John McCosh, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

John McCosh

Scottish army surgeon and photographer

Date of Birth: 05-Mar-1805

Place of Birth: Kirkmichael, Scotland, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 01-Jan-0001

Profession: photographer, architectural photographer, war photographer

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

John McCosh or John MacCosh or James McCosh (Kirkmichael, Ayrshire, 5 March 1805 – 18 January / 16 March 1885) was a Scottish army surgeon who made hobbyist photographs whilst serving in India and Burma.
His photographs during the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–1849) of people and places associated with the British rule in India (for which he is best known), and of the Second Burmese War (1852–1853), count as sufficient grounds, some historians maintain, to recognise him as the first war photographer known by name.
McCosh wrote a number of books on medicine and photography as well as books of poetry. Roddy Simpson has written of McCosh's photographs that "Given the circumstances, these images are a considerable achievement and, regardless of artistic merit, are historically very important".
Taylor and Schaaf have written that "McCosh fashioned compositions that were exceptional for the period" and that unlike his contemporaries "in his hands, photography was not merely a pastime but became the means of recording history."