Untold lives blog

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

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.

An 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.

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 - 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

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 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 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 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 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.

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 parts 1 and 2, in this concluding part, members of the team of experts working on the QDL reflect once more on memorable material that they and former colleagues have encountered during the last decade.

• The power of OCR – IOR/R/15/1/381 and IOR/R/15/1/720

Excerpt from an administration report of the Persian Gulf, 1945 – IOR/R/15/1/720, f. 92r

The application of OCR to digitised records just before the QDL’s launch in 2014 enabled a response to a query from a geology professor at the University of Baluchistan, Pakistan, who was looking to find archival material on the 1945 Makran tsunami, as part of UNESCO commemorations on the tenth anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

• A foretelling of US post-war dominance in the Gulf – IOR/L/PS/12/2124

A minute paper by Isaiah Berlin, dated 5 January 1944 (not 1943, as stated in this copy) – IOR/L/PS/12/2124, f. 36r

As a cataloguer – and no doubt as a researcher too – when reading official government papers, it is rare to find something so candid and revealing on a single piece of paper.  Most often, things are implied rather than stated explicitly, across hundreds of pages and throughout dozens of files and volumes.  Inside this India Office Political and Secret Department file is one of those rare finds: a copy of a minute paper by the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who at the time was working in the British Embassy in Washington DC.  Writing in January 1944, Berlin reports on having seen an extract from a secret report by the United States War Department, which outlined the long-term strategic interests of the US in Saudi Arabia and recommended that ‘no effort should be spared to develop close relations with King Ibn Saud’.  British officials responded with extreme scepticism; however, in just a few years, the US replaced Britain as Saudi Arabia’s key western sponsor and protector, and soon become the predominant imperialist power in the region.

• Sources on Palestine – 306.37.C.18

Excerpt from an English translation of The Oriental geography of Ebn Haukal, an Arabian traveller of the tenth century – 306.37.C.18, pp. 39-40

The description of Palestine pictured above comes from an 1800 English translation of The Oriental geography of Ebn Haukal, which was written in 977 CE.  At a time when Palestinian history and lived experience is denied and devalued more than ever, brushed over with colonial myths about ‘making the desert bloom’, this account (one of many sources on Palestine that feature on the QDL), with its descriptions of ‘all the hills of Palestine ... covered with trees’ and ‘much fruit, olives, and figs’, constitutes evidence of a flourishing Palestine from more than a millennium ago.

• The mystery of the Roebuck, and the importance of cross-referencing – IOR/L/MAR/A/XXIX and IOR/L/MAR/A/XXX

Inscription at the start of a journal kept by Henry Crosby – IOR/L/MAR/A/XXIX, f. 7v

Within the records of the India Office’s Marine Department (IOR/L/MAR) are two ship journals, IOR/L/MAR/A/XXIX and IOR/L/MAR/A/XXX, which appear to assert that a ship named the Roebuck was in two different places at once. How was this mystery solved? By assiduous cross-referencing.

IOR Cataloguing Team, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Whilst undertaking some work on the pension records of the Lord Clive Fund, I came across the marriage of Captain John Villiers Forbes to Anne Burgett in Calcutta, Bengal.

Marriage entry for John Villiers Forbes and Anne Burgett, 23 January 1849 at Calcutta, showing him described as a 'Single Man'. IOR/N/1/75 f.83

What caught my eye about the marriage was that John Villiers Forbes was described as a ‘Single Man’. The usual terminology in the India marriage records at that time was ‘Bachelor’ for an unmarried man and ‘Widower’ for a married man who had been bereaved. I had never seen the term ‘Single Man’ used before, suggesting that the Chaplain wished to make a point about the marital status of the groom!

John Villiers Forbes was born in Walcot, Somerset in 1807, the son of Thomas John & Elizabeth Forbes. He was appointed an Ensign in the Bengal Army in April 1823.

On 4 April 1831 he was married in Port Louis, Mauritius, to Marie Eudoxie De Bissey. The couple returned to Bengal shortly afterwards and had six children: Eliza Mary born 1832, Charles D’Oyly born 1833, Henry Villiers born 1836, Anna Maria Louisa born 1837, Caroline Virginie Elisabeth born 1839 and Adelaide Marie Eudoxie born 1846.

On 23 January 1849 John Villier Forbes was married for a second time to Anne Burgett, and the couple had three children Eliza Caroline Matilda born 1849, Arthur Frederick Colin born 1851 and Herbert Edward born 1853.

At the time of John Villier Forbes’s second marriage, his first wife Marie Eudoxie was still alive and living in Mauritius, which may explain the choice of words used by the Chaplain to describe Forbes's marital status.

The circumstances surrounding John Villiers Forbes being permitted to marry when his first wife was still alive are unclear. It could be that he and his first wife were divorced; it is also possible that as his first marriage was Catholic it would not have been recognised by the Church of England, and he would legally, if not morally, have been considered single.

Marie Eudoxie Forbes also remarried on 10 July 1851 in Mauritius to Alexandre George de Courson de la Villeneuve, and the couple had one daughter, Mary.

Marie Eudoxie de Courson passed away in 1851 and was buried at Pamplemousses Cemetery in Mauritius.

