Photograph of a Cricket Match at Nainital from the Macnabb Collection (Col James Henry Erskine Reid): Album of views of 'Naini Tal' taken by Lawrie & Company in 1899. The area of the Kumaon Hills had come under British rule after the Anglo-Nepal War (1814-16) but it wasn't until 1841 that P. Barron built the first European house in Nainital. The town became the summer headquarters of the colonial administration of the province. It was a popular retreat for the residents of the plains. Being popular with the British, the town developed a British character with several European schools, barracks and a sanatorium. This view shows a cricket match taking place on the recreation ground known as 'The Flats', built after the landslide disaster of 1880 and situated close to the edge of the large eye-shaped lake from which Nainital takes its name.