Like the great artist himself, many of JMW Turner’s relations led unconventional private lives, not the least of whom was Maria Harriett, the daughter of Turner’s first cousin, Thomas Price Turner (d.1868) and Harriett Westcott (d.1838).  Maria Harriett was baptised on 28 May 1815 at St Kerrian, Exeter.  Her father started life as a saddler but later became a classical musician and professor of music.

On 30 July 1836, Maria married Edward Charles Austin, a London architect, surveyor and builder at St Leonard Shoreditch.

St Leonard Shoreditch church from R. Ackermann's A Collection of 226 Engravings, etc., illustrating London and Environs - No.65 of Repository of Arts ... 1 May 1814. British Library Maps.C.18.d.6 Images Online 

Maria gave birth to a son, Sydney Alfred Austin who was baptised on 4 August 1837.  Sadly he died the following year and was buried at Bunhill Fields on 30 July 1838.  On 10 May 1839 another son, Albert William, was born.

The 1841 census shows Maria living with Edward and Albert in Singleton Street, Tower Hamlets.  At some point in the next few years, she left Edward and started a relationship with Ralph Hall, a silk manufacturer.

Birth registration for Maria Hall Austin from General Register Office for England and Wales

On 18 May 1847, Maria Harriett Austin gave birth to Maria Hall Austin at 23 Euston Place, St Pancras, with no father named.  It appears that this child later became known as Jenny Maria Matthews and she was described as Ralph Hall’s niece to disguise the fact that she was his illegitimate daughter.  Matthews was the name of Maria’s widowed aunt, Mary Saunders Matthews, Thomas Price Turner’s sister.

The census in 1851 records Albert Austin as a boarder at a school in West Ham.  In 1852 he was apprenticed to a metal chaser, naming his father at Singleton Street in the Goldsmiths’ Company register.  This perhaps indicates that he had stayed with Edward when his parents separated.  Albert worked as a silver chaser and embosser, married Sarah Martha Trotter, and had 5 children.  He died on 9 November 1922.

Death registration for Edward Charles Austin from General Register Office for England and Wales

Edward Austin died of tuberculosis in January 1854, aged 38, but his will was not settled until 1866, presumably because his son was a minor when he died.  He pointedly left one shilling to Maria.

In December 1854 Maria married Ralph Hall in Paddington.  The witnesses were a Turner cousin, Jabez Tepper, and his daughter Victoria Helen.  In 1861, the Halls were living at 54 Finchley Road, with Mary Matthews and two servants.

Following her father’s death in 1868, Maria, Ralph, and her brother, Frederick, brought a case against her father’s second wife, also Maria, for the payment of their share of the value of some JMW Turner engravings that had been reclaimed, following a suspect sale to Jabez Tepper.  Sadly, she did not live to see the outcome of the case, which was settled in her favour in 1880.  Maria died on 25 June 1869 at her home in Onslow Square, South Kensington, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Death notice for Maria Harriett Hall in Morning Post, 29 June 1869 British Newspaper Archive

In the 1871 census Mary Matthews and Jenny M Matthews are recorded as visitors at Ralph Hall’s house. He died in Paris on 11 May 1883 and was buried in the same Highgate grave as Maria. Also in this grave are Mary Matthews (d.1871), and Jenny Maria Matthews (d.1928).

Grave at Highgate Cemetery - inscription for Maria Harriett. Photograph courtesy of Martin Ransley, volunteer guide at Highgate Cemetery.

Grave at Highgate Cemetery - inscriptions for Mary Matthews, Ralph Hall and Jenny Maria Matthews. Photograph courtesy of Martin Ransley, volunteer guide at Highgate Cemetery.

The inscription for Maria named her husband and father, and recorded that she was ‘cousin to the late JMW Turner Esq. R.A.’.  Jenny Maria Matthews is described on the grave as the ‘beloved niece’ of Ralph Hall. It appears that she was never openly acknowledged as the daughter of Ralph and Maria.

