Archive of the Month
A Journey in Forgotten Photographs
Exploring Africa and the Middle East circa 1925.
By Rachel Bennett, Assistant Archivist, RCB Library
This month the RCB library is highlighting an early 20th century photo album that has recently been accessioned and digitised but the album’s creator or creators and provenance remain unknown. The photographs document a journey across Africa and the Middle East, offering a unique perspective on travel at the turn of the century. Containing 89 black and white photographs, the album represents the work of one or more documenters keen to capture new sights, unfamiliar to an Irish audience and focuses on significant landmarks and scenic views, with occasional candid shots of locals. The album can now be viewed in its entirety here.
The travellers begin their journey in the South African city of Pretoria, which takes its name from Andries Pretorius, a notable military and political figure of the late 18th century who was best known for his victory in the Battle of Blood River. At the beginning of the 20th century when these photographs were captured, Pretoria had a population of approximately 30,000 people and had become the administrative capital of South Africa, closely linked with the British rule of the time. This colonial influence is prominent in the architecture, with examples of both Victorian and Edwardian buildings seen throughout the photographs. The streets of Pretoria were famous for the Jacaranda trees lining the streets, introduced by the British in the 1880s, contributing to the city’s distinctly European atmosphere.
The first photo of Pretoria shows a panoramic view of The Union Building, located on the hill of Meintjieskop, the cities highest point. The building was designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker and was completed in 1913. The structure took just under three years to build with the collective manpower of more than 1265 workmen. The construction of the Union Building was notably the largest architectural project to be undertaken in the southern hemisphere at the time. Baker designed the building to include the semi–circular shape and two wings: one at each side to represent the union of the formerly divided people with an amphitheatre space separating the wings to create a formal area for gatherings and official events.
The second photo from Pretoria was taken outside of Pretoria Station. In the foreground of the image, we see a statue of Paul Kruger, South African President between 1883–1902. The statue, which was sculpted by Anton Van Wouw and finished in 1896 was commissioned by Sammy Marks, a Russian born industrialist and financier, living in South Africa. Many had strong reservations relating to the statue and much resistance was met regarding its placement. First placed at Prince’s Park the statue was then moved in 1925 to the location outside Pretoria Railway station as seen in the photo. The statue found its final location in 1953 in the centre of Church Square where it remains today.
Victoria Falls
The travelling group continues their journey north to Victoria Falls, one of the world’s largest waterfalls located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. At the turn of the 20th century, this area was then known as North–Western Rhodesia and was under a strong influence of colonial rule. Oral history of the area indicated that the indigenous occupants of the land knew of the falls centuries before they were mentioned in European records. Originally known as Mosi oa Tunya, meaning ‘the smoke that thunders’ the first European sighting of the falls is accredited to David Livingstone a Scottish physician and explorer, travelling Africa working as a Christian missionary. In 1855 Livingstone named his discovery Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria, the reigning monarch of the time.
An architectural highlight of this area is the bridge at Victoria Falls, which was constructed as part of the Cape–to–Cairo Railroad project. A failed initiative from the late 19th century that aimed to build a continuous railway connection between Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt with the idea spearheaded by Cecil Rhodes, politician and head of the British South Africa Company. While the project was overall unsuccessful due to a strong opposition to British Rule as well as funding and construction constraints the portion of the railway that included the Victoria Falls Bridge was successfully completed in 1905 and has been a significant and popular tourist attraction in the area ever since and clearly influenced the travelling party in the album.
Aden
After Victoria Falls the travellers then made make a brief crossover from Africa to the Middle East, stopping in Aden. Now recognised as part of Yemen, Aden was under British rule between 1839 up until 1967 and was governed as part of British India. The port was historically the main access point for both passenger ships and trading in the area, serving as a coaling station and a trading port between Europe, India, and East Africa.
Our first glimpse of Aden is a landscape image of the scenic inner harbour located in the town of Tawahi. The photograph looks back towards the shore, showing an unobstructed view of the Prince of Wales Pier and the clocktower perched atop the hill. Known to the community as ‘Little Big Ben’ the tower was built at the end of the 19th century and was modelled on the original Big Ben in London.
The second image from Aden captured by the travellers is a striking view of St Mary’s Garrison Church. This photo gives the viewer an unexpected glimpse into the city’s rich religious history. The Victorian Gothic style church finished construction in 1871 and was consecrated by Biship Douglas the same year. While the building has not served as a church since the 1950s it was used until recently as a community assembly hall and for various legislative purposes, however in 2015 the church was abandoned due to religious conflict in the area.
Tangier
For their final stop, the travellers return to Africa, now in the northwestern city of Tangier, located on the mediterranean coast of Morocco. At the turn of the 20th century, Tangier became a hub for writers and artists, fostering a vibrant creative environment for its residence. This creative energy became synonymous with Tangier throughout the first half of the 20th century and this is seen in these final images. Our travellers capture photographs of the winding streets and local characters of the city, their images here showing a stark contrast to the previous photographs.
In one image we see a group of young children, dressed in traditional clothing, outside the entrance of the Hotel Continental. Built in 1870 the hotel overlooks the harbour. The hotel has remained a historic landmark in Tangier, operating through many social and political changes. In more recent years, the hotel featured as the backdrop to Bernardo Bertolucci’s film ‘The Sheltering Sky,’ based on the Paul Bowles novel of the same name. Bowles, a well–known American writer lived in Tangier for almost 60 years and while the Hotel Continental is not specifically mentioned in the original book, Bowles did visit and stay at the hotel. Other notable guests of the hotel over the years included Edgar Degas and Winston Churchill.
The final image of Tangier captured by the party shows a man, crouching in the desert dust. The man, wearing a traditional fez hat is assumed to be a merchant or street performer. The photograph is striking with the man perched next to a performing monkey wearing a matching hat. Performers often gathered in public squares allowing locals and tourists to gather and view a show, contribution to the overall culture of the area.
This recently digitised photo album offers us a glimpse into the world of early 20th century travel throughout Africa and the Middle East. Though the photographer remains unknown, these images preserve moments from landscape and cities that have since changed dramatically. By making this album available online, we hope its images might generate further worldwide interest.
MS1175 is now available to view – please click here.
We would love to hear your thoughts on the album, please contact us at [email protected]
For a full bibliography on this article, please click here.