Portraits of Communists, 1871

Category

Library Item

Item no

17028

Title

Portraits of Communists taken while a prisoner from between 9 and 10am 22nd May till midday 24th May 66 Bonlevant Malesherbes, 23rd May 1871 Paris

Description

Soldiers surround a group of men and women who are standing inside a building. The soldiers are all wearing caps and one is carrying a sword and has several packs hanging from his belt. The crowd is a mixture of ages from the young to very old.

Artist / maker

Kerr, Mark

Date

1871

Size

10.5 x 24.5 cm

Type

Reproduction

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image was drawn during the Paris Commune of 1871. Following the defeat by the Prussians in 1870, Paris refused to accept the surrender negotiated by the national government early the following year. On 18 March 1871, the Commune of Paris was declared. The Paris Commune was a worker's insurrection that acted as the city council. It was ended by force on 28 May 1871.

This image comes from a set of family photograph albums known as the Moray Albums. They belonged to a family known as the Stirling Home-Drummond Moray's, an aristocratic, well-connected Scottish landowning family. Originally the name was Drummond, but became hyphenated in 1741 when Agatha Drummond of Blair Drummond married Henry Home of Kames. Their grandson, Henry Home-Drummond married Christian Moray, eldest daughter of Colonel Charles Moray of Abercairny and his wife, Anne Stirling. The Stirling name was added due to the inclusion of Anne Stirling's lands.

The albums contain many pictures of the extended family and other aristocratic connections as well as images of the stately homes at Blair Drummond and Abercairny. The family travelled frequently too through Great Britain and to the continent for holidays in Switzerland. Portraits include Charles Stirling Home-Drummond Moray who became 9th Laird of Blair Drummond, 19th of Abercairny and 11th of Ardoch in 1876 and his wife Lady Ann Georgina Douglas. Their son, William Augustus married the Hon. Gwendolen Edwarde, daughter of the 4th Baron Kensington and there are photographs of the Kensingtons in the second album.

The family used many residences of their extended family as well as their own, which are represented in the albums. The original house at Abercairny; Abercairny Abbey was started in 1805 and demolished in 1960. The present Abercairney House was started in 1842 and is still in use by the family. Their hunting lodge, Connachan Lodge is still in existence and is sometimes rented out. Firle Place, Lewes, Sussex which also appears in the albums is still owned by the Gages.

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Clothing and dress > Garments > Uniforms

People > Adults > Men

People > Adults > Women

People > Military activities > Soldiers

Places > Europe > France