Samuel Bourne 1834 - 1912

occupation:
Photographer
Nationality:
English; British

Secured job with Moore and Robinson's Bank, Nottingham, in 1855; amateur photographic interests started at about same time, quickly becoming an accomplished landscape photographer; began lecturing on photography and contributing technical articles to several photographic journals; late 1850s began exhibiting with Nottingham Photographic Society and in London, at the London International Exhibition of 1862; give up his position at the bank and went to India to work as a professional photographer; arriving in Calcutta early in 1863; established a new studio ‘Howard & Bourne’, to be joined in 1864 by Charles Shepherd, to form ‘Howard, Bourne & Shepherd’; by 1866, after the departure of Howard, it became ‘Bourne & Shepherd’, which went on to become the premier photographic studio in India, still trading in Calcutta today (2010); Bourne spent six productive years in India, returning to England in January 1871 having produced approximately 2,200 fine images of the landscape and architecture of India and the Himalayas; shortly after his return to England he sold off his interests in Bourne and Shepherd studios, and entered into a business partnership with his brother-in-law J B Tolley producing cotton; continued photography as a hobby but most of his time relaxing was devoted to watercolour.