Samuel Bourne

Samuel Bourne British, 1834 - 1912 Born in Nottingham, Samuel Bourne first began taking photographs as an amateur in 1851. Four years later, he gave up his career in banking to become a professional photographer. In 1862 he embarked for India, where for the next several years he made three photographic expeditions into the Himalayas. He also formed a partnership in Simla with Charles Shepherd -- a publishing enterprise to reproduce photographic views. Until his return to England in 1870, Bourne continued to work in India and the Far East and to expand the province of Bourne & Shepherd, opening a second branch in Calcutta. By the time of his departure he had produced some 1,500 negatives of such places as Benares, Darjeeling, and Tibet, largely of landscape and architecture for the public market. Bourne was known for the care with which he conceived and executed his work. His images, though plentiful, were highly prized and remain so today. Many are still available from the firm Bourne & Shepherd, which has survived for more than 125 years. After returning to England, he established a business in cotton doubling, manufacturing thread for lacemaking and weaving machines, raised a family, and took up again the life of an amateur photographer and watercolorist. T.W.F.