CC-BY
David Meaden
Independent Researcher

Creative Commons Attribution licence

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive for reports on the court cases involving the Turner estate.

 

Turner’s restored house in Twickenham is open to visitors.

 

Today is the 80th anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945, which marked the conclusion of the Second World War.  VJ Day saw jubilant celebrations in Britain and around the world as six long years of war finally ended. 

VJ Day celebrations n London's Piccadilly Circus.. IWM D 25636

Betty Clay, a physiotherapist in London, who featured in a previous post on VE Day, noted in her diary on 15 August: 'I was roused at 3am by ringing of Church bells.  I wondered sleepily what on earth the bellringers had chosen such an early hour to practice for, but the obvious solution never occurred to me – that Japan had finally capitulated, & they were celebrating victory.  Today & tomorrow are to be observed as VJ Day'.  At the same time in India, her sister Audrey Baylis wrote in her diary: 'Fine morning & wet afternoon.  Got down early & put on the news - & heard that it is PEACE!!!  It is marvellous'.

Piles of torn up paper thrown, 'ticker tape'-style, from the windows of offices, on Lower Regent Street, London, to celebrate the signing of the Peace with Japan, 15 August 1945. IWM D 25638

A file in the India Office Records shows the concern of government officials to acknowledge the contribution of India in the struggle against Japan and the importance of both the Indian Armed Forces and the civilian effort in achieving victory . It was decided that a message would be sent by the Secretary of State for India to the Viceroy, to be passed on to the Indian Armed Forces, the people of India and to the Indian Princes.  The message was: 'At this moment when the Allied cause has achieved its final triumph in the defeat of Japan it is my privilege to convey to you the congratulations of His Majesty’s Government on the truly magnificent part which India has played.  We in this country are deeply conscious of the vital contribution which the armed forces of India, the Princes, and the people as a whole, have made not only on the battlefields, but in the workshops and factories which have transformed India into a great arsenal and fighting base.  The unsurpassed gallantry and endurance of the Indian forces throughout this long and bitter struggle are beyond all praise, and will stand recorded as a most glorious page in India’s history.  Those who have made the supreme sacrifice in this greatest world struggle for the triumph of right over might are not here to rejoice with us today in this moment of victory, but their names are remembered with thankfulness and pride. India, with her Allies, has crushed the aggressors.  Now we face the great task of restoring a stricken world and of building a universal structure of peace'.

Indian Army mountain guns carried on pack mules pass the saluting base during the Victory Parade in Delhi. IWM IND 5040

Another India Office file lists the messages of celebration, relief and congratulation which were sent to the Viceroy from people across India.  Talenah Omedkhan of Palanpur wrote: 'The World is at last really rejoicing today at the end of War and stopping for better future for all mankind', while the Maharaja of Dhrangadhra prayed that 'the forces of hatred and tyranny which have dominated the World for the past five years may be replaced forever by love and goodwill amongst all the people of the earth'.  The Federation of Kathiawar Seeds and Oil Associations congratulated His Majesty’s Government on the victory and hoped that the 'successful termination of World War secured revival of democracy which will ensure free trade and industrialisation of India for the advancement of Indian people and their lasting benefit'.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Diary of Betty Clay, Jan 1945-Jan 1946, British Library shelfmark: Mss Eur F765/4/1.
Diary of Edith Audrey Baylis (nee Clay) (1910-1998), 1945, British Library shelfmark: Mss Eur F765/2/21.
India Office Information Department file, India's contribution to victory: statement made after defeat of Japan, 1945-1946, British Library shelfmark IOR/L/I/1/1162.
India Office Political Department file, Congratulatory messages on the victory over Japan, and in connection with the victory celebrations in London, 1945-1946, British Library shelfmark IOR/L/PJ/7/7259.
BBC guide to VJ Day. 

The papers of India Office Librarian Frederick William Thomas (1867-1956) are now available to view in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room.  This diverse collection consists of his private correspondence, draft papers of unpublished and published works primarily relating to Tibetan philological study materials, Tibetan manuscript cataloguing slips, documents from his tenure as India Office Librarian, and various additional papers.

