'The season of Easter is a "commonwealth" of festivity', said Aris's Birmingham Gazette on Monday 21 April 1851. 'It is particularly interesting at this season of the year to notice the various preparations for public recreation and amusement.  Hoardings are placarded with immense posters, calling attention in colossal characters, to excursion trains, steam vessels, concerts, theatres, fairs, and numerous other sources of enjoyment, and wherever we look we can discover indications of the "first Spring holiday".'

Historical printed playbills are a fascinating resource for examining how generations past were entertained.   They have great visual appeal, designed to catch attention.  Perhaps the Birmingham newspaper reporter saw this very playbill advertising grand entertainments for the Easter Holidays at the Theatre Royal in April 1851?

Playbill for Birmingham Theatre Royal, 22 April, 1851, British Library shelfmark: Playbills 199 (Image sources with thanks to Sakib Supple)

The bill’s 'colossal characters', its large bold type, quite literally evokes the host of performers lined up in a series of novelties for the local stage.

A great and surprising variety of entertainments appeared on Victorian stages across the country.  ‘Traditional’ theatre is certainly represented here with the great eastern romance of Sinbad from The Arabian Nights and the historical drama, Shakespeare’s Early Days (Shakespeare pageants and tribute plays were common around the country especially near his birthday at the end of April).  But the novelty and variety of the mixed bill is noteworthy.  Performing animals were a big hit and this bill announces the treats in store from Monsieur Desarais’ 'Troupe of Histrionic Dogs and Monkeys'!

Mons. Desarais’ Extraordinary Troupe of Histrionic Dogs And Monkeys. From a playbill on 29 April 1851.  Theatre-goers could see dogs walking on their forelegs; climbing up and down ladders; monkey ‘carousals’(?!), dogs playing dead and wounded (?!); and monkeys on backs of dogs in a grand steeple-chase! “the singing dog” will 'perform an original solo' (?!!!) and a dog called 'Cupid' performs amidst a display of fireworks (?!). British Library shelfmark Playbills 199 (Image sourced from Trove, National Library of Australia)

In addition to large, bold and playful type fonts, playbills often used illustrations to draw in peoples’ attention.  This playbill shows the acrobatics of the funambulist ‘Young Hengler’, a rope dancer who thrilled audiences 'by discharging a brace of pistols whilst accomplishing a lofty aerial somersault'.  In calmer moments he would entertain with a drum polka and buffo dance with his feet in bushel baskets.

The Henglers were a large family of skilled circus performers, they became a huge company with a presence in many regional cities and in the centre of London in Argyll Street (on the site of the Palladium today).  Later in the century, Music Hall culture diminished the audiences’ taste for this type of circus act and despite more far-fetched and extreme acts at Hengler’s like 'water theatre' and human cannonballs, they went to the wall in the late 19th century.

Hengler's Circus: 'Onra the man projectile'Mons. Desarais’ Extraordinary Troupe of Histrionic Dogs And Monkeys. From a playbill on 29 April 1851. . MacKenzie & Co. Litho Studio [1890].  The job of the playbill was to 'fire' excitement – after all they were competing with a 'commonwealth of festivity', excursions, concerts, fairs and other entertainments. British Library shelfmark Evan.338

Playbills provided detailed descriptions of plots, depicted lavish sets, scenery, costumes, machinery and special effects.  These helped build anticipation, listing the names and roles of the cast, often colourful and suggestively bawdy.  Even lesser characters' roles and names helped portray the carnival surrounding plays, like ‘Yelcobrac’ a genie from Sinbad, 'gifted with the power of assuming various Forms'.

