BOURNE & SHEPHERD

The most successful commercial firm in 19th–and early 20th–century India, established in Simla in 1863 by Samuel Bourne as ‘Howard, Bourne & Shepherd’, and becoming ‘Bourne & Shepherd’ by 1865. It opened further studios in Calcutta (1867– present) and Bombay (1870–c.1902). Following Bourne’s departure in 1870, much of the new photographic work was undertaken by Colin Murray (1840–84), although during the 1870s Charles Shepherd continued to photograph and at least sixteen Europeans are listed as assistants. Between 1870 and 1911 the firm sent photographers to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma, Nepal and Singapore, as well as extending its coverage of India. The firm still survives in Calcutta today, although in a much reduced form.