Royal Commonwealth Society : Photographs of India

Various

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>A collection of loose prints measuring approximately 150 x 200 mm. Some of the prints are captioned on the reverse. Prints 1-4 are photographs by Albert Thomas Watson Penn and are portraits of people from the Nilgiris and Bangalore. The remaining two prints are miscellaneous items attached to the collection.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> Albert Thomas Watson Penn was born at Street, Wells on 30th March 1849. His first appearance in India appears to have been in around 1875, in which year he was advertising in Thacker's Directory as a commercial photographer at Ootacamund (also known as Udagamandalam). He lived and had a studio at Cranley Cottage from 1880. In 1911 his business was styled 'Ootacamund Photo Establishment'. Apart from visits to Europe he continued in Ootacamund until circa 1913, in later years also running the Reliance Auction and Commission Agency and the Farrington (or Farington) Hotel. He is not recorded in later directories although he evidently remained in India after his retirement. He died of cerebral apoplexy at Coonor on 19th October 1924 and was buried there the following day in Tiger Hill Cemetery, All Saints Church (Madras burials: IOR/N/2/136 f. 212).</p>