A variant Playbill from 22 April 1851 with lavish descriptions of the set, plot and cast of Sinbad the Sailor. British Library shelfmark Playbills 199 (Image sources with thanks to Sakib Supple)

There is a mass of useful incidental information for historians buried within the sensation and puff of these playbills.  Details about ticket prices; who could attend ('no babes in arms' admitted); notes on comforts such as warmth ('good fires kept'); hygiene ('thoroughly cleansed'; safety ('constables in attendance at all times') and transport – see on this bill in 1851 how people were conveyed by special trains from suburbs and outlying towns like Walsall and Dudley – a relative novelty in itself!

How The Theatre Royal in Birmingham would have looked around 1851, British Library Digital Store 1763.a.5

Christian Algar
Curator, Printed Heritage Collections

 

The British Library has a vast collection of historical playbills (nearly a quarter of a million) and about 100,000 of them (dating from the late 18th century to the 1860s) were digitised some years back (you can find the by tapping ‘playbills’ into Explore the British Library, clicking ‘Online’ and selecting one of the volumes with the ‘I Want This’ button to look at examples).

In an effort to make these individual bills more findable, the British Library has an ongoing project called In the Spotlight which aims to identify and record crucial details like performance titles.   The variety of font size and design means they cannot be machine read.  The playbills project is a great way for members of the public to get their noses into interesting and entertaining historical print and help identify and transcribe information that will provide access points for future research.  The results are integrated into the Library’s online viewer and all data is available for anyone to use in their own work as it’s completed.

The interactive project can also generate thoughtful discussion on social media (@Libcrowds and @blprintheritage) and on the project discussion board. For us, this popular engagement with historical contexts is as valuable and exciting as the data generated.

 

A search through the British Newspaper Archive recently for interesting articles relating to India for Easter did not turn up any exciting stories, but did instead provide some entertaining distractions owing to misconstrued search results.

Here are two of my favourite ‘stories’ found in the results.

‘India Office Lists Easter Furnishing Bargains’
This was a result returned from the Hertford Mercury and Reformer 22 April 1916, suggesting that the India Office was having a furniture clear out and sale. Unsurprisingly this did not turn out to be the case, as these were actually two unrelated advertisements with their titles merged together.  The first for the India Office Lists was an advert for the publication of the latest edition, now available for sale.  The second was an advertisement for Bedroom Furniture Suites being sold by Ward’s Stores, Seven Sisters Corner, Tottenham.

Advertisement for Ward's Stores from Hertford Mercury and Reformer 22 April 1916 British Newspaper Archive

‘British Officers Stories of India Gardening for Easter 2d’
This was a result returned from the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 13 April 1922 suggesting that a British officer had published his stories of adventures whilst Easter gardening in India.
It transpires however that this is an advert for the latest edition of the Yorkshire Weekly Post in April 1922. These are sadly two separate articles ‘British Officers' stories of India’ and ‘Gardening for Easter’ which appeared alongside each other in the same edition of the journal.

List of contents for Yorkshire Weekly Post in April 1922 British Newspaper Archive

 

There were also a number of search results where the text recognition software used to make newspapers searchable had misread words as Easter.  One of my favourites in this category was:
‘Baths proprieters of well India Easter’
This was another advertisement, this time in the Star (London) 16 April 1803. The publication being advertised was a Treatise, written by the Earl of Dundonald, and showing ‘the intimate connection that subsists between Agriculture and Chemistry’.  The advertisement went on to suggest a number of organisations which may be interested in such a treatise, including ‘to the Proprietors of West India Estates’.

So, while there were no interesting stories about Easter in India to be turned into a blog this time, I do hope that Untold Lives readers had a chuckle at these search results.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive - also available via findmypast

 

In the 1700s prominent Jacobite families chose to show their allegiance by christening their children with Jacobite names.  The marriage of Maria Clementina Sobieska, granddaughter of King John III Sobieski of Poland, to James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant to the throne, influenced many, and both Clementina and Sobieski/Sobiesky were popular choices for girls at that time.

Image of Maria Clementina Sobieska, reproduced by kind permission of the National Portrait Gallery. Image reference: NPG D32662

 

Wrexham in Denbighshire had a number of Jacobite families and Sobieski Edwards was born there in 10 July 1746 to Thomas Edwards, a shoemaker.  The family also had a son Edward.

