When 20-year-old Philip Adolphe Klier stepped foot in Burma in 1865, the country was going through great change. British rule was advancing from the south, sapping the authority of a millennium-old Burmese monarchy.
Six years after his arrival, the German photographer opened his first studio in Moulmein, the original capital of British Burma, before moving to its second capital, Rangoon (now Yangon), in 1880.
He built a house and studio at 5 Signal Pagoda Road (now Alan Pya Road) and later opened a camera shop in the Sofaer building on Merchant Street.
Up until his death in 1911, Klier recorded daily life in colonial Burma, photographing everything from agriculture to architecture.
Supplementing his income with work as an optician, watchmaker and jeweller, he also took studio portraits that included regal shots of Shan aristocrats. His photos were made for postcards and prints that he sold to customers in London.
Thanks to the National Archives UK digitising its collection, his work is now available to the public. Browse through his images below for an insight into Burma at the beginning of the 20th century.
