Sydney Tyers album

A disbound album containing prints of various sizes, with captions beneath the prints. Of the prints, 61 relate to the overseas service of Lieutenant Colonel Tyers, the remainder being photographs of English and continental scenes. The photographer for the vast majority of the prints is unknown.
The photographs are arranged in haphazard sequence but the movements of the Boadicea have been traced through her logs in the Public Record Office (Ad. 53/12192, 12192, 12194). Plates which fit in with the movements of the Boadicea are as follows:
Outward voyage 1882: Plates 9, 11-13, 39.
Cape of Good Hope: Plates 18, 25.
St Helena, January 16-22 1884: Plates 52-54.
Ascension, January 27-31 1884: Plates 49-51.
Sierra Leone, February 12-16 1884: Plate 31.
Cape Coast, February 22-25 1884: Plate 32.
Accra, February 25 1884: Plates 21, 24, 26, 28, 30.
Landana, March 14 1884: Plate 42.
Cabinda, March 14-16 1884: Plates 22-23.
Bom Jesus, March 17-20 1884: Plates 29, 41, 43.
St Paul de Loando (now Luanda), March 21-25 1884: Plates 33-34, 36.
Mossamedes, March 28 1884: Plates 40, 70.
Simons Town, May 1884: Plates 3, 8, 10, 14-17, 19-20, 119.
Durban, June 1884: Plates 27, 35, 56, 57, 59-63.
South Africa, June 1884: Plates 45-48, 58.
The two Indian photographs (plates 67 and 68) do not appear to have any relation to Tyers' career.

Sydney Tyers entered the Royal Marines as a 2nd Lieutenant in June 1863. In January of the following year he was posted to H.M.S. Royal George and in January 1867 was promoted to Lieutenant. His next posting, in October 1871, was to H.M.S. Duke of Wellington at Portsmouth and in May 1878 he joined H.M.S. Valiant on coastguard duty off Ireland. He was promoted to Captain in April 1879. In January 1882 he was posted to H.M.S. Boadicea, flagship of the Cape and West Coast of African Station, and was promoted to Major in June 1884, returning to England on Boadicea in the summer of 1885. For some years he served in Plymouth and he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in June 1891, although he remained as Barrack Master until 1896.

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).

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection is available on microfiche: Africa, fiche numbers 170-172.

The album leaves are extremely brittle owing to the effect of flooding.

A typescript list of the movements of HMS Boadicea 1882-1885 compiled by D.H. Simpson from the logs at Ad 53/12192-12194 and an manuscript list of 'Proposed Movements' (January-April 1884) found in the album, are filed with the photographs.

For further information on this collection and Tyers see: Simpson, D (ed.) (1970), 'Colonel Tyers' Album', The Royal Commonwealth Society, Library Notes, New Series no. 164, p.1-3.

This item level description was entered by KS and MJC using information from the original typescript catalogue.

DateText: 1880s. A number of the photographs have been assigned an approximate date with reference to the logs of H.M.S. Boadicea. However, many of the prints were probably purchased and may have been taken several years earlier..

Tyers, Sydney, fl 1863-1896, Lieutenant Colonel