The Edwards children moved to London and on 3 June 1770 Sobieski Edwards was married in Soho to Daniel Hobbs.  The marriage was short-lived as Daniel died November 1772.  They had one daughter, Sobiesky, born on 7 December 1770.

Sobieski Hobbs remarried on 21 September 1774 in St Giles London to Timothy Sullivan, a warehouse-keeper for the East India Company.   Sullivan was a colourful character who found himself facing numerous charges of corruption and malpractice during his time with the Company and was eventually dismissed in 1782. Allegations against him included giving his brother-in-law Edward Edwards a job as a labourer at a Company warehouse, manipulating official records to make it appear he had been properly nominated to the post, and using Company money to have improvement works done on his own house.

By 1784 Timothy Sullivan had also died.  In October 1784 Sobieski submitted a plea to the Company for relief, which must have been out of desperation given her husband’s past employment history.  Her memorial was referred for consideration to the Committee of Warehouses, and then in November to a joint meeting of the Committee of Warehouses and Correspondence. Unfortunately we have been unable to trace the decision taken as it was probably recorded in minutes which were destroyed by the India Office in the 1860s.

IOR/E/1/75, ff 257-259 Memorial of Mrs Sobiesky Sullivan

Sobieski Sullivan died in Holborn in December 1825.  Her will, proved in 1826, named her brother Edward Edwards as executor and left all her wealth (sadly valued at less than £20) in trust to her daughter.  She stipulated that her daughter’s husband William Fowler be prevented from ever receiving or benefitting from it.

Sobiesky Hobbs had married William Fowler in 1793 in Spitalfields.  They had one daughter, also called Sobieski, born in Bethnal Green in 1794.  All we have found about William Fowler is that on the couple’s marriage certificate his profession is ‘Gentleman’ and his father is listed as unknown.

Their daughter Sobieski Fowler met Robert Ward sometime prior to 1816 and the couple had six children, five sons and one daughter, Sobieski Elizabeth.   The family lived in Newington where Robert was at various times a butcher, a tea dealer and a tipstaff to judges.

The Wards hadn’t married before they had children.  Their marriage eventually took place on 9 February 1846 in Newington, most likely because Robert Ward was ill as he was buried in Newington on 2 June 1846.  Sobieski Ward died a few years later in 1849.

Sobieski Elizabeth Ward lived with her brother Joseph, taking over the family home of 35 New Street, Newington in the early 1860s before moving to 77 New Street by 1871.  Joseph was a commercial clerk and Sobieski a governess who went on to run her own school.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further Reading:
IOR/E/1/75, ff 257-259 Memorial of Mrs Sobiesky Sullivan, widow of Timothy Sullivan, late principal Keeper of Teas and Drugs, for relief, 13 October 1784.
IOR/B/100 pp. 493,640 Memorial of Mrs S Sullivan in Court of Directors October-November 1784.
[The spelling of the name switches between Sobieski and Sobiesky throughout sources.]

 

The information included in the India Office Family History Search website is taken from a card index which used to be available only at the British Library.  The card index was compiled by members of staff at the India Office Records from the mid-1970s onwards to meet the growing interest in genealogy.  Only a small proportion of the biographical sources available in the India Office Records has been incorporated into the index but it is a very good starting point for researchers and is free to access.

