Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC60
Royal Botanic Garden Calcutta [Kolkata], India
JDH/1/10 f.154-155
Hooker (nee Turner), Lady Maria
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
6-4-1849
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Indian Letters 1847-1851
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Contemporary MS copy
8 page letter over 2 folios
 

JDH is at Calcutta [Kolkata] with [Hugh] Falconer. He has failed regarding Nepal so will travel towards Sylhet & Khassya [Khasi]. Uncomfortable terms with Commander in Chief Sir Charles Napier, mean Lord Dalhousie has refused permission for [Thomas] Thomson to spend a year with JDH on duty so he will take it as furlough. JDH discusses Calcutta Society & his friends & acquaintances there, who include: the Colviles; Colonel Thornsby, the British Resident at the Court of Nepal; the Taylers, including Miss T who will do JDH’s portrait better than her father; Jung Bahadur; Gurney’s friend Reverend Street; & the old Bishop of Calcutta. He describes the Nepalese Princes currently in Calcutta, they will visit RBG Kew having paid penance for crossing the water at the temple of Juggernauth. Mr Tayler gave JDH a picture of Kinchin-Junga [Kanchenjunga] as seen from [Brian Houghton] Hodgson’s window JDH will have [Walter Hood] Fitch copy & return the painting & ask Reeves to publish the copy in lithograph with sales profits going to the Linnean Society. JDH is sending sandalwood boxes for his mother & the RBG Kew museum. It is not worth sending unauthentic, overpriced gold jewellery & trinkets. JDH describes his time at Government House with Lord Dalhousie, Metcalfe & Bowie, the latter was prisoner to Shere Singh with the Lawrences during the battles of Chillianwallah, Ramnagar & Goojaret [Gujerat]. He mentions that Courtenay sings at the grand parties & that horses in Calcutta are expensive. JDH will leave for Darjeeling on 9 Apr. He mentions Isabella’s gossip concerning Dr [Archibald] Campbell, Willy, Glasgow College, a Dr C. of Largs & Dr McGilvray.

Transcript

I am always welcome. Mrs. T[ayler] & the only dau[ghte]r who has yet to come to India, are exceedingly agreeable. The young lady draws even better than her father, & she is going to take my portrait again (my first sitting is to be tomorrow);-- when I hope she will be more successful than Mr T[ayler] was. He poor man is over head & ears in debt; but he declares he has begun to reform:--he keeps but one carriage, giving no parties & lives very quietly.
I have seen a great deal of Col. Thoresby (the British Resident at the Court of Nepaul [Nepal]), to whom I trust that my father & you will show all possible attention at Kew. He is a very shrewd, sensible quiet well--informed old man,-- who has taken the warmest interest in my affairs, & is greatly respected everywhere.
I hope that Bessy will be able to see Jung Bahadur, & the Nepalese Princes, at the garden, though I fear they will

Page 1


Copy *1
Calcutta Bot[anic] Garden Apr. 6 1850 [1849] *2
To Lady Hooker
My dearest mother
Hither am I come, to spend a few days with Falconer, before taking myself back to my labours you will see by my letter to my father, that I have failed in my object, as regards Nepal; & I shall therefore travel in the direction of Sylhet & Khassya, as formerly proposed. I am equally disappointed in my efforts to obtain permission for Thomson to pass this year with me, on duty: the request is denied & he must take it out of his furlough, -- i.e. out of the 3yrs. he is allowed to spend in India. I consider this a very hard thing; but I have the satisfaction of knowing that Ld. Dalhousie w[oul]d. have served me in it, if he could, & as he has promised to do; & he has been so good as to explain to me the reasons which occa--

Page 2

--sion the refusal. They are mainly the uncomfortable terms on which his Lordship stands with Sir Cha[rle]s. Napier, the Commander in Chief; who resists & resents all applications from the officers (especially medical ones), which can interfere with strictly military duty;-- & who, not content with ruling in his own department, dictates to those individuals who ought to be his masters. But I beg you will not allude to this, -- anywhere --
I am sick & weary of all the gaieties of Calcutta *3. Greater kindness cannot be shown, than I have received for the last 3 weeks fortnt!; -- but 'tis killing work, when all the good feeling of the principal inhabitants is condensed & showered upon a man in so brief a period. The Colviles are still my excellent friends, & highly do I prize them. Next come the Taylers, at whose stately & beautifully furnished house

