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)

Camp at Boulogne

c. 1857

Albumen print | 19.5 x 25.4 cm (image) | RCIN 2500824

Photograph of a view along a paved road with soldiers standing in front of thatched huts along the right hand side. Bandsmen pose in group in the distance, on the left, next to piles of rifles. Two faint female figures are visible through the opening to the thatched hut on the right.

  • Creator(s)

    Charles Thurston Thompson (1816-68) (photographer)

    Subject(s)

    Army-France-Infantry

  • 19.5 x 25.4 cm (image)

  • Camp at 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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