Untold lives blog

In August 1907 an Industrial Conference was held in the United Provinces over concerns that technical education in India had been neglected, resulting in Indian industries being hampered.

One of the topics discussed at the conference was hand-loom cotton weaving, and suggestions were made for ways of improving it.  The conference concluded that they needed to support and improve the existing cottage-industry of hand-loom weaving and explore the possibility of factory production.

In support of the cottage industries, three small demonstration schools were established at Tanda, Moradabad and Saharanpur, which would demonstrate the use of the fly-shuttle weaving loom and teach simpler improved methods of warping.  It was hoped that these would increase production and reduce the intense labour required.

To explore the factory proposal, an ‘Experimental Station or School’ was to be established at Benares.  The station would teach cotton weaving, silk weaving and hosiery making; and the institution would be under the management of a cotton expert appointed as its Principal.

Advertisement for a cotton expert, placed by the India Office in 1911 – IOR/L/PJ/6/1087, file 1694

An advertisement was circulated for the appointment of a cotton expert in which candidates were required to know the latest weaving appliances, and the series of improvements which had marked the progress of hand weaving from old looms to the latest pattern looms.  They were also required to have experience in teaching weaving, spinning and design.

The successful candidate was John Marsden Cook, a cotton weaver from Lancashire who had started working in the cotton mills aged just ten.  Cook had attended technical schools in Darwen, Bury and Manchester earning 1st Class Honours and City & Guilds recognition in Cotton Manufacturing, and Cotton, Silk and Jute Weaving.  As well as working as a weaver at various mills across Lancashire, he had also taught spinning, weaving and design at various technical schools in the region from 1891-1900.

He had previously been employed by the Anglo-Egyptian Supply and Weaving Company in Alexandria as a weaving master and instructor, before moving to the same role with the Egyptian Cotton Mills Company in Cairo.  In 1906 he had moved to Madras as a weaving master for the Anglo-French Textile Company at Pondicherry.

Letter from the Board of Education to the India Office, 11 May 1911, discussing the technical instruction Mr Cook would require prior to his departure for Benares - IOR/L/PJ/6/1087, file 1694

Cook was appointed in May 1911 and was to depart for Benares in September.  First there was specialised training which the India Office felt he required: ball sizing, dressing sizing, and basic Hindustani.

The India Office hired Mr Blumhardt to provide Hindustani language teaching, and it was decided that Cook should have a month’s intensive teaching first, so that he could have time to practise before departing.

For ball sizing he was sent to the Dacca Twist Company Ltd in Swinton, Lancashire, and for dressing sizing to Messrs John Hall Ltd, Hargreaves, Lancashire.

Uncovenanted service death report for John Marsden Cook – IOR/L/AG/34/14A/9, f.445

Sadly John Marsden Cook passed away in Benares in November 1913 having spent just over two years in the role.  As the experimental weaving station was only intended to be a temporary one, it appears to have come to an end on Cook’s death.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further reading:
IOR/L/PJ/6/1087, file 1694 – Appointment of Mr J.M. Cook as Cotton Expert, Experimental Weaving Station, Benares 1911.
IOR/L/AG/34/14A/9, f.445 – Uncovenanted Service Deaths – John Marsden Cook.

Are you a fan of needlework? Then you absolutely must visit Mrs. Evershed’s London emporia.  Step back into the 19th century and explore 7 Hanover Square, 59 South Moulton Street, or 71 Chiltern Street, and marvel at ‘rare old pieces of petit-point, quilting, crewel work, and silk work [which] mingle happily with the modern'.

Enlargement of embroidered bookbinding by Mrs Evershed on Washington Irving’s The keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall - British Library Collins 461

Ellen Evershed, widowed aged 38, was left to raise four young children, yet she thrived.  By 1913, her estate was worth the modern equivalent of £27,900.  What was her secret?  A combination of exquisite embroidery and entrepreneurial genius that could rival even the sharpest minds of today’s ‘Dragons’ Den’.

Ellen Middlebrook Cockcroft (1834-1913) came from a Leeds family of drapers.  The 1851 census records Ellen in the Brighton hosier and draper’s shop of her stepfather Thomas Sturdy.  In 1862, She married Frederick Evershed (1832-1872) from Sussex, a draper who specialised in silk.

