This article describes a photographic album that was kept by an officer in the Royal Engineers who was stationed in Malta in the 1860s. While some of the portraits collected in these years were taken by Leandro Preziosi, I believe that other portraits were captured by the owner of the album, Colonel Bruce Brine, RE.

Unfortunately, the album no longer exists in its original state: it was broken up a number of years ago and has appeared on the market in dribs and drabs over the past decade. I was fortunate to have purchased a number of pages, some of which have relevance to Malta.

The album originally consisted of about 200 photographs collected between 1859 and 1883. It belonged to Bruce Brine of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Brine was born in 1839, and by the time he retired he had served as assistant commandant at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham (1885-1888), and Colonel on Staff, Commanding Royal Engineers, at Aldershot, (1888-1894).

Bruce Brine, self-portrait, 1879. Photo: Bruce Brine

Brine served in Malta, arriving in May 1861 and departing in June 1866 to take up employment back in England. In August 1863, he married Henrietta Franks (sometimes referred to by the surname French) in Dublin and returned to Malta with his wife soon after. The Brines were to have two daughters in Malta: Henrietta, born in 1864, and Eleanor, born in 1866.

It is Brine’s time in Malta that is of principal interest here because the album records various family members, work colleagues and acquaintances that Brine met on the island. Fortunately, he collected paper prints (rather than cartes-de-visite mounted on card), pasting the photographic paper directly onto the album pages, carefully noting the names of the sitters and the years in which their portraits were taken.

The Malta period includes a number of portraits taken by Preziosi, among which are two rare military double portraits of commanding officers with their corresponding aides-de-camp. These photos will be the subject of a future study.

Also included in the album were portraits of Governor Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant and his two daughters, Blanche and Clementina, taken by Preziosi. The latter were featured in ‘Shining a light on some patrons of photographer Leandro Preziosi’, (The Sunday Times of Malta, January 22, 2017).

However, there are portraits in this album which would indicate that Brine was not only the owner of the album but also the photographer. If this were the case, then it elevates the importance of Brine and his album from the realm of just another collector of photographs to an exponent of the art in Malta in the 1860s.

This article is concerned with establishing the case for Brine to be included as one of Malta’s early photographers.

Brine’s portraits display a simplicity of composition, as demonstrated by his self-portrait; generally full-face busts with a plain background printed as oval vignettes. The subjects are well lit, which shows a certain competency in technique.

In her seminal history of photography in Malta, Margaret Harker informed us that in the 1850s, the Royal Engineers included instruction in photography as part of their curriculum. She also wrote that, in the 1870s, the Royal Engineers’ headquarters in Malta accommodated a photography room. Furthermore, she apprised us too that Sergeant Ramsay Church, RE, was an active photographer in Malta in the 1850s and early 1860s.

P. Towrest, reverse of carte-de-visite. Photo: P. Towrest

One photographer, P. Towrest, working in Malta at about the same period, described himself as “late photographer in H.M. Corps of Royal Engineers” – see reverse of card illustrated on the right. Therefore, it would seem quite plausible that Brine, a serving officer in the Royal Engineers, might also have exercised his hobby while in Malta.

There are a number of other factors that also help to build this case.

Two photographic portraits in the album show Sir John Jocelyn Coghill and his wife. Coghill was one of Ireland’s first photographers active from 1854. Given the Brines’ association with Ireland, it is quite possible that there was a connection between these two families, spurred on by a mutual interest in photography. Coghill was considered to have been of sufficient significance for his work to be included in the collection of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

The activities and interests of Bruce’s own siblings, Frederick, George, Lindesay and Percival, also demonstrated a familiarity with science and technology; the youngest brother, The Rev. Percival Brine, MA, even used photography to explain his theological theories.

Bruce’s older brother Frederick also enlisted in the Royal Engineers and attained the rank of general. He was obviously of a technical mindset: after a successful career where he saw action in the Crimean War and service in China, he devoted his retirement to ballooning. He was an intrepid aeronaut, credited with being Britain’s ablest amateur exponent of the time. His interest lay in researching the direction and velocity of air currents at high altitudes. Although his attempt to cross the English Channel was not successful, he undertook successful flights across the Irish Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar.

