Royal Commonwealth Society : The Docks, Bombay

Dayal, Lala Deen (1844-1910)

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>The photograph is mounted in a presentation album half bound in red leather, with the Prince of Wales’ crest on the cover. The front cover is inscribed: ‘Photographs: Royal Tour of India: Bombay and Indore. Raja Deen Dayal and Sons. State Photographers’ The album documents the visit of their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales to Bombay and Indore as part of their grand tour of India and Burma, October 1905 to April 1906. It now forms part of the Queen Mary photograph collection on India.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The Royal couple sailed to India and Burma aboard HMS Renown, arriving in Bombay on 9th November 1905. They stayed until 14th November before proceeding to Indore aboard the Royal Train, and stayed there from 15th to 17th November. Their ambitious visit took them all over the sub-continent, from Bombay (Mumbai) to Calcutta (Kolkata); from Madras (Chennai) to Rawalpindi; and from Karachi to Rangoon (Yangon) and Mandalay in Burma (Myanmar). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The photographs were taken by Raja Deen Dayal and Sons, who had been active in the sub-continent since the 1870s. Lala Deen Dayal was born in Sardhana in 1844. He trained at Thomason Civil Engineering College, Roorkee and subsequently, in 1866, became the head estimator and draftsman at the Public Works Department, Indore. In 1874 he studied photography as an amateur with the encouragement of Sir Henry Daly. He photographed Lord Northbrook (Viceroy 1872-76) and the Prince of Wales (1875-76). He subsequently took a two year furlough to complete a series of views. He opened studios in Secunderabad and Indore (closed 1905). There was also a Bombay studio from 1896 to 1904. From 1892 Zenana Studio was operated by Mrs. Kenny-Levick at the Secunderabad studio. Dayal accompanied Sir Henry Daly on tour of Bundelkund Agencies and Sir Lepel Griffin on tour in 1882. He was the official photographer to Lord Dufferin (Viceroy 1884-88). In 1884 he was appointed official photographer to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Many of his photographs were accepted by the Archaeological Survey of India. He died in 1910 but his business was continued by his descendants.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>See Janus record <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FQM%2012'>here</a></p>