Sepoy of the Bengal Light Infantry from John Williams, An historical account of the rise and progress of the Bengal Native Infantry, from its first formation in 1757, to 1796 (London, 1817) British Library shelfmark T 35392 BL flickr

We have been adding data from the Bengal General Orders (IOR/L/MIL/17) on gallantry awards and pensions for Indian soldiers.  Pensions were granted to invalid soldiers, and the relatives and next of kin of soldiers killed or dying from wounds received in action might be admitted to a family pension.  For example, in 1825 the mother of the late Kamahjut Singh, a Sepoy in the 68th Regiment Native Infantry, was admitted to a pension. The following details are recorded about her:
Claimant: Bheekoo, aged 60 years 0 months.  Claimant's height: 4 feet 11 ¾inches.  Caste: Rajpoot. Claimant's appearance:  Has no particular marks, but very aged in appearance.  Location: Kurkah, Okurru, Behar.  Relationship to the deceased soldier: Mother.  Admitted: 24 Dec, 1825.  Amount of pension: 2 12.  Payable: For life.  Desires to draw pension at Dinapore.  Paid by Pension Paymaster.

We have also recently started adding data taken from newly catalogued papers in the Accountant General records relating to family pension funds for European personnel.  There is an entry from the Madras Military Fund for the splendidly named Gabrielle Antoinette Marie Fidèle Dubois de Moulignon de Chastelles, daughter of Louis Antoine Dubois du Moulignon de Chastelles and Maria Gabrielle Fidèle de Grivel.

One very useful feature of the India Office Family History Search is the opportunity to search by keyword as well as by name.  It is therefore possible to investigate causes of death from diseases such as cholera and from natural disasters such as earthquakes.  Searches on place names can reveal interesting lines of enquiry and links.  A check on Cheltenham shows that the town was very popular for retirement amongst East India Company and India Office overseas officials, especially military officers and their wives.

Entrance of the Parramatta River, New South Wales from George Barrington, The History of New South Wales (London, 1802) British Library shelfmark 9781.c.12. BL flickr

Exploring with the keyword Australia brings back 50 hits for people from a variety of sources including application papers for military and civil posts, pension fund records, memorial inscriptions, registers of baptisms and marriages, and ship journals.  Some examples are:

Convicts Daniel Sutherland and Mary Springate died at Port Jackson in October 1792 having arrived on the ship Royal Admiral.

William Grant Broughton worked in the Accountant General’s Department at East India House 1807-1814 and was subsequently ordained. He became Bishop of Australia in 1836.

Mary Stirling*, whose father James was the Governor of Western Australia, was born at sea on 11 October 1832 and baptised at St Helena nine days later.

Sister Emily Clare of the Australian Army Nursing Service died of pneumonia on 17 October 1918 aged 28 and was buried in Deolali Government Cemetery.

Time to start hunting!

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
India Office Family History Search 

*The name is spelled Sterling in the St Helena baptism register and transcribed as such in the India Office Family History Search.

 

‘Expired ...through eating some unwholesome food’ - this is how the death of Colonel Alexander Bagot, Commandant of the 38th Native Infantry was reported in the British and Indian newspapers following his death on 20 October 1874. The Colonel was on a tiger hunting expedition and had set up camp near Buxar when the accident occurred.  His cook had apparently mistaken taken arsenic used to cure the animal skins instead of baking powder and had included it in the breakfast chapatis.  The Colonel’s death is officially recorded as accidental poisoning.

Obituary of Colonel Alexander Bagot: Homeward Mail from India, China and the East, Monday 9 November 1874 - British Newspaper Archive which can also be accessed via findmypast

Colonel Bagot was known for his love of big game hunting and was considered to be one of the best shots and finest hunters of his day.  He had however previously had some near misses whilst hunting.  The Shrewsbury Chronicle of 17 April 1868 gives an account of one of such accident which occurred while tiger hunting on 28 March:
‘Colonel Alexander Bagot and Lord Downe were hunting a tigress in jungle near Nagode.  Colonel Bagot had been taking aim when the tigress sprang at them knocking them both and a Shikarrie over.  The tigress seized the colonel by the leg below the knee, tearing his trousers with her claws and he received a severe blow to the head from contact with a stone. A Ghurka sepoy with a spare gun, shot the tigress who released the Colonel and was preparing to spring again when she died.  No-one was seriously hurt in the incident’.