The Eversheds owned two shops in central Rugby catering for women and men.  An adroit user of the social media of the day, Ellen advertised new stock in The Rugby Advertiser and in 1866 called for apprentices and ‘improvers’ in millinery and dressmaking, an indication of her success.

The Rugby Advertiser 9 May 1863  alerted Mrs Evershed’s patrons to new stock.  British Newspaper Archive

The Rugby Advertiser 27 January 1866 advertised Evershed's men’s accessories and celebrated flannel shirts. British Newspaper Archive

The Eversheds raised their family in Brighton.  Life was challenging after Frederick’s death but thankfully, the family had domestic and childcare help.  It seems that Ellen was driven. She certainly had her own unique talents on which to base a new future in the capital.

Brighton Gazette 6 February 1873 - Ellen vowed to continue the business. British Newspaper Archive

Ellen's unusual occupation in the 1891 Hampstead census was ‘Secretary of the Exhibition of Embroidery’.  She organized competitions for amateur needleworkers and showcased their creations.  While there were few formal rules, one requirement was the use of Pearsall’s threads (which, naturally, were sold by Ellen).  Embroidered book covers were offered as prizes.

The Queen of Saturday 2 February 1895 informed its readers that Mrs Evershed ‘the courteous manager of Messrs Harris' depot for embroideries in old Bond-street’ had opened a shop around the corner.  At the age of 60, she was ready for a new challenge, albeit helped by her daughter Ellen Lucas Evershed.

The Gentlewoman 3 April 1897 advertised the new designs and twice weekly classes available at Mrs Evershed’s new shop. British Newspaper Archive

The Queen 19 March 1904 . Mrs Evershed’s work basket featured ribbon work, a new decorative technique.  British Newspaper Archive

The shops sold an astonishing variety of traditional and modern needlework sundries.  Patrons were encouraged to embroider everything which could be embroidered including ordinary curtains, cushions, work baskets etc' and the surprising, for example ‘Natty coats for dogs’ (sorry, no images!).  Other items for sale included ‘artistic furniture,’ which combined ‘ease with tastefulness in designs’ and copperware made by Newlyn fishermen, inspired by the contemporary Arts and Crafts movement.

Weldon’s needlework old and new Needle Art Series no 9, p 5 illustrated the historic patterns available at Evershed’s

The Queen published a regular column headed ‘The Work-Table' which provided advice upon knotty (sometimes literally!) needlework problems.  Frequently answers relied upon the expertise of Mrs Evershed and her staff.

It is a testament to Ellen’s business acumen that all levels of customer’s ability were addressed and monetised.  Less skillful embroiderers could avail themselves of a service ‘to stretch to shape needlework tapestry that has pulled crookedly in working'.

Ellen saw potential everywhere. Church furnishings provided an obvious source of work, but lest non-religious customers felt overlooked, her trade ticket reminded customers of her versatility.

Trade ticket for Mrs Evershed from Washington Irving’s The keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall - British Library Collins 461

Stock was frequently refreshed.  Imports from Italy, France and even New Zealand provided constant temptation.  Evershed’s was not the only embroidery retailer in London.  There was much competition but The Queen’s estimation of Ellen as ‘the best in needlework’ has much justification.  The shop was still operating in 1945, but appears to have closed before daughter Ellen Lucas's death in 1949. 

Assurance that Evershed's was still in business - The Queen 21 March 1945 British Newspaper Archive

P J M Marks
Curator, bookbindings, Printed Heritage Collections

Further reading:
Florence Sophie Davson ‘The revival of art needlework and embroidery’ in The Girls’ Own Paper pp.798-799
Weldon’s Needlework Old and New series number 9. 
British Newspaper Archive

Enjoy puzzles?  Try researching women hand bookbinders in the early 1900s!  ‘Lady binders’ was a hot topic in newspapers, but they tended to work for a restricted period, their careers cut short by various events including marriage (which usually involved a change of surname) and the social and economic upheavals of the First World War.

