Untold lives blog

Sharing stories from the past, worldwide

19 March 2024

Rescuing a woman from drowning in the Irrawaddy River

On 11 August 1898 23-year-old Charles James Deefholts, Telegraph Signaller in the Government Telegraph Department of Minbu, rescued a Burmese woman called Ma Sein from drowning in the Irrawaddy River.

I located correspondence sent between the Government of India in Rangoon and the India Office in London which document the rescue.  Each letter reveals intriguing details including eyewitness accounts.

Testimony of Charles DeefholtsTestimony of Charles Deefholts - IOR/L/PJ/6/510 File 940

Charles Deefholts was questioned about the incident by the police on 17 August 1898.  He said that he was in the office when two peons came running up and said that a Burmese woman was drowning,  Deefholts ran down to the river bank with Mr Benjamin and saw the woman being taken away by the current, about 25 yards from the bank.  He stripped to his underpants and swam out to her.  When Deefholts reached her, only her face was out of the water and she was motionless.  He seized her from behind and pushed her towards land.  When they came closer to the river bank, the line-man came to help.  Ma Sein’s head went under the water and that brought her round.  She was only wearing a jacket, having lost her longyi.  When they got onto land, she was able to walk away.

Testimonies of Kada Bux and Ma SeinTestimonies of Kada Bux and Ma Sein - IOR/L/PJ/6/510 File 940

Kada Bux, one of the peons, stated that on 11 August he was near the river bank and saw Maung Po Mya (the woman's husband) looking for a boat.  The woman was floating down the river with only her face exposed.  Deefholts came running down, jumped into the water and pulled her to the bank, where the line-man helped him.  She was not fully dressed.

Ma Sein was also questioned.  She said that she could not swim well and got into deep water whilst taking a bath.  Unable to get back to land, she drifted downstream.  Deefholts came and rescued her.  Her longyi was tangled round her feet, but once she had freed herself from it, she was able to float.  She was not attempting to commit suicide, nor had she quarrelled with her husband.

Letter sent by the Government of India to HM Secretary of State for India  27 April 1899Letter sent by the Government of India to HM Secretary of State for India, 27 April 1899 - IOR/L/PJ/6/510 File 940

A letter from the Government of Burma was forwarded on 27 April 1899 from India to Lord George Francis Hamilton, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India.  It contained an application for an award for Charles Deefholts from the Royal Humane Society for his act of bravery in rescuing Ma Sein.

Letter from the Royal Humane Society to the India Office with a bronze medal and certificate to be awarded to Charles Deefholts 23 July 1899Letter from the Royal Humane Society to the India Office with a bronze medal and certificate to be awarded to Charles Deefholts 23 July 1899 - IOR/L/PJ/6/513 File 1203

On 23 June 1899 the Royal Humane Society sent the India Office a bronze medal and certificate to be awarded to Charles Deefholts for his ‘gallantry’.

CC-BY
Daniel Deefholts
Civil Servant

Creative Commons Attribution licence

 

12 March 2024

Applications for Trinity House Pensions

The British Library holds the papers of Lord George Francis Hamilton (1845-1927), Secretary of State for India 1895-1903.  The papers are on a variety of subjects relating to India, and correspondence with the Viceroy and Governors of Bombay and Madras.  Amongst these papers is a very interesting file of applications relating to the Trinity House in London.

'View of the new Trinity House on Tower Hill'  in 1799'View of the new Trinity House on Tower Hill' 1799 - British Library Maps K.Top.25.8 Images Online

Trinity House is a charity dedicated to safeguarding shipping and seafarers.  It began as a fraternity caring for distressed mariners and their widows and dependants by maintaining alms houses and awarding pensions.  Lord George Hamilton was an Elder Brethren of Trinity House and was able to nominate a mariner in need of help.  The file on this in his papers contain letters applying for his help in securing a place at Trinity House.  Here are a few of the applications he received:

John James in applying for an annuity declared that he was 66 years old and had been employed at sea for the previous 52 years.  He stated that he was thoroughly incapable of filling any post whatsoever having swollen legs and feet due to chronic Bright’s disease [an inflammatory disease of the kidneys].  James further stated that ‘I have no means to support myself and wife and have to rely upon the generosity of my two married daughters’.  He said his savings had been lost through investing in shipping and his wages for the past ten years had not left him any margin for saving.

Letter from John James applying for an annuityLetter from John James applying for an annuity, 1900  - British Library Mss Eur F123/43

William J Spark wrote on behalf of his brother-in-law, J F Spark and wife, whom he described as ‘an old worn-out master mariner & his wife, who are a very deserving couple & are in very needy circumstances – both of them are between 70 & 80 years of age, and I regret to say, are quite broken down & always in the doctor’s hands’.

