Untold lives blog

Sharing stories from the past, worldwide

400 posts categorized "Work"

26 November 2024

Captain Samuel Hough of the East India Company

Samuel Hough first appears in the records of the East India Company as Master Attendant of Marine at Bombay in the 1730s.  The Marine fleet guarded British shipping on the west coast of India mainly from attack by local pirates but also from other nations at time of war.  His position gave him standing in the community and he must have been a brave officer, as shown by an event in 1748 when he was in command of the Bombay, at anchor at Rajapore.  Some of his crew had been impressed, but on 1 March the remainder mutinied and broke open the arms-chest.  Hough managed to reason with the men, promising safe passage back to England at the first opportunity and after seven hours he took back control.  His promise was honoured by the Government who needed crew to man ships on the return to England at this time of war with France.

Bombay HarbourAn aquatint of a view of Bombay Harbour from the pier up to the Bunder Battery including part of the fort or Citadel. From James Wales, Bombay Views: Twelve Views Of The Island Of Bombay And Its Vicinity Taken In The Years 1791 And 1792. British Library shelfmark X 436. Images Online

Shortly after this, on 19 May 1748, Captain Samuel Hough married Mrs Judith Sclater, a widow with two small daughters.  They had two more daughters (Louisa and Ann) before Judith died in January 1752.  At the end of that year Samuel took all four little girls back to England on the Streatham, disembarking on 7 June 1753.

On 16 March 1754 Samuel Hough married Martha Crichton at St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury.  She came from a family well established in the East India Company and within a few weeks she sailed off to Bombay.  Her husband captained their voyage on the Hardwicke which was to remain in Bombay as part of the Marine.

They had been joined on the Streatham by Laurence Sulivan and his family, also returning home.  The two men had been friends and business associates and this arrangement continued to their mutual advantage. Back in Bombay Hough acted as an agent holding powers of attorney on behalf of his clients and could provide ways of remitting Indian funds through confidants among his fellow captains, to be deposited with Sulivan in London, on their behalf.

Extract from letter to Bombay concerning  the appointment of Samuel Hough as Superintendent of the Bombay Marine and the salary and allowances to be made to him.Appointment of Samuel Hough as Superintendent of the Bombay Marine - IOR/E/4/996 p.69 General Letter from Court of Directors to Bombay 5 April 1754

Samuel Hough was appointed Superintendent of the Bombay Marine, the highest ranking officer below the Council members.  It is clear he was greatly respected and his opinion was valued by the Council.  By 1759 he had become one of the Council members but he returned to England on the Harcourt, arriving back on 18 May 1761.  By this time his family had grown - Louisa and Ann were joined by a baby brother William and a sister Elizabeth.

Entry from the journal of the ship Streatham Wednesday 29 November 1752 - Messrs Savage, Sullivan & Hough and their families went aboard.Entry from the journal of the ship Streatham Wednesday 29 November 1752 - IOR/L/MAR/B/605H

Back in London Hough continued his involvement with the East India Company by investing in and managing ships.  He was the second signature on the charterparty agreements for five ships in the 1761/2 season with four more voyages for 1762/3.

Samuel died on 5 September 1764 at Bath.  In his will he left bequests to his three daughters and his son William but also named a ‘natural son Samuel Hough, now a mate on the Latham Indiaman’.  Samuel junior went on to become a sea captain with the East India Company, married in September 1777 but died a year later.

CC-BY
Georgina Green
Independent researcher

Creative Commons Attribution licence

 

12 November 2024

Attending the V&A Connecting Threads Conference

In October I had the pleasure of attending the Connecting Threads: Fashioning Madras in India and the Caribbean Symposium at the V&A Museum.  This event focused on exploring the cultural and textile history of 18th-century Madras textiles, their production in South India, and their interwoven link with the Caribbean.

Red checked Madras handkerchief made by Sooboo Chetty  c.1855Madras Handkerchief made by Sooboo Chetty, c.1855. V&A, 4968(IS)

The Connecting Threads project is a collaboration among various specialists, aiming to amplify the voices and contributions of Indian weavers and African Caribbean consumers who have adopted Madras as part of their heritage, shifting the narrative away from colonial and Western markets.  The project’s accompanying website, Connecting Threads, supports this initiative.  With born-digital scholarship, the project aims to democratise research, reach a wider audience, and address Open Access data issues by making their resources freely available globally.  They also hope to influence the development of AI knowledge about Madras textiles, promoting a less Eurocentric view of its visual history.

