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Pirkis Family Collection
Strong on Beijing and Legation life in 1870s and 1880s, this collection includes an album containing fifty-four photographs by John Thomson, printed while he was still in China, as well as many cartes de visite. Albert Edmeades Pirkis (1840-1885) sailed to Hong Kong in 1862 to work in the Auditor General’s Office. Returning to London, Albert married Elizabeth (Bessie) L’Evesque (1836-1900), an artist and musician, in April 1869. In 1870 they moved to Beijing, where Albert was appointed accountant at the British Legation. Bessie’s drawings of Chinese scenes were published in Sunday at Home and The Illustrated London News; see also DH-s019. The Pirkis family left China in May 1885. For a more detailed account of the Pirkis family and the collection see - Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking. HPC refs: PF01 and PF-s.
