I am a freelance author in Toronto, Canada, currently concluding a biography of Dr. Clement Williams, an army surgeon, British agent, and trader in Mandalay, Burma, from 1861 to 1879. A few years ago the Royal Ontario Museum received 2 donations of photographs (some copies of holdings in the Museum of Anthropology in Cambridge, UK) that I have established were taken by Dr. Williams in the early 1860s, making them (I believe) the earliest images of Mandalay. He also took a series of portraits of court officials, including important figures in Burmese history never before seen.
I know that John McCosh, Benjamin Simpson, and John Murray (all doctors, as well) took portraits of British officials and tribespeople in India, Burma, and Bhutan before 1860, but I can't find any samples of courtiers at that time - which, if true, would make Williams's pictures even more interesting.
We've put the entire series on the ROM's website - collections.rom.on.ca/search/"Clement Williams"/objects/images - for general viewing. Basically I'm looking for advice about the significance of these photographs and their place in early imperial photography
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