Accession Number

2012.007.001.117

Description

One sepia-toned photograph of two men standing on a wide gravel road. Both of them are wearing bowler hats. The moustached man on the left is wearing a lightly-coloured three-piece suit and leather shin-protectors, and carries a cane in one hand, and a cigar in the other. The bearded man on the right wears a darkly-coloured three-piece suit and holds an umbrella in one hand, and a cigar in the other. Behind them is a large two-story wood frame house, a smaller two-story house, and two other wooden buildings.

Narrative

This circa 1905 photograph depicts Francis "Frank" "Dib" Little on the left, on James Dunsmuir on the right. Behind them is Beaufort House (also known as "The Big House") which was the mine manager's house for the Union Collieries in Cumberland, British Columbia. They are probably in Cumberland, where Frank Little was the Manager of the colliery and James Dunsmuir was the owner. The two men were friends, and they stayed close even after Mr. Little had retired and Mr. Dunsmuir had sold his mining interests. 

History of Use

This photograph was taken in about 1905 and placed in an album created by the James and Laura Dunsmuir family at Burleith, their home on Victoria's Gorge Waterway. In 1906 it was probably taken by the family to Victoria's Government House where they lived while James served as British Columbia's eighth Lieutenant Governor. From there it was taken to the family's new house, Hatley Park, in 1910.

Sometime after Laura Miller Dunsmuir's death in 1937, the album became the property of Dola Frances Dunsmuir (also known as Mrs. Dola Cavendish) and was kept at her house Dolaura in Colwood, B.C. After hear death, the album was owned by her sister Kathleen's daughter, Judith Humphreys (also known as Mrs. Judith Joy). Her daughter donated the album to Craigdarroch Castle in 2012.

Date

circa 1905

Dimensions

9.5 x 9.5 cm

Subject/Image

(L) Francis Dean Little and (R) James Dunsmuir

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Canada