INDIA DURING THE RAJ: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS

Diaries and Related Records Held at the British Library, London

Part 1: Diaries and Related Records Describing Life in India, c.1750-1842

Part 2: Diaries and Related Records Describing Life in India, 1819-1859

Contents of Reels - Part 1

REEL 1

Biographical notes on authors

Ms Eur D.5 1712-1713

Isack Pyke, Captain of East Indiaman, The Stringer.
Description of Bombay and the Cape of Good Hope, with a log of the homeward journey

Ms Eur D.929 1748

Unknown French Military Officer
Siege and relief of Pondicherry

Ms Eur F.128/81 1756-1757

Brig-Gen John Carnac (1716- 1800)
British Army 1739-1757, Madras Army 1758-1779
Expedition to Bengal under Clive

Ms Eur E.1 1758-1759

Sir John Call, 1st Bart, (1732- 1801) Chief Engineer to the East India Company, 1751-1770
Siege of Fort St George by the French

Ms Eur F.110 1762

John Pybus, East India Company Servant, Madras, 1742-1768
Journey on mission to the King of Kandy

Ms Eur F.128/140 1767

Capt George Kinloch (d 1768)
Expedition to Nepal

REEL 2

Ms Eur E.379/1-3 1769-1772

George Paterson (1734-1817) Secretary to the British Government mission to the Nawab of the Carnatic.
Also Admiral Sir Robert Harland (1715-1784) second envoy, 1771-1774
Voyage and travel in Southern India; business of mission; Madras politics; activities of the Nawab

REEL 3

Ms Eur E.379/4-6 1772-1773

George Paterson (1734-1817) Secretary to the British Government mission to the Nawab of the Carnatic.
Also Admiral Sir Robert Harland (1715-1784) second envoy, 1771-1774
Voyage and travel in Southern India; business of mission; Madras politics; activities of the Nawab

REEL 4

Ms Eur E.379/7-9 1773-1775

George Paterson (1734- 1817) Secretary to the British Government mission to the Nawab of the Carnatic.
Also Admiral Sir Robert Harland (1715-1784) second envoy, 1771-1774
Voyage and travel in Southern India; business of mission; Madras politics; activities of the Nawab

REEL 5

Ms Eur E.149 1775-1776

Capt (later Lt Col) Allen Macpherson (1740-1816) Bengal Army, 1764-1791
Persian interpreter on a mission to the Marathas
Business of the mission

Ms Eur E.23 1777-1780

Sir Philip Francis (1740- 1818), member of the Governor-General’s Council, 1774-1780
Business of Council: Calcutta society and politics

REEL 6

Ms Eur D.1146/6 1780-1781

Anon
Campaign in the Carnatic

Ms Eur B.392 1780-1784

Col Cromwell Massey (1742- 1845), Madras Army
Captivity in Seringapatam as prisoner of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan

Ms Eur A.94 1781-1784

Lt Richard Runwa Bowyer, Royal Navy
Captivity in southern India by the French and Haidar Ali of Mysore

REEL 7

Ms Eur C.156 A-C 1781-1783

Unknown British military officer, possibly Capt (later Major Sir) John Kennaway (1758-1836) 1st Bart, Bengal Army. Service in the Second Mysore War

Ms Eur A.172 1784

Frances, Lady Chambers (1758-1839), wife of Sir Robert Chambers (1737- 1833), Chief Justice of Bengal
1789-1799
Brief details on social life in Calcutta

Ms Eur B.13 1785

Capt (later Lt General) Charles Reynolds (d1819), surveyor
Journey from Surat to Agra and Delhi

Ms Eur F.127/94 1787-1789

Sophia Elizabeth Prosser (d 1835), wife of Richard Plowden, Bengal Civil Service
Life in Calcutta; trip up the Ganges

REEL 8

Ms Eur B.102a 1790, 1795

Unknown British military officer Probably Capt (later Sir) Alexander Allan, Bart (d1820), Madras Army , 1780-1804
Service in the Third Mysore War and tour through the Northern Circars, 1795