Big game hunting wasn’t the only sport Bagot was fond of.  The Weekly Chronicle (London) contains a report of his arrest on 6 June 1848, along with several other military officers, at the Cocoa Tree Club in St James’s, a known gambling house.  The case was dismissed owing to lack of evidence as it could not be proved the officers were at the Club to gamble.

Portrait of Major Alexander Bagot by Camille Silvy, 27 February 1862 © National Portrait Gallery, London
  NPG Ax57008 

Alexander Bagot was born on 10 June 1822, son of Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B. and Lady Mary Charlotte Anne Wellesley, eldest daughter of William, 4th Earl of Mornington.  He was educated at Westminster School and Charterhouse School and entered the East India Company’s service as a Bengal Cadet in 1840.  He was posted to the 15th Bengal Native Infantry on 9 January 1841, rising to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and serving with them until 1865.   His time serving in the 15th Native Infantry was alongside Harry Larkins, who features in another Untold Lives blog post.

In 1850 the Nusseree Rifle Battalion was raised and Bagot was served as its Commandant until May 1861 when it was disbanded.  In June 1865 he was appointed Commandant of the 38th Bengal Native Infantry and remained so until his death in 1874, rising to the rank of Colonel.  He was a member of the Masonic Lodge Himalayan Brotherhood, No. 459.

In 1852 he married Gertrude Letitia Hallifax (1835-1901), daughter of Brigadier-General Robert Dampier Hallifax, and the couple had three sons: Charles Fitzroy Alexander Hallifax (1853-1901), Arthur Henry Louis (1856-1906), and Francis Robert William (1858-1861).

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

The Weekly Chronicle (London) 18 June 1848 and Shrewsbury Chronicle, 17 April 1868 -  British Newspaper Archive which can also be accessed via findmypast.

More on arsenic poisoning - Arsenic, Cyanide and Strychnine - the Golden Age of Victorian Poisoners

 

The 1901 UK census was taken on 1 April for people living at midnight on Sunday 31 March.  The fact that it fell on April Fools' Day did not escape the newspapers who published reminders that there were penalties for people who played tricks.  Any person wilfully giving false information was liable to a fine not exceeding £5.

Evening Post (Dundee) 1 April 1901 British Newspaper Archive 

The government appointed 50,000 enumerators, male and female.  Each received a fee of one guinea, with an extra payment of 3s 6d for every 100 people enumerated above the first 400.  The average responsibility of an enumerator was 300 families or 1500 people.

The enumerators left a schedule at every house or tenement in their district during the week ending 30 March 1901.  They took a note of the name of every person who received a schedule and of all uninhabited buildings.  Householders were assured that ‘strict care will be taken that the returns are not used for the gratification of curiosity’.

Each head of household had to fill in ten columns of information.
(1) The names of all occupants, listed in a set order where applicable – head, wife, children, other relatives, visitors, boarders, servants.
(2) Relationship to the head of household.
(3) Whether married, single or widowed.
(4) Sex.
(5) Age last birthday – inaccuaracies for domestic servants were sometimes caused by their reluctance to admit their real age for fear of dismissal.
(6) Occupation – there were elaborate instructions aimed at securing precise definitions. For example, nurses had to be categorized into hospital, sick, monthly, or domestic.
(7) Employed, employee, or working on own account.
(8) Working at home or not.
(9) Place of birth.
(10) ‘Deaf, dumb, imbecile or feeble-minded, blind or lunatic’.

On 1 April, the enumerators began the long task of collecting all the schedules and giving advice on completion where necessary.  Some reported being sworn at or threatened with violence.  One enumerator in Batley Yorkshire wrote to the local newspaper about the poor district of Daw Green.  He reported his concerns after visiting a dwelling consisting of two rooms, a kitchen with a bedroom above.  There were 14 people living there from two or three families, aged between two months and 40 years.

