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2014
Blog post
The accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod
Even if the attendant or station inspector had shouted ‘Mind the Gap’ (the phrase first used in 1969 at rail stations in the United Kingdom), it would not have prevented the horrific accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod at the railway station at Gloucester Road in 1872. Arriving at...Roy, Malini
religion, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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2015
Blog post
‘White Mughal’ William Fullerton of Rosemount
Scottish surgeon William Fullerton (d.1805) from Rosemount enlisted with the East India Company and served in Bengal and Bihar from 1744-66. Developing close ties with locals, including the historian Ghulam Husain Khan, he remained in the region after retiring. Although his impressive linguistic abilities brought him attention, Fullerton’s prominence stems...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, language studies, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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2014
Blog post
William Beckford's albums on Hindu mythology
The English novelist and noted bibliophile William Beckford is highlighted in the British Library’s current exhibition ‘Terror and Wonder: the Gothic Imagination’. Exhibition curators (Greg Buzwell, Tanya Kirk and Tim Pye) feature Beckford’s Gothic novel Vathek as one of the earliest examples in this style. Beckford’s masterpiece expressed the ‘orientalist...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, religion, South Asia, exhibitions, and art
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2015
Blog post
Battle of Panipat 1761
Panipat, north of Delhi, is the location of three historic battles that shaped Mughal history. On the battlefield here in 1526, Babur defeated the Afghan Sultan of Delhi Ibrahim Lodi, which not only ended Lodi rule but gave the Mughals a stronger foothold on the subcontinent. The second battle took...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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2017
Blog post
East India Company headquarters on Leadenhall Street
BBC One’s new period drama Taboo with actor Tom Hardy follows the story of James Keziah Delaney and his encounters with the East India Company. As the headquarters of the East India Company on Leadenhall Street was demolished in 1861 which is the present day site of Lloyds of London,...Roy, Malini
trade, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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2018
Blog post
Adam Munni Ratna, a Buddhist monk in England in 1818
The Visual Arts section has recently acquired a portrait of Adam Sri Munni Ratna, a Singhalese Buddhist monk, who accompanied Sir Alexander Johnston (1775-1849) from Sri Lanka to England in 1817-18. Raised between Scotland, Madras and England, Johnston would be appointed as the President of the Council of Sri Lanka...Roy, Malini
religion, South Asia, art, visual arts, and Buddhism
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2017
Blog post
Calcutta to Bihar: an artist's journey
As part of the Visual Arts collections at the British Library, we hold an extensive collection of drawings, sketches and watercolours by amateur British and European artists who travelled through the Indian subcontinent. In 2015, we acquired a wonderful little sketchbook, measuring a mere 80 x 204 mm, by an...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, South Asia, art, visual arts, and Islam
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2014
Blog post
‘Persian Gulf tragedy’ – the death of John Gordon Lorimer
On the morning of Sunday 8 February 1914, John Gordon Lorimer, the officiating British Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire, retired to his dressing room to ascertain the exact calibre of his automatic pistol as he wished to order cartridges from Bombay. He was later found lying on the...Lowe, Daniel
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2015
Blog post
The Death of a Political Agent: Captain Shakespear
Today, 24 January 2015, marks 100 years since the death of colonial officer and Arabian explorer and photographer, Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, who died in a battle at Jarrab between the forces of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern-day Saudi Arabia, and his adversary, Ibn Rashid. Shakespear was well...Lowe, Daniel
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2014
Blog post
‘The Jewish State of Eastern Arabia’
In September 1917, Lord Francis Bertie, British Ambassador to France, received an unusual proposal from Dr M L Rothstein, a Paris-based Russian Jew. Bertie explained to the Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, that Rothstein proposed the Entente Powers should equip and organise an army ‘for the conquest of the Turkish...Lowe, Daniel