Thistle Chapel

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

Thistle Chapel.The Thistle Chapel, St Giles’ High Kirk of Edinburgh, High St, Edinburgh EH1 1RE

There are some striking examples of India links in this sacred meeting place of Scotland’s chivalric order. Counting counter-clockwise from the entrance, stall 13, find arms (bottom middle) for the 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, longest serving Viceroy 1936-43, during the World War Two suppression of Independence movements and the death of millions in the Bengal Famine. Stall 17 bears the arms (top middle) of the 14th Duke of Hamilton, in 1933 the first to fly over Mount Everest. At stall 7 we find (bottom right), with Ashoka’s lions hinting at Indian heritage, Dundee obstetrician Narendra, Baron Patel, in 2009, first Asian in the Order’s 322 years.

 

Patel flat, Thistle Chapel.

Baron Patel’s Flag with Ashoka’s Lion Column.

 

Marquess of Linlithgow's Coat of Arms.

Marquess of Linlithgow’s Coat of Arms.

Duke of Hamilton's flight over Everest, 1933.

Duke of Hamilton’s flight over Everest, 1933.

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Craig’s Close

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

Craig's Close.Craig’s Close (now 249 High Street), Edinburgh EH1 1DF

First mentions of Indians in Edinburgh appear in newspapers. In May 1753, a reward is offered for John Samson ‘East-Indian […] Moletto [Anglo-Indian] Boy’ servant/slave ‘run off from his master in Edinburgh’, possibly with a missing silver watch. In 1769, advertisements are published for Mercury, ‘East India black boy about 13’. 1771, Caesar, a trained Indian chef (16), escaped a stately home near Dingwall and was searched for here. In the 1870s, basket weaver Khuda Baksh, and tobacco pipe seller Roshan Khan, his Scottish wife and five children, lived in the High Street. Others, often Lascars (sailors), lived in Leith.

Craig's Close plaque.

Plaque remembering Craig’s Close.

Advert in the Caledonian Mercury, 4th October 1769.

Advert in the Caledonian Mercury, 4th October 1769.

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Minto House

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

Minto House.Minto House, The University of Edinburgh, 20-22 Chambers St, Edinburgh EH1 1JZ

Here lived (1725-1878) the Elliots of Minto, important East India Company shareholders. The first Earl was Governor-General of India (1807-13), one brother was assistant to Warren Hastings, another was Governor of Madras. The 4th Earl became Viceroy (1905-10). After their house was demolished in 1878, the present building was erected. Elsie Inglis’ Women’s Medical College (1889-1908) was based here: Of 185 women it trained, at least 20 were born in India, and 46 worked there, including Hilla Furloonji Batliwala (nee Banajee); Kadambini Ganguly; Khorshed Sorabji Kanga; and Meher Ardeshir Dadabhai Naoroji (niece of Dadbhai Naoroji, the UK’s first Indian MP).

Shadow of Medical School sign on the pediment.

Shadow of Medical School sign on the pediment.

Portrait of George Eliot, 1st Earl of Minto, by James Atkinson.

Portrait of Gilbert, 1st Earl of Minto, 1820s.

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National Museum of Scotland

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

National Museum of ScotlandNational Museum of Scotland, Chambers St, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

From courtly dress to contemporary art, to birds, minerals and fossils, India’s natural world and her culture have been collected by the Museum since its inception in 1854. Scots working as political and commercial administrators, military officers, surgeons and missionaries in India under British rule contributed to the Museum’s mission of collecting art and science worldwide. The examples of India’s manufacture, her ancient history or Hindu sculptures, they sent back to Scotland, represented their interests, involvement in historical events, and Britain’s commercial links. The Museum is committed to reassess for today the significance of these objects of the colonial history of British India.

Courtly dress, Bhopal, India.

Courtly dress, Bhopal, India.

 

Western tragopan, female bird, India.

Western tragopan, female bird, India.

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Bristo Port

 India (Old Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

Bristo PortBristo Port, Edinburgh EH1 1EY

Bedlam Theatre is on the site of the old Poorhouse, which included rooms for those who had ‘lost their reason’. Starting in 1792, Dr Andrew Duncan led the campaign for a new Lunatic Asylum. Dr Duncan himself had done one tour of duty to China on a ship of the East India Company. Progress was slow until Parliament granted £2,000 in 1806. Fund-raising began in earnest, with applications to ‘gentlemen and noblemen’ in Scotland and England – and India. By 1814, of the £6,500 raised from individuals, ‘contributions totalling £1,700 were received from Madras, Bombay, Calcutta and Ceylon’.

Andrew Dundan bust in Old College, Edinburgh University.

Andrew Duncan bust in Old College, Edinburgh University.

