Linnaeus Tripe: Related Photographers

Other photographers working in India in the 19th century

'The Octagon at the Taj Mahal', by John Murray, 1875. Museum no. PH.383-1982

John Murray (1809 – 1898)

Murray was an amateur photographer who worked in India from 1833-1871 for the Indian Medical Service based in Bengal. Whilst posted at Agra as a civil surgeon, he was promoted to Deputy Inspector of Hospitals and led the fight against cholera. He was possibly the first to use the calotype process in India. He documented Mughal architecture and various historic sites, including a series of panoramas of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Some of these resulting photographs were published in London in the portfolio 'Agra and its vicinity' (Hogarth, 1858). After his retirement in 1870, Murray returned to England where he continued to publish several medical journals until his death in 1898 . Some of his photographs are available to see in the Prints and Drawings Study Room.

The Buspa Valley at Sancha, India, by Samuel Bourne, 1866. Museum no. 53:121

Samuel Bourne (1834 – 1912)

Bourne, a keen amateur photographer from Nottingham, went to India in 1863 in order to set up a photographic studio. He established the firm of Howard, Bourne and Shepherd in the northern hill station of Simla. The firm changed to Bourne and Shepherd in 1865. Bourne and [Charles] Shepherd were successful and set up further studios in the large cities of Calcutta and Bombay. They published catalogues of 'Photographic Views in India' and Bourne wrote for The British Journal of Photography. The firm continued after Bourne left India in 1870, and is still active today.

Gateway of the Bada Imambada, by Felice Beato, about 1858. Museum no. PH.2084-1905

Felice Beato (about 1825 – 1907)

Felice Beato was a British photographer of Italian origin. He travelled through India after the uprising of the Indian army against their British officers in 1857. Beato took photographs of sites associated with the uprising, as well as more general photographs of the most important monuments of the cities he visited. In contrast, Tripe's photographs are apolitical.

This view Beato made shows the Gateway of the Bada Imambada in Lucknow, north India. The Bada Imambada was built by the Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula in 1784, and received heavy shelling during the uprising.