Linnaeus Tripe

The final photographer discussed at the Special Event was Linnaeus Tripe (his father really liked scientific classification). Tripe (April 14, 1822 – March 2, 1902) was born in England and sent to the East India Company as a young man. He started dabbling in photography between 1850 and 1854, where he was on a sick leave. He likely attended the same 1851 Great Exhibition that got Roger Fenton into photography.

When his health returned and he was sent back to India, Tripe began working as an official government photographer, producing images of a British trip to Burma and of important architectural structures throughout southern India. Unfortunately for Tripe, this appointment only lasted for a few years, after which the entire government-sponsored photography program was abandoned. Tripe may have continued photographing after this, but not to the extent that he did while being sponsored.

Arcade in Quadrangle, from the album Photographs of Madura: Part IV, South India, 1858, no. IS.41:4-1889, Victoria and Albert Museum


















The East Gopuram of the Great Pagoda, from the album, Photographs of Madura: Part III, South India, 1858, no. IS.40:2-1889, Victoria and Albert Museum

Aisle on the South Side of the Puthu Mundapum, from the Western Portico, from the album Photographs of Madura: Part II, South India, 1858, no. IS.39:3-1889, Victoria and Albert Museum

Mosque (Musjid) of Nuttur Auleah, Madras, India, 1858, no. 33:801, Victoria and Albert Museum