Untold lives blog

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.

A recent donation to India Office Private Papers is a letter sent in 1796 from Joseph Fowke to his friend Sir Robert Chambers, Chief Justice of Calcutta.  Joseph Fowke was born in Madras in 1716, the son of an East India Company civil servant.  He too served the Company in Madras before becoming a free merchant in India, dealing in diamonds.  Fowke had three sons and three daughters by his two wives, and one illegitimate daughter.  He left India for the last time in 1788, returning to England on board the Princess Royal.

Calcutta Gazette 26 July 1787 British Newspaper Archive

In July 1796 Joseph Fowke believed he was about to die. He wrote to Sir Robert to say farewell.

Joseph Fowke to Sir Robert Chambers, Chief Justice of Calcutta, 8 July 1796 Mss Eur F779

This is the text of his letter -

'Dear Sir Robert
In running over the List of all my old friends and acquaintance I find you among the number I have to take leave off. I send you these my last good wishes for your health and prosperity, and that you may speedily join all your amiable family here and unite them in a firm band to be a mutual happiness to each other to the end of their lives. Having not the smallest hope of my recovery It is a comfort to me to reflect that I have not a single soul of my family left in India, and I heartily wish that none of them may ever find their way thither again. I know of nothing gained by these emigrations, but corrupt morals, a numerous black offspring to discolour our home breed, and Wealth which procures nothing here but splendid insignificancy.
I am faint and can say no more, and so once again Farewell
I am
Dear Sir Robert
Your old friend
Joseph Fowke
8 July 1796'

Joseph Fowke did not die until 16 May 1800.  The effects at his house in New King Street, Bath, were auctioned in July of that year.  His will bequeathed the whole of his estate to Mary Mortimer, daughter of Hans Winthrop Mortimer of Tottenham Court Road, London.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 24 July 1800 British Newspaper Archive

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
There are many documents for Joseph Fowke and Sir Robert Chambers and their families in India Office Records and Private Papers – search The National Archives Discovery catalogue. 
Articles by T H Bowyer on Joseph Fowke (1716-1800) and Sir Robert Chambers (1737-1803) in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Will of Joseph Fowke  proved 9 August 1800 - The National Archives PROB 11/1346/104.

In February 1861, the India Office received a communication from the Foreign Office forwarding a letter from G M Dallas of the Legation of the United States, dated London 6 February 1861.  Mr Dallas stated that the President of the United States had awarded a silver medal to Captain John L Gillet, a Custom’s Officer at Bombay, for the special efforts he had made in assisting the distressed crew of the American ship Squantum, which had been wrecked off the coast of Bombay in June 1860.

'Wreck of the Peacock' from Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition ... 1838-1842 (1844) British Library shelfmark 10001.d volume 4 BL Images Online

Launched in December 1849, the Squantum was an American cargo ship owned by Messrs Thomas B Wales & Co of Boston.  Commanded by Captain Miller, she left Boston on 18 February 1860 on a routine voyage to Bombay carrying 925 tons of ice and 50 tons of general cargo.  The journey went smoothly until 14 June when she experienced difficult sailing conditions with high seas and cloudy squalls.  Shortly after 9pm near the coast of Allybaugh, she struck in 5 fathoms of water, and with heavy seas pouring over her decks, she parted with her port anchor and was swept ashore onto a sandy point.  Her masts were cut away, and with the sea making complete breeches over her, the captain, his family and the crew sheltered in the top-gallant forecastle for safety.

In the morning, an attempt was made by the mate and two crewmen to launch the lifeboat, but it was immediately struck by a heavy sea, splitting the bow open and rolling it over.  Light rafts were then constructed from spars but none of the crew were prepared to try them after seeing what had happened to the lifeboat.  The captain then knocked a panel out of a door which was lying on the deck, and asked his young son to have a go, to which he cheerfully and bravely said yes.  Being a good swimmer and bound to the panel with rope, he was able to reach the shore, although not without some terrifying moments.  Inspired by this heroic action, the rest of the crew consented to try the rafts, and in groups of two and three they eventually reached the shore.  After the last crewman had gone, Captain Miller tied his wife to a plank, and they pushed off the ship.  The turbulent sea rolled them over repeatedly, but they were able to keep their heads above water, and reached the shore safely .

