Dards, Kashmir

This is a photograph taken by Francis Frith in 1875 of three members of the Dardic community. One of them holds something that resembles a smoking pipe.

Francis Frith, a grocery business owner, developed interest in photography in Liverpool around 1851. By 1856 he had his first photographic exhibition at the London Photographic Society. In 1859, he established his photography company Francis Frith & Co., which specialised in postcards of landscapes and architectural views from Britain and the Middle East. As his Photography business grew, Frith hired other photographers to capture views under Francis Frith & Co. His photographs from India were captured around c. 1865-1875.