The oldest photo here is Albert Charles Wratislaw, my wife’s g-grandfather. I would guess from his fresh-faced look that he could be about to join the Levant Consular Service, or have been newly promoted another rung on the ladder in the 1880s.
Two views of Albert Charles Wratislaw, the British Consul in the East, the lower photograph judging by the car, taken in the early 1920s, location unknown.
The lower photo is one of the many interesting photos taken by A.C. Wratislaw - it shows a steam powered threshing machine imported from Suffolk, again to somewhere in the Ottoman lands. This would have interested Wratislaw as he was brought up in Bury St. Edmunds, not too far from Ipswich.
Below views taken almost certainly by A.C. Wratislaw, the first two certainly of his time with Turko-Persian boundary commission 1913-1914, and the others below those, clearly from that region, but possibly from an earlier time, during his tenure as Consul in Basra and Tabriz respectively (1898-1909).
Apparently the line over which the 1st Gulf War (Iran/Iraq) in the 1980s was fought was called the Wratislaw line in diplomatic circles in around WW1 time.
image courtesy of Chris Seaton
Group photo with members of the Turco-Persian boundary commission, somewhere in modern day Iraq, 1913-14 - below names of this group highlighted in the book ‘From the Gulf to Ararat: An Expedition through Mesopotamia and Kurdistan - G. E. Hubbard, 1917’.
'postman' is written on the reverse of this one
image courtesy of Chris Seaton
image courtesy of Chris Seaton
Native scenes in Mesopotamia.
Image above location unknown, but judging by the soldier on the extreme right, possibly in Greece, and possibly a ceremony to mark the recent liberation (26 October 1912) of Salonica where A.C. Cumberbatch was Consul during 1914-1919.
A. C. Wratislaw exiting Buckingham palace with his wife - clearly getting one of his gongs, but is it the CMG in 1901, CB in 1909 or CBE in 1918. I would guess the last date from the dress...
Photo above showing Gertrude Evelyn Cumberbatch (wife of Albert Charles) photo taken in a famous Constantinople studio (probably 1890s), and the one below Gertrude with daughters, taken at Sebah & Joaillier 439, Grand Rue de Pera, Constantinople. Date I would guess about 1903.
The photo above with roll-over were in red boxed frame “his and hers” like. I therefore assume the lady opposite A.C.W. is his wife, G.E.W. On the back of A.C.W.’s is a stamp of the photographer’s details, “Adolphus Tear, 42 High Street, Notting Hill Gate, London W11 Phone: Park 751”.
Photo above possibly Louisa Grace Cumberbatch (née Hanson), the mother of Gertrude Evelyn, photo taken in Smyrna, possibly by which time she had become a widow (husband died by 1876).
Possibly Edith W. (Harry’s sister) marrying Noel Agabeg.
Above, Lotty’s father, Charles Anthony Wratislaw. I’d be interested in anyone who could identify that beret in the military uniform - I think in 1939 he lied about his age and joined the British Army in Egypt, but then it might have been the French Army in Syria/Lebanon! The cap style here suggests the latter.
The dapper one below is marked on the back “To Tante Evelyn from Char with love.” Evelyn was one’s of Harry’s sisters. Interesting that I don’t have any photos at all that I can see would have been Harry. The studio was “Studio Noubar, Boulevard Chukry Koually, ALEP.” Not sure when Charles left Aleppo, possibly not till 1939.