Ms Eur F.76 1790-1791

Unknown British military officer, possibly Major (later Lt General) Alexander Dirom (d 1830), British Army, 1779
Service in the third Mysore War

Ms Eur C.12 1795

Francis Buchanan or Buchanan-Hamilton (1762- 1829), Bengal Medical Service, 1794-1816
Observations during travels through Burma on mission to Ava

REEL 9

Ms Eur B.161 1797-1798

John Ryley, Bengal Civil Service, 1791-1820
Personal life in Bengal

Ms Eur A.103 1798-1802

Capt John Budgen, British Army
Travels in India as ADC to Sir David Baird and return through Italy

REEL 10

Ms Eur D.434-39 1801-1806,

Lt-Colonel John Pester 1812-1823 (1778-1850), Bengal Army, 1800-1826
Military campaigns, voyages and marches

REEL 11

Ms Eur C.626 1803-1809

Capt Henry Anderson (1779-1810), Bengal Army, 1799-1810
Description of campaigns including Monson’s retreat during the Maratha War 1803-1805, a march from Muttrah and Bundelkhand and a campaign in the Doab Sept-Oct 1807

Ms Eur D. 637 1809-1810

Lt James Macmurdo (1785-1820), Bombay Army, 1801-1820
Journey through Gujarat

Ms Eur C.166 1813

George Morris, British Army veterinary surgeon
Light Dragoons Voyage to India

REEL 12

Ms Eur A.196 1813-1816

Robert Allan, Officer on HMS Salsette
Convoy and patrol duties to India and in the Indian Ocean

Ms Eur B.7 1816-1821

Ensign John Macleod, Bombay engineers
Survey of passes of Western and Northern Ghats during Pindari incursion
Marches across India in the First Burmese War

REEL 13

Ms Eur C.418 c1818

Unknown British military officer
Probably relating to operations during the Maratha War

Ms Eur C.537 1818-1820

Mrs M E Doherty
Journal of the voyage to India with her husband Major Joseph Doherty (d1820), British Army 1803- 1820 and the 13th Light Dragoons on board the Windsor; life in Bangalore; REEL 13 cont and the death of her husband the journey home as far as the Cape of Good Hope

Ms Eur B.293 1818-1819

Unknown British military officer
Examination of military fortifications in territory annexed to Bombay

Ms Eur E.271 1821

Unknown traveller
Voyage up the Ganges to Patna

Ms Eur A.189 1821-1833

Lt (later Lt Colonel) Henry Rutherfurd (1802-1874), Bengal Artillery, 1819-1846
Marches across India in the First Burmese War

REEL 14

Ms Eur A.210 1821-1841

William Parry Okeden (1800-1868), Bengal Civil Service, 1818-1844
Diary comprising a journey from Calcutta to Agra, 1821 and a record of his hunting activities, 1823-1841

Ms Eur A.185 1822-1826

Azubah Clark (d 1826)
Printed extracts. Voyage to India; life in Bengal; religious feelings

REEL 15

Ms Eur D.888/1 1822-1828

Lucretia (d 1828), wife of Sir Edward West (1782-1828), Chief Justice of Bombay, 1823-1828
Voyages to India; husband’s work; family and social life

Ms Eur A.9 1825

Lt (later Col) William Anderson, (1804-1869), Bengal Artillery, 1819-1855
Siege of Bharatpur

Ms Eur D.786/1 1827-1828

Edward Ward Walter Raleigh (1802-1865), Bengal Medical Service, 1826-1846
Description of journey up country as assistant-surgeon to Lord Amherst the Governor-General

REEL 16

Ms Eur B.365/1-10 1827, 1837

Hawkins Francis James (1806-1860), Bengal Civil Service, 1827-1855 and his brother Henry James (1817-1866), Bengal Army, 1835-1866
Voyage to India; journey up the Ganges and diary letters

REEL 17

Ms Eur E.163-64 1828-1841

Charles Masson (1800-1853), traveller Travels in Northern India, Afghanistan and Persia
Note E.163 can be found on Reel 1 of Part 2