Poem 'The Census Man' from Evening Post (Dundee) 1 April 1901 British Newspaper Archive 

The enumerators had to copy all the details from the schedules into an enumeration book by 8 April and deliver the schedules to the local registrar.  Between 8 and 22 April the registrar checked the enumerators’ work and passed the books to the superintendent registrar who forwarded them to the Census Office in Miilbank London by 27 April.  There, 200 clerks classified the entries and made preliminary returns after a couple of months before the issue of the final volume of statistics about two years later.

Advert for Heggie the tailor in Evening Post (Dundee) 1 April 1901 British Newspaper Archive 

Dundee tailor Heggie took the opportunity of the census to take out a advert in the local Evening Post.  He advised all men in the town who were wearing the same suit purchased from him around the time of the last census to visit his premises to be measured for a new one: ‘That the wearers of those Garments have got their money’s worth can’t be disputed’.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive e.g. Leominster News and North West Herefordshire & Radnorshire Advertiser 18 January 1901; Oxfordshire Weekly News 27 March 1901; Evening Post (Dundee) 1 April 1901; Batley Reporter and Guardian 4 April 1901. The British Newspaper Archive is also available through findmypast.

 

The National Indian Association was founded in Bristol in 1871 by Mary Carpenter.  Local branches were established in both England and India. Its aims were to extend knowledge of India and its people in England; to co-operate with efforts for advancing education and social reform in India; and to promote friendly relations between English and Indian people. 

The Association published a monthly magazine; organised lectures; made educational grants; encouraged the employment of medical women in India; and gave information and advice to Indians in England.  The Committee of the Association also assisted Indian parents wanting to give their sons ‘the benefit of an English Education’ by offering superintendence of students, with expenses arranged individually for each case.  In all matters, ‘the principle of non-interference in religion is strictly maintained’.

National Indian Association, A handbook of information for Indian students (10th edition: London, 1904)

The Association published A handbook of information for Indian students relating to University and Professional Studies &c in the United Kingdom which ran to several editions.   It provided details of legal study; examinations connected with government service; universities and colleges; medical study; and technical training and manufactures. 

The 10th edition was published in 1904.  It offered general advice to those young men coming to England to study.  By practising ‘great economy’, a student could live in London in £120 to £150 a year.  Living expenses were cheaper in other cities.  Different kinds of accommodation were explained: rented rooms; boarding houses where meals were provided; or living with a family which had the benefit of gaining ‘acquaintance with English life and habits’.

As well as living expenses, the students had to pay educational or professional tuition fees and spend considerable amounts on books.  Candidates for the Indian Civil Service were likely to need £30 or £40 for books.

Indian students were warned that they would not be able to maintain themselves to any degree by teaching languages or other subjects.  After paying for the voyage, they were advised to bring at least another £20 or £30 from India for buying clothing and other essential items on arrival in England.  The Association said that it was inadvisable to buy articles of dress in India for use in England.

It wasn’t thought necessary for students to be met on landing. The shipping agents would look after baggage, and students coming all the way by sea could take a train from the Albert Docks to Fenchurch Street Station and then a cab to their destination.  It was equally easy to arrive at Charing Cross Station from Brindisi.  However it was important to inform a friend in London by letter or telegram of the expected date of arrival.

A resolution of the Government of India was quoted which stated that Indian students travelling to England should apply for a Certificate of Identity signed by the head of school or college, and counter-signed by a District Officer, Commissioner of Police, or Political Officer.  The certificate proved that the holder was a British subject and could be used to obtain a passport for travel to foreign countries.  It also allowed for speedier processing of appeals for assistance from students unable to complete their course ‘owing to embarrassed circumstances’.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
National Indian Association, A handbook of information for Indian students relating to University and Professional Studies &c in the United Kingdom (10th edition: London, 1904) British Library 8366.bb.60.

