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British Occupation of Kandahār Album, 1881
2013.R.5  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Biographical/Historical Note
  • Administrative Information
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: British Occupation of Kandahār Album
    Date (inclusive): 1881
    Number: 2013.R.5
    Creator/Collector: Dr. Benjamin Simpson
    Physical Description: 1 album (72 photographic prints)
    Repository:
    The Getty Research Institute
    Special Collections
    1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
    Los Angeles 90049-1688
    reference@getty.edu
    URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
    (310) 440-7390
    Abstract: The album documents Kandahār and environs following the British siege of Kandahār in 1880. Included are local landmarks, tribal groups, occupational portraits, street scenes, and scenes of the British occupation.
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    Language: Collection material is in English

    Biographical/Historical Note

    Dr. Benjamin Simpson (1831-1923) had a long career as a British army surgeon, spanning five decades from 1853 to 1890 and culminating in his appointment as Surgeon General of India. A group of portraits he took in India was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, while other photographs were reproduced as lithographs in Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal (1872).

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers.

    Preferred Citation

    British Occupation of Kandahār album, 1881, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2013.R.5.
    http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2013r5

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired in 2013.

    Processing History

    Cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2013.

    Digitized Materials

    The collection was digitized in 2013 and the images are available online:
    http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2013r5

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880) concluded with the British defeat of the Afghani leader, Ayub Khan, at the Battle of Kandahār on September 1, 1880. The British withdrew from Kandahār on April 22, 1881. This album of 72 albumen photographs taken by Dr. Benjamin Simpson documents Kandahār and environs in the period following the September battle during which British troops continued to occupy the area. Included are local landmarks, tribal groups, occupational portraits, street scenes, and scenes of the British occupation. Sites depicted include the Durrani Gate, the Baba Wali Kotal, the ruins of Kandahār Citadel; Chilzina or the Forty Steps, and the Kerka Sharif or Shrine of the Cloak, which holds the cloak believed to have been worn by the Prophet Mohammed.
    Images related to the British army include views of the camps and barracks, officer's quarters, the military cemetery, and the artillery and base hospital squares. Several group portraits depict the medical staff, engineers, headquarters staff, transport officers, and political officers. There are two group portraits of officers who were present at the siege of Kandahār, and a group portrait of Afghan officials that includes Ghazi Mohammed Ayub Kahn, the leader of the Afghan forces during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, his son, and the Imran Sahib Zadah. Images 14-18, mounted on sequential leaves, form a panorama taken from Karez Hill that encompasses Chilzina and the Murcha Pass.
    The album covers are dark green leather; the front cover is detached and the spine is missing. Photographs are mounted on 36 leaves (one photograph each, recto and verso). The photographs are signed and/or numbered in the negatives: B. Simpson. Titles are from the numbered letterpress captions (numbered 1-75 with omissions), affixed below most of the photographs. Titles devised by the cataloger are enclosed in square brackets.

    Arrangement

    The collection is arranged in a single series: Series I. British Occupation of Kandahār Album, 1881.

    Indexing Terms

    Subjects - Topics

    Afghan Wars
    Islamic shrines -- Afghanistan -- Kandahār
    Tombs -- Afghanistan -- Kandahār

    Subjects - Places

    Afghanistan -- Description and travel
    Afghanistan -- History, Military -- 19th century
    Kandahār (Afghanistan) -- Antiquities
    Kandahār (Afghanistan) -- Description and travel

    Genres and Forms of Material

    Albumen prints -- Afghanistan -- 19th century
    Photographs, Original
    Photograph albums -- Afghanistan -- 19th century

    Contributors

    Dr. Benjamin Simpson