Photographs of photographers with their cameras are not often found in their own albums of photographs. So it was good to find a snap of Warren Swire with an unidentified woman wearing jodhpurs, taken by Ann Phipps (ph04-045). Ann was the niece of the British Minister to China, Sir Miles Lampson and she visited her distinguished uncle in China in 1928-29.
G. Warren Swire with his camera, British Legation Lodge, Peking, Phipps collection, ph04-045
It seems that a party, probably including Ann Phipps and Warren Swire, had ridden to the British Legation Lodge outside Peking (Beijing).
The Historical Photographs of China project had already digitised several hundred photographs taken by Warren Swire, who thoroughly documenting Butterfield and Swire’s wharves, warehouses and ships – images which the company could use to help manage the business from London. Most serendipitously, among these photographs were four taken by Warren Swire, during this same outing to the Legation Lodge in the Western Hills (sw22-124, sw22-125, sw22-126 and sw22-127).
Horses and grooms, near Legation Lodge, Peking, Swire collection, sw22-126