Tragically, the cook got caught up in the ship’s rigging and, becoming exhausted, drowned.  It was also later discovered that the carpenter and another member of the crew were missing, having perished in the attempt to reach shore.  The crew were taken to Bombay, and housed in the Sailors' Home until arrangements were made for them to return home to America.  Only three of the crew required hospital treatment, and Mrs Miller suffered with exhaustion and dysentery.  Captain Miller praised his crew for obedience to orders in pumping the vessel and undertaking other necessary measures to keep her afloat after she was first struck.  But for their efforts, a tragic event could have been much worse.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Award of a silver medal to Captain John L Gillet, Custom’s Officer at Bombay, for aiding the distressed crew and passengers of the American ship Squantum of Boston, Feb 1861, reference IOR/L/PJ/2/157 File 22/1.
British Newspaper Archive:
• Glasgow Herald, Monday 23 July 1860.
• Bombay Gazette, Friday 28 December 1860.

Amongst the Legal Adviser's Records in the India Office Records is an intriguing case which details the origin of a lease granted in 1852 for the village of Ghuthiwari.  The village was near Barwadih, Jharkhand, and it was given to Sri Raghavendra Guru in exchange for a daily service of reciting one chapter of the ‘Srimadbhagwat’ before the god Shaligram, one of the Hindu God Vishnu’s forms believed to manifest in fossilized stones.  The ‘Srimadbhagwat’, more commonly known as ‘Bhagavata Purana’, is one of the most Sacred Hindu texts.  The terms of this agreement were detailed in a ‘sanad’ (certificate) confirming the above terms which also stated that the lease could be passed down to the heirs of Sri Raghavendra Guru.

Shaligram - Fossilized stone or ammonite collected from the riverbed or banks of the Kali Gandaki, a tributary of the Gandaki River. Image from  Wikimedia Commons.

Case No.6 Kumar Kamakhya Narain Singh, (Appellant) Vs. Abhiman Singh; Jago Singh and others (Respondents) was heard by the Privy Council in 1931.  The Respondents were the heirs of Sri Raghavendra Guru.  Records of proceedings dated 1927 from the court in Hazaribagh detail the arguments presented by the appellant and respondents, as well as testimony given by three witnesses who lived in the nearby surrounding area.  They gave evidence that the daily recital ceased in 1920.  Key testimony and evidence for the case included written documents dated 1909 confirming the initial verbal agreement and a 1859 document amending the agreement to include an annual rent payment in addition to restating the condition of daily recital of the ‘Bhagwat before the God Saligram’.

A page of a Bhagavata Purana illustrated manuscript in Devanagari, supposedly prepared for Maharaja Pratap Simha of Jaipur (1779-1803). Image from Wikimedia Commons. 

The judge ruled in favour of the original landowner, highlighting the key fact that according to several key witnesses the daily recital of a chapter from the ‘Srimadbhagwat’ was no longer taking place and that a shrine to ‘Saligram’ was not present in the defendant’s house.  The case was appealed to the Privy Council which was the highest court of appeals for British occupied overseas territories.  The Privy Council considered the case concluding that ‘the performance of the said service was a condition of the grant, and that inasmuch as the said service was discontinued in May 1919, the plaintiff became entitled upon such discontinuance to obtain possession of the said village’, ultimately ruling in favour of the appellant.

Case documents in IOR/L/L/8/893.

Court documents also include a survey conducted in 1912 offering details about village life and the type of produce that was cultivated.  It lists the castes of the 20 inhabitants, the presence of several wells, fisheries, the growing of sugar cane and lac resin.

Approximate location of Ghuthiwari village from Wikimedia Commons.

