Glenbuchat Heritage

7 Deeside Photographers

Deeside Photographers

Pictures above:

1 – 8 Pictures of backs of photos and photos of the photographers
9 Picture of Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim by Robert Milne of Aboyne.

Introduction to Farquharson Family Story

Click for Farquharson Album


The following pages show the photographs of the Farquharson family. If any one can identify then please contact the web site.


This Album about the Farquharson family of Strathdon started with a quest to identify a group of photographs of the Farquharson family.

One way to try and identify and date the photos is to identify the photographers who put their names on the photographs.

Deeside between the 1850’s and 1900 was transformed by the purchase of Balmoral Castle by Queen Victoria. After Prince Alberts death in 1861 Victoria spent increasing time at Balmoral with the result that the Court and the aristocracy came to her at Balmoral. Even the Kaiser or Germany and the Tzar of Russia visited (Both her relatives).

The Doyen of Royal Photographers was George Washington Wilson from Aberdeen who was succeeded by his son Charles. His photos however are not represented here. GWW also had quite a close friendship with John Brown and he was permitted to use Monaltrie Cottage in the grounds of Balmoral Castle as a summer home.

George Washington Wilson (1823-1893), born in the North East of Scotland, went to Edinburgh and then London in the 1840s to train as a portrait miniaturist. He became established in Aberdeen in the 1850s as an artist and photographer, and quickly made a name for himself among the middle classes and landed gentry. His patronage by the Royal Family during their visits to the Balmoral Estates began in 1854 when he was invited to take photographs of the Royal family in the grounds of Balmoral. He received the official appointment of Photographer Royal for Scotland in 1860 and his relationship with the Royal family continued throughout his career. Wilson’s success allowed him to employ staff photographers to carry out the routine portraiture business whilst he travelled the country indulging in his new interest in landscape photography.

Photography which was becoming more and more popular during this time, there was a call for the local photographers to also photograph Royalty and the Aristocracy as well as local families. Photographs were also request by family emigrating from Scotland.

The picture above shows the backs of some of the photographs presented later, and give some details of the photographer.

William Thomson Aberdeen

Studio of William Thomson, Photographer, Exchange Street, Aberdeen.

1877 Thomson William, photographer, 259 George Street
He was treasurer of the Aberdeen Amateur Photographic Society.

Directory 1891 1892
Thomson, William, late photographer, 21 Summerfield Terrace

Thompson was one of the few photographers that dated his photos by putting the year the cards were made by William Thompson at his studio located at 259 George Street.

W. B. Anderson

Photographer W.B.Anderson, 26 Union Terrace, Aberdeen, and Alford.
Aberdeen, Scotland, active 1881 – 1901

1893 Anderson, W. B., 26 Union ter.
1908 Anderson, W. B., 255 Union st

INSCH PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO.
Mr W. B. Anderson. Photographic Artist, Aberdeen And Alford begs intimate the inhabitants of Insch and adjoining Parishes that he has acquired from the Representatives of the Late the above Business, and the Studio Will be opened by him, after thorough renovation. on Friday First. Aberdeen. 12th May, 1893.
Aberdeen Press and Journal - Saturday 13 May 1893

Union Terrace Improvements. W. B. Anderson's New Photographic Studio Is Now open, All Branches The Art Carried on. Nothing But First-Class Work Allowed To Leave The Premises at 26 Union Terrace. Alford Branch Open Every Tuesday And Thursday.
Aberdeen Press and Journal - Thursday 29 August 1889

Anderson’s Photographic Studio, Union Street, Aberdeen 154.
Easily Seen from Top of Bridge Street Looking West
Aberdeen People's Journal - Saturday 16 August 1902


LATE MR. W. B. ANDERSON.
The late Mr W. Anderson, photographer. Gladstone Place, Aberdeen, whose death took place Friday. He was 71 years of age, and had been business as a photographer Aberdeen for over years.
Aberdeen Press and Journal - Tuesday 06 April 1920


Alexander Dinnie Aberdeen

Alexander Dinnie had premises at 3, Bridge Street from 1880 1890, and at 3 Bridge Place from 1881 1892. These were effectively on opposite sides of the same street, about 100 yards from Aberdeen’s main concert venue, the Aberdeen Music Hall, with Aberdeen Railway Station about 200 yards further down Bridge Street. The premises at the Bridge Street address, (which the 1890 Aberdeen Street Directory gives as Dinnie’s home address) has been demolished and is now the site of a Travelodge hotel, while the Bridge Place address, while still standing has become a dodgy-looking Gentleman’s Club! A lithograph of Dinnie appeared in the Aberdeen Northern Figaro on September 29th 1888. Although the paper doesn’t identify him as Alexander Dinnie the photographer, no other Aberdonians of that name lived in the city at the time and the silhouette portrait of A photographer,)which appeared in the same journal on December 15th 1888 is very likely the same person.


Stuart Photographers Brompton Road

The Photo of John Farquharson in London was taken by Stuart Photographers on the Brompton Road.

W & J Stuart relates to William John & John Stuart who also traded at one point as Stuart Bros. Stuart Bros were at 47 Brompton Road from 1865 to 1892 and from 1893 to 1911 the name above the door was changed to W&J Stuart, they in turn were succeeded by Charles and Archibald Stuart who traded from the address from 1912 till 1925.



Robert Milne (1865-1952), Photographer Ballater and Aboyne

Robert Milne was a portrait photographer with studios in Ballater and Aboyne, Scotland. He received a Royal Warrant in 1896.

In 1893 the 'new' photographer Robert Milne (1865-1952) was present at Balmoral, taking the place of the established firm of George Washington Wilson & Co who had been photographing the Royal Family since 1854. Three years prior to this photograph being taken in 1896, Milne was issued with a Royal Warrant.


From ‘The A-Z of Curious Aberdeenshire: Strange Stories of Mysteries, etc’
By Duncan Harley

(See photo above)

Abdul Karim was just 24 when he arrived from India to wait at the royal table in 1887, four years after John Brown’5 death. The monarch was then 68. Karim had entered the royal household as a ‘gift from India’ and within a mere few months he was promoted well beyond ordinary servant status and had become a close confidant and regular companion to the head of the British Empire. He was soon given the title of Queen’s Indian Secretary, a promotion, over the heads of longer-serving servants, which scandalised the royal household and enraged members of the royal family.

A set of official royal photographs taken by Aboyne photographer Robert Milne only made things worse. Taken inside Karim Cottage, they appear to show a diminutive Victoria, pen in hand, examining royal correspondence with a rather smug-looking Karim standing in the background. One picture, published in the Daily Telegraph, was captioned ‘The Queen’s life in the highlands. Her Majesty receiving a lesson in Hindustani from the Munshi Hafiz Mohammed Abdul Karim.’ On the face of it, there was nothing to suggest impropriety and in fact the portrait clearly reflected an impeccably correct mistress and servant relationship. However, a storm of indignation soon arose. Some detected a hint of a smile on the monarch’s face and leapt to a tabloid conclusion. Others, such as the queen’s personal physician, Sir John Reid, went into attack mode. In a personal letter to Karim, he informed the man that he was ‘very low class and never can be a gentleman!’