An ayah named Champa

A carte-de-visite portrait of an Indian woman identified verso as ‘Champa.’

The full inscription, written in fuchsia ink, reads ‘Champa our Hindu Ayah or Nurse. Age about 20 years / 27.10. 97.’

Photographed by S. Hormusjee of Kalbadavie Road, Bombay.

Shapoorjee Hormusjee is listed as a photographer at 45 Kalbadavie Road in Thacker’s Indian Directory of 1895.

He is probably the same ‘Shapurji Hormusji’ who became a Freemason at the Aryan Lodge, Bombay on 7 October 1879 at the age of 48. This would mean he was born in or about 1831. His profession is recorded as ‘Dubash,’ meaning an interpreter, translator or economic intermediary who facilitated trade and negotiations between the British and the Indian populations.

In 1888 his studio was damaged when a building across the street caught fire: ‘…. the photographic studio of Mr Shapurjee Hormusjee opposite the building was considerably damaged’ (The Times of India, 22 October 1888).

His forename is spelled one of two ways in contemporary sources. The backplate on some of his earlier cartes-de-visite indicates that his preferred spelling of his name was ‘Shapoorjee Hormusjee.’

Given the sitters in some of his portraits online, it is possible he was a Parsi and a Zoroastrian.