Record

Ref NoDM2845
TitleCyril Whitaker Collection
DescriptionCyril Horace Whitaker (1897-1981) joined Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC, now Royal Dutch Shell plc) in 1922, and worked for APC in China from 1925 to 1939, living in Chongqing 1936-1939. Whitaker was a talented amateur/semi-professional photographer and home film maker. He married Winifred Ling in 1930. In this collection there are ten photograph albums; loose prints; 8mm cine film (transferred to 5 reels) and cine film boxes; and a book: ‘The Yangtse Gorges / A Photographic Souvenir’ by C. Johnson (n.d., c.1920). The photographs and cine film footage in the Cyril Whitaker Collection have been digitised. Historical Photographs of China ref: CW.

DM2845/1: Photograph album. Photographs taken during the cruise of the SS 'Sarpedon' 31st August 1928 to 23rd September 1928, in Qingdao, Weihai, Tianjin, Dairen, Beijing and Shanghai. Hand coloured map of the journey. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW01).
DM2845/2: Photograph album. Photographs taken in Singapore, Hangchow, Shanghai, Jiaozhou, Weihai, 1930-1931. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW02).
DM2845/3: Photograph album. Photographs taken during a summer holiday, Weihai, 23rd August 1931 to 11th September 1931. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW03).
DM2845/4: Photograph album. Photographs taken in Shanghai, 1936.(Historical Photographs of China ref: CW04).
DM2845/5: Photograph album. Photographs of the Yangtze River and Gorges. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW05).
DM2845/6: Photograph album. Photographs taken during a summer holiday in Karatsu, Japan, August 1936 and in Shanghai, September 1936. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW06).
DM2845/7: Photograph album. Photographs of the Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC) Installation house and surroundings, Chongqing, December 1936. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW07).
DM2845/8: Photograph album. Photographs of petrol stations in Shanghai and of the Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC) Installation, Chongqing - workers, oil tanks, pontoon, making gasoline tins, pipeline, launches, machinery, 1928-1938. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW08).
DM2845/9: Photograph album. Photographs of the Yangtze Gorges, from Yichang to Chongqing, c.1937. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW09).
DM2845/10: Photograph album. Photographs taken in and around Chongqing, including at the Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC) Installation, c.1937-1938. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW010).
DM2845/11: Loose photographs and an annotated architectural plan of the Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC) Installation, Chongqing, dated 22 November 1933. (Historical Photographs of China ref: CW-s).
DM2845/12: A book: 'The Yangtse Gorges, A Photographic Souvenir' by C. Johnson (Publisher not known, n.d., c.1936). 14 mounted photographs and a fold out map entitled 'Ichang to Chungking'. (Historical Photographs of China ref: Bk31).
DM2845/13: 8mm cine films, transferred to five reels. Original cine film packaging, 1930s. These six films have been digitised and can be viewed on request.
Historical Photographs of China refs: CW-f01 - CW-f06:
CW-f01 (5.57 mins). Entitled ‘The Making of a Four Gallon Petroleum Tin’ and filmed at the Asiatic Petroleum Company, Chongqing.
CW-f02 (10.5 mins). Entitled ‘Life in Shanghai 1934’.
CW-f03 (8.26 mins). Foreign children playing. A river journey, through the Yangtse Gorges, on a ship named ‘Tien Kwan’, registered in Shanghai.
CW-f04 (6.16 mins). Scenes at the Asiatic Petroleum Company, Chongqing – loading tins of petroleum, unloading and carrying goods, cleaning steps.
CW-f05 (10.39 mins). A compilation of films about Shanghai, entitled, ‘Transport – various types’, ‘Crowded streets’ and ‘The King of the traffic’ (a Sikh Shanghai Municipal Policeman operating traffic lights). Also film of a stone quarry, constructing a petroleum storage tank in Chongqing, irrigation with a bullock, river scenes, water buffalo, a picnic, speedboat, windmill, houseboat. Dated 16 February 1936.
CW-f06 (11.39 mins). Film of Huangpu shipping, including a British aircraft carrier (HMS Eagle?), funeral figures, Shanghai Bund and streets, snowball fight, snowman, West Lake in Hangzhou, soldiers on parade at Shanghai racecourse, Shanghai Volunteer Corps (SVC) armoured cars, wheelbarrows, grave mounds and ponds, shy agricultural workers, boat train on Huangpu River, smoky factories in Shanghai, Shanghai Volunteer Corps (SVC) machine gun and armoured car #1 at the racecourse in Shanghai, Shanghai Municipal Policeman on horseback, traffic, motorbike, soldiers marching (Scottish, American mounted, Italian), irrigation foot wheel pump, scenes at West Lake in Hangzhou, Broken Bridge in Hangzhou, sedan chair, children swimming and diving, skipping stones at Weihai, righting a yacht, washing hair, King’s Hotel, Weihai, tea, picnic, pailou, farm workers, goats, picking garden flowers, reading on a veranda, horseplay, boy juggling at Shanghai Bund, British aircraft carrier (HMS Eagle?), lighter, towing a water taxi.
Date1925-1939
FormatPhotograph album
Film
Book
Extent2 boxes
Add to My Items