This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

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Record of historical events

Victoria and Albert collected photographs that documented the political and military events that defined a period of global expansion

CHARLES THURSTON THOMPSON (1816-68)

Boulogne

c. 1857

Albumen print | 22.2 x 29.4 cm (image) | RCIN 2500810

Photograph showing a long road flanked by rows of thatched huts, sloping down a gentle hillside. Infantrymen stand along its right side and a pile of rifles is in middle distance, at the centre of the image. More rows of identical huts are visible in the background.

  • Creator(s)

    Charles Thurston Thompson (1816-68) (photographer)

    Subject(s)

    Army-France-Infantry

  • 22.2 x 29.4 cm (image)

  • Boulogne. [Boulogne and Aldershot, c. late 1850s].

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  • Subject(s)
    • Places
      • Europe
        • France
          • Boulogne-sur-Mer [Pas-de-Calais]
    Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs
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