Ram Singh, Osborne House, East Cowes, Isle of Wight
This is a photograph from an album at Osborne House titled "Royal Tableaux, Osborne ". The photograph has the caption "Ram Singh at Work in the Indian Room". (Bhai) Ram Singh was an artisan from Amritsar who designed and worked on the Durbar Room at Osborne House in the 1890s. He was born in the Punjab in 1857. Later he came to the attention of Lockwood Kipling, the father of Rudyard, in India. Kipling was Principal and Director of the Mayo School of Industrial Arts in Lahore and was invited by Queen Victoria to design a banqueting hall for Osborne House. Kipling took Ram Singh to England to design this room for the Queen in 1891. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought Osborne House as a private retreat and greatly extended it. The present house developed in the Italianate style between 1845-51 and was designed by Prince Albert and Thomas Cubitt. This property is now in the care of English Heritage (2010). Find out more.
