'Bedouin', Egypt, 1907 (c)

Postcard by the Reiser Studio, Alexandria, Egypt, 1907 (c).

Photographic portrait of a man in Bedouin dress.

The Reiser Studio in Alexandria, founded by Andreas Reiser (1840-1898) and operated from 1900 to 1914 by his son Lucien, undertook commercial photography and portraiture. It also produced photographic postcards of Egyptian people, places and antiquities and had a profitable sideline in pornographic images of women from the nearby red-light district around the Rue des Soeurs. With the outbreak of World War One (1914-1918) the studio closed.

Personnel serving in Egypt were keen to visit and acquire souvenirs of Egypt's sights. This postcard is among a number collected by Regimental Sergeant Major Arthur George Harrington, King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Arthur Harrington (1869-1915) joined 1st Battalion The Lincoln Regiment on 22 November 1892, but transferred to 3rd Battalion The King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) to serve with his elder brother on 10 October 1894.

Harrington served in Egypt and India, fought in the Boer War (1899-1902) and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Having transferred to the Territorial Force, Harrington served with the 9th Volunteer Battalion of the KRRC (later re-named 5th Battalion The London Regiment). By 1914 he had reached the rank of regimental sergeant-major. Mobilised in August 1914, after several months training his battalion landed at Le Havre on 17 November and went into the line with 11th Brigade in 4th Division. Harrington was killed at the 2nd Battle of Ypres on 28 April 1915.

From a collection collected by Regimental Sergeant Major Arthur George Harrington, King's Royal Rifle Corps and London Rifle Brigade, 1899-1914.