BIJAPUR. Personal photographs relating to the life of Surgeon John Blackburn Smith of the Bombay Medical Staff

A group of three old card album leaves showing:

Leaf one: recto – 4 photographs approx,  6 x  4ins, of sites in Bijapur including one showing the famous gun titled Malik-i-Maidan (King of the Plains)  Bijapur  The verso has a well toned, full plate 11x 9 ins image Arash Mahal – Bijapur a fine building also known as The House of Twelve Doors which I believe was a residence for medical staff.

Leaf two: recto – a 9½ x 7½ view of Arash Mahal Bijapur Drawing Room – presumably the Smiths’ quarters there.  verso – 4 photographs, one showing the Smiths and friends at Gymkhana Races 1896 and another with Bombay street scene.

Leaf three -Largely unconnected images but of interest is one titled Home which appears to be the substantial house where the Smiths lived in Ireland.   nov29/1

Provenance: These leaves came from a broken album which was put together by Surgeon John Blackburn Smith of the Bombay Medical Service who was serving in Baluchistan 1890-93 [photographs from that period can be found elsewhere is this category] and later at Poona and Bijapur, later rising to be Acting Surgeon General of the Bombay Medical Service.