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G R Lambert and Co (fl. 1875-1919) (photographers)

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: fl. 1875 - 1919

Biography

G.R. Lambert, from Dresden, arrived in Singapore in 1875. According to Wright, Lambert established a photographic studio in 1875 (Wright 1908). However, Lambert's firm was not advertised in the 'Singapore directory for the Straits Settlements' until 1878. In 1878 it had premises in Orchard Road and was possibly connected with the Lamberts who ran the Singapore Carriage Works and Livery Stables. In 1885 Lambert left the Straits Settlement. From 1885-1905 the firm was managed by Alexander Koch. There was also a branch in Deli, Sumatra, run by H. Stafhell in the mid-1880s and a branch in Kuala Lumpur. A Bangkok branch was run by C Frichas circa 1895. The firm's head office was at Gresham House, Battery Road in the 1890s. The firm was run by H. Thomas Jensen of Reutlinger's, Paris from 1905. G.R. Lambert and Co. were photographers by appointment to the King of Siam and the Sultan of Johore. They also photographed the Federal Conferences of 1896 and 1903 and the visit of Sir John Anderson to Kelantan in 1909. The company was the largest business in the Malay Peninsula. The firm possibly wound up during the First World War.

Wright wrote: 'Lambert has maintained a high reputation for artistic portraiture, and of landscapes they have one of the finest collections in the east, comprising about three thousand subjects relating to Siam, Singapore, Borneo, Malaya and China. An extensive trade is done in picture postcards, the turnover being about quarter of a million cards a year. A large stock of apparatus for amateurs is always kept in hand' (1908).

The firm also employed:

1885: C. Petersen, H. Schübert, Miss Besagoiti, T.A. (or J.A.) Rodrigues. 1901: R. Herbst, H.V. Katte, C. Warleberg, A Beattie. 1910: O. Schwemer (Chairman), H.L. Coghlan, W. Ewald, S. Gauder, R. Matsunaga.

Sources:

Falconer, J (1987), 'A vision of the past : a history of early photography in Singapore and Malaya : the photographs of G.R. Lambert and Co., 1880-1910'. Singapore: Times Editions.

Wright, Arnold and Cartwright, H.A. ed. (1907), 'Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources'. London.

Found in 14 Collections and/or Records:

 Item

[Arrival of High Commissioner for opening of Federal Conference, Kuala Lumpur, July 1903], 1903-07

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/26
Scope and Contents 213 x 272 mm. Showing the arrival of Sir Frank Swettenham (standing beside coach) at the wooden pavilion constructed for the conference of the rulers and administrators of the Federated Malay States held in Kuala Lumpur in July 1903. In the foreground stands a guard of honour of Indian Cavalry. This was the second such conference but this occasion did not yield such a whole hearted expression of appreciation of British rule as its precessor. In particular, the Sultan of Perak complained...
Dates: 1903-07
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

[Football match on the Padang, Kuala Lumpur, circa 1903], 1903

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/37
Scope and Contents

366 x 271 mm. A view looking down on the Padang from the roof of the Selangor Club with a football match in progress, spectators lining the pitch and a band playing at the left. Part of the Government Offices can be seen in the background.

Dates: 1903
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Java Street, Kuala Lumpur, 1882-1883, 1882 - 1883

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/7
Scope and Contents 264 x 207 mm (mounted on card). A view looking across Java Street towards the verandahed commercial premises of Chinese traders. Beyond these substantial stone buildings with tiled roofs are more modest atap houses. These more modern buildings are probably seen here soon after completion: one of the first orders promulgated by Swettenham on his arrival as Resident in 1882 was that all houses should be rebuilt with corrugated iron roofs. This order never came into effect, but in 1884 a...
Dates: 1882 - 1883
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Kuala Lumpur, circa 1882, 1882

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/1
Scope and Contents 265 x 207 mm (mounted on card). A view looking down onto the Klang River and across to Welds Hill (still at this period heavily wooded) with a sprinkling of Malay houses with atap roofs clustered around the river. The area in the foreground was later to be the site of the Government Offices and cricket ground. The view looks eastward from a point a little to the south of the confluence of the Klang and Gombah Rivers. The photograph dates from the period just after the British centre of...
Dates: 1882
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Kuala Lumpur, circa 1882, 1882

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/2
Scope and Contents

266 x 207 mm (mounted on card). A view, taken from a similar location to the preceding print, but nearer to the Klang River, looking across towards Weld's Hill, with atap houses in the foreground.

