Views of Bombay, 1897

Photographs attributed to Captain C Moss, 1897.

The locations depicted are 'Crawford Market; Municipal Office; Victoria Terminus GIPR; High Court; View of Bombay From Malabar Hill; Apollo Bunder; Yacht Club; Jackeria Musjid; Pydownie'.

Known as the 'Gateway to India' Bombay (now Mumbai) had long been major port and administrative centre of British India. By the 1890s the city was a thriving commercial and industrial centre with a population of over 800,000. However, the arrival bubonic plague in the summer 1896 brought disaster to the city. By March 1897 around 20,000 people had died from the disease and hundreds of thousands of people had fled.

From an album of 135 photographs entitled 'Plague Visitation Bombay 1896-97'. The majority of the photographs were taken by Captain C Moss, The Gloucestershire Regiment, and the album was compiled by Mr F B Stewart for the Bombay Plague Committee, chaired by Brig Gen William Forbes Gatacre.