The Programme
The programme featured 14 speakers from various backgrounds and specialisms, including curators, professors, historians, craftspeople, artists, and business owners.  Throughout the day, we viewed microscope-enhanced images of 18th-century and modern Madras handkerchiefs, analysed by the research team and a Chennai master weaver.  There were lectures on their production and how different caste groups, sexes, and religions may have worn them.  For example, Muslim groups were noted in inscriptions from 1538 for their specific weaving techniques (source: Uthra Rajagopal, scholar and curator).  There was some discussion into trade by the English East India Company and other European traders, and the appropriation of designs to be reproduced in Britain.

A Company painting titled ‘A Weaver and his wife’  c.1800A Company painting titled ‘A Weaver and his wife’, c.1800. V&A, AL.8940N

Caribbean experts and scholars gave excellent talks and demonstrations on the trade and cultural use of Madras, particularly by enslaved or low-income groups.  The usage is complex, but the talks generally emphasized Madras’s positive context—its power in Caribbean island identity and, amusingly, the historical use of head wraps as flirtatious signifiers of availability.

Exquisite handmade dolls were displayed to the attendees, a real example of the integrated nature of Madras in Caribbean culture.  These dolls, currently held at the Bristol Museum, were made in the 1780s by Rebecca Ahmuty Snagg, a domestic enslaved woman in Grenada who died a free woman.  They were likely crafted for the children of the family that bought Rebecca, and they feature Madras head coverings, emulating the real-life articles worn by black Caribbean women at the time.

One of three of the Rebecca Ahmuty Snagg dollsOne of three of the Rebecca Ahmuty Snagg dolls, currently held at the Bristol Museum Collections - photograph by author

The conference was an insightful addition in the ongoing initiative to decolonise and diversify our collections.  This line of research is gaining momentum, with frequent discussions at the British Library on how to rethink our catalogues to promote a more diverse and inclusive narrative.

Maddy Clark
India Office Records

Further information about the Connecting Threads project can be found on their resource website and the V&A website.
Connecting Threads
Connecting Threads: Fashioning Madras in India and the Caribbean

 

06 November 2024

Papers of Leo Cayley Robertson

A recent acquisition to the India Office Private Papers has now been catalogued and is available for researchers to view in the British Library’s Asian and African Studies reading room.  The collection consists of the papers of Leo Cayley Robertson (1891-1964), Barrister, Indian Civil Service 1938-1947, District and Sessions Judge, Burma 1945-1947.

Extract from Map of Western Yunnan - Survey of India 1927Extract from Map of Western Yunnan - Survey of India 1927 Mss Eur F771/1 f.125

Leo Robertson was born on 19 June 1891.  His family had a long association with Burma; his great grandfather was a master mariner who traded from Moulmein and Rangoon, and his father was an engineer with the Burma Public Works Department.  Leo was educated at St Joseph’s College in Darjeeling, then in France and London, and finally at Queen’s College, Cambridge graduating in Moral and Mental Science in 1912.  He then studied metaphysics, before embarking on a career in law.  Leo returned to Burma in 1920, joining the Board of Philosophical Studies at the University of Rangoon.  He also began practising at the Bar in the High Court at Rangoon. 

Letter of recommendation on behalf of Leo Robertson addressed to Walter Booth-Graveley, Chief Secretary to the Government of  Burma,13 October 1933Letter of recommendation on behalf of Leo Robertson addressed to Walter Booth-Graveley, Chief Secretary to the Government of Burma,13 October 1933 Mss Eur F771/1 f.116

In 1938, Leo joined the Indian Civil Service in Burma, working in the Chief Secretary’s Office and in the Civil Affairs Service, before being appointed a District and Session Judge.  Leo retired from the ICS in 1947 and returned to England.  He died in 1964.