Nathan Silver
Cataloguer, Modern Archives and Manuscripts

Further reading:
IOR/L/L/8/893 - P.C. No. 2 of 1933 between Kumar Kamakhya Narain Singh, minor, through the Courts of Wards (Appellant) Vs. Abhiman Singh; Jago Singh and others (Respondents) regarding a land dispute.
IOL.1947.b.68 - Account of a legal dispute between the Maharaja of Bikaner and Raja Jeoraj Singh of Reri, concerning an exchange of villages
Verma, Gaurishanker G. 1922-1923.

Walter Key Haslewood was born on 19 November 1816 in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, the son of Reverend John Daniel Haselwood and Hannah his wife.  He was nominated to the East India Company for a Bengal Infantry cadetship in 1835 by Richard Jenkins at the recommendation of his father.

His first application for the 1835/6 season has an annotation in red ink that Haslewood had forfeited his appointment as he had not proceeded to India in line with a Standing Order of the Court dated 21 May 1828.  This order stipulated that cadets had to apply for embarkation orders within three months of being passed and sworn. However a second application submitted later in the same season was accepted and he was entered as a cadet for the Bengal Infantry.

In June 1836, prior to his departure for India as an ensign, he was presented as to King William IV by Lord Duncannon at the King’s Levée, the event being reported in the newspapers of the time.

Walter Haslewood arrived in Fort William on 7 December 1836.  Within a few weeks he had been appointed for duty with the 73rd Native Infantry before being transferred to the Left Wing of the 1st European Regiment of Fusiliers on 27 February 1837 and promoted to Lieutenant on 10 August 1838.

Bengal Army Service Record to 1841 for Walter Key Haslewood - British Library IOR/L/MIL/10/31, p.31

In 1839 the 1st European Regiment were involved in the capture of the fortress at Ghuznee.  Haslewood was severely wounded on 23 July 1839 by sabre cuts received from the enemy during the capture but recovered from his injuries sufficiently to continue serving in the Bengal Army.  He was described by his superiors as ‘an intelligent young officer’ and on 10 January 1840 was appointed Aide de Camp to the Governor-General Lord Auckland.  In February 1840 he was granted a Wound Pension, as his injuries were considered equivalent to the loss of a limb.

Announcement of the marriage of Walter Key Haslewood to Georgina Brice Ruggles-Brice, Bell's New Weekly Messenger 5 February 1843

On 13 January 1841 Haslewood applied for furlough to Europe, and whilst in England he was married on 31 January 1843 at Finchingfield, Essex, to Georgina Brise Ruggles-Brise, daughter of John Ruggles-Brice Esq. of Spain’s Hall in Essex.

Captain Walter Key Haslewood sailed once more for Europe on 6 February 1853 on medical furlough on board the Prince of Wales.  He may however have had more reasons than just the recovery of his health which prompted the return to England.

Notice of court proceedings for insolvent debtors, case of Walter Key Haslewood – Morning Herald 15 November 1853

On 17 September 1853 Haslewood was imprisoned in the Queen’s Prison as an insolvent debtor.  His case was heard before the Court on 14 November 1853 and he was discharged as a debtor the following day.  The report on his insolvency notes that his creditors had made inquiries as to whether the property left to his wife by her late father could be used to pay his debts, but the Court discounted this, along with an application for part of his pay as a Captain in the Bengal Invalid Establishment.

Haslewood continued to serve in the Invalid Establishment, rising to the rank of Major, until his death at Chandernagore on 29 August 1870.  Georgina returned to her family home of Spain’s Hall, where she died on 21 May 1880.

The Ruggles-Brice family had owned Spain’s Hall since Samuel Ruggles purchased it on 5 December 1760.  The estate remains in the family’s ownership to this day, although the manor house was sold in 2022 to the chef Jamie Oliver.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further Reading:
IOR/E/4/768, p.683 – request for wound pension by Walter Key Haslewood, 21 December 1841
IOR/L/MIL/9/183 ff.191-194 Cadet Papers of Walter Key Haslewood 1835 season (1)
IOR/B/181 Court 21 May 1828 – Standing Order concerning cadets’ embarkation
IOR/L/MIL/9/184 ff.495-498 Cadet Papers of Walter Key Haslewood 1835 season (2)
IOR/L/MIL/10/31/31 Bengal Service Army List, Walter Key Haslewood
British Newspaper Archive e.g.
South Eastern Gazette 21 June 1836, page 4 – announcement of Walter Key Haslewood’s presentation to the King
Bell’s New Weekly Messenger 5 February 1843, page 7 – announcement of the marriage of Walter Key Haslewood & Georgina Brice Ruggles-Brice
Morning Herald (London) 15 November 1853, page 6 – Court proceedings for Walter Key Haslewood, insolvent debtor