F. W. Thomas was a highly published and respected philologist, and a specialist in Tibetan language studies.  Born in Staffordshire to Frederick Thomas and Frances Blainey, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge.  He graduated with first class in classical and Indian languages and was a recipient of several academic awards.  In 1898 he became Assistant Librarian of the India Office, succeeding C. H. Tawney as Librarian from 1903-1927.

A letter from Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) to F. W. Thomas, 2 April 1926. Mss Eur F155/1/24, f.1rv

Thomas’ expertise in philology allowed him to contribute greatly to the cataloguing and arranging of the extensive ‘Oriental’ materials held by the India Office Library.  The deposit of Sir Aurel Stein’s ‘Dunhuang’ manuscripts provided him with the opportunity to study rare Tibetan texts, many of which formed the basis for his published work Tibetan Literary Texts and Documents Concerning Chinese Turkestan, Part II (1951).  He continued to publish extensively in scholarly journals and books until his death in 1956.

The papers of F. W. Thomas were a challenging collection to catalogue.  Since their deposit in the India Office Library, the collection has undergone several cataloguing attempts, leaving some material arranged but a large quantity without clear order.  Owing to the complex nature of the collection’s structure, it was decided that an original order should be maintained where possible when no other order was clear.  For some researchers, it may be useful to understand how papers have been rearranged according to the previous reference system.  As such, notes in the scope and content fields indicate the original boxes in which the papers were stored.

A black ink rubbing on beige coloured paper of an inscription in an unidentified language.  Original copies of inscriptions like these were some of many that were sent from India to Thomas for philological study. Mss Eur F155/6/49, f.1 [c.1927].

The contents of this collection include many unpublished manuscripts, now available in handwritten or typed form.  This includes ‘The Cambridge History of India’ (unpublished, 1922-1932), ‘Bhasa-Pariccheda: Siddhanta-Muktavali and Dinakari Commentary’ (1931-1935), ‘Introduction to Tibetan Texts and Documents’ (1935-1956) and his final work, ‘The 'Zan-Zun' [Zhangzhung] Language’ (1933-1956).  Alongside these texts, Mss Eur F155 contains photographic prints of texts, original rubbings of inscriptions in ink and dry media, maps, and over 2,000 folios of loose notes, transcriptions, and references.  The collection is an excellent example of scholarly global collaboration, with many files showing evidence of multi-authorship by philologists from around the world.

Of additional interest may be the over 3000 folios of cataloguing slips recording descriptions, transcriptions, and some translations of Tibetan manuscripts taken during Sir Aurel Stein’s (1862-1943) second expedition, 1913–1916. Many of the manuscripts described are available to view digitally on the International Dunhuang Project catalogue page.

Maddy Clark
Digitisation Officer, India Office Records

Further reading:
Papers of Frederick William Thomas (1867-1956), Mss Eur F155.  A paper catalogue of the contents is available to consult in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room.
Biographical memoir for Frederick William Thomas by H.N. Randle in Proceedings of the British Academy vol. 44 (1958).
Arberry, A., & Katz, J. (2004) Thomas, Frederick William (1867–1956), orientalist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
de La Vallée-Poussin, L., Enoki, K.(1962) Catalogue of The Tibetan Manuscripts from Tun-huang In the India Office Library. London: Oxford University Press.

 

James Estcourt Atwood was born in Westminster, London on 25 July 1758, the second son of Reverend Thomas Atwood, curate of the parishes of Westminster and St Clement Danes, and his wife Isabella Sells.

He attended Westminster School from 1768-1774 before being admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, on 17 January 1775.  However, he only remained there a short time before transferring to Lincoln’s Inn on 24 May 1775.

I have been unable to find any records of Atwood’s life and career between 1775-1780, although it seems likely he was pursuing a career as a solicitor or barrister given his admittance to Lincoln’s Inn.