In careers articles and exhibition reviews, women binders are often referred to as ‘Miss’ plus surname.  Miss M. Marshall, the binder of Library’s newly acquired copy of William Morris's Poems (1908) has proved difficult to research, but we can reveal her identity.

Gold tooled green goatskin binding by M. Marshall on William Morris, Poems, 1908 (shelf mark to be assigned).

In an electoral register for London’s Holborn 1907-1908, a Maud Marshall is shown as joint occupier of a shop at 6 Denmark Street with Edith Gedye, who was a bookbinder.  Maud’s residential address is given as 18 Blomfield Street, Paddington. Through this address, Maud Marshall the bookbinder can be linked to her siblings Mary Crawford Marshall and Angus McPherson Marshall who were living there at the time of the 1911 census.  Mary was born in Yokohama, Japan.  In 1911, bookbinder Maud Marshall was living in Claygate, Surrey, and her place of birth was Japan.

Emily Maud Marshall was born on 12 January 1869 in Yokohama, the daughter of merchant William Marshall and his wife Clementina Strachan née McLean.  Her father died suddenly at Yokohama on 4 September 1873 and the family returned to England.  Clementina died in 1900.

Based in London during the first decade of the 20th century, Maud Marshall worked as a bookbinder in collaboration with Edith Gedye.  Their binding styles were influenced by William Morris and T. J. Cobden-Sanderson's Arts and Crafts movement (as were many contemporary hand binders) but it is not known who taught them.  The pair exhibited their bindings at Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society shows in 1903 and 1906.  From 1904 to 1907, the book seller Bain helped them sell their work.  Newspaper articles indicate that they submitted their bindings to many amateur and professional competitions, and they regularly received first prizes, certificates and honorable mentions.

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society - catalogue of the seventh exhibition, the New Gallery, 121 Regent St. 1903. Images from Internet Archive. Digitised book from the collections of the Archive of Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, uploaded by V&A staff.

Maud Marshall contributed a piece on bookbinding to The Fingerpost. A guide to the professions and occupations of educated women first published in 1906.  She wrote: ‘Of the many careers opened of late years to women, bookbinding is perhaps the one most attractive in point of interest, combining as it does physical, mental and artistic effort.  Whether it is a lucrative career must depend entirely upon the individual’.

A career in artistic bookbinding could certainly be an uphill struggle for women, as emphasised in this article from The Queen.

The Queen 28 May 1910 p.42 British Newspaper Archive

Gedye and Marshall offered lessons in bookbinding.  This not only provided an increased income stream for the business but also gave experience to those not otherwise able to learn the craft (notably women who were not usually eligible for apprenticeships).  They also devised a way of obtaining patronage from country house owners by offering to bind together family correspondence and supplying albums to be used for visitors’ books.

Country Life 19 December 1903 lxiv British Newspaper Archive

In 1910 the pair begun to work independently, with Edith moving to Bristol.  Maud continued to rent business premises in London, but in the 1921 census she is listed in Ware, Hertfordshire, ‘not occupied for a living’.  She died in Aldingbourne, Sussex, on 25 March 1940.

Lower turn-in with signature of M. Marshall.

P J M Marks, Curator, Bookbindings
Margaret Makepeace, Lead Curator East India Company Records

Further reading:
Marianne Tidcombe, Women Bookbinders 1880-1920, 1996
The Fingerpost: A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women, with Information as to Necessary Training (London: Central Employment Bureau for Women and Students, 1906.)
See also British Library C.188.a.412. In an early twentieth century English brown goat skin binding tooled in gold and onlaid. Signed: M & G 1905 [i.e. Miss Marshall and Edith J. Gedye]
British Newspaper Archive

As a volunteer house guide and researcher at the National Trust property Calke Abbey, I’ve been researching the origins of a historically significant state bed, perhaps the most renowned and prominent object at Calke Abbey.

The State Bed, with colourful Chinese silk hangings at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire. Image 48533. NTPL Commissioned (NTPL). ©National Trust Images/Mark Fiennes. Image courtesy of National Trust.

The bed features near-perfect embroidered silk hangings.  The vivid blue outer curtains, embroidered with silk, gold thread, and accents of peacock feathers, depict birds, dragons, butterflies, and trees, standing in striking contrast to the soft ivory silk interior adorned with enchanting designs of human figures, blossoming foliage, and wildlife.