Whilst working through some Lord Clive Fund Pension records, the application for a pension from Mrs Maria Johnston, widow of Captain Leathes Johnston, caught my eye because the wording of her husband’s rank and title were not written in the usual manner.

The records of the Committee for the Management and Application of the Military (Lord Clive) Fund discuss the application of Mrs Maria Johnston and describe her as the ‘Widow of Mr Leathes Johnston, who died a Captain the Company’s Service at Bombay’.

Record of the admission of Mrs Maria Johnston to a pension from the Lord Clive Fund, 11 August 1773 - IOR/L/AG/23/2/3, p.68 

The wording for Leathes Johnston suggested he had not been in the Company’s employ for very long, so I decided to see what had brought him to Bombay at that time.

Leathes Johnston was born in County Antrim in about 1727 and was the only son of William Johnston and Jane Leathes.  Jane was the daughter of John Mussenden and his wife Jane, née Leathes, but following the death of her maternal uncle William Leathes, the family name was changed from Mussenden to Leathes to maintain the family title and inheritance.

Together with his cousin John, Leathes Johnston was educated at the Royal School in Armagh before going to live with his uncle Carteret Leathes, MP for Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.  Carteret secured commissions in the Army for his nephews and Leathes was appointed a Lieutenant in the 14th Regiment of Foot on 31 October 1751.  In April 1755 the Admiralty decided that 50 new companies of marines needed to be raised, and appointed Leathes as one of the new Captains in command of them.  The 50 companies were divided into 3 divisions, and Leathes was assigned to the division based at Chatham in Kent.

Appointment of Leathes Johnston as Captain to a Company of Marines  -  The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle, Volume 25, April 1755

Alongside his army commission, Leathes also served as a Gentleman Usher Quarterly Waiter to King George II, being appointed on 21 November 1753.

According to the memoirs of his nephew John Johnston ‘Leathes married Mary, the daughter of the late Sir Benjamin Bloomfield’ and the couple had at least six children before Mary died in around 1768/9.

In early 1770 Leathes Johnston applied to the East India Company for a position as a Captain in their Army.  On 28 March 1770 his appointment as a Captain was announced by the Court of Directors, and on 30 March 1770 he was sworn in as a Captain of Infantry for Bombay.

Appointment of Leathes Johnston as Captain in the Bombay Army by the East India Company Court of Directors 28 March 1770 - IOR/B/85 p.494

Prior to departing for Bombay, Leathes was married for a second time on 10 May 1770 to Miss Maria Branch at St Martin in the Fields, London.

It seems that Leathes departed for Bombay without his wife, as on 5 September 1770 Maria petitioned the Company to be permitted to travel to Bombay and join her husband, which was granted (although the Company mistakenly records her name as Mrs Ann Johnston).  The couple had a son Thomas who was baptised in Darenth, Kent, in October 1770, and the birth of Leathes’ youngest son may well have been the reason Maria could not travel to Bombay with her husband and had to delay her journey until later in 1770.

Leathes Johnston died in Bombay on 20 May 1771 where as well as serving as a Captain of Infantry he was also Town Major.

His widow Maria, on returning to England in 1773, applied to the East India Company’s Lord Clive Fund for pension which she received until Christmas 1783.

