Palmerston Hotel, Port Elizabeth

177 x 146 mm. An albumen print mounted on card bearing the letterpress: 'J.E. Bruton, Photographer, Port Elizabeth, Cape of Good Hope' (thus certainly dating the print to before 1874 when Bruton left Port Elizabeth to set up a studio in Cape Town). The print shows the front facade of the two- storied stone built hotel with a group of men and women posed on the verandah for the photographer. The name of the proprietor, James R. Rumsey, can be read above the entrance. The hotel, situated in Jetty Street, was next door to Bruton's photographic premises.

James Edward Bruton (also known as Brunton) was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. His parents had settled in South Africa in 1820. He first opened a photographic studio in 1858, opposite the Lyceum in Port Elizabeth. In 1859 he moved to Jetty Street, Port Elizabeth, working as a photographer and tobacconist. Bruton married Mary Ann Woodman and eventually had five children. In 1874 he moved to Cape Town. Between 1876 and 1897 he appears to have been located at 74 Adderley Street, Cape Town, and moved to Douglas, Isle of Man, in the 1890s.

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Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection is available on microfiche: Africa, fiche number 190.

fair condition, some fading in from edges.

For another view of Jerry Street and the Palmerston Hotel, see Y3059V/19 and Y305C/20.

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

DateText: The date is approximate..

Bruton, James Edward, 1838-1918, photographer