British Occupation of Kandahār Album, 1881, 1881

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Summary

Title:

British Occupation of Kandahār Album

Dates:

1881

Creators:

Dr. Benjamin Simpson

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.

Extent:

1 album (72 photographic prints)

Language:

Collection material is in English

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

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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).

Acquisition information:

Acquired in 2013.

Processing information:

Cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2013.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Afghan Wars
Islamic shrines -- Afghanistan -- Kandahār
Tombs -- Afghanistan -- Kandahār
Albumen prints -- Afghanistan -- 19th century
Photographs, Original
Photograph albums -- Afghanistan -- 19th century

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Beth Ann Guynn
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2019-08-14 11:02:07 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.