The bed remained uninstalled when the estate was gifted to the National Trust in 1985.

My current research is re-evaluating the origins of the state bed.  I am examining physical characteristics of China trade silks, regional embroidery traditions, archival records, and locations where Chinese silks were traded and workshops where the silks were embroidered.  Part of a working theory explores possible connections to the East India Company (EIC) as part of the bed’s history.  I began my research by selecting a handful of EIC ships believed to be from the period of the state bed.

During the process, I came across an unexpected treasure: a journal from a 1709-1712 voyage of the ship Rochester, captained by Francis Stanes.  This journal, filled with beautiful handwriting and detailed drawings, chronicles the captain’s journey from England to China and back.

Journal of the ship Rochester - IOR/L/MAR/B/137B

Captain Stanes’s journal includes sketches of coastlines and wildlife, alongside meticulous notes on weather, his knowledge of navigation, and records of those who died aboard.

Captain Francis Stanes's drawing of the coast of China - IOR/L/MAR/B/137B 

Skull and crossbones marking the death of Chief Mate Robert Sheppard on board the Rochester March 1709/10 - IOR/L/MAR/B/137B 

Drawing of a fish -  IOR/L/MAR/B/137B 

Harbour of Chusan - IOR/L/MAR/B/137B

During my research, Margaret Makepeace, Lead Curator for EIC Records at the British Library, provided me with valuable information.  A letter from the Company directors to Fort St George dated 13 January 1713/14, stated that Captain Francis Stanes would not be employed again because of his mismanagement of the Rochester voyage.

Letter from the Company directors to Fort St George stating that Captain Francis Stanes would not be employed again because of his mismanagement of the Rochester's voyage - IOR/E/3/98 p.140.

Reports had surfaced that goods had been secretly loaded onto the Rochester, with claims that saltpetre had been purchased in Batavia for sale in China—a trade forbidden under penalty of death.

Minutes of the Court of Directors 13 February 1712/13 concerning saltpetre allegedly purchased at Batavia - IOR/B/52 p.311

Third Officer Robert Gardiner offered to provide evidence of fraud.

Third officer Robert Gardiner's offer to provide evidence of fraud in Minutes of the Court of Directors 25 March 1713 - IOR/B/52 p.348

The supercargoes had not kept proper business records (IOR/B/52 p.202).  Although an inquiry was held, the Court Minutes don’t provide a specific verdict; however, the directors barred Captain Stanes from future employment, citing mismanagement of the voyage.  Arbitrators ultimately determined payments owed to the supercargoes, captain, and officers, who appear to have had substantial allowances for private trade.

Eighteen years later, in July 1731, Jeremiah Glass, a sailor who had been on the Rochester, wrote to the East India Company offering to provide evidence of embezzlement involving Captain Francis Stanes and the chief supercargo Charles Douglas.

Letter to the East India Company from Jeremiah Glass and others - Mss Eur C618

Jeremiah Glass was at Spithead on a Royal Navy ship.  In August the EIC asked George Huish, its agent at Portsmouth, to talk to Glass.  Huish reported back that the evidence was just hearsay. The EIC told Huish to re-examine him, but the matter seems to have been dropped when Glass’s ship sailed.

EIC Secretary Christopher Mole at East India House to George Huish at Portsmouth, 5 August 1721 - IOR/E/1/203 p.81

Noah D. Nelson
Volunteer House Guide & Researcher (Calke Abbey, National Trust)

Further Reading:

Silberstein, Rachel. A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing. University of Washington Press, 2020.

Calke Abbey State Bed 

Memento Mori brought to life in a painting

The British Library holds several early photograph albums compiled by the Dillwyn Llewelyn and Story-Maskelyne families (Photo 1246).  The broader collection includes eight albums containing photographs, two sketchbooks, watercolour drawings, seven journals, letters and a four-part memoir.  This collection showcases Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn (later Story-Maskelyne) as one of the first female photographers during a period of discovery and experimentation in early photography.

Thereza Llewelyn and dickies, 1854. salted paper print from collodion negative. Photographer: John Dillwyn Llewelyn. © British Library, Photo 1246/1(11).