First two pages of the will of John Villiers Forbes, written in June 1853, outlining his wishes in relation to his children from his first marriage. IOR/L/AG/34/29/88 f.145

John Villiers Forbes died in Calcutta on 15 July 1853. His will left all his money and estates to his wife Anne, along with guardianship of their three children. He also left instructions for her relating to his surviving children from his first marriage. He left £100 Sterling each to his sons Charles D’Oyly and Henry Villiers, who at that time were at school in Essex before entering the British Army. His three daughters, Anna Maria Louisa, Caroline Virginie Elisabeth and Adelaide Marie Eudoxie, were described as living in Mauritius in the care of his late wife’s family and being supported by maternal inheritance, and he appointed their maternal uncle Gaston de Bissey as one of their guardians.

John’s second wife Anne moved to Munich following her husband’s death and remarried there in 1875 to Franz Binder.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further Reading:
Bengal Marriage - IOR/N/1/75, f.83 marriage entry for John Villiers Forbes to Anne Burgett, 23 January 1849.
Bengal Burials - IOR/N/1/84, p.211 burial entry for John Villiers Forbes, 15 July 1853.
Bengal Wills - IOR/IOR/L/AG/34/29/88, f.145 – will of John Villiers Forbes, 1853.
Grave of ‘Marie Eudoxie de Courson’ at Cimetière de Pamplemousses, Mauritius 
Bengal Baptisms - IOR/N/1/35, f.79 – baptism of Eliza Mary Forbes, 29 April 1833; IOR/N/1/38, f.126 – baptism of Charles D’Oyly Forbes, 13 April 1834; IOR/N/1/50, f.60 – baptism of Anna Maria Louisa Forbes, 22 April 1838; IOR/N/1/77, f.64 – baptism of Eliza Caroline Matilda Forbes, 26 February 1850; IOR/ N/1/80, f.316 – baptism of Arthur Frederick Colin Forbes, 16 November 1851; IOR/N/1/83, f.267 – baptism of Herbert Edward Forbes, 5 June 1853.

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 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 -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 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 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)

A previous post on this blog told the story of Alice Buckley who contacted the India Office regarding hidden stolen loot.  However, this isn’t the only such case which came to the notice of government.

In April 1905, the India Office received a communication from the Rev Dr Hume, a missionary of the American Board who worked in Ahmednagar and was then on furlough in America.  Hume was acting on behalf of Edward Dowling of 61 Henry Street, New York City.  At that time Dowling was 73 years old and infirm, and felt he needed to make a statement to government concerning some buried loot.  In November 1858, Dowling was a sergeant with the 54th West Norfolk Regiment serving in Oudh.  Along with three friends he had found and buried some loot, amounting to 3 bags of gold coins, a quantity of silver, and two packages of precious stones in the joints of hollow bamboos.  He said it would not be ‘either correct of politic’ for him to give the names of his comrades.  He offered to return to India and help officials there to find the loot.

Edward Dowling's first statement IOR/L/PJ/6/718, File 1152

The Government of India accepted this offer, but Dowling’s doctor then forbade him from travelling on health grounds, stating that ‘any attempt on his part to make such an extended trip would simply be suicidal’. 

Report on Edward Dowling's health by Dr J Huber IOR/L/PJ/6/718, File 1152

Instead, Dowling made a more detailed statement to aid any attempt to find the loot, and this survives in India Office files.  The statement is headed ‘Directions for finding loot hidden near the fort of Amathie, Oudh, India, on the 11th November 1858’.

Edward Dowling's second statement IOR/L/PJ/6/718, File 1152

Dowling and three comrades were spread out foraging in the vicinity of the deserted fort of Amethi, attended by a camp-follower.  The camp-follower came running towards Dowling shouting ‘Loot Sahib’, pursued by a rebel sowar who cut him down before Dowling could prevent it.  Near him they found loot consisting of gold and silver coins and precious stones.  Knowing the strict rules against looting, they carefully checked no-one was nearby, and then two men kept watch while the other two buried the loot.  It required a trench 8ft long and 2ft deep.  The surplus earth was thrown into a nearby swamp, and every care was taken to conceal the place.  However, one of the men was unreliable as he had a record of drunkenness and tended to blab when drunk.  So the two men who had originally buried the loot moved it half a mile to the west.  They didn’t have an opportunity of telling Dowling as his wing of the Regiment had moved to Fyzabad, while the other three went to Sultanpur.

Edward Dowling's map of the area showing the location of the treasure IOR/L/PJ/6/718, File 1152

The two men who buried the loot died without Dowling seeing them again, but one of them on his deathbed sent for the unreliable man and told him where the loot was.  He gave him £300 and instructed him to tell Dowling, which he evidently didn’t.  Dowling did not see or hear anything until March 1904 when he met the unreliable man accidently in the Bowery in New York.  Dowling said that he was in a deplorable condition, and he did what he could to help him. After a couple of weeks, he disappeared, and Dowling was unable to trace him and believed him to be dead.

On 18 August 1905, the India Office forwarded the information to the Government of India with the instruction to take what action they deemed advisable.  Sadly, there are no further papers in the files indicating what action, if any, was taken.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Offer of information concerning the position of valuable plunder said to have been buried in Oudh during the Mutiny, April 1905, shelfmark: IOR/L/PJ/6/718, File 1152.