Dates: 1882
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Kuala Lumpur, circa 1882, 1882

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/3
Scope and Contents

264 x 207 mm (mounted on card). A view looking towards Welds Hill with atap houses in the foreground. A photograph probably taken from a spot near the east bank of the Klang River.

Dates: 1882
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Kuala Lumpur, circa 1882, 1882

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/5
Scope and Contents 265 x 207 mm (mounted on card). A view from just above the west bank looking down onto the Klang River, with the atap houses of Kuala Lumpur on the far side. Beside the road in the foreground is an open-sided atap house where a number of carpenters are planing wood to form planks. The note in Swettenham's hand on the reverse reads: 'This is the point from which, in 1882, just to the right of the picture, the road started to ascend the hill on which were the Residency and all other...
Dates: 1882
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Kuala Lumpur, [circa 1883-1884], 1883 - 1884

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/6
Scope and Contents

264 x 207 mm (mounted on card). A view looking across uneven, partially cleared scrubland towards (on the left) the square, two storey wooden quarters of Captain Syers, and (on the right) the Police Barracks, a series of long single storey buildings raised on brick pillars. Gullick (1955, p. 27-28) provides a detailed description of the buildings.

Dates: 1883 - 1884
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Magistrate's Quarters (H.B. Belfield), Kuala Lumpur, 1882-1883, 1882 - 1883

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/9
Scope and Contents 264 x 207 mm (mounted on card). Showing the square two storey, Magistrate's quarters set among partially cleared scrubland with a somewhat overgrown garden area laid out in front of the building. The Magistrate's quarters were completed in 1883 according to the Annual Financial Report for Selangor for that year (in C. 4192 of 1884), but if this print shows the building during Henry Conway Belfields occupancy it must date from 1884 at the earliest, in which year Belfield was appointment to...
Dates: 1882 - 1883
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Market, Kuala Lumpur, 1883, 1883

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/10
Scope and Contents 265 x 208 mm (mounted on card). Showing the Kuala Lumpur market buildings, an open sided building with a tiled roof supported by brick stanchions and situated near the east bank of the Klang River south of Market Street. The market and its site were originally under the control of the Capitan China Yap Ah Loy. Gullick (1955, p. 42) describes Swettenhams views on the market: On its reversion to the State, certain improvements were made to the building and shortly afterwards a more...
Dates: 1883
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur, 1883 [?], 1883

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/12
Scope and Contents

163 x 110 mm. A view looking northwest over Kuala Lumpur from the Residency Hill. The Federal Government Offices can be seen in the distance. The buildings (erected 1893-1896) appear to be completed, although the clock for the central tower is not yet in position. This was imported from England and placed in the tower in 1897.

Dates: 1883
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

The Residency [Carcosa, Kuala Lumpur, circa 1900], 1900

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/15
Scope and Contents

355 x 269 mm. A view of Carcosa taken from a similar angle to the preceding print, but from a closer viewpoint. The first mention of the Residency in the Selangor Annual Reports is in 1897 (in C.9108 of 1898) and the following years entry (in C.9524 of 1899, p. 36) appears to indicate the completion of the building. This photograph was almost certainly taken on the same occasion as the preceding print.

Dates: 1900
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

The Residency, Kuala Lumpur 1882-1883, 1882 - 1883

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/8
Scope and Contents

251 x 188 mm (mounted on card). A view looking up the Residency Hill towards the square, two-storey Residency buildings at the summit. The Residency, was originally the Klang Residency and was dismantled and rebuilt at Kuala Lumpur in 1881-1882.

Dates: 1882 - 1883
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

View of the Residency, Carcosa [circa 1900], 1900

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 4/14
Scope and Contents

352 x 269 mm. A view looking up from the Lake Gardens towards Carcosa, the official residence of the Resident General of the Federated Malay States. The building with its timber gables looks over the ornamental gardens and was constructed in 1897-1898 under the supervision of Charles Edwin Spooner who as State Engineer was also responsible for the Federal Government Offices. It is probable that the building was designed by A.C. Norman.

Dates: 1900
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).