Photograph of a group of British officials in the gardens of Government House, Pretoria. Seated from left to right at a table with papers spread across it are Major-General Sir Hallam Parr (1847-1914), Colonel Sir William Owen Lanyon (1842-1887), Sir Henry Bartle Frere (1815-1884) and Colonel Hugh Rowlands (1828-1909). Standing from left to right in a row behind are Mr Steel, Reverand George Stregmann, William Littleton (1847-1889), Lieutenant Dalrymple and Dr Alexander Johnston (1841-1905). Major Harvey is standing at the far right of the row holding papers in his right hand and resting his left hand on the wicker chair beside him. Government House is behind them. Pretoria was founded in 1855 as the capital of the South African Republic, an independent Boer-ruled country. The city and surrounding area subsequently changed hands several times between the British and the Boers in the late nineteenth century.