Papers at the British Library shed light on the belief in witchcraft in 19th-century India.  The India Office Records contain a wealth of correspondence and reports about the processes for discovering witches and the brutal techniques used to determine guilt or innocence.  The proceedings of criminal trials offer a unique insight into attempts by the British administrators to stamp out these practices.

IOR/F/4/830/21967 A Kol Sirdar in Sambalpur murders an entire family because of their alleged witchcraft, Feb 1822-Sep 1823

Commonly, villagers sought advice from a local witch hunter, or Bhopa, who would identify the witch. The favoured punishment was witch swinging. One report offered the following description:
‘Without trial or being heard in defence, the supposed witch is seized, her eyes stuffed with red chillies and bandaged and ropes are tied firmly round her legs and waist.  She is then taken to a tree and swung violently, with her head downwards …till she confesses to a falsehood or dies under the barbarous infliction’.

In 1842, a woman in Palachpoor was murdered in the jungle close to her village by her stepson. When cross examined, he claimed she had been practising witchcraft and had ‘eaten two buffaloes of mine and 10 persons of the village, including my brother’s wife and sister’s daughter’.  The victim’s daughter admitted her mother had been a witch, announcing ‘she used to bite people and they died in consequence’.  It emerged the unfortunate woman had reported her stepson’s involvement in a robbery.  In his fury, he forced her into the jungle and beat her to death.  Despite this knowledge, the witchcraft accusation meant a short prison sentence and hard labour was agreed upon as punishment.

In the village of Chapra in 1849, a woman called Eullal was accused of witchcraft.  It was claimed her eye had fallen upon a villager who contracted an illness and died eleven days later.  A gathering of village officials concluded Eullal was guilty.  Once they had agreed to distribute her possessions and properties amongst themselves, Eullal was seized and charged.   She had chili paste rubbed into her eyes and bandages applied to prevent her evil glare afflicting further victims.  Eullal survived this ordeal and was tied to a tree at 6pm.  By 9pm she was dead.   It was argued a slave killed Eullal under the instruction of the Thakore.  A punishment of 25 Rupees was suggested by the Raja.

IOR/L/PS/6/567, Coll 240 Papers regarding a case of 'witch-swinging' and murder which took place at the village of Rohimala, Udaipur State

In 1868, a Bhopa accused an elderly lady, Kunkoo, of making a soldier’s wife sick.  Villagers seized Kunkoo, forced her hands into boiling oil and swung her for days.  The soldier’s wife died and the old lady was released, only to be murdered shortly afterwards.  During questioning the soldier denied killing Kunkoo, exclaiming ‘Nugga told me that she had eaten his uncle and his mother and a cow, so he killed her’.

These and other cases were reported by British authorities.  Captain John Brooke wrote in 1856: ‘I would remark that there is little hope of the custom ceasing till it becomes dangerous to follow the profession of Bhopa’.  The reports indicate the government was keen to stamp out the practice, but were wary of interfering with indigenous beliefs and traditions.  Local leaders admitted that in some areas 40-50 women a year could be punished as witches. The response was to target Bhopas.  By convicting ‘professed sorcerers’ and fining community leaders, the authorities hoped to quell the torture and murders.

Craig Campbell
Curatorial Support Officer, India Office Records

Further reading:
IOR/L/PS/6/567, Coll 240 Papers regarding a case of 'witch-swinging' and murder which took place at the village of Rohimala, in Panurwa District, Udaipur State, on or about 9 August 1868
IOR/R/2/700/39 File Q/6 6 Witch craft cases from 1850
IOR/F/4/2016/90185 Mahee Caunta [Mahi Kantha]: Political Agent's Court of Criminal Justice, case No 1 of 1842, trial of Narajee Ruggajee charged with putting his stepmother to death on account of her being accused of witchcraft, Sep 1841-Jun 1843
IOR/F/4/830/21967 A Kol Sirdar in Sambalpur murders an entire family because of their alleged witchcraft, Feb 1822-Sep 1823