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"No one could have invented John Beames, whose vibrant and original memoirs were discovered by chance in an attic almost a century after they were penned." He arrived in India in 1858, and worked there as a civil servant for the next forty-five years, defending powerless peasants against rapacious planters, improvising fifteen-gun salutes for visiting dignitaries and presiding over the blissful coast of Orissa. His acquaintances spanned from lofty Rajas to dissolute Englishmen.
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| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Max Greenland
reviewed Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian on October 04, 2019 Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian
The frontispiece is a portrait of the author in dinner jacket and bow tie with a top hat resting on the table beside him.
The author tells us of his English heritage, knowing several generations of family history and locations prior to a grandfather coming to the New Forest. His father was a curate and he describes his schooldays and so on, Greek and Latin featuring heavily. He tried for Oxford but just missed on a place and was then offered a scholarship from the East India Company to study ahead of joining the Company. This was in 1856 and the entrance exam consisted of "The Antigone of Sophocles, Horace's Epistles, the Gospel of St Luke in Greek, Paley's Evidence, a paper of easy Mathematics (Euclid and Algebra) and another equally easy on History." In 1858, his brother having died of rheumatic fever in Port Royal, Jamaica, the author left for India via P&O steamer.
Calcutta, Panjab-Gujrat, Marriage, Shahadabad, Purnea, Balasore and Cuttack, finishing in Chittagong, are the next sections of the book. We learn about pay, profits from an estate, indigo farming, being a Judge, fighting a famine with "many thousands of starving people were daily fed at relief centres," the local customs including one group the Mughs who refused to plough as "it was a well known fact that if they took to ploughing their race would die out. Their women were particularly vehement on this point, even more so than the men." The whole is a fascinating record of life and times. I found it very easy to read.
There's a map on P37 and index P308 - 312. I read this book from the RDS Library.
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Add Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian, No one could have invented John Beames, whose vibrant and original memoirs were discovered by chance in an attic almost a century after they were penned. He arrived in India in 1858, and worked there as a civil servant for the next forty-five years, def, Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian, No one could have invented John Beames, whose vibrant and original memoirs were discovered by chance in an attic almost a century after they were penned. He arrived in India in 1858, and worked there as a civil servant for the next forty-five years, def, Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian to your collection on WonderClub |