Letter from Chief Secretary's Office Maymyo about Robertson's proposed trek, 22 March 1935Letter from Chief Secretary's Office Maymyo about Robertson's proposed trek, 22 March 1935 Mss Eur F771/1 f.117

In 1935, Leo made a trek through the Chinese province of Yunnan accompanied by his uncle Andrew Hazlewood, and the collection contains his file of papers on the trip.  This contains his original handwritten diary, with notes and correspondence related to gaining permission to travel in the area.  They left Rangoon on 1 April 1935, and travelled to Bhamo where they collected two riding ponies and ten mules to carry their camp equipment and provisions for the trip.  Their trek then took them through Western Yunnan to Tengyueh and Yongchang, crossing back into Burma at Malipa.  They stayed for three days as guests of Mr Stark-Toller, British Consul at Tengyueh, and at times needed a Chinese military escort who were engaged in suppressing banditry.  On arrival at Tetang, the headquarters of the local Administration, they were given a public reception and the whole town turned out to meet them.  Leo described his appearance as ‘disgracefully unkempt and travel-stained and having grown a rakish-looking beard during the journey, might well have been taken for a brigand of sorts’.

Extract from Leo Robertson's Burma diary 12 April 1942 including a description of a visit to a refugee camp.Extract from Leo Robertson's Burma diary 12 April 1942 Mss Eur F771/2 f.22

In 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and rapidly swept through the country.  Leo kept a diary during this period, and a typescript copy survives.  It covers the events from 15 February to 9 May, including Robertson's evacuation from Burma.  The collection also includes three letters by Andrew Hazlewood during January 1942 from Rangoon where he was employed as an Insurance Assessor, in which he gives news of other family members being evacuated from Burma and describes the deteriorating situation in Rangoon owing to increased air raid alerts warning of Japanese bombing of the city.

In the 1950s, Leo worked on a profile of Frank Kingdom-Ward (1885-1958), botanist, explorer and plant collector, for The Observer.  The collection contains some papers related to this including a draft of the profile, along with notes and correspondence, and a copy of an article by Kingdom-Ward 'Caught in the Assam-Tibet Earthquake' in National Geographic Magazine (1952).

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading: Papers of Leo Cayley Robertson (1891-1964), Barrister, Indian Civil Service 1938-1947, District and Sessions Judge, Burma 1945-1947, Mss Eur F771 – a paper catalogue of the contents is available to consult in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room at the British Library.

30 October 2024

Valete fratres revisited: 100 years of the Librarians’ Memorial

In the foyer of the staff entrance to the St Pancras site of the British Library is a memorial tablet commemorating 142 librarians who died during the First World War.  It was unveiled at the British Museum 100 years ago this month.

Memorial tablet commemorating 142 librarians who died during the First World WarMemorial tablet at the British Library commemorating 142 librarians who died during the First World War

The memorial to ‘the British librarians fallen in the War’ was commissioned by the Library Association in 1923 and consists of a framed set of five oak panels with incised and gilded lettering.  It was made by Messrs Harry Hems & Sons of Exeter and was originally placed in the corridor leading to the main reading room of the British Museum.

The Library Association had started gathering information on British and Empire librarians who died on active service during the war itself.  A roll of honour was published as a supplement to the Library Association Record in March 1923, its preamble hoping that the printed roll would be superseded by another one, ‘necessarily briefer, but more monumental, in some appropriate public space’.  The contract with Harry Hems & Sons for the new memorial was awarded in early 1924.

‘Librarians’ Memorial’ - Newspaper article from the Western Morning News  28 April 1924

‘Librarians’ Memorial’ - Newspaper article from the Western Morning News, 28 April 1924, p. 5. British Newspaper Archive

A week or so before it was unveiled at the British Museum, the Librarians’ Memorial was the subject of a short article published in the Shields Daily News.  The local interest concerned the two members of staff from the public libraries at South Shields and Tynemouth who were commemorated on the memorial: 270013 Sergeant Reginald Maurice Daniel of the Northumberland Hussars; and Second Lieutenant Richard Harold Urwin Potts of the 1/2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment.

‘Librarians’ Memorial’ - Newspaper article from the Shields Daily News  9 October 1924‘Librarians’ Memorial’ - Newspaper article from the Shields Daily News, 9 October 1924, p. 2. British Newspaper Archive

The memorial was unveiled on 24 October 1924 by Sir Frederic George Kenyon, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum.  A short account of the ceremony was published in the Shields Daily News a few days afterwards.

