Alfred Diston (Lowestoft, County of Suffolk, England, 8 February 1793; Puerto Orotava, Tenerife, 2 April 1861) was a British merchant and writer on a wide variety of subjects who lived in Puerto de la Cruz (former Puerto Orotava), Tenerife, between 1810 and 1861.
His illustrated manuscripts, his notebooks, and his watercolours and drawings represent a valuable documentary source to learn about many aspects of the society and the natural environment of Tenerife and the rest of the Canary Islands during the first half of the 19th century.García Pérez, José Luis. Viajeros ingleses en las islas Canarias durante el siglo XIX. Ed. Idea, Tenerife. 2007: pp. 269-290. .
His relevance to the culture of the Canary Islands lies in the fact that he contributed in many disciplines, especially in those related to the knowledge and study of Canary Islands’ traditional clothing and customs of the time.
His major role in the introduction of the Cavendish banana in the Canary Islands was also very significant, and some of its cultivars are known today as “plátano de Canarias” (Canary Islands banana). The expansion of its cultivation throughout the islands and its export to England from 1870 to 1878 González Lemus, Nicolás. Los inicios del tomate, plátano y turismo en Canarias. Apuntes histórico-económicos . Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos, 2005, 51: pp. 431-473. Digital copy in Biblioteca de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Consulted on 2 April 2021. had an enormous impact on the economy of the Canary Islands for more than a century until the consolidation of mass tourism.
Biography Alfred Diston was born in 1793 in Lowestoft, an important fishing port and Great Britain's easternmost point, to a seafaring family.
In 1810, at the age of 17, Alfred Diston arrives at Puerto de La Orotava after being hired by the British firm Pasley, Little & Co.,Cabo Ramón, Bernardo. Pasley, Little and Company en el Puerto de la Cruz. Consulted on 19 December 2020 a company that exported wine from the Canary Islands.
Since then, he lived in Puerto de La Orotava for 51 years until he died in 1861.
Diston was characterized by having a multifaceted curiosity (ethnography, history, botany, geology, meteorology...), by his taste for travelling and by his observation skills, which is reflected in his meticulous drawings, his calligraphy and his numerous notebooks with annotations of all sorts.
In 1836, he marries Soledad Orea y Luna according to Catholic rites. Soledad, who was born in Cádiz in 1810, bore him four children. This marriage was likely the reason why Diston ends up settling in the Canaries and remains in Puerto de La Orotava until his death at the age of 65. José Agustín Álvarez Rixo, in his Anales del Puerto de la Cruz de La Orotava (Annals of Puerto de la Cruz de La Orotava) of 3 April 1861, informed about Diston's sudden passing the night before:
1861. 3 April. At eight o’clock in the evening, whilst playing checkers with his wife, Mr Alfred Diston, Protestant English who had been living among us since 1810, dies suddenly [...].Álvarez Rixo, José Agustín. Anales del Puerto de la Cruz de La Orotava divididos por décadas. 1851-1872. Volume 3, p.90. Digitised by Patrimonio bibliográfico Lacunense. Biblioteca de la Universidad de La Laguna. Consulted on 27 March 2021.
He was buried in the Protestant cemetery of Puerto de La Orotava.Cabo Ramón, Bernardo. Alfred Diston Roman (1793-1861). Comerciante, dibujante y calígrafo. Consulted on 18 December 2020.
Merchant At the age of 17, Diston arrives at Puerto de La Orotava as an employee of Pasley, Little & Co., a firm that exports whine from the Canary Islands. His main task was to receive every merchant and traveller that arrived at Tenerife referred to the firm,Browne, Daniel J. Letters from Canary Islands. Boston, 1834. OCLC 670099865. Digitised by Biblioteca de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Consulted on 18 January 2021. accompanying them and introducing them to the island's society.
In 1774, John Pasley, British consul in Tenerife (1765-1769), requested the presence and assistance of his nephew, the Scotsman Sir Archibald Little,Urzay. Pineda en Londres. Blog de bibliofilia. Libros antiguos y modernos. January 15, 2013. Consulted on 18 December 2020. founding the trading house Pasley, Little & Co., which became the most important Canarian wine exporting firm during the first third of the 19th century.
A few years after his arrival, Diston was appointed administrator and, later, branch office manager until he finally became a senior partner.
Ethnographer
Alfred Diston's main contribution to the culture of the Canary Islands are the three well-known manuscripts of his work Costumes of the Canary Islands: the manuscript of the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin (1824); the manuscript sent to London, whose first part was published in 1829Diston, Alfred. Costumes of the Canary Islands. Smith, Elder & Co. London, 1829. Digitised in Memoria Digital de Canarias. Biblioteca de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Consulted on 22 January 2021. by the leading publishing house Smith, Elder & Co.; and finally the manuscript belonging to the family de Lorenzo-Cáceres y Torres, which includes drawings made between 1829-1847,De Lorenzo-Cáceres y Torres, Andrés. Los trajes canarios de Alfredo Diston, in “Tagoro”. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Estudios Canarios. La Laguna de Tenerife, 1944. p. 89-111. Digitised images by Fundación Orotava. Consulted on 18 December 2020. and which has recently been published as a facsimile.El Museo de artesanía Iberoamericana de Tenerife acoge presentación del libro de Alfred Diston Costumes of the Canary Islands. Consejo sectorial de la indumentaria tradicional de Tenerife, 16 October 2018. Cabildo de Tenerife. Consulted on 18 December 2020.