Thereza was the eldest child of John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810-82), photographer and botanist, and Emma Thomasina Talbot (d. 1881), born on 3 May 1834 into a wealthy Welsh family with a strong interest in various scientific fields, including photography.

‘My earliest recollections connected with it carry me back to somewhere about 1841…, when as a child - I sat for my portrait taken by my Father … no one living at Penllergare could help being interested in what was of absorbing interest to my Father & Mother and I must have heard many conversations on the subject when letters to my Mother from her Cousin Henry Fox Talbot arrived.’ [Add MS 89120/10]

It was uncommon for women to practice photography during this period.  Thereza would assist her father with his photographic experiments, but her photographic albums and journals show that she was a photographer in her own right.  On her 22nd birthday (3 May 1856), she received a journal and a camera. ‘I saw Papa make 2 stereoscopes, with the new stereoscopic camera that he gave me for my birthday present - I intend to work hard with it, so as to get some pictures worthy of it.' [Add MS 89120/4]

Her journals describe her various photographic activities and highlight the prints in her photo albums.  The albums frequently contain the work of more than one individual, as nearly every family member and their friends were involved in photography.

‘September 6th - After lunch Emma dressed up as a gipsy, and Willy made a capital hut, and represented a wild looking gipsy man looking out, whilst Emma seated on a basket turned topsy-turvy told Caroline’s fortune.  Papa photographed the scene which was very picturesque & pretty, & I made a photo stereoscope thereof.’ [Add MS 89120/5]

Gipsies, 1856. salted paper print from stereoscopic collodion negative. Photographer: Thereza Story-Maskelyne. © British Library, Photo 1246/1(32).

Thereza had other scientific interests, including astronomy and botany, for which she used photography to record her findings.

Delesseria sanguinea or Sea Beech [Botanical Specimen], c. 1854. Negative paper contact Photographer: Thereza Story-Maskelyne. © British Library, Photo 1246/2(27).

Her father built an Equatorial Observatory for her in the early 1850s.  The Observatory made it possible for them to take photos of the moon.  In her memoirs, she mentions that her father ‘made a photo of the moon, and as moon light requires much slow exposure it was my business to keep the Telescope moving steadily as there [was]no clockwork action.’  She states, ‘That was one of the first [photographs] ever made of the moon’. [Add MS 89120/9]

Moon c. 1857. salted paper print. Photographer: John Dillwyn Llewelyn and Thereza Story-Maskelyne. © British Library, Photo 1246/1(49).

Her last entry in her journals was in August 1857, and next year, on 29 June 1858, she married (Mervyn Herbert) Nevil Story Maskelyne, a mineralogist and an associate of both her father and Fox Talbot.  Her interests may have taken a back seat to marriage and family.  Still, photography remained part of her life, as she took photographs of her family and travels.

[Portrait of Nevil Story-Maskelyne with Mary and William Arnold-Forster, 1890]. Albumen print. Photographer: Thereza Story-Maskelyne. © British Library, Photo 1246/7(12).

This collection is a beautiful insight into one of the earliest female photographers.

Susan M. Harris
Cataloguer of Photographs

Further Reading:
Dillwyn Llewelyn/Story-Maskelyne photographic collection, Photo 1246
The Papers of Thereza Story-Maskelyne (1834-1926), Add MS 89120
Noel Cahanan, The Photographer of Penllergare: a life of John Dillwyn Llewelyn 1810-1882 (2013)
Richard Morris, Penllergare A Victorian Paradise (1999)
V. Morton, Oxford Rebels: the life and friends of Nevil Story Maskelyne, 1823–1911 (1987)

The cataloguing and research of this collection (Photo 1246) is part of the British Library’s Unlocking Hidden Collections initiative, with the aim to open collections and make them more accessible to researchers and the public. Readers wishing to consult this collection should write to [email protected] and arrange an appointment in the British Library’s Print Room (Asia and Africa Reading Room).

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.

