This article is based on the combined resources of the two authors. Carol Hardijzer has an avid interest in 19th Century photography in South Africa and his research and collection of Carl Bluhm photographs compliments the fairly extensive family research conducted by Margaret Addis, great-great granddaughter of Carl Bluhm, an early photographer based in King Williams Town (Qonce today). Together, they have amassed a significant number of Bluhm’s images, the originals in Hardijzer’s collection, as well as many digital copies of photographs captured by Bluhm, which Addis either extracted from the internet or obtained from various local and international archives, correspondents and local Cape based museums and libraries.
Carl Bluhm (1827 – 1897) – Photograph reproduced from Secure the Shadow
The surname Bluhm was first found in Lower Saxony (Germany), where the name emerged in medieval times as one of the notable families of the Hanover region. From the 13th century the surname was identified with the great social and economic evolution which made this territory a landmark contributor to the development of the German nation. From the 14th century the name was associated with a Patrician family (part of aristocratic lineage) that possessed estates in the Calenberg and Minden region (houseofnames.com).
Whilst various spelling variations of the surname exist, the meaning of...