Both George and Lindesay followed their uncle, Rear Admiral Augustus Brine, and their grandfather into the Royal Navy. George achieved the rank of captain and Lindesay that of vice-admiral. As naval officers they must have embraced technology. Lindesay was also appointed a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Most surprising of all is Percival’s use of photography in his religious publications. No intellectual slouch, Percival, a senior fellow of King’s College Cambridge, published a number of pamphlets on a variety of subjects.

In a booklet printed for private circulation in the 1870s, but which achieved considerable publicity, Percival argued that God imbued the Earth with life. Thus, the Earth itself gives life to trees and the weather. By using photographic illustrations, he argued that the reflections of objects on the surface of water (such as a castle by a lake) are distorted due to the life force that the Earth exerts on the rays of light as they bounce off the water. As contemporary critics wrote at the time: one might not agree with Percival’s logic, however, he appears to have demonstrated considerable intellectual novelty!

Whereas the Preziosi portraits included in the album were formal exercises taken within a studio setting, the other photos, which should be considered as having been captured by Brine, are, by comparison, informal. One of these shows Bruce, his wife Henrietta and his brother Lindesay. It is dated 1865, so we can assume it was taken in Malta. Henrietta stands to the right, with Commander Lindesay Brine seated in the centre and Bruce standing on the left. If we assume that Bruce is the photographer, then the following scenario suggests itself: Bruce looks intently at his wife and brother to check that that they are holding their pose, and with his right hand, poised at his waist, he activates a concealed shutter release cable.

Bruce, his wife Henrietta and his brother Lindesay. Photo: Bruce Brine

Brine also photographed another military officer in characteristic style. This one, of Major Laing Meason, was taken in 1866. Meason was barrack master in Malta in 1860, and later served as governor of Corradino Prison. Meason’s extraordinary moustache immediately draws the viewer’s attention; this is because the subject, seated before a plain, dark background, is skilfully lighted so that his head and features are dramatically picked out.

Another portrait, the epitome of informality, shows Captain Edward Loftus Bland, also of the Royal Engineers, standing cross-legged leaning on his walking stick. The characteristic white cloth backdrop seems hastily arranged.

Captain Edward Bland, RE, 1863. Photo: Bruce Brine

Major Laing Meason, 1866. Photo: Bruce Brine

One reason for the unaffected nature of this shot might be due to the familiarity of subject and photographer; Bland was Bruce Brine’s brother-in-law, married to Henrietta’s eldest sister Emma. Captain Bland arrived in Malta in 1857. The Blands too were married in Dublin; their wedding took place in 1859 and they settled in Malta later that year. They are recorded as having had two children here: a son in October 1859 and a daughter in June 1862.

Another group photograph, which seems similarly relaxed, is of members of the Royal Engineers’ staff on the Maltese civil establishment, dating to 1863. This is an important photograph for the architectural and engineering disciplines in Malta because it may be the only one in existence that shows a large group of practitioners of these disciplines; indeed, it may well be the only photographic portrait of some of these professionals. They are from left to right, standing: Charles Beck, T. W. J. Conolly, Giuseppe Bonavia, Nicole Bonello, Mr Dudley; seated: Hilary Beck, Richard Louch and Mr Farrante.

That Brine was active in Malta in the 1860s cannot be in doubt; plans of the Valletta fortifications, bearing his signature of approval, dated before he left Malta in 1866, are located at the National Archives at Kew in the UK. Also undisputed is the fact that members of the Royal Engineers practised photography in Malta as early as the 1850s.

Members of the Royal Engineers practised photography in Malta as early as the 1850s

Surely, it is not too much of a stretch to assume that Brine was the photographer of so many portraits of family and work colleagues during his time in Malta. If we accept these as facts, then Bruce Brine, RE, should surely be considered one of the exponents of the art of photography in Malta in the 1860s.

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Richard Macauley for his help with this article.

All images are from the author’s collection. The unauthorised reproduction of images from this article is not permitted.