Madras 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.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 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

On 12 April 1842, Captain John Lyons, Agent to the East India Company in Egypt, based at Alexandria, forwarded his quarterly accounts to the Secretary at East India House, London. He confirmed payment from Company funds of 10,000 Egyptian piastres - equating to £100 Sterling - in aid of a fund to build an Anglican Protestant church at Alexandria.

Quarterly accounts of Captain John Lyons confirming payment from Company funds of £100 in aid of a fund to build an Anglican Protestant church at Alexandria -IOR/G/17/13, f 2 Factory Records: Egypt and the Red Sea, 1842-1844.

Receipt confirming payment from Company funds in aid of a fund to build an Anglican Protestant church at Alexandria - IOR/G/17/13, f11: Factory Records: Egypt and the Red Sea, 1842-1844.

Lyons’ primary role at Alexandria was to oversee the mail service between England and India, and to manage the Company’s agents who were located at key points along the mail and passenger transit route through Egypt from Alexandria to Suez.  He liaised regularly with the Egyptian Government over operational and some diplomatic matters, and often became involved in local matters involving the merchants and the British community at Alexandria, such as the church building scheme.

In September 1846, Lyons received a letter from Mr Saunders of the Alexandria Church Building Committee, asking for another contribution from the East India Company.  Saunders appealed to the ‘liberality’ and ‘good feeling and Generosity of the Honorable Company’, and described the current state of construction: ‘The front wall is now raised to the height of 33 feet, the Chancel 32 and the sides 28 feet. The quantity of materials are already sufficient to complete the Body of the Church, but the Timber for the roof is not yet provided’. Without further funds, the works would soon have to be halted.

Statement of contributions in aid of funds for building a Protestant Church in Alexandria. - IOR/G/17/14, f 227. Factory Records: Egypt and the Red Sea, 1845-1848.

£2,595 had already been raised, but another £3,000 was needed to complete the body of the church, the west front, tower and enclosure walls.  Saunders appealed to Lyons’ ‘well known very kindly feelings towards all the English Residents and [his] active interest … in every thing relating to their welfare’.  Lyons was supportive in his message to the Company: ‘whilst the expense has greatly exceeded the expectation of the Committee the solidity and beauty of the Church is likely to be commensurate with the sum expended’.  Lyons had received from Saunders an engraving of the church, possibly similar to the one below, by its designer the British architect James William Wild.

Engraving of St Mark’s Church, Alexandria, detail, 1840s. Victoria and Albert Museum.

Wild spent many years in Egypt, travelling there in 1842 to work as an architectural draughtsman for Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius. He was commissioned in 1845 to build the Anglican church in Alexandria and his design was notably influenced by Islamic architecture.

St Mark’s Church, Alexandria. The South Façade, 1840s. Drawn by J W Wild and etched by John Henry Le Keux. Victoria and Albert Museum.

Drawing by J J Frey of James William Wild at the start of the Lepsius expedition in Egypt, 1842 Wikipedia

Saunders’ request to the Company was on this occasion ‘negatived’.  The church, now known as St Mark’s Pro-Cathedral, was completed in 1854 without the campanile, indicating that perhaps Saunders’ wider fund-raising efforts met with limited success.

Ecclesiastical Despatch to Bengal 8 September 1847 approving that Saunders’ request to the Company had been ‘negatived’ - IOR/E/4/793, f 543.

Modern photograph of  St Mark's by kind permission of St Mark’s Pro-Cathedral, Alexandria.

Wild may have been disappointed that his design did not come to full fruition.  However he could console himself knowing that he had already completed seven church projects by 1842, including, Christ Church in Streatham, south-west London.  A Grade I listed building, Christ Church is famous for its modern use of polychromatic brickwork and patterning and semi-detached campanile.

Scale drawing of the west front of Christ Church, Streatham, signed by Wild, 1841. Victoria and Albert Museum.

Images of Christ Church, Streatham, copyright Amanda Engineer, May 2024.

