William Louis Henry Skeen (1847–1903) was an English photographer in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now Sri Lanka) who photographed tea and coffee cultivation, railway construction, landscapes and various inhabitants in the second half of the 19th century. William Louis Henry Skeen was born 1 July 1847 in London, his father, William Skeen Sr. (1822–1872), was the first officially appointed Government Printer for Ceylon (1849–1872) and his mother was Louisa Matilda née Kemp (1822–1864). In 1860 Skeen Sr purchased the photographic studio of James Parting in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. The studio operated firstly as S. Slinn & Co and was managed by Samuel Slinn Skeen (the younger brother of Skeen Sr) and John Edward Wilshaw. Skeen Jr who was trained at the London School of Photography returned to

in 1862, taking over control of the photographic studio, renaming it W.L.H. Skeen & Co. in 1868. Skeen's younger brothers, George Justin Athelstan (1852–1906) was the Ceylon Government Printer (1881–1906) and Frederick Albert Edward (1861–1929) assisted his brother at W.L.H. Skeen & Co until 1887, when he went to

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

(now Myanmar) establishing the photographic firm of Watts and Skeen in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

. Frederick returned to Ceylon after the death of William in 1903 and changed the company name to F. Skeen and Co.. Frederick left Ceylon in 1914 and the studio closed in the early 1920s. The photo company was appointed to work for the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

during his 1870 tour. Among the photographic subject the captured were elephant

kraal Kraal (also spelled ''craal'' or ''kraul'') is an Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch word, also used in South African English, for an pen (enclosure), enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within a Southern African Human settlement ...

s. Skeen Jr.'s illustrations were used for two books that his father wrote: ''The Knuckles and Other Poems'' (1868) and ''

Adam's Peak Adam's Peak is a conical sacred mountain located in central Sri Lanka.Capper, Daniel (2022), ''Roaming Free Like a Deer: Buddhism and the Natural World,'' Cornell University Press. It is well known for the ''Sri Pada'' (; ), a rock formati ...

'' (1870).http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/rcs_photographers/entry.php?id=365 RCS Photographers IndexSkeen
Luminous Lint The studio also published J.W.W. Birch's photographs of

Polonnaruwa Poḷonnaruwa, (; ) also referred as Pulathisipura and Vijayarajapura in History of Sri Lanka, ancient times, is the main town of Polonnaruwa District in North Central Province, Sri Lanka. The modern town of Polonnaruwa is also known as New Town, ...

as well as views of Indian cities. A branch studio was also opened in

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1891.

Personal life

Skeen was married to Elizabeth, who ran a

millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. ...

. They had had three children: Ellen Margaret, Sydney Louis Ernest, and Harold Lewis Spencer. His wife died on 20 January 1933 at

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skeen, W. L. H. Sri Lankan photographers 1847 births 1903 deaths People from British Ceylon