 

‘Librarians Memorial - unveiling ceremony at the British Museum’. Newspaper article from the Shields Daily News  27 October 1924 ‘Librarians Memorial: unveiling ceremony at the British Museum’ - Newspaper article from the Shields Daily News, 27 October 1924, p. 5. British Newspaper Archive

More names were added to the memorial after its unveiling, bringing the total number commemorated to 142.  Of these, 130 (ca. 92.5%) had previously worked for organisations based in the UK, nine in Australia, two in South Africa, and one in Ireland.

The Librarians' Memorial remained at the British Museum until 1998, when it was moved to the new St Pancras site of the British Library.  It remains a prominent feature there in the foyer of the staff entrance on Midland Road.

Michael Day
Digital Preservation Research and Services Lead

Further reading:
Graham Jefcoate, 'Roll of honour: the Librarians’ War Memorial and professional identity', Library History, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1996, pp. 171-182 (£)
Lynn Young, 'Valete fratres - Librarians and the First World War', Untold lives blog (13 November 2011) 
'The Librarians' Roll of Honour', Library Association Record, March 1923, supplement.

 

23 October 2024

Celebrating Ten Years of the Qatar Digital Library: Memorable Highlights – Part 2

Launched on 22 October 2014, the Qatar Digital Library (QDL) was developed as part of a longstanding partnership between the Qatar Foundation, the Qatar National Library, and the British Library.  The partnership includes the digitisation of a wide range of material from the British Library’s collections, aimed at improving understanding of the modern history of the Gulf, Arabic cultural heritage, and the Islamic world.

Following on from part 1 , members of the team of experts working on the QDL reflect on memorable material that they and former colleagues have encountered in the last decade.

  • Preserving original order in George Curzon’s Persia and the Persian QuestionMss Eur F111/33

Annotated pages in George Curzon’s personal copy of his 1892 book  Persia and the Persian QuestioAnnotated pages in George Curzon’s personal copy of his 1892 book, Persia and the Persian Question – Mss Eur F111/33 ff. 74v-75r. Image digitised by the BLQFP

George Curzon’s personal copy of his two-volume tome stands out for the interesting challenges it posed during conservation and cataloguing.  Rather unexpectedly, it contained dozens of assorted papers between its pages, including received correspondence, newspaper cuttings, various journal and magazine articles, and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.  The question for the conservation and cataloguing teams was how to preserve the inserted papers’ original order while ensuring their long-term preservation and indeed that of the book itself.  The solution was to number the pages of the book and the inserted items with the latter still in place, forming a single foliation sequence.  Now, when viewed on the QDL, the inserted items remain in their original order, between the pages of the two volumes (though some, e.g. certain newspaper cuttings, do not appear online for copyright reasons).  Physically, however, the inserted items are now preserved in a separate file.

A British wartime propaganda poster  dated c. 1941-42A British wartime propaganda poster, dated c. 1941-42 – IOR/R/15/1/355, f. 42v

Cataloguing can be very serendipitous, as unassuming files can reveal the unexpected.  Such was the case with this financial file, containing two rare Arabic-language propaganda posters, which the British Government produced during the Second World War.  The posters only survived because of a wartime paper shortage, which led to financial accounts of the Bahraini Government being typed on their reverse.

Excerpt from John ‘Jack’ Bazalgette’s 1984 memoirExcerpt from John ‘Jack’ Bazalgette’s 1984 memoir – Mss Eur F226/2, f. 152r. © Estate of John Bazalgette

These ten memoirs belonging to former British officials of the Indian Political Service provide a unique insight into one generation’s experiences of living and working in the Gulf during the last years of British India, as discussed at length in three blogs and in this QDL expert article.

Heading to a letter written by Muzah bint Ahmad Al Bu Sa‘id  to the Governor of Bombay  dated 8 April 1832Heading to a letter written by Muzah bint Ahmad Al Bu Sa‘id, to the Governor of Bombay, dated 8 April 1832 – IOR/F/4/1435/56726, f. 235v

As in many archival collections, women are under-represented in the records, and those who do feature are largely misrepresented.  For these reasons, this item is particularly notable, since it contains a letter to the Governor of Bombay from Muzah bint Ahmad Al Bu Sa‘id, who, in the absence of her nephew the Imam of Muscat, took charge and defended his territories.