Amanda Engineer
Content Specialist, Archivist
British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further reading:
Egypt and Red Sea Factory Records British Library IOR/G/17/13 & IOR/G/17/14
East India Company correspondence IOR/E/4/793
St Mark’s Anglican Church in Alexandria, Egypt 
James William Wild - Wikipedia
Christ Church, Streatham, by James William Wild (1814-1892): Part I
Streatham, Christ Church - The Diocese of Southwark 
Owen Jones (architect) - Wikipedia
Christ Church, Streatham: a history and guide, Payne, Joan, 1917-; Hargreaves, Brenda, 1927--; Ivory, Christopher. 3rd ed. /revised by Christopher Ivory, c.2000

In 1928, Francis Graham Arnould retired as the Chief Engineer for the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway.  Born in 1875, Arnould had studied engineering at the City & Guilds (Engineering) College in London from 1892 to 1895.  On graduating, he had joined the B,B & CI Railway.  He worked on many important railway construction projects such as the Tapti Valley Railway and the Rewari Phulera Chord Line, gradually working his way up to Chief Engineer.  In 1928, he was awarded the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.).

Programme for the Farewell Dinner for Arnould Mss Eur E403/2

His colleagues saw him off in style, with a grand farewell dinner at the Willingdon Sports Clubs, Bombay on Saturday 31 March 1928.  Guests were treated to a band playing a selection of popular show tunes of the time, such as ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’, ‘No, No, Nanette’, ‘Gonna Get A Girl’ and ‘The Blue Train’.  They ate well too with a scrumptious sounding menu:
• Oeufs au Caviar.
• Consommé au vin de Madère.
• Pomfret du Willingdon Club with Punch a la Romaine.
• Tournedos de Boeuf Bearnaise with Pomme Chippes.
• Pintade au Jambon Froid with Salade a l’Adeline.
• Poires a la Chantily.
• Laitances sur Croutes.
• Dessert.
• Café.

Letter from the Manager of the Darulfalah Museum Mss Eur E403/3

However, there was probably one retirement present he was not expecting.  In June 1928, he received a letter from the Museum Darulfalah in Delhi, congratulating him on his C.I.E. and presenting him with a humble ‘present’ of a ‘Wonderful Rice’.  This arrived by separate post with a letter of explanation.  The ‘Wonderful Rice’ was a common seed of rice with the 'difficult and incredible skill of inscription' making it a ‘marvellous curio’.  In his letter, the Museum manager explained that it was inspired by 'the historical event of a verse in the Holy Quran being inscribed on a split pea of a gram, which was then presented to the Emperor Akbar.  The Emperor was extremely surprised and amused of it and rewarded the inscriber with Jagirs worth lakhs of Rupees'.

Suggested uses for the Wonderful Rice Mss Eur E403/3

Miniature writing goes back at least 4,000 years, with very small clay tablets written in cuneiform from ancient Mesopotamia.  It is thought that writing on rice began in ancient Anatolia and India, with artisans inscribing short messages using rice as a symbol of abundance and good fortune.

Inscription on the Wonderful Rice Mss Eur E403/3

The grain of rice sent to Arnould (No.7108) apparently had 102 English characters, saying ‘Long & happily live F.G. Arnould Esq., C.I.E., Chairman, Indian Rlys Confce. Assocn (Enging) & Chief Engineer, B.B. & C.I.Rlys, Bombay. 5.6.1928’.  Arnould also received a leaflet on the ‘Wonderful Rice’ which claimed that King George V had sent for one, and that the King of Siam had so admired his that he had given a donation of 300 rupees.  Arnould was also requested to send a donation to the Museum, as the Museum manager explained, ‘As the beginning of every work is difficult, so our work has also great many difficulties and the chief of them is the lack of capital, which is a hindrance to our efforts’.  The correspondence does not say what Arnould thought of his present and whether he did send a donation, and unfortunately we do not have the ‘Wonderful Rice’.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Papers relating to the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, 1923-1927, shelfmark: Mss Eur E403/1.
Papers relating to F G Arnould's retirement as Chief Engineer of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, 1928, shelfmark: Mss Eur E403/2.
Letters from the Manager of the Museum Darulfalah, Sadar Bazar, Delhi, regarding presenting Arnould with the "Wonderful Rice", a grain of rice inscribed with words, 1928, shelfmark: Mss Eur E403/3.
Supplement to the London Gazette, 4 June 1928 
Doris V Welsh, The History of Miniature Books (Albany, New York: Fort Orange Press, Inc. 1987).