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The Scottish Naval and Military Academy

 India (New Town)  3 Responses »
Apr 242018
 

SIte of Scottish Naval and Military Academy.Caledonian Hotel, Princes Street, Edinburgh EH1 2AB

The Scottish Naval and Military Academy, founded 1825, trained young gentlemen for the British and East India Company’s forces, and, from 1829, shared with the Riding School a new building on Lothian Road opposite Castle Terrace (now the Caledonian Hotel). From high poetic texts James Ballantyne taught ‘Persian, Hindoostanee and Arabic’, 1832-45 before becoming Superintendent of Benares College. At its peak over 100 students learned things like ‘the chief cities of Hindoostan’ or, like Patrick Lindesay earned an Indian sword for ‘gentlemanly conduct’ and a medal for military drawing. The school was demolished for railway use in the early 1860s.

Portrait of James Ballantyne, circa 1845, by Hill and Adamson.

Portrait of James Ballantyne, circa 1845, by Hill and Adamson.

 

Patrick Lindesay's Indian style sword of honour, awarded for 'Gentlemanly Conduct', 1833.

Patrick Lindesay’s Indian style sword of honour, awarded for ‘Gentlemanly Conduct’, 1833.

 

Robert Pope's Medal for French and Hindustani.

Robert Pope’s Medal for French and Hindustani.

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St John’s Episcopal Church

 India (New Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

St John's ChurchSt John’s Episcopal Church, Princes St, Edinburgh EH2 4BJ

In 1818 the growing episcopal congregation of Charlotte Chapel, Rose Street, built a new church, St John’s, on the corner of Lothian Road/Princes Street. Its wealthiest members at the time, Alexander Tod, East India Company captain; his ex-deputy, Thomas Robertson; Alexander Dyce; John  Downie; and Alexander Falconer, all made fortunes in India. A memorial window (number 9) is dedicated to George Swinton, by 1833, top civil servant in India, from where he sent important scientific specimens, from elephants’ eyeballs to first samples of Burma crude oil to Edinburgh. Four of his sons served in India, three dying on active service.

The George Swinton Memorial Window.

The George Swinton Memorial Window.

Memorial to Alexander Bruere Tod, HEICS.

Memorial to Alexander Bruere Tod, HEICS.

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Melville Street

 India (New Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

37 Melville Street, Edinburgh EH3 7JF

The first written mention of curry being eaten in Edinburgh is found in the memoirs of Bombay-born Janet Maughan. A lavish 1830s dinner party or “burra khana” at No. 37 usually had four starters ‘often including a curry’. Janet’s father, Philip Maughan, had served in the East India Company Marine Service, surveying the Gulf of Cutch and also the approaches to Macao and Canton. Later Indian business dealings lost him money, but an Indian curry remained a favourite dish. Sir Andrew Fraser, the controversial Lt.-Governor of Bengal, 1903-08, lived later at No. 58. Both men were buried in Dean Cemetery.

View of No 37's door.

View of No 37’s door.

 

Portrait of Sir Andrew Fraser, 1909.

Portrait of Sir Andrew Fraser, 1909.

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Census on Randolph Cliff

 India (New Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

1-9 Randolph Cliff, Edinburgh EH3 7TZ

This randomly-selected block of buildings, without obvious India connections, is a good example of India links visible in census returns. In 1871 at No 2 lived Hugh Macpherson, four of whose sons served in India: Samuel (political agent); William (lawyer); John (lunatic asylums) and Arthur (High Court judge). At No 3 Sir John Sinclair and his wife Margaret were lodging to attend the funeral of their son George (Bengal Army). Their other son Alexander (also Bombay Army) had already died that year. His two orphans Mary (9) and John (6) were with their grandparents, Sir John and Margaret.

Randolph Cliff sign.

Randolph Cliff sign.

Dr John MacPherson, Calcutta doctor.

Dr John MacPherson, Calcutta doctor.

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Charlotte Square

 India (New Town)  No Responses »
Apr 242018
 

22 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh EH2 4DF

Charlotte Square has seen colourful India links. No. 22 was home to Lady Gordon and her granddaughter Jane Cumming, described as a “Dark skinned girl, a native of India” in an 1810 trial: two girls’ schoolmistresses sued for defamation, having been accused of lesbianism. Sir John Peter Grant, judge in India, lived at No. 6. His son, Lt-Governor of Bengal, had published the 1860 play Nil Darpan, criticising British indigo planters. At No. 18 lived Lt-Gen. Alexander Dirom, author of Narrative of the Campaign in India (1794), and at No. 31 resided William Adam, counsel for the East India Company.

Book on the court case involving Jane Cumming Gordon, the 'dark-skinned girl'.

Book on the court case involving Jane Cumming Gordon, the ‘dark-skinned girl’.

 

Front page of Neel Darpan.

Front page of Neel Darpan.

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