life in India a century ago

life in India a century ago

·  178 plate-glass negatives discovered inside a size-nine Peter Lord box in Edinburgh in 2012 ·  Some images were taken in 1912, archivists confirm ·  Unknown photographer may have been British civil servant in Calcutta....

 

King George V and the Queen arrive in Delhi in 1911

 

Buildings on the south-east side of Lal Dighi, Calcutta, lit at night for the 1912 British royal visit by King George V and Queen Mary. All 178 images were found in a Peter Lord shoebox in Edinburgh and are about 100 years old

 

Calcutta is lit up for the royal visit

 

Archivists have confirmed some of the images were definitely taken in 1912, when the royals visited. It was the only trip by a British monarch to India as Emperor of the subcontinent

 

Ships arriving at Chandpal Ghat, while crowds gather by the docks

 

A crowded riverside with bathers at Chandpal Ghat in Calcutta, the main landing site for visitors to the city along the Hooghly River

 

A Jain temple complex in Calcutta. RCAHMS hopes that members of the public and photography enthusiasts might be able to shed more light on the photographic discovery

 

A street hairdresser giving a 'Hindustani haircut' (pudding bowl) in Strand Road South, Calcutta

 

Celebrations for the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Calcutta in 1912

 

Two men stick dance in front of a crowd in Maidan, Calcutta. The dance represents a mock fight between legendary warrior Durga and the mighty demon king Mahishasura

 

A street scene in an unknown location, capturing life in India at least a century ago

 

Waterside with a group of washermen at a dhobi ghat (open-air laundry zone)