55 x 89 mm. A carte de visite full length, seated studio portrait of Commandant James Henry Bowker, wearing military uniform. Bowker (1822-1900), a farmer, soldier, civil servant and naturalist, took part in the Seventh Frontier War (1846-47) and was involved in the suppression of the Kat River Rebellion in the Eighth Frontier War (1850-53). He was made an Inspector in the frontier armed and mounted police in 1855, and promoted Commandant in 1858. Other military expeditions in which he took part were to Basutoland (1868), the annexation of Griqualand West in 1871 (commander of forces), the suppression of the Langalibalele Rebellion in 1872 and Moorosi's Rebellion in Basutoland in 1877. A noted authority on South African butterflies, he also discovered important prehistoric artifacts in the Fish River area and the Ciskei in the 1850's. The backmark reads: 'Under the patronage of H.M. The Queen. H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh R.N. H.E. The Governor and Co. The Capetown Photographic Gallery , S.B. Barnard, Adderley Street, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. The negative is kept. Further copies can be ordered by this number'. The handwritten number '921313' is inserted here.