Introduction
In June 6th 1905, during a meeting of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, Sarah Angelina Acland (see LINK) - a fellow member of the Society and a pioneer of colour photography - gave a lecture on “A Visit to Gibraltar - Demonstrating the use of three-colour photography in giving a more faithful impression of a place than could otherwise be obtained."
Sarah Acland ( 1912 - Self Portrait )
( Courtesy of the Museum of the History of Science - Colour composite by Giles Hudson )
While she was visiting the Rock, Ms Acland stayed with her brother Admiral William Alison Dyke Acland at "The Mount" which was his official residence in Gibraltar. With its extensive gardens and superb views over the Bay it was acknowledged to be one of the nicest houses on the Rock.
A view of the town and Bay, with the Spanish towns of San Roque and Algeciras in the distance ( Late 19th century - Unknown )
Unfortunately - and unlike her photographs - her descriptions and comments about life on the Rock tend towards the unoriginal. The very few none military people she seems to have come across were a couple of gypsy pedlars and an Arab servant and his young brother. The local civilian population - which she herself mentions in her lecture as consisting of 20 990, is hardly given a mention.
More or less contemporary view of the Rock from the Bay ( c1900- Postcard )
Nevertheless there is enough of interest elsewhere to persuade me to include the bulk of her lecture in the following three articles. They provide a good running commentary on her pioneering photographs which I suspect would otherwise be unavailable. As her lecture notes are quite lengthy - and as I would like to illustrate them appropriately - I have decided to divide it - arbitrarily - into three sections of more or less equal length: Please click on the following links in order to read them.
1903 - Sarah Acland - A Visit to Gibraltar - Part 1
1903 - Sarah Acland - A Visit to Gibraltar - Part 2
1903 - Sarah Acland - A Visit to Gibraltar - Part 3