Entry for the 99th Regiment of Foot from the Army List 1781, courtesy of The National Archives QLIB 2/21

On 3 June 1780 he changed career path entirely, enlisting as an ensign in the 99th (or Jamaica) Regiment of Foot.  He only served for a year, resigning his commission on 14 August 1781.

His final change of career came in 1783 when Atwood was ordained as a priest.  On 22 December 1783 he was appointed curate of Mickleham, near Winchester in Hampshire.  On 25 February 1786 he was appointed as domestic chaplain to the Duke of St Albans, and the following year, on 6 February 1787, he was appointed rector of Saxlingham in Norfolk.

Having matriculated from university but not having earned a BA or MA degree meant that the roles and positions he could be considered for as a clergyman were somewhat limited.  This led Atwood to return to Trinity College on 10 February 1798 under the ‘ten-year man’ rule, which allowed students who had matriculated to return and earn a BD (Bachelor of Divinity degree).  This was particularly aimed at clergymen to enable them to continue to progress in their careers.

St Thomas Mount, Madras, c. 1811 by George James British Library WD 3757 -  Images Online

The decision to obtain his BD led to Atwood’s appointment by the East India Company as a junior chaplain for Madras on 7 February 1799.  He sailed for India on 18 June 1799 aboard the Asia East Indiaman.  On arriving in Madras Atwood was appointed to Vellore, and he moved between the Presidency, Vellore and Arcot until 1804 when he was appointed as the first chaplain to St Thomas Mount, Madras.  He served as chaplain there until his death on 24 July 1810.

At the time of his death, he was the last surviving of the five children of Reverend Thomas Atwood. Two sisters died as infants and his two remaining brothers both predeceased him. Thomas Alexander Atwood followed in their father’s footsteps as curate of the Parish of Westminster from 1770 until his death in 1805; and George Atwood, who served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, William Pitt, and had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, died in 1807.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further Reading:
Frank Penny, The Church in Madras (London, 1904).
British Library IOR/N/2/4, p 442 - Burial entry at St Thomas Mount, Madras, for James Estcourt Atwood.
British Library OIR 253.0954 Sidney J McNally, The Chaplains of the East India Company (London, 1976).
British Library OIA 378.426  Alumni Cantabrigienses: a biographical list of all known students , graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900  (Cambridge University Press 1922-1944).
London Gazette 1780 & 1781 – announcements of appointments and resignations for 99th Regiment of Foot.

How many gardening books do you have at home?  Nowadays, there are guides to all elements of gardening containing the latest advice, tips and trends and, of course, photos of beautiful gardens that give us all garden-envy.  But did you know that gardening manuals have been published for centuries?

On display in the British Library’s Unearthed: The Power of Gardening exhibition is the first gardening manual ever printed.  Written by Londoner Thomas Hill in 1564, it is entitled A Most Briefe and Pleasaunte Treatyse.

Title page of A Most Briefe and Pleasaunte Treatyse

Hill’s manual instructs gardeners on how to ‘dresse, set and sowe’ a garden.  Gardening was becoming increasingly popular in the Tudor and the Elizabethan periods.  More people had access to their own plots, and market gardens were springing up outside the city walls of London, fertilised by animal (and human!) waste.  Gardeners also worked on grand estates such as Hampton Court Palace.

The first gardening manual aimed specifically at women was published in 1617: The Country Housewifes Garden by William Lawson.  Women cultivated domestic plots, kept kitchen gardens and worked as weeders and fruit pickers in larger gardens.  Lawson urges them to keep a productive garden and a separate ornamental garden, and includes the latest ‘knot’ garden designs.

William Lawson, The Country Housewifes Garden, 1617

The 17th and 18th centuries saw huge gardening innovation and development.  The domestic gardening industry became properly established, and the growth of the Empire brought new plants to British gardens.  Gardeners could buy the newest plants from nurseries and seed shops across the country.  Philip Miller was head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until 1770.  His comprehensive manual The Gardeners Dictionary was an instant hit with gardeners from all walks of life.