In the middle of the Romantic era, between 1820 and 1840, there was a great interest in Europe, specifically in everything related to Spain and to the working classes. It is the era of travel literature, when works often came with engravings or lithographsVarela Ortega, José. Spain. Un relato de grandeza y odio. Espasa. Barcelona: Planeta. 2019. pp:636-642. —a recently discovered technique (1796) that made illustrated editions cheaper. This environment could explain Alfred Diston's personal taste for drawing and writing every remarkable thing he saw.
In his watercolours and gouaches, Diston shows in extensive detail the characteristics of the islands, as well as the considerably varied popular clothing, and the different local colours, professions and customs.
Despite the recognition of his contemporaries (locals and foreigners), Alfred Diston's work went unnoticed until one of his descendants Andrés de Lorenzo Cáceres y Torres. Biographical sketch. Real Económica de Amigos del País de Tenerife. highlighted the value of his manuscripts and remarks (1931;De Lorenzo-Cáceres y Torres, Andrés. Guignol tranquilo. Costumes of the Canary Islands . Revista de Historia. La Laguna, Tenerife, 1931, 4 (8). p. 82-84. Digitised in Biblioteca de la Universidad of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Consulted on 18 December 2020. 1944 ), because they contributed to the knowledge of the traditional costumes and society of the Canary Islands in the first half of the 19th century.
In 2002, after a large monographic exhibition of his work and figure,VV.AA (multiple authors). Catálogo de la exposición Alfred Diston y su entorno. Una visión de Canarias en el siglo XIX. Organismo Autónomo de Museos y Centros. Cabildo de Tenerife. Tenerife, 2002. . his name and importance began to become known, not only at academic and specialised levels but also in folkloric and popular settings.
Intellectual and artistic contributor to the publications of scientists and travellers His dual status as British and Canarian (by adoption), his welcoming personality and his knowledge of the Canaries motivated many of the visitors to Tenerife, mostly English speakers, to seek his collaboration as an informant, host, guide or simple companion. Daniel J. Browne, an American who visited Tenerife in 1834, wrote:[...] "Port Orotava, Wednesday, August 22, 1833. I arrived here late last evening, lame and worn out with fatigue; and to-day have taken up my residence during my stay in this place with Mr. Alfred Diston, an English merchant, a gentleman no less distinguished for general information than for the friendly services which he has rendered scientific men who have visited these regions". 6
[...] "San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Thursday, October 10, 1833. After a protracted and satisfactory visit at Port Orotava, I took leave of my intelligent and hospitable friend, Mr. Diston, whose kind attentions I gratefully acknowledge, and shall long cherish them in my remembrance". Among the most renowned, we can mention the English botanist Philip Barker Webb and the French naturalist Sabin Berthelot, co-authors of the four volumes of the monumental work Histoire Naturelle des Iles Canaries (Paris, 1836-1850).Berthelot, S. and Barker-Webb, P. Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries. Béthune Editeur. Paris, 1839. Digitised in the Biodevirsity Heritage Library. Consulted on 18 December de 2020. Although most of the original drawings of the work were made in the Canary Islands by the enigmatic J. J. Williams and at least fourteen of the drawings and all the maps were made by Berthelot Berthelot, S. and Barker-Webb, P. Miscellanées Canariennes. In Histoire Naturelle des îles Canaries, tome premier, deuxième partie. Béthune éditeur. Paris, 1839. Digitised in Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid. Consulted on 25 January 2021. himself; Alfred Diston contributed to the work with six drawings of people wearing traditional costumes that were later lithographed in Paris Vega de la Rosa, Carmelo. Las laminas de la Histoire Naturelle de Barker-Webb y Berthelot o los orígenes de la imagen gráfica de Canarias. X Coloquio de Historia canario-americana, Vol 2. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1994. p. 879-892. Digitised on Dialnet, Universidad de La Rioja.
The British consul from 1825 to 1830, Francis Coleman McGregor, also relied on Diston as his informantMac-Gregor, Francis Coleman. Las Islas Canarias según su estado actual y con especial referencia a la topografía, industria comercio y costumbres (1831). Translation and notes by Batista Rodríguez, José Juan. Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, Tenerife, 2005. p. 19-21. . and for making all the illustrations and maps Diston, Alfred. Landleute von Hierro, Palma y Canaria (Campesinos de El Hierro, La Palma y Gran Canaria), in McGregor's, Die Canarischen Inseln, Kahn, Hannover, 1831. Digitised images by Fundación Canaria Orotava de Historia de la Ciencia. Consulted on 18 December 2020. of his work Die Canarischen Inseln (Hannover, 1831).MacGregor, Francis Coleman. Die Canarischen Inseln. Nach ihrem gegenwärtigen Zustande, und mit besonderer Beziehung auf Topographie und Statistik, Gewerbfleiss, Handel und Sitten dargestellt. Hahnschen Buchhandlung. Hannover, 1831. Digitised by Google Books. Consulted on 18 December 2020.