Scope and Contents 50 x 64 mm. (Oval image). A carte de visite head and shoulders studio portrait of Abraham de Smidt (1829-1908). A surveyor and amateur artist, de Smidt entered the Cape Civil Service as a clerk in the Commissariat Department in 1846 and was admitted as a government surveyor in 1848. During the years 1849-1850 and 1853-1856 he served on the re-survey commissions in the eastern districts of Cape Colony and was Surveyor-General from 1873-1889. He retired to England and died in Brighton. ...

Scope and Contents 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...

Scope and Contents 60 x 87 mm. A carte de visite three quarter length studio portrait of Dr Ross, wearing a white coat and seated astride a chair. This is presumably Dr William Henry Ross (circa 1833-?), who served as District Surgeon, Beaufort West and acting District Surgeon, Wynberg in 1859; in 1860 he was appointed Vaccine Surgeon and Secretary to the Medical Committee, in 1862 Surgeon of Police and Gaol and Health Officer for Table Bay, in 1868 Surgeon to the Lock Hospital and in 1878 Surgeon to the...

Scope and Contents 35 x 45 mm. (Vignetted oval). A carte de visite head and shoulders, three quarter profile studio portrait of the heavily bearded Hendrik Carel Vos Leibbrandt (1837-1911), minister and archivist. Educated in Cape Town and at Utrecht University (where he received his degree in Theology in 1859), Leibbrandt was accepted as minister in the N.G. Kerk in 1860 and served at Victoria West until 1877 when he resigned because of opposition from some sections of his congregation to his liberal...

Scope and Contents 60 x 94 mm. A carte de visite half length studio portrait of John Noble (1836-1898) seated with one arm resting on a table. A brother of professor Roderick Noble, he arrived in Cape Town in 1857 and worked as a journalist on the newly founded Cape Argus. From 1865-97 he served as a clerk to the house of Assembly and was the editor of The Cape Monthly Magazine from 1875-79. His descriptive handbook of Cape Colony… was published in 1875 and he was the author of numerous other works. From...

Scope and Contents 40 x 51mm. (Vignetted oval). A carte de visite head and shoulders studio portrait of James H.C. McGibbon, Superintendent of the Cape Town Botanical Gardens (listed as such in the 1868 almanac) until circa 1881. 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...

Scope and Contents 56 x 93 mm. A carte de visite half length, three quarters profile studio portrait of Susanna Francina Noble, nee Leibbrandt (1852-1917), wife of John Noble, to whom she was married in 1872 and sister of Hendrick Carel Vos Leibbrandt. 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...

Scope and Contents 51 x 64 mm. (Oval image). A carte de visite half length profile portrait of Professor Roderick Noble (1829-1875) seated at a desk reading a letter. Educated at Edinburgh University, Noble arrived in Cape Town in 1850 and took employment as a teacher of mathematics. In 1855 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the South African College and was given the chair of English in 1859. A prolific journalist on many subjects, he also edited The Cape Monthly Magazine from 1870 until his...

Scope and Contents 56 x 92 mm. A carte de visite head and shoulders profile studio portrait of Sir Richard Southery (1808-1901), who came to South Africa with a band of settlers from Somersetshire led by his father in 1820. His early years until 1834, when his family moved to Graaff Reinet, were spent in farming and military service. In Graaff Reinet he practised as a law agent and from 1847-49 served as private secretary to the Governor Sir Harry Smith. After serving in various capacities for some years,...

Scope and Contents 56 x 92 mm. A carte de visite half length, three quarters profile studio portrait of Sir Henry Barkly (1815-1898). Barkly's early years were spent as a sugar broker in his father's business, but with the slump in trade after the abolition of slavery, he decided on a career in politics and entered Parliament as the member for Leominster in 1845. The remainder of his career was spent in a succession of Colonial governorships: British Guiana 1848-53; Jamaica 1853-56; Victoria (Australia)...