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Oswald, John Collection
John Charles Oswald (1857-1930), born in Croydon, Surrey, England, was a tea trader and race horse owner based in Fuzhou. In 1888 Oswald was working for Odell & Co., and by 1890 he had moved to Bathgate & Co., where he was to stay, becoming manager later in the 1890s. Oswald married Nina Louisa Day, the daughter of Reverend A.B. Day, of Fishponds, Bristol, on 4 May 1896. The couple had three children, Yvonne, Cynthia ('Bunch'), and John. John Charles Oswald was a keen photographer – a photograph of him in one of his albums at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is captioned 'Mr Camera' (source: online catalogue, Archives & Special Collections, SOAS). The John Oswald photographs include early ‘instantaneous’ snapshot photography, as well as some fine professionally produced photos. 487 images from 5 albums (HPC refs: Os01, Os02, Os03, Os04, Os05) and loose prints (HPC ref: Os-s). Xiamen, Fuzhou, 1880s-1890s. We are grateful to Archives & Special Collections, SOAS, University of London for permission to digitise these and make them available here. SOAS archive catalogue reference number: MS 380876.