IOR Cataloguing Team, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

 

09 October 2024

Papers of the Clay and Baylis Family

A recent acquisition to the India Office Private Papers has now been catalogued and is available for researchers to view in the British Library’s Asian and African Studies reading room.  The collection consists of correspondence, files, diaries, printed papers and maps of Robert Francis Sarjeant Baylis (1903-1996), Indian Civil Service (District and Sessions Judge, United Provinces) 1927-1949 and his wife Edith Audrey Baylis (née Clay) (1910-1998) relating to their family life in India.  
 
Detail from the Naini Tal Guide Map (Survey of India  1938) Detail from the Naini Tal Guide Map (Survey of India 1938) Mss Eur F765/8/2
 
Robert Baylis was born on 11 June 1903, and educated at Christ's Hospital and Lincoln College, Oxford.  He joined the Indian Civil Service on 20 October 1927, and arrived in India that December.  Initially appointed as an Assistant Magistrate and Collector in the United Provinces, he subsequently worked as District and Session Judge around various stations in the UP, including Bara Banki, Meerut, Allahabad and Cawnpore.  He finished his career in the ICS at the time of Independence as the District and Session Judge for Kumaon.  Robert’s papers only contain a few files relating to his work as a Judge, with most of his official papers in the collection relating to his preparations for retiring and leaving India in 1947.  There are also letters to his wife Audrey, letters he received from friends and family, and an unpublished memoir of his life as a Judge in India. 
 
Invitation to Independence Day celebration  15th Aug 1947Invitation to Independence Day celebration 15 August 1947 Mss Eur F765/1/28 f.3
 
In 1934, Robert was engaged to Edith Audrey Clay, and they were married in Lucknow on 15 January 1935.  Audrey, as she preferred to be known, was the daughter of Sir Joseph Clay, who had been a senior member of the United Provinces government, and advisor to the Secretary of State for India.  She was a dedicated diary writer, and the collection contains her diaries recording daily events in her life from 1920 to 1950.  There is also a large collection of her correspondence including letters to her husband Robert and from family and friends in India and England.  Audrey enjoyed writing, and the collection includes examples of short stories she wrote and chapters from an unfinished memoir ‘The Years Between’.  Her book about her early life in India is in the British Library’s printed collections. 
 
The collection also contains papers relating to other family members.  Robert and Audrey had four children, and there are papers relating to their early childhood in India.  Audrey had two sisters, Daphne and Betty, and the collection includes examples of their letters and diaries.  There are also letters from Audrey’s parents Sir Joseph Clay and Lady Clay, as well as from Robert’s parents and siblings. 
 
The collection contains many very interesting papers relating to the Second World War.  When war broke out, Robert and Audrey were on leave in England, and Robert was immediately recalled to India.  It was several months later before Audrey could travel back with the children and their Indian nanny, and Robert’s letters to her are full of worry over the threat of German submarine attacks.  The letters from family in England between 1940 and 1945 are fascinating for giving descriptions of life during wartime.  In India, the fear of Japanese invasion was very real. 
 
Programme for War Week  St John Ambulance Brigade Overseas  Programme for War Week St John Ambulance Brigade Overseas Mss Eur F765/2/48 f.38
 
Audrey was a serving member of the St John Ambulance Brigade Overseas, and the collection contains material relating to the Air Raid Precautions which every family was expected to take, including on what to do before, during and after an air raid; emergency first aid and treating snake bites; obscuring headlights; and building air raid shelters.
 
