Photographs and paintings by Olive and Charles L. Temple

This material is held atBodleian Library, University of Oxford

  • Reference
    • GB 161 MSS. Afr. s. 2000 and Afr. t. 37
  • Dates of Creation
    • [c1910-1918]
  • Language of Material
    • English.
  • Physical Description
    • 9 volumes, 9 files

Scope and Content

MSS. Afr. s. 2000 

  • Photographs taken in Chad, Cameroon, French Equatorial Africa, northern Nigeria and Tenerife, [c1910-1913], including of the journey made by Olive MacLeod and Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Talbot, Nov. 1910-Jan. 1911, through the Territoire Militaire du Tchad; sketches and paintings of northern Nigeria, by Charles Temple, [c1913-1918].

MSS. Afr. t. 37 

  • Sketches and oil paintings of northern Nigeria, by Temple, [c1913-1918].

Administrative / Biographical History

Olive MacLeod was the younger daughter of Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod and his wife Lady Agnes Northcote. Between August 1910 and May 1911 she undertook a journey through Central Africa in the company of Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Talbot which she later described in her book Chiefs and cities of Central Africa: across Lake Chad by way of British, French and German Territories (Edinburgh, London; W. Blackwood and sons; 1912), illustrated with many of the photographs found in this collection. Percy Talbot was a district commissioner in southern Nigeria and a fellow of the Zoological and Anthropological Societies. Mrs. Talbot was a keen and experienced botanist.

In 1912 Olive MacLeod married Charles Lindsay Temple CMG. He was the youngest son of Sir Richard Temple 1st Bt., and his second wife Mary Lindsay. He spent his early career in Brazil before becoming Resident of Northern Nigeria in 1901. He was appointed Chief Secretary of Northern Nigeria in 1910 and Lieutenant-Governor in 1914. He retired in 1917 due to ill-health. Some of the sketches in this collection were used to illustrate his book Native Races and their Rulers: Sketches and Studies of Official Life and Administrative Problems in Nigeria (London, Cape Town; Argus Printing & Publishing Co. ltd., Way & Co., ltd.; 1918). He died in 1929 and his wife in 1936.

Access Information

Bodleian reader's ticket required.

Note

Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Other Finding Aids

Listed as no. 1230 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996) 1996. A handlist is also available in the library reading room.

Conditions Governing Use

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

Related Material

Papers of Hugh Middleton Brice-Smith, including reports on Kano province, northern Nigeria, 1909, by C.L. Temple (ref. MSS. Afr. s. 230); historical notes on Bauchi, notes on the history of Kano, [by] Charles Lindsay Temple (ref. MSS. Afr. s. 1531 (5, 6); notes for a handbook of northern Nigeria, [by] Olive Temple, including on natural history, agriculture, languages, and native affairs, c1912-1916 (ref. MSS. Afr. s. 1531).