Captain Linnaeus Tripe

Captain Linnaeus Tripe British, 1822-1902 Born in Davenport, Linnaeus Tripe was an officer in the 12th Regiment Native Infantry at Bangalore who learned photography while on furlough in England between 1851-54. In 1855 he was appointed photographer to a British mission in Burma, where he produced more than 120 views subsequently published by the Madras Photographic Society in Bangalore (1857). For four years, beginning in 1856, he was government photographer to the Madras presidency. Six volumes with more than 100 images of various cities in Madras (now Tamil Nadu) were later published. Like other expeditionary photographers, Tripe documented the landscape, culture, and architecture he encountered. His particular views are valued not only for their factual content, but also for Tripe's soft, almost romantic interpretation of his subjects. Rising through the military ranks during his career, Tripe retired to England as an honorary major general in 1875. He continued to photograph for his own pleasure. T.W.F.