Leathes’ eldest son William followed him into the King’s Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and serving in the West Indies; his youngest son Thomas became a priest and was Rector of Broughton in Huntingdonshire.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further Reading:
IOR/B/85, 28 & 30 Mar 1770 – East India Company Court Minutes: Appointment of Leathes Johnston as a Captain in the East India Company’s Service.
IOR/B/86, 5 Sep 1770 – East India Company Court Minutes: application of Mrs Maria Johnston to travel to Bombay to be with her husband.
IOR/L/AG/23/2/3, p.68 – Records of the Committee for the Management and Application of the Military (Lord Clive) Fund: admission of Mrs Maria Johnston to a pension on the Lord Clive Fund, 11 Aug 1773.
250.e.1-26 The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle, Volume 25, April 1755
L.R.252.b.10. The history and antiquities of the County of Suffolk, Volume 2, Alfred Ingo Suckling, London: 1846-8
Historical Collections. Collections and Researches: Vol. XXXII, 1876, via Google Books 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

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

In a previous blog, I described how a volume of 17th century Surat records belonging to the Government of Bombay travelled backwards and forwards between India and London and was subsequently lost at sea in the wreck of the SS Oceana.

Just weeks later, on 15 April 1912, RMS Titanic famously sank in the waters of the North Atlantic, with the loss of over 1500 lives.  Many notable books, paintings and artefacts were on board (including the ‘Titanic Omar’.  But so too were fourteen Sanskrit manuscripts belonging to the Governmental Library, Deccan College Poona (Pune).  These were on loan from the Government of Bombay and were en-route from the India Office in London to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  They had been borrowed by Franklin Edgerton, a budding Sanskrit scholar working under Professor Maurice Bloomfield.

In May 1911, Edgerton wrote to the India Office Library in London requesting assistance in locating and examining all copies of the Vikramacaritra, including those in India, for a critical study of the work.  The Library was a hub for the loan of manuscript materials, particularly those in Persian, Arabic, and South Asian languages.  It facilitated and arranged access to manuscripts in its own collections, to the Government of India’s collections, and to collections in European institutions, with the recipients being a wide range of academics and interested persons worldwide.

Letter forwarding manuscripts from Bombay to London February 1912 IOR/L/R/9/9

List of Sanskrit manuscripts to be loaned with values February 1912 IOR/L/R/9/9

The fourteen Sanskrit manuscripts were formally requested from Bombay and were despatched to the India Office Library in London to administer the loan, arriving in March 1912.  As was usual practice, Edgerton paid a bond for the ‘value’ of the manuscripts, said to be Rs 303.  The Library Committee proposed that Edgerton should only have three manuscripts in his possession at any one time, and the manuscripts were only to be loaned until 31 December 1912.  Unfortunately, that did not mean staggering their despatch.  They were parcelled up and sent via the forwarding agents Carter, Paterson & Co on 1 April, and placed aboard Titanic.

Letter informing the India Office of the loss of manuscripts on the Titanic April 1912 IOR/L/R/9/9

The India Office was informed of the loss on 17 April.  The Librarian Frederick William Thomas was phlegmatic in telling the Library Committee: ‘The loss is regrettable, but it cannot be said that the Mss were exposed to any greater risk when despatched to America than when en-route from Bombay.  The work contained in the 14 manuscripts was by no means a rare one, & it has been edited in print’.  The India Office had insured the parcel and received £20 in compensation, which was passed to the Government of Bombay.

Librarian FW Thomas's report of the loss to the Library Committee May 1912 IOR/L/R/9/9

Franklin Edgerton went on to borrow more manuscripts and finally published his two volume work Vikrama's Adventures; or, the Thirty-two Tales of the Throne (Cambridge Mass; 1926).  In the preface to the first volume he acknowledged both the assistance of the India Office Library, Librarian FW Thomas, and the loss of the Sanskrit manuscripts: ‘This terrible disaster deprived me of materials which would unquestionably have proved a great enrichment of the sources at my disposal for the edition; yet I cannot but recognise that my personal loss is small in comparison with the permanent loss of this large collection of manuscripts...’.

Lesley Shapland
Archivist & Provenance Researcher
India Office Records

Further reading:
Papers regarding loans to Dr Edgerton, including details of the loss of Sanskrit manuscripts on the Titanic can be found in IOR/L/R/9/9, L135/13: Library Committee Papers, 1913.