Air Raid Precautions information leaflet Air Raid Precautions information leaflet Mss Eur F765/7/5 f.5
 
Notice issued by Delhi Rationing  1947 Notice issued by Delhi Rationing 1947 Mss Eur F765/7/18
 
John O’Brien
India Office Records 
 
Further Reading:
Papers of the Clay and Baylis family, Mss Eur F765 – a paper catalogue of the contents is available to consult in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room. The book And Then Garhwal by Audrey Baylis (London: BACSA, 1981) is available in the British Library printed collections
 

 

02 October 2024

Discharge papers for soldiers of the Royal East India Volunteers

Researching the East India Company's London warehouse labourers is a challenge because many of the documents about them were destroyed by the India Office in the mid-19th century.  So it is always exciting to discover fresh sources of information about them.  Recently I came across the King's Freemen collection at The London Archives.  This consists of military discharge papers lodged with the Chamberlain of the Corporation of London by servicemen and their families in order to obtain certificates of entitlement to exercise a trade in the City, without being admitted to the freedom.  There are papers for East India Company warehouse labourers who served in the Royal East India Volunteers in the period before 1814.

I have found 25 discharge certificates for Company warehouse labourers in the King's Freemen collection.  Almost all are copies, but the document submitted for Willliam Jordan is the original certificate issued at East India Buildings, Cutler Street, on 5 May 1814, signed by Robert Markland Barnard, Captain and Adjutant of the Third Regiment of the REIV, and bearing the Company’s seal in red wax. 

As well as giving an outline of the man’s service, many of the certificates give interesting and useful personal details.

John Morgan of the Third Regiment was born in the parish of St Leonard Shoreditch in Middlesex and in December 1814 he was living at 1 George Street in Bethnal Green.  He was about 33 years of age, 5 feet 9 ¾ inches in height, with a sallow complexion, grey eyes, and light brown hair, and his skin was pitted by smallpox.

Robert Dynan served as a Private in the 5th Company of the First Regiment of the REIV.  He was born in London and was living in August 1814 at Field Lane in Holborn.  Aged about 44, he was 5 feet 5 ½ inches tall, and had a light complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair.

Dynan had joined the Company warehouses as a labourer in July 1803.  Having worked in the Private Trade warehouse, he transferred to the Crutched Friars tea warehouse in December 1834.  He was made redundant in March 1835 because the Company’s commercial operations were being wound up, and he was awarded a weekly pension of 11 shillings.

Field LaneField Lane, Holborn, from Illustrated London News 23 January 1847. Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of The British Library Board.

The information about Dynan’s residence in the discharge certificate makes it possible to identify him in other records which show his life outside the warehouses.  Dynan lived for decades in Field Lane which was described by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist as’ a narrow and dismal alley’, ‘the emporium of petty larceny’.

Field Lane description from Oliver TwistDescription of Field Lane from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - Illustrated London News 23 January 1847, Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of The British Library Board.

Whilst he was employed as a warehouse labourer, Dynan also kept a shoemaker’s shop in Field Lane. He was sued for debt in 1811 and imprisoned in Newgate. In 1827 William Sage was convicted at the Old Bailey for stealing a pair of shoes worth 5s from Dynan’s shop.

Dynan’s wife Margaret had a clothes shop in Field Lane. In 1829 she was tried at the Old Bailey for knowingly receiving stolen goods, a pair of trousers worth 19s.  Margaret was acquitted but William Scasebrook, aged 18, was found guilty of theft and transported for seven years.

Margaret and Robert were still living in Field Lane when they died in 1837 and 1842, aged 68 and 80 respectively. Both were buried at the church of St Andrew Holborn.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
The London Archives COL/CHD/FR/11/04 King's Freemen 1780s-1820s
Colours of the Royal East India Volunteers
Black labourers in London
IOR/L/AG/30/4-5 Registers of East India Company warehouse labourers
Margaret Makepeace, The East India Company's London Workers: Management of the Warehouse Labourers, 1800-1858 (2010)
British Newspaper Archive
Old Bailey Online

25 September 2024

Stories of Provenance Research: Henry Beddy, Baptist Missionary

On 31 May 1916, the India Office Library purchased seven items at auction from Hodgson & Co.  Lot 29 cost £1 10 shillings, with 9d postage.  The correspondence about the purchase is significant because it establishes that the items once belonged to the collection of Sir Alexander Johnston, Chief Justice and President in Council in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).  This provenance information had not previously been recorded in our catalogues and the link between the items had been obscured.