Edward Dunstall wrote in February 1901, that he was an old master mariner of the merchant service, aged 66.  In 1890, he had been compelled to vacate the sea service, and in 1894 he had an operation for a ‘very painful internal disease, the effects of which I am still suffering’.  In 1898 he had been accepted as an eligible applicant but had never been nominated.  He appealed to Hamilton for help:’My Lord, myself and wife, having been so long on such poor pittance, and with the enormous rising in the price of living, been unable to procure a sufficiency of the necessaries of life have often to go hungry.  And with ailment in the struggle of life to keep a house over our heads, we are sorely pressed and to get relief we should be ever thankful’.

Letter from Edward Dunstall in 1901 appealing for helpLetter from Edward Dunstall in 1901 appealing for help - British Library Mss Eur F123/43

Elizabeth Mary Goddard wrote to Hamilton in October 1900.   She wrote that she was ‘the unmarried daughter of Captain Charles William Goddard who had the Captains Out Doors Pension and died some years ago and Anna Johanna Elizabeth Goddard my dear Mother who also had the Captains Out Doors Pension also died some years ago’.  Elizabeth was then 60 years old and suffering very much from rheumatism.  She wished to apply for a pension and needed Hamilton to nominate her.  A note on the letter gives the reply: ‘Lord G H has noted her name on his list of applicants and will consider her claims with those of others when an opportunity occurs; but H L is sorry to say that his list for the Trinity House is already a long one, and it is but seldom that he has a presentation at his disposal’.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Applications for Trinity House Pensions, 1900-1902, shelfmark: Mss Eur F123/43.
Trinity House

05 March 2024

What about the East India Company Women? Emma Roberts and the spinsterhood of India

'There cannot be a more wretched situation than that of a young woman who has been induced to follow the fortunes of a married sister, under the delusive expectation that she will exchange the privations attached to limited means in England for the far-famed luxuries of the East.  The husband is usually desirous to lessen the regret of his wife at quitting her home, by persuading an affectionate relative to accompany her, and does not calculate beforehand the expense and inconvenience which he has entailed upon himself by the additional burthen.’

These are the words of Emma Roberts whom we met in a previous blog post.  They appear in her book Scenes and characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of Anglo-Indian society which was published in 1835.

Title page of Sketches of Anglo-Indian Society by Emma RobertsTitle page of Emma Roberts, Scenes and characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of Anglo-Indian society (London, 1835)

Emma had travelled to India in 1828 with her sister Laura, who was married to Captain Robert Adair McNaghten of the Bengal Infantry, so it seems that she was speaking from experience.  She explained that it was likely that the family would move up-country soon after arriving in India, and this was when the poor young woman's’s troubles began.  She was ‘an incumbrance’, the third person in the buggy, always finding herself in the way.  Outdoor recreations were denied, except riding in a carriage, and she was not allowed to walk beyond the garden or verandah.  The climate made gardening impossible even though she was surrounded by exotic plants.  Hot winds split the wood of pianos and guitars, and sheet music was eaten by white ants.  Drawing was a possible pastime, but supplies of necessary materials might be lacking.  The climate did not suit needlework.

Any young men at the station would avoid giving attention to a single woman unless they were contemplating matrimony, fearing that ‘expectations’ would be formed which they were not inclined to fulfil.  Few young women who had accompanied their married sisters to India possessed the means to return home however much they disliked the country.  They were forced to remain ‘in a state of miserable dependence, with the danger of being left unprovided for before them, until they were rescued by an offer of marriage’.

Tom Raw's Misfortune at the Ball -  dancers in a ballroom, with young soldier Tom Raw about to tear a muslin gown by standing on the hem accidently‘Tom Raw’s misfortune at the ball’ from Tom Raw the Griffin; a burlesque poem (London, 1828) Shelfmark: C.119.d.25 British Library Images Online

Emma identified two other categories of ‘spinsterhood’ in India apart from the sisters and near relatives of the brides of officials.   The first consisted of the daughters of civil and military servants, merchants and others settled in India, who had been sent to England for their education. They generally returned to India between the ages of sixteen and twenty, expecting to be married.

The second was made up of the orphan daughters, both legitimate and illegitimate, of men resident in India.  These girls were educated in India and often had no family connections to help them.  A large number, supported by the Bengal Orphan Fund, lived in a large house at Kidderpore near Calcutta.  The practice of holding balls for invited men to meet the resident girls was discontinued by the 1830s – ‘this undisguised method of seeking husbands is now at variance with the received notions of propriety’.  Emma said that the girls then had no opportunity to encounter suitors unless they had friends in Calcutta to invite them to social events, or ’the fame of their beauty should spread itself abroad’.  The increasing number of young women arriving from England every year lessened the Kidderpore girls’ chances of meeting eligible matches.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
Emma Roberts, Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of Anglo-Indian society (London, 1835) British Library shelfmarks 1046.e.10. and T 37078