Thomas Ravenscroft Collection

Thomas Daniel Ravenscroft (b.1851) started taking photographs in the late 1800’s. He travelled around Cape Town in a Cape Cart where he would go from town to town taking and selling photographs and by c.1900 he opened a studio in Rondebosch, Cape Town.

Shortly after the Boer War, and before the Union was formed in 1910, Ravenscroft was commissioned by the Cape Government (Cecil John Rhodes) to take a selection of photographs of all the towns in Southern Africa including Rhodesia. He used these pictures, amongst others, to produce Post Cards which today are very sought after items all around the world.

Later in life he moved to and started a photographic studio in Malmesbury, U.K. where he continued producing numerous Picture Post Cards. Sometime in the 1930’s he moved to Hermanuspietersfontein (now called Hermanus) and opened a studio there. He died in 1948

Below are a selection of photographs of Barrydale taken by Thomas Ravenscroft