Background
George S. A. Da Costa was born in Lagos in 1853.
George S. A. Da Costa was born in Lagos in 1853.
He was educated at the Content Management System Grammar School, Lagos.
He documented government projects including railway construction in the colony. From 1877 to 1895 he managed the Church Mission Society Bookshop in Lagos. In 1895 he invested £30.00 in special training and then opened a photography business in Lagos.
He had a thriving business in the 1890s that continued into the next century.
Da Costa worked as a photographer for the colonial government of Nigeria, and took many pictures that recorded government activities throughout the country, including the North. These included pictures of the construction of the railway from Lagos through Jebba to Kaduna.
His studio in 1920 was at 18 Ricca Street, Lagos. He worked for Allister Macmillan that year, taking photographs for the Red Book of West Africa.
Macmillan called him "the ablest and best known professional photographer in Nigeria".
52 of his photographs appeared in the Red Book, seven taken in Kano and the others in Lagos. George Da Costa died in 1929.