In the 18th century, urban gardening became its own distinctive activity.  Thomas Fairchild published the first manual about it in 1722.  Fairchild was a gardener who owned a plant nursery in Shoreditch, East London, that overflowed with tropical and unusual plants, including one of the first banana plants grown in Britain.  The City Gardener argued that urban gardening improved local environments, encouraged wildlife and aided mental wellbeing.  Fairchild recommended specific plants that would thrive in a polluted urban environment and urged gardeners to use every space they could, from window boxes and balconies to rooftops.

Frontispiece of Thomas Fairchild, The City Gardener, 1722

In the 19th and 20th centuries, gardening manuals expanded further.  Some were aimed at specific audiences like children or the ‘London poor’, such as Samuel Hadden-Parkes’s Window Gardens for the People.  There were manuals published about suburban gardens, ‘weekend’ gardening, greenhouse gardening and more.  Jane Loudon’s Instructions in Gardening for Ladies (1840) stands out from this period.  Loudon was a self-trained gardener who wrote a pioneering series of manuals that encouraged women to be more ‘hands-on’ in their gardens.

Samuel Hadden Parkes, Window Gardens for the People, [1864]

David Hessayon’s The House Plant Expert, first published in 1960, is the best-selling gardening book of all time.  It has inspired generations of indoor gardeners and has gone through several editions.  Hessayon wrote in a practical, straightforward way and used illustrations accessible for all readers.

Each of these gardening manuals provides a fascinating insight into gardening during different periods of history.  They tell us about the latest gardening fashions and trends, how gardens were designed, what plants were popular and how gardeners dealt with pests, soil management and a range of other issues.  Gardening books are still incredibly popular today, demonstrating just how many of us love gardening and gardens.

Maddy Smith
Lead Curator (1601-1900), Printed Heritage Collections

British Library exhibition- Unearthed: The Power of Gardening

 

 

 

In February 1825 Benjamin Constable joined the East India Company as a London warehouse labourer aged 20.  When he died in June 1896 he was described as a gentleman, after rising up the ranks of society to be a prison governor.

Benjamin was born in Buckle Street, Whitechapel, on 11 September 1804, the youngest child of Benjamin and Ann.  His father, fulfilling nominative determinism, worked as a parish constable.

A year after joining the warehouses, Benjamin enlisted in the Royal East India Volunteers, a military body raised to protect East India House and the Company warehouses and to assist the City authorities in times of crisis.  For a number of years, he was one of the 'very steady and useful men' selected to be an extra writer in the warehouses, performing office duties.  He received an additional shilling per day for this on top of his basic pay of 2s 9d.

In March 1838 Benjamin was made redundant after the 1833 Charter Act ordered the East India Company to cease all commercial activity.  He was awarded a weekly pension of 7s 6d for life.  Benjamin soon found employment as a turnkey or warder at Whitecross Street Debtors' Prison to support his wife Ann and their three children, Ann Jane, Benjamin and John William.  A third son James was born in 1841. His wife Ann died in 1845.  At the time of the 1851 census, Benjamin was living at the Prison with his sons John William, an attorney's clerk, and James.  He was married for a second time in March 1857 to Caroline Holmes Lawrence who had two daughters, Caroline and Mary Jane.  When the keeper of Whitecross Street Prison retired in 1862, Benjamin was appointed to succeed him on an annual salary of £150.

Examination of debtors in Whitecross Street Prison, with a view to their discharge under the new Bankruptcy Act - Illustrated Times, 4 January 1862. Image © Illustrated London News Group. British Newspaper Archive

There are newspapers reports about Benjamin’s working life at Whitecross Street.  For example, in 1859 he was questioned about discharging a prisoner who was wearing a false beard and moustache provided by the Prison barber in an attempt to evade creditors outside.

Allowances made to the staff of Whitecross Street Debtors’ Prison when it closed in 1870 - London Daily Chronicle, 18 October 1870. British Newspaper Archive

Whitecross Street Prison closed in 1870 after imprisonment for debt was abolished.  Benjamin was granted an annual allowance of £165 to add to his East India Company pension of £19 10s per annum.  An old man, apparently called ‘Barnacles’, had spent 27 years there and went out confused, staring about him when released.  The Prison chaplain Thomas Pugh and Benjamin tried to find employment for him.  

