Catalogue description Chapman, Sir, Edward F, d 1926

Photographs and pen and watercolour sketches, largely from the Mission to Yarkand (1873-74).

As a Captain in the Royal Artillery, Sir Edward Chapman, KCB, served on the staff of the Mission to Yarkand, despatched, in 1873, by the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, to negotiate with Yakub Beg, ruler of (Chinese) Turkestan, and which was led by Douglas (later Sir Douglas) Forsyth. Chapman was designated Secretary to the Mission, a role which included responsibility for administration and supply.

Chapman did a crash course in photography before the Mission set off from Kashmir, in September 1873, en route for Leh and Yarkand. Most of the photographs illustrating Forsyth's Report (published by the Government of India in 1875) were taken by Chapman. During the Mission, Chapman also made a number of pen and watercolour sketches of the landscape and way of life of the Turki population in Yarkand and Kashgar.

For a letter from Sir Richard Maconachie noting the provenance of the photographs and watercolours, see RSAA/M/246.