Middlebrook, John E, fl. 1892-1899 (photographer)
Biography
John E. Middlebrook joined the Royal Colonial Institute in 1892. He was operating the Premier Studio, Du Toits Pan Road, Kimberley circa 1888-94. Circa 1898-99 he was based at 396 West Street, Durban (Bensusan 1963, p. 242).
Sources:
Bensusan, A.D. (1963), '19th century photographers in South Africa'. 'Africana notes and news'. Volume 15, number 6, pp. 219-252.
Found in 30 Collections and/or Records:
Diamonds classified for shipment, £52,000 Parcel, 1891
207 x 152 mm. Showing a collection of small piles of diamonds of various grades laid out on white paper on a long table in the valuing and classifying room at the De Beers head office.
European Quarters - The Village of Kenilworth, 1891
206 x 150 mm. A view looking across a field planted out with fruit trees towards lines of wooden houses.
Head gear incline shaft, showing engine houses and skip tipping, 1891
207 x 153 mm. Showing the headgear machinery for lifting the trolleys to the surface, with the skips into which is poured the blue ground beyond, and the driving gear in the engine house in the background. A few figures sit in the foreground posed for the photographer.
Head gear rock shaft showing engine houses, 1891
206 x 148 mm. Showing the head gear of the rock shaft and surrounding buildings.
Head Offices - ‘De Beer’s Consolidated Mines, Limited’, 1891
149 x 203 mm. Showing the brick-built De Beers Head Office, situated on a corner next to the Kimberley Diamond and Share Market.
Mechanical haulage towards floors, 1891
198 x 135 mm. Showing a line of trolleys being hauled along a road towards the separating floors.
Native quarters - The Compound, 1891
207 x 153 mm. Showing the central courtyard of the native compound crowded with African miners.
Rock shaft winding engine, 150 h.p., 1891
200 x 154 mm. Showing the engine in the foreground with the winding gear on giant spools beyond.
Steam Tram - Employees returning from work, 1891
211 x 153 mm. Showing miners crowded on to the small carriages of a steam tram, with the locomotive at the right of the photograph.
The boilers supplying steam for electric light plant, rock shaft and winding engine, man-cage and Cornish pump, 1891
208 x 146 mm. Showing the four large boilers housed in a brick and corrugated-iron shed.
The floor employees at their mid-day meal, 1891
198 x 151 mm. Showing a large group of miners seated on the ground at their mid-day meal with a barrel of drinking water in their midst and mine buildings in the background.
The Floors - Loading ‘Blue’ for the washing machines, 1891
208 x 153 mm. Showing gangs of Africans, under the eye of a supervisor, loading diamondiferous soil into metal trolleys for transportation to the washing machines (see Y3059C/21).
The Floors - No 1 Washing Machine, 1891
209 x 153 mm. Showing trolleys being lowered by winch into the stone walled trench at the far end of which is the washing machinery.
The Floors - No 2 Washing Machine, 1891
209 x 153 mm. A general view of another type of washing machine.
The Floors - Pulsator machine and yard, 1891
209 x 153 mm. A general view of the buildings containing the pulsator machinery (see Y3059C/24) with three Europeans seated on chairs near an electric light post in the foreground.
The Floors - Pulsator Machinery, 1891
208 x 149 mm. A close-up view of the drums and driving machinery in which the gravel is separated from earth.
The Floors - sorting the gravel for diamonds, 1891
208 x 154 mm. Showing a group of three European sorters bent over piles of gravel laid out on tables, with a supervisor standing in the foreground.
The Floors-– Trucking ‘Blue’ to the washing machines, 1891
195 x 149 mm. Showing a horse drawing a line of trolleys loaded with blue ground towards the washing machines.
The Mine - A group of miners underground, 1891
203 x 150 mm. Showing a group of miners posed against a rockface underground, with one African worker seated at the front of the group.
The Mine - Flat Sheet on 700 level, bottom of incline shaft (underground), 1891
208 x 151 mm. Showing two miners standing at the ‘Flat Sheet’ where blue ground is transferred from the trucks to the Incline Shaft for transportation to the surface.
The Mine - Flat Sheet on 800 level, bottom of rock shaft (underground), 1891
208 x 147 mm. Showing trolleys and track at the lowest flat sheet in the De Beers mine.
The Mine - Ladder way on 600 level, showing ‘Blueground’ (underground), 1891
207 x 149 mm. Showing a slippery series of steps in a tunnel on the 600 foot level, with a blurred figure standing in the right foreground.
The Mine - Ladderway on 700 level. Timbered (underground), 1891
199 x 148 mm. Showing a timbered passageway and a short ladder leading up to another level of the mine.
The Mine - Native miners drilling underground, 1891
209 x 153 mm. A poor photograph showing African miners working at the rockface.
The Mine - Open works, escape shaft, 1891
144 x 202 mm. Showing the headgear of the winch-operated escape shaft, with discarded trolleys and pit props lying around in the background. This machinery can be seen in the background of Y3059C/11.