Occupation of Mashonaland 1890

Album of carbon prints, originally belonging to Sir Leander Starr Jameson and has his signature. The album contains the results of William Ellerton Fry's work in Mashonaland, and is a major historical record. It is not known how many copies of this album were produced; fewer than twenty are known to survive. The photographs were reproduced in smaller format but with some introductory matter, by Books of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo in 1982. It may be noted that this gives further variants to the identifications noted under plates 2 and 3.

William Ellerton Fry was born in 1846 and left England for South Africa in 1872 and though he returned briefly to England and married, he soon resumed his career in South Africa, his only settled appointment being as Secretary to the Meteorological Commission in Cape Town. IN 1890 he left this post on the invitation of F.C. Selous to join the pioneer expedition to occupy Mashonaland. He had the rank of Lieutenant and the duties of Intelligence Officer and also official photographer. He then resumed an unsettled life in East and South Africa, finally retiring to Cape Town. He died in 1930.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Presented to The Royal Empire Society by V.W. Hiller, Archivist of Southern Rhodesia, in 1947.

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection is available on microfiche: Africa, fiche numbers 137-39.

The album was damaged by flood and has been rebound, with a few damaged prints replaced by copies made from the original negatives by Rhodesia Archives. The damaged originals are preserved in a pocket at the back of the volume.

This collection level description was entered by WS using information from the original typescript catalogue.

DateText: Modern copies of photographs taken in 1890..

Fry, William Ellerton, 1846-1930