Photography was a vital technology in the military expeditions of Britain and the Empire. During the 1850s, a number of Royal Engineers were taught by the photographer Charles Thurston Thompson at the South Kensington Museum. In 1856, photography was first included in training at the Royal Engineers Establishment, Chatham, and by 1860 the Royal Engineers were using photography on a global scale. This photograph of Prince Alamayou is from an album compiled by the Corps relating to the Abysinnia expedition in 1867-8.