Benjamin spent his retirement with Caroline in Watford and then Warwick. His children stayed in London. Ann Jane married Charles Page, a butcher, and carried on the business after he died.  Benjamin was a legal clerk and accountant.  John William also worked as a clerk, but James was a piano tuner.  Benjamin's sons all predeceased him.

Advertisement for the auction of Benjamin Constable’s household furniture and other effects at his home 60 Emscote Road, Warwick - Leamington Spa Courier, 19 September 1896. British Newspaper Archive

In the India Office ledgers, Benjamin Constable is recorded as the last surviving East India Company warehouse labourer pensioner, drawing his allowance for more than 58 years until his death on 27 June 1896.  Information about his detached house at 60 Emscote Road, Warwick, demonstrates his elevation to the status of 'gentleman'.  He had four bedrooms, including one occupied by a domestic servant.  His drawing room contained a piano and his dining room a harmonium.  There was a cellar with homemade wines.  The contents of the house were sold by auction in October 1896.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
British Library, IOR/L/AG/30/4 Register of East India Company warehouse labourers from 1830.
British Library, IOR/L/AG/30/5 List of labourers appointed to the East India Company warehouses 1801-1832.
British Library, IOR/L/MIL/5/485 Register of warehouse labourers enlisted in the Royal East India Volunteers 1820-1832.
British Library, IOR/L/F/2/23 no.259 of Oct 1837 Petition of labourers who had been employed as extra writers, including Benjamin Constable, asking for an addition to their pensions (unsuccessful).
Warwickshire County Record Office CR 2433/31/425 Inventory of Benjamin Constable's property at 60 Emscote Road, Warwick - valuation for probate, July 1896.
British Newspaper Archive

In the 19th century, the ruler of Abu Dhabi had significant wealth and power in the Persian Gulf.  It was also a precarious position.  Multiple holders of the title (referred to as the ‘Chief of Abu Dhabi’ in contemporary records) died violently.  The India Office Records tell the story of one such death - the 1845 assassination of Shaikh Khalīfah bin Shakhbūṭ Āl Nahyān, by his own relatives.

Map of Arabia and Syria - 'The Map which Lady Anne Blunt took to Nejd', 1878-1879. Shelfmark: Add.54083 Images Online

A detailed account of the assassination can be found in a letter from Mullā Ḥusayn, Agent at Sharjah , to Major Samuel Hennell the Resident in the Persian Gulf.  Ḥusayn provides some background to the assassination: Shaikh Khalīfah’s brother had tried to convince him of the danger posed by their relatives, specifically their nephew, ‘Īsá bin Khālid al-Falāḥī. Khalīfah was unconvinced by this, and refused his brother’s suggestion to banish ‘Īsá from Abu Dhabi.  Khalīfah attempted to win his relatives over by treating them ‘with great favour and kindness’.

The plan backfired spectacularly as the assassination happened during a meal by the beach in July 1845.  Ḥusayn paints a picture of a relaxing day, with ‘conversation on indifferent and frivolous subjects’, taking place while ‘the usual eatables’ were enjoyed in the shade.  As Khalīfah’s brother walked towards the beach, the assassins, under orders from ‘Īsá, ‘suddenly drew their daggers and struck him’.  Khalīfah drew his sword to defend his brother, but the assassins turned on him.  As the brothers lay dying, the assassins ‘seized the fort, then entered the houses of the Sheikhs, [and] ejected their women and children’.  ‘Īsá then secretly wrote and sent a letter in the name of Shaikh Khalīfah and his brother, requesting that members of their tribe bring horses and camels to Abu Dhabi, presumably with the intention of capturing and using them himself.  Ḥusayn’s comment that this caused ‘great consternation’ in the surrounding area may, perhaps, seem a bit of an understatement.

