet ''née'' Dobson (''b''. 1802). After being educated by a clergyman near Fairburn, he secured a job with Moore and Robinson's Bank, Nottingham in 1855. His amateur photographic activities started at about this time and he quickly became an accomplished landscape photographer, soon lecturing on photography and contributing technical articles to several photographic journals. In 1858, Bourne made a photographic tour of the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, and in 1859, displayed photographs at the Nottingham Photographic Society's annual exhibition. The following year, his photographs were also shown in London, at the London International Exhibition of 1862. This reception he received motivated him to give up his position at the bank, and set sail for India to work as a professional photographer; arriving in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

early in 1863.

Work in India

He initially set up in partnership with an already established Calcutta photographer, William Howard. They moved up to

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

, where they established a new studio ‘Howard & Bourne’, to be joined in 1864 by Charles Shepherd, to form ‘Howard, Bourne & Shepherd’. By 1866, after the departure of Howard, it became ‘Bourne & Shepherd’, which became the premier photographic studio in India, and until it closed in June 2016 was perhaps the world’s oldest photographic business. Charles Shepherd evidently remained in Simla, to carry out the commercial and portrait studio work, and to supervise the printing and marketing of Bourne’s landscape and architectural studies, whilst Bourne was away travelling around the sub-continent. Bourne spent six extremely productive years in India, and by the time he returned to England in January 1871, he had made approximately 2,200 fine images of the landscape and architecture of India and the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. Working primarily with a 10x12 inch plate camera, and using the complicated and laborious Wet Plate

Collodion process The collodion process is an early photographic process. The collodion process, mostly synonymous with the "collodion wet plate process", requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed, and developed within the span of about ...

, the impressive body of work he produced was always of superb technical quality and often of artistic brilliance. His ability to create superb photographs whilst travelling in the remotest areas of the Himalayas and working under the most exacting physical conditions, places him firmly amongst the very finest of nineteenth century travel photographers. On 29 July 1863, he left Simla on the first of his three major Himalayan photographic expeditions. With a retinue of some 30 porters to carry his equipment, he travelled across the Simla Hills to Chini, in the Valley of the

Sutlej River The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

, 160 miles north-east of Simla, and spent some time photographing in the Chini-Sutlej River area, before heading up to the borders of Spiti, and returning to Simla on 12 October 1863, with 147 fine negatives. In the following year, Bourne set out on another major trip, this time a nine-month trip to

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

. Leaving

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

on 17 March, he journeyed north-east to Kangra and from there, via Byjnath, Holta,

Dharmsala Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the List of countries with multiple capitals#Subnational and supernational capitals, winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as Public administration, administrative headquarters of the K ...

and Dalhousie, to Chamba. From there, he went on to Kashmir, arriving on the borders on 8 June; by the middle of the month had reached the Chenab Valley. The following weeks were spent photographing the scenery of Kashmir before proceeding to Srinagar, where he stopped for some weeks, sight seeing and photographing before continuing his journey on 15 September. The return journey took in the Sind Valley,

Baramula Baramulla (), also known as Varmul () in Kashmiri, is a town and a municipality in the Baramulla district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Baramulla district. It is on the b ...

Murree Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and Cawnpore (now

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

) before arriving in Lucknow on Christmas Eve 1864. Vishnu Pud

Bourne's third and last major trip was perhaps his most ambitious; consisting of a six-month journey in the Himalayas with the goal of reaching and photographing the source of the Ganges. He left Simla on 3 July 1866, in the company of Dr. G.R. Playfair (brother of the famous English politician Dr.

Lyon Playfair Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair (1 May 1818 – 29 May 1898) was a British scientist and Liberal politician who was Postmaster-General from 1873 to 1874. Early life Playfair was born at Chunar, Bengal, the son of George Playfair (1782-1846) ...

), and travelled with him through Kulu and Lahaul, over the Kunzum Pass into the Spiti valley, where they later parted company. Bourne then continued on alone (except for his forty porters!); over the Manirung Pass, where he took spectacular views of the 18,600 foot high pass; which held the record for the highest altitude photographs that had yet been taken for twenty years. Thence, down to the junction of the

Spiti Spiti (pronounced as Piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tibe ...

and

s and on to Sungnam and the Buspa Valley. He then climbed up over the Neela Pass, and down into the Upper Ganges Valley, where he journeyed on up to the

Gangotri Glacier Gangotri (Sanskrit and hi, गंगोत्री) is located in Uttarkashi District, Uttarakhand, India in a region bordering Tibet. This glacier, one of the primary sources of the Ganges, has a volume of over 27 cubic kilometers. The glacie ...

. There he went on to photograph one of the prime sources of the Ganges, as it issued from the mouth of the glacial ice cave at

Gaumukh Gomukh, also known as "Gaumukh" or "Gomukhi" (Hindi: गौमुख or गौमुखी ; Assamese and Bengali: গোমুখ or গোমুখী), is the terminus or pout of the Gangotri Glacier and the source of the Bhagirathi River, one ...

. His return journey took in

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill st ...

Roorkee Roorkee (Rūṛkī) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is from Haridwar city, the district headquarter. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The c ...

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

and

Naini Tal Nainital (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court, High Court of the state being ...

