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Gros, H Ferdinand, fl. 1860 - 1909 (photographer)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: fl. 1860 - 1909

Biography

H Ferdinand Gros was of Swiss origin. He arrived in South Africa circa 1869. On July 16th 1870 he was advertising that the Photographic Salon 'will resume again' in the 'Burgherdorp Gazette'. In the 'Diamond News' on March 9th 1872 he announced that he was taking over the studio of Weber and Gros and that he would soon open a 'Superb Salon' at New Rush (Kimberley). The New Rush studio was advertised for sale in 'Diamond News' 13th April 1872. However, this sale appears not to have happened as in 'Diamond News' on October 8th and December 10th 1872 he was still advertising the New Rush studio. He visited the goldfields at Pilgrim's Rest and Mac Mac ('Diamond News' May 9th 1874 and February 13th 1875). He also visited Lydenburg goldfields. In 1877 he set up the 'Photographic Gallery' at the corner of Church Street and van der Walt Street, Pretoria. In 1877 he photographed the Transvaal Annexation Commission at Ulundi House, Pretoria. He also photographed scenes in Pretoria during the First Boer War, which were later bound in to the limited edition (200 copies) of 'News of the Camp' (1880-81). He photographed Chief Sekukuni in 1879. Circa 1888 he made a photographic tour of the Transvaal. He returned to Europe in 1895 and his Pretoria studio was taken over by J. Perrin (Cowan 1978, pp.99-101).

Publications:

Du-Val, C. and C. Deecker (1880-81) 'News of the Camp'. Pretoria. Gros, H.F. (c. 1888), 'Picturesque aspects of the Transvaal'.

Sources:

Bull, Marjorie and Joseph Denfield (1970) 'Secure the shadow: the story of Cape photography from its beginnings to the end of 1870 '. Cape Town: T. McNally. Cowan, N. (1978), 'Photograficana of H.F. Gros', 'Africana notes and news'. Volume 23, number 3, pp.99-104. 'Transvaal almanac 1877'.

Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:

 Item

Cascades de Mac-Mac (Mines D’Or), 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/7
Scope and Contents

190 x 140 mm. Another view of the Mac Mac Falls (see Y3055B/2) with the Blyde River in the background.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Entrée de l’Est dans Pretoriée (L’Avenue), 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/4
Scope and Contents

189 x 142 mm. A view looking along Church Street East, Pretoria, towards Church Square from the Apies River near Lion Bridge. On the left is a watermill and barn and on the right the house built for Stephanus Meintjes by Landdrost Andries du Toit in the 1850s. Information from ‘Centenary Album. Pretoria’s First century in Illustration’ (Pretoria, 1952).

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Foul’s Rush (Mines d’Or), 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/10
Scope and Contents

189 x 142 mm. A view looking along a valley with a small stream, with diggers searching for alluvial gold in the foreground. Several feet of topsoil have been removed near the stream bank and the underlying boulders exposed. The wooden sluices for separating gold from earth can be seen beside the water.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Gué sur la Rivière du Vaal pres des Mines de Diamants, 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/3
Scope and Contents

189 x 142 mm. Showing a small cutter, a ferry and a dug-out canoe moored on the bank of the River Vaal. The ferry, a rectangular platform floating on wooden barrels, is carrying a wagon and a buggy and a number of passengers.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Mac-Mac Falls 80ft, 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/2
Scope and Contents

190 x 142 mm. Showing the Mac Mac Falls which lie just east of the main gold workings, with an African seated on the grass in the foreground.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Macheeka Faal, 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/5
Scope and Contents

190 x 142 mm. Showing the sheer drop of the Macheeka Falls over a rockface into a pool below. With a European figure lying on the grass in the foreground. Exact location unidentified, but presumably in the Pilgrim’s Rest area where the Highveld plateau drops sharply to the plains below.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Sabie Fall, 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/8
Scope and Contents

190 x 139 mm. A view looking along the Sabie River gorge towards the falls. Sabie lies south of Pilgrim’s Rest.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Item

Tour de Jeppe: Mines D’ Or, 1873 - 1874

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055B/1
Scope and Contents

191 x 142 mm. Showing the vertical tower of rock protruding above trees with a valley beyond. Exact location unidentified, possibly at the northern head of the Blyde Canyon.

Dates: 1873 - 1874
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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library / Views in the Transvaal
 Fonds

Transvaal Annexation Commission

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3055H
Scope and Contents 142 x 101 mm. A cabinet print with identifying captions on the reverse. The print is a permanent photograph of some kind but the precise process has not been identified. The print shows a formally posed group portrait of Sir Theophilus Shepstone and his staff during the annexation of the Transvaal in April 1877. The attribution of this photograph to H.F. Gros is from Rider Haggard's ‘The days of my life' (2 vols. London 1926) where a photograph of the group (Vol. I, facing p.73), taken...
Dates: 1877
Conditions Governing Access: 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).
Found in: Cambridge University Library

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 8
Collection 1
 
Subject
Transvaal (general region) 6
Pretoria (inhabited place) 1
Sabie (inhabited place) 1
Vaal (river) 1
 

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