REEL 18

Ms Eur E.165 1828-1841

Charles Masson (1800-1853), traveller
Travels in Northern India, Afghanistan and Persia

Ms Eur B.208 1829-1831

Capt Christopher D’Oyley Aplin (1787-1833), Bengal Army, 1805-1833
Daily life and social activities with the regiment at Cawnpore

Ms Eur C.366/1-3 1829-1830

William Stephens Dicken 1857-1858 (1804-1861), Bengal Medical Service, 1829-1861
Voyage to India; life in Oudh; Lucknow in the Sepoy Rebellion

REEL 19

Ms Eur C.29 1830

Lt (later Capt) George Edward Westmacott (1807-1841), Bengal Army, 1825-1841
Travels in Northern India

REEL 20

Ms Eur B.205/1 1831-1861

Mary Fitzgibbon (1813-1862), wife of Richmond Fitzgibbon (c1805-1871), veterinary surgeon, Madras Army, 1824-1861
Personal life

Ms Eur B.360 A-B 1832

Florentia (1790-1853), wife of Major-General Sir Robert Henry Sale (1782-1845), British Army, 1795-1845
Notebook with entries describing stay in Agra

REEL 21

Ms Eur C.315 1834

Mrs Mary Ann MacFarlan (née Hogg) (1810-1873), wife of David MacFarlan (1797-1854), Bengal Civil Service, 1816-1847
Daily life in Calcutta; voyage to Scotland

Ms Eur B.307 1834-1838

Lt (later Captain) Charles Farquhar Trower (1811-1846), Bengal Army, 1828-1834, 3rd Nizam’s Cavalry, 1836-1846
Travels in India

REEL 22

Ms Eur B.336 1835

John Hallett Batten (1811-1886), Bengal Civil Service, 1828-1866
Tour from Simla to Saharanpur

Ms Eur A.121 1836-1837

Rev George Trevor (1809-1888), East India Company Chaplain, Madras, 1836-1847
Voyage to India and first few months in Madras

Ms Eur D.1157 1837-1838

Charles Theodore Le Bas (1817-1858), Bengal Civil Service, 1836-1858
Journey from Calcutta to Meerut

REEL 23

Ms Eur D.1157 1837-1838

Charles Theodore Le Bas (1817-1858), Bengal Civil Service, 1836-1858
Journey from Calcutta to Meerut

Ms Eur E.125 1837

Lt (later Major-General Sir) Thomas Townsend Pears (1809-1892), Madras engineers, 1823-1861
Overland journey to India

REEL 24

Ms Eur C.130 1837-1838

Frances Eden (1801-1849), sister of George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, Governor-General
of India, 1836-1842
Journey up country from Calcutta to Simla

Ms Eur B.330 1838-1839

Capt (later Lt General Sir) James Outram 1st Bart, (1803-1863), Bombay Army, 1819-1860 on the staff of Sir John Keane, commander of the Bombay Army, 1838-1839
March of the army through Sind to Ghazni and Kabul in the first Afghan War

REEL 25

Ms Eur B.265/1 1838-1850

Emma Walter, wife of Major Edward Walter, Bombay Army, 1821-1851
Voyage to India; descriptions of travel therein

Ms Eur B.275 1841-1842

Florentia (1790-1853), wife of Major-General Sir Robert Henry Sale (1782-1845), British Army,

1795-1845
Experiences during the First Afghan War including the retreat from Kabul

Ms Eur C.703 1841-1842

Capt (later Lt Col) William Anderson (1803-1858), Bengal Army, 1823-1858
Diary recording events leading up to the retreat of British forces at Kabul, 1842 and his experiences as a captive of Muhammad Akbar Khan, with his wife and small daughter. Included also are a memorial to Lord Canning detailing his career and an account of the ordeal by his wife Amy Anderson

Ms Eur B.29 1842

Capt Arthur Conolly (1807-1842), Bengal Army, 1823-1842 and Envoy to Khiva, 1840-1842
Imprisonment at Bukhara before execution

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