, and he arrived back in

, again in time for Christmas! He wrote extensively about his travels in the Himalayas (one of the very few photographers in India to do so), in a long series of letters, which appeared in The British Journal of Photography, between 1863 and 1870. The studio business prospered, and in 1866, they opened a second branch in

, where they ran a portrait studio, and their work was widely retailed throughout the subcontinent by agents and in Britain through wholesale distributors. In 1867 he went briefly back to England, in order to marry Mary Tolley, daughter of a wealthy Nottingham businessman; and they both returned to India again later that year, where he continued to travel around the country, producing some 500 more fine images. He departed Bombay for England permanently in November 1870. His work as travelling landscape and architectural photographer for Bourne & Shepherd studios was taken over by Colin Murray, who continued taking fine images of India, in a very similar style, and later went on to take over the management of the business. Some time shortly after his return to England, he sold off his interests in Bourne and Shepherd studios, and from then on, had nothing more to do with commercial photography; however his archive of some 2,200 glass plate negatives remained with the studio, and were constantly re-printed and sold over the following 140 years, until their eventual destruction in a Calcutta fire on 6 February 1991.

Return to England

Bourne settled back in Nottingham, where he founded a cotton-doubling business, in partnership with his brother-in-law J.B. Tolley. The business prospered, and Bourne become a local magistrate. Although continuing to photograph as a relaxation, and belonging to the local Photographic Society, much of his creative energy from this time onwards was devoted to watercolour. He died in Nottingham on 24 April 1912. Bourne is justly regarded as one of the finest landscape and travel photographers of 19th-century India; combining a fine eye for composition with high technical expertise.

Collections

Bourne's work is held in the permanent collections of several museums, including the

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

, the

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, the

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of cha ...

, the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the list of largest art museums, largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation a ...

, the

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

, the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, the

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections o ...

, and the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

Gallery

File:Sambourneagra1860s.jpg, Photograph of the Taj Mahal. Samuel Bourne, 1860s. File:Tajfromriver1860bourne2.JPG, Photograph of the Taj Mahal from the river. Samuel Bourne, 1860. File:Gateway to Hooseinabad Bazaar, Lucknow, India.jpg, Gateway to the Hooseinabad Bazaar in Lucknow, 1863–66 V&A Museum no. 7-1972 File:Haridwar from opposite bank of the Ganges, 1866.jpg,

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the righ ...

from opposite bank of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, 1866. File:Dakshineshwar Temple - Calcutta (Kolkata) - 1865.jpg, Photograph of Ramnath temple of Newalipore from ''Views of Calcutta and Barrackpore'', taken by Samuel Bourne. File:Linga chapel dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Plate Figures on the Linga Chapel. Elephanta," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Palace Rajah Bulman Singh dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Palace & Tank. Built by Rajah Bulman Singh. Goverdhun 1311]," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:The Motee Musjid dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "The Motee Musjid. Delhi. 1351," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:The Palace Delhi dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "The Palace. Delhi. Interior of Dewan-i-Kass. 1350," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Mausoleum of Prince Etmad-Dowlah dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Mausoleum of Prince Etmad-Dowlah. Agra. 1232," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:The Mermaid Gate dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "The Mermaid Gate, Kaiser Bagh. Lucknow, 1041," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Zenana Fort Agra dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Interior of Zenana in Fort. Agra, 1224," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:The Taj from Fountain dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "The Taj from Fountain. Agra," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:The Fort Delhi Gate dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "The Fort. Delhi Gate. Agra," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Memorial Well dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Memorial Well, Marble Statue by Marochetti. Cawnpore, 1206," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Palace Goverdhun dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Upper Portion of the Palace, Goverdhun, 1312," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Front of the Motee Musjid dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Front of the Motee Musjid, Agra, 1220," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Burning Ghat dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Burning Ghat, Benares, 1169," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Gate of the Taj dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Gate of the Taj. Bagh View. Agra. 1014," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 22 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 22," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 21 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 21," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 18 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 18," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 17 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 17," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 15 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 15," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 14 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 14," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 12 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 12," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 11 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 11," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 9 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 9," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 8 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 8," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 5 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 5," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet File:Views of India Plate 3 dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne, "Views of India, Plate 3," 1863-1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet

Notes

References

* Arthur Ollmann, ''Samuel Bourne: Images of India,'' a profound book on Bourne and his photography.
Bourne & Shepherd (floruit 1865-)
'' National Portrait Gallery'' * Carsten Rasch, ''The photographic work of Samuel Bourne - Photographs of Indien and Himalayas''. * Hugh Rayner, ed., ''Photographic Journeys in the Himalayas'' by Samuel Bourne. The complete texts of four series of letters by Samuel Bourne to the British Journal of Photography, originally published between 1 July 1863 and 1 April 1870. A newly revised and enlarged edition, with additional appendices, including a Catalogue of almost the entire body of some 2,200 photographs, taken by Bourne in India, together with the text of two of his lectures: ''On Some of the Requisites Necessary for the Production of a Good Photograph'' from 1860, and ''The Original Fothergill Process'', first published in 1862. It includes previously unidentified photographs of him during his travels, an enlarged bibliography and other new material, including fragments of Samuel Bourne’s own poetry. 3rd (revised & enlarged) edition 2009. Published by Pagoda Tree Press, Bath, England. * Lenman, Robin (ed.) 2005 ''The Oxford Companion to the Photograph'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press) ncludes a short biography on Bourne & Shepherd.* ''The Imperial Gaze. The Photographs of Samuel Bourne (1863–1870)''. 28-page catalogue of exhibition, with 17 images essay, notes and bibliography. The Alkazi Collection of Photography and Sepia (2004).

External links

An extended biography, and a catalogue of Samuel Bourne images

at www.rleggat.com

at www.geh.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Samuel British portrait photographers Travel photographers Commercial photographers Photography in India 19th-century English photographers 1834 births 1912 deaths British people in colonial India Photographers from Staffordshire People related to Lahaul and Spiti district

Early life and education

Work in India

Return to England

Collections

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

External links