After receiving Husayn’s letter, British authorities displayed a surprising calm.  They acknowledged that the assassination had been ‘atrocious’, and they especially lamented the loss of a Shaikh they had been working with efficiently.  ‘The demise of Shaikh Khalīfah is much regretted,’ wrote Hennell , ‘[because] he thoroughly understood and appreciated the power of the British Government’.  Hennell explained the strategic advantages that Britain had achieved by co-operating with Khalīfah , demonstrating that relations had been effective and mutually beneficial.  However, British officials wrote that they did ‘not anticipate that this event [would] disturb the tranquillity of the Gulf’.  To them, this unhappy event was a local matter that would not have monumental wider impact on the region.

The aftermath of the assassination saw further politically motivated murders, with multiple relatives of Shaikh Khalīfah being assassinated as they vied for control of Abu Dhabi.  The series of murders demonstrated that, in this region at the time, power went hand-in-hand with danger.

Miriam Gibson
Content Specialist Archivist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further Reading:
Details regarding the assassination, its reporting to the British, and reactions to it – British Library IOR/P/931/32 ff 235-244.
More information about the assassination can be found in:
J G Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB (1915).
Frauke Heard-Bey, From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates : a society in transition (2005)

 

The India Office regularly received requests for help from people stranded in the UK, and often in difficult financial situations, who wished to travel to India, either because it was their home or because they had family living there.  The usual response from the India Office was to decline to help, and examples of such cases have featured on previous Untold Lives blog posts.  However, very occasionally a case arose where government help was given to an individual.

The Strangers’ Home, West India Dock Road, Limehouse from Illustrated London News 28 February 1857 p.194 British Library Images Online

On 14 July 1869, Colonel Hughes, Secretary of The Strangers' Home for Asiatics located in Limehouse in London, wrote to the India Office regarding a man named C W O’Donoghue.  Colonel Hughes described O’Donoghue as ‘country born and native of Calcutta’ who had been admitted into the Home in a state of destitution one week previously.  He had been engaged as compounder and interpreter on the ship Ganges taking Indian emigrants from Calcutta to Demerara in British Guiana -a compounder made up medicines for the ship’s surgeon.  Under his agreement of employment for the voyage, O’Donoghue had requested a return passage not to India but to England, presumably as he expected to find new employment in the UK.  Unfortunately, when in London he failed to find the employment he expected.  With his funds running out, he applied to the Colonial Office, then the India Office, and was referred to the Strangers' Home.  By good fortune, the ship Newcastle was due to leave London for Calcutta with several ‘natives of India’ on board.  Colonel Hughes asked if the Secretary of State for India would consider approving the payment of £20 for O’Donoghue’s ticket, otherwise he feared that ‘his remaining in England will result in destitution and loss of character’.

Sailing ship Newcastle built in 1857 and wrecked in Torres Strait in 1883. Photograph held by John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, and published on Wikimedia Commons.

Colonel Hughes visited the India Office to talk to M E Grant Duff, Under Secretary of State for India, about the case.  Following the meeting, Grant Duff put a note in a Public & Judicial Department file in which he pointed out that the Government of India should be told to grant return passages to Indian ports only, presumably to prevent similar cases from occurring.  He also wrote: ‘I hardly know whether the application should be complied with, but as the cost will only be £20, it will probably be the cheapest way of getting rid of the man’.  The Secretary of State evidently agreed, as a letter was duly sent to Colonel Hughes consenting to this plan.  On 20 July, Colonel Hughes wrote again to the India Office to confirm that passage had been secured for O’Donoghue on the Newcastle which had left the dock that morning.  He enclosed a receipt for the cost of the ticket, and a certificate of his being on board the ship signed by L J Bateman, the Chief Mate.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Case of C W O’Donoghue asking for passage from London to Calcutta, July 1869, reference IOR/L/PJ/2/49 File 7/305.
Bengal Public Letter, No.4 of 1869, regarding the agreement of Compounder & Interpreter, plus four Topazes, engaged to proceed with Indian emigrants to Demerara on board the ship Ganges, 16 January 1869, reference IOR/L/PJ/3/67 p.17.