Description

Various Authors: ANONYMOUS (probably British) – Jan van HOEPEN (Pretoria) – BW CANEY (Studio, Durban) – J. E. MIDDLEBROOK (Durban) et al.

[South Africa: circa 1895-1910].

The album can be broadly divided into three sections.

The first part, likely created on the eve of the war, depicts British men and women enjoying life in South Africa during a time of peace. It shows people traveling in first-class train cars, men having a drinking party outdoors, and women and men posing after a hunt with a large number of dead animals in front of them. The images also portray houses and social outings.

The following pages are accompanied by photographs from various battles of the Second Boer War, depicting civilians, refugees, British and Boer soldiers, notable battles, weapons, deceased soldiers, and travel with horses over challenging terrains.

The larger photographs were distributed by professional photographers, such as J.E. Middlebrook from Durban and Jan van Hoepen from Pretoria. In contrast, smaller “postcard-sized” photographs were taken in the field by an anonymous photographer, likely British, who used a transportable Kodak camera—the first handheld roll film camera available on the market. This innovation allowed for better documentary photography compared to the older, heavier cameras that used glass plates. These small, privately made photographs provide valuable insight into the dynamics of the war and its impact on civilians.

This collection features striking photos and historical images, including:

– A young boy in a trench, surrounded by adult soldiers, looking fearfully at the camera. This image is titled “Boers in the Trench on Spion Kop” and is signed by J.E. Middlebrook.
– Three armed Black soldiers sitting with two women and a child, the latter ones dressed in traditional clothing.
– President Paul Kruger (1825–1904) in a military camp.
– Refugee Boer women and children, including one woman with one arm, gathered with their belongings on carts.
– An image depicting a concentration camp.
– A studio portrait of Jan Smuts (1870–1950).

The last part of the album primarily features large photographs of the Natal region and Cape Town, along with a few sporadic images from the Second Boer War. The collection includes images of fields and crops with field workers, as well as portraits of Zulus, Cape Malays, an Indian conjuror, and Indian girls (referred to as Coolies). Additionally, there are views of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage (known as Kariega), a Chef’s Kraal near Rorke’s Drift in Zululand, and the Kaffir Location in East London, which is a modern settlement for Indigenous peoples.

A large number of images in the last section are printed directly on thick standard paper and appear to be black cyanotype photography.