Colonial India & The North-West Frontier (1 Viewer)

[PolarBear]

2. Arrival

Bombay New Arrivals
On the Balcony Watson’s Hotel
Our Baggage Cart

 

[PolarBear]

3. Alligator

On the Ganges: Alligator

 

[PolarBear]

4. Camping

These two subalterns [junior officers] discussing their lunch in the Sind Valley [an alpine-like valley near Kashmir] find it somewhat pleasanter than C...

This is an example of one of the mountain retreats that the Brits sought out when it got too hot in the Indian cities.
Simla was another.

 

[PolarBear]

5. Club

Outside the club Lucknow
The Colonel on his way to tennis

 

[PolarBear]

7. Families

A Morning Toilet, Native Infantry lines, Lucknow
Matrimonial Bliss, Bengal

 

[PolarBear]

8. Hunting

I. After crawling in this fashion for over half an hour, Jones gets a good chance and fires.

II. He proceeds to search for the dead buck, when a native informs him that the bullet has just slain his grandmother !!

III. After a lengthy palaver, Jones agrees to console the afflicted relatives with the sum of two hundred rupees and decides to give up black buck [antelope native to India] shooting.

IV. Not withstanding a gentle hint sent, that he should shoot there again, as old women were ‘plenty’ and rupees scarce.

 

[PolarBear]

9. Porters

Pvt. Daly of the ‘Buffs’ [Royal East Kent Regt.] who is pestered by these men tries a new remedy

…with immense success

 

[PolarBear]

10. Sketches 2

Native Soldier in ‘mufti’ * winter time

• Civilian dress. From an Arabic word. Used by the British Army since 1816. Thought to derive from the Eastern style dressing gowns and tasseled caps worn by off-duty officers in the early 19th C. The attire of dressing-gown, smoking cap and slippers were like the Oriental dress of a Mufti—an Islamic scholar/philosopher.

A sketch of a village railway station Bengal
Road near Malabar Hill, Bombay

Image of a Mufti referred to in Illus. 10

 

[PolarBear]

11. Sketches 2

Some of the pleasures of railway traveling
Railway Guard
Kite flying, the broken string

 

[panda1gen]

Randy

I have been a little pre-occupied lately so haven't really been on the forum. This is fantastic, thanks for taking the trouble to post. Best wishes.

 

[PolarBear]

12. Sketches 3

Bhistie (water carrier)
Bengal coolie (manual laborer) girl
Indian “Ekker”

 

[PolarBear]

13. Sketches 4

A local crossing Bengal
The morning shave*

*Indian barbers often came to the customer’s house. Here he is shaving a British officer

Postcard of a British gentleman being shaved as in Illus. 13

 

[PolarBear]

14. Soldiers

Bengal donkeys
Native Infantry VII Bengal*

* 7th Bengal fought alongside the British in the 2nd Afghan War (1878-80)

 

[PolarBear]

15. Street Scene

A street scene central India

 

[PolarBear]

16. Trick

I.This is the Major’s chowkidar [night watchman] who howls appallingly all night

II. That the two unfortunates in the next bungalow [Anglo-Indian residence] can get no sleep. They plot his downfall.

III. And having crept upon him unawares, from behind the Major’s cactus fence

IV. They fell upon him with the result that there is no more…

An Indian Chowkidar or wartchman as referred to in Illus. 16

 

[PolarBear]

17. Waking

I. Jones at peace with the world

II. And the punkah wallah* hard at work.

*An Indian employed to work a fan by a string attached to the toe or thumb

III. Punkah wallah at peace with all the world

IV. And the mosquitoes hard at work

V. The Avenger

VI. The Avengee

A "comic" postcard making fun of the stereotypical punkah wallah (referred to in Illus. 17) who has fallen asleep during his duty.

 

[PolarBear]

18. Women

I. This is the Indian woman as Brown (who had read Lalla Rookh*) expected to find her.

*Lalla Roohk: an 1817 poem by the English writer Thomas Moore (1779-1752). An Eastern romance like the Arabian Nights about the daughter of a Mughal Emperor. This poem popular not only in Britain but also in the United States created an exotic stereotype of women in the Middle East and South Asia in the minds of Western readers. An example of what has been called Orientalism.

II. Here she is as he found her on landing at the Apollo Bunder [pier]. Bombay.
A coolie… and ……

An 1880 edition of Lalla Roohk

An Oriental-style binding to enhance the fantasy and exoticism of the book's subject

A 19th C "portrait" of Lallah Rookh by Swiss artist Carl Gutherz

This was the type of image the Englishman had in mind about the Indian woman as referred to in Lloyd's illustration 18.

 

[PolarBear]

6. Tennis

Lawn Tennis
Bhisties (water carriers like Gunga Din) street watering

 

[PolarBear]

Randy

I have been a little pre-occupied lately so haven't really been on the forum. This is fantastic, thanks for taking the trouble to post. Best wishes.

Thanks Kevin

I am learning a lot in the process and hope this will provide some background for all those collecting soldiers in this area.

Randy

 

[glossman]

I am starting a new thread for images of India and the North-West Frontier during the heyday of the British Empire.

"The Prince of Wales Tiger-shooting with Sir Jung Bahadoor: the Critical Moment," from the Illustrated London News, 1876 (with later hand coloring)

Hello Randy,

This is an excellent thread that you have started.

Here is a link to an archived article in the NY Times:

"Tiger Hunting in India" (4th July 1897)

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E0CE4D81638E733A25757C0A9619C94669ED7CF

Best, Raymond.