Notice of auction at Hodgson & Co - Westminster Gazette 27 May 1916Notice of auction at Hodgson & Co - Westminster Gazette 27 May 1916 British Newspaper Archive

Lot 29 included copies of letters relating to Baptist Missionary Henry Beddy.  Born in Dublin, he enlisted in the East India Company’s Bengal Army at 19, arriving in India in 1811 to serve in the Bengal Artillery.  Beddy married three times.  His first wife Mary Anne died in childbirth in 1816, and his second wife (also Mary Anne) died in 1822.  On 16 January 1823 he married Margaret MacDonough, and they had at least 11 children.

List of correspondence relating to Henry Beddy

List of correspondence relating to Henry Beddy -Mss Eur C92

Henry Beddy was baptised into the Baptist faith about 1827, and having left the Bengal Army was appointed as a Baptist Missionary to Patna in 1831.  Margaret’s younger sister Ellen (Eleanor) MacDonough lived with the Beddys from childhood and was closely involved in missionary work, running the Orphan Refuge.

Ellen became involved with government servant George Hutteman.  Henry Beddy tried to put an end to the relationship, but on 20 November 1847 Ellen eloped with George, married, and moved to Calcutta.  Beddy found it impossible to understand Ellen’s actions and wrote a number of letters to her, besmirching her character.  On 1 December 1847 he wrote ‘Not a member of my family shall ever speak to you with my permission... I shall impress on the children’s mind that their Aunt Ellen MacDonough is to them dead’.  Beddy was later to admit: ‘I had written language capable of being used to my discredit’.

The Huttemans attended the Lall Bazar Baptist Church in Calcutta.  The Minister James Thomas wrote to Beddy about his sister-in-law.  Beddy’s reply accused Ellen of falsehood and deception and stated that George was an ‘unbeliever’.  His hostile attitude led to an investigation into his conduct towards Ellen. 

Note by James Thomas introducing the collection of documents about Henry Beddy and Ellen MacDonoughNote by James Thomas introducing the collection of documents about Henry Beddy and Ellen MacDonough -Mss Eur C92

Thomas gathered together copies of correspondence from the various protagonists and witnesses, so they could be presented to a Baptist Committee in London.  Beddy’s own letters admitted ‘an intimacy, friendship and affection sprang up between us that led to great familiarity, and it is now lamentably true that this familiarity was looked upon by some persons as improper’, whilst Reverend Nathaniel Brice was of the opinion that ‘there are facts connected with the affair which would make your ears tingle...’.

Extract of letter from Henry Beddy to James Thomas 13 March 1848Extract of letter from Henry Beddy to James Thomas, 13 March 1848 --Mss Eur C92

Removed from Patna, Beddy and his family moved to Simla, where he became Pastor at the First Baptist Church.  He died there on 3 June 1857.

Ellen and George had three daughters, and after his death in 1866, she married Reverend John Lawrence of Monghyr.  She died in Christchurch, Hampshire, in 1879.

The India Office appreciated that the contents of the volume were problematic.  In a letter dated 26 January 1936 the Librarian H N Randle wrote that he hesitated to include the letters as part of the forthcoming catalogue of manuscripts as ‘there may be relatives alive, even after 90 years and it seems best to let these personalities rest in obscurity for another hundred years’.

Provenance research is more than acquiring a greater understanding of our collections and their history. It uncovers fascinating human stories along the way.

Lesley Shapland
Archivist & Provenance Researcher
India Office Records

Further reading:
Mss Eur C92: Volume compiled by Rev J Thomas, Calcutta, containing copies of correspondence relating to charges of misconduct against Rev Henry Beddy, missionary at Patna for the London Baptist Missionary Society
IOR/L/R/7/20, R961/16: India Office Record Department Annual Files, 1916
Mss Eur F303/23, p.137: India Office Library, Day Book, 14 Jul 1916
IOR/L/R/9/26, L36/37: Library Committee Papers & References, 1937
Missionary Herald, May 1832 
Full text of 'The story of the Lall Bazar Baptist Church Calcutta : being the history of Carey's church from 24th April 1800 to the present day'
India Office Library Catalogue of Manuscripts in European Languages. Vol. II, Pt. II: Minor Collections and Miscellaneous Manuscripts. By G. R. Kaye and E. H. Johnston. Section I, Nos. 1–538 (London: HMSO, 1937)

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