Royal Commonwealth Society : Greg album of photographs of Jamaica and Dominica, 1880s-1897

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p>An album containing prints with handwritten captions, breaking down into geographical locations:</p> <p> 1-18, 21, 34: general views in Jamaica, in good condition, mainly measuring approximately 215 x 135 mm, commercial work. The first prints show scenes at the Jamaica Exhibition of 1891 and the other photographs may have been purchased at this time: they were certainly taken, however, in the 1880s, since several are duplicates of material in Y307A, an album compiled in that decade. Photographer unknown (although possibly Duperly and Sons).</p> <p> 19-20, 22-33, 33-75: views in Dominica, mainly of the Hillsborough Estate, in varying condition, the majority amateur snapshots probably taken by John Tylston Greg and measuring approximately 100 x 75 mm. All the photographs are dated between 1896 and 1897, the great majority being taken in May 1896.</p> <p> From the intermingling of the two distinct sections of the album it appears likely that J.T. Greg took over a partially used album of a relative. The Jamaica prints are captioned in a different hand to the Dominica material.</p> <p>The Greg family in Dominica</p> <p> John Greg (1716-1795) went to the West Indies in 1765 and became the first Government Commissioner for the sale of land. He owned two estates in Dominica, the Hertford and the Hillsborough (the latter originally named the Layou from its situation on the bank of the Layou River). The Hertford Estate was later sold. The estate remained in the family and in 1894 Robert Philips Greg sold all his estate interests to his nephew John Tylston Greg, who decided to supervise these concerns personally and remained in Dominica until 1928, when he sold Hillsborough and returned to England.</p>