Photo 1149

Brown cloth-bound album measuring 310 mm x 310 mm and containing 407 prints, mainly amateur snapshots, but with some professional work, relating to the career in China of William Pollock Ker. The majority of the subjects and locations are identified by handwritten captions beneath individual or groups of prints.

Subjects include: Views of the Nankow Pass and Great Wall; funeral of the Empress Dowager Lung Yu, March 1913; three portraits of Puyi (1906-1967), last Emperor of China; a trip to the Princesses' Tombs, east of Peking; views of the hill resort of Kuling (Guling, Lushan) and the journey there; views and scenes at Nanking (Nanjing); views of Peking (Beijing), including many photographs recording life in the British Legation, the ruins of the old Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuen), the Temple of Heaven, the Lama Temple, etc; celebration of Empire Day, Tientsin (Tianjin), 1917; the British Consulate and other views at Wuhu, 1903. The album includes portraits of Ker and his family, as well as a number of portraits of Sir John Newell Jordan (1852-1925), Minister to China 1906-20, at various official engagements

Biographical note: William Pollock Ker (1864-1945) went to China as a student interpreter in 1888 and was appointed as Consul at Wuhu in 1902 and at Nanking in 1905. He served as Commercial Attaché,China 1907-17 and as Consul-General, Tietnsin 1917-26. (Who Was Who).