Page 3

I am always welcome. Mrs. T[ayler] & the only dau[ghte]r who has yet to come to India, are exceedingly agreeable. The young lady draws even better than her father, & she is going to take my portrait again (my first sitting is to be tomorrow);-- when I hope she will be more successful than Mr T[ayler] was. He poor man is over head & ears in debt; but he declares he has begun to reform:--he keeps but one carriage, giving no parties & lives very quietly.
I have seen a great deal of Col. Thoresby (the British Resident at the Court of Nepaul [Nepal]), to whom I trust that my father & you will show all possible attention at Kew. He is a very shrewd, sensible quiet well--informed old man,-- who has taken the warmest interest in my affairs, & is greatly respected everywhere.
I hope that Bessy will be able to see Jung Bahadur, & the Nepalese Princes, at the garden, though I fear they will

Page 4

not be wearing all the diamonds & emeralds which they sport at Government House. Jang Bahadur has been very ill: he went down to do penance at the temple of Juggernauth & to pay a fine of £5000 for crossing the sea; & after fasting & starving, -- he feasted famously on his return to Calcutta. Last night we had a splendid Ball at Government House, where he & his party excited universal admiration. He is a well informed & very intelligent young fellow, 32yrs. of age,-- sadly dissipated, however, I fear --
The other day I met the Revd. Mr. Street (Gurney's friend): he has been superseded, unjustly I think, by the old Bishop of Calcutta,-- a man whom I visit, but do specially dislike.
Mr. Tayler gave me yest'[erda]y, a large picture representing Kinchin--Junga [Kanchenjunga], as seen from Mr. Hodgson's windows. It is very accurate & in Fitch's hands will make a superb

Page 5

thing: & as I can hardly think it fair to accept such a valuable painting, I must request that Fitch shall copy & return it with the least possible delay. If Reeves w[oul]d. care to publish it in lithograph, as he proposed doing with the picture of myself & give the proceeds to the Linnean Society, there is no objection; & I could get a group of Lepchas, to be added in the foreground. I will send it home with some other things, by the May mail!
The Feb[ruar]y. mail has this morn[in]g. brought a letters, & much do I thank you for your kind contributions! Curiously enough I was looking yest[erda].y at Sandal wood Boxes for you, & the Kew museum; & today comes your request for one! I will send them overl[an]d., addressed to you, & paid. And I do hope you will find they are the kind you desire. I have often priced the Gold ornaments & jewellery, & I find that any really good trinkets are

Page 6

1/3d. dearer than at home. -- often, indeed, they are of English manufacture! There are agents here, who purchase any all the Indian jewels which are worth buying, & send them to England for resetting &c. My time has been quietly spent; while at Gov[ermen]t. House. Lord Dalhousie & I always breakfasted together;-- he has dined at home, & I have always been invited out. The two Aides de camp are pleasant men. One is my old friend Metcalfe,-- the other an artillery officer named Bowie,-- who was a prisoner to Shere Singh, at the same time as Col. & Mrs. Lawrence, during the 3 battles of Chillian Wallah, Ramnuggar & Goojaret; & endured the horror of seeing the prisoners & guns bought triumphantly into the enemy camp, after the 2 first engagements. Shere Singh treated him well, but found it needful to have an enormous guard to protect him &

Page 7

then sent him on parole to our camp to return back again! Ld. D[alhousie]. was much pleased with Bowie & made him an Aide de camp.
I hear Courtenay singing at all the grand parties, to which I go: he is in splendid voice & much does he enjoy the gaiety of Calcutta society. Perhaps I might do so too, if I were an idle man; but I find the dinners grievously great & heavy & the evening reunions hot & crowded. On the whole however, Calcutta society is the pleasantest I ever mixed in. There is hardly any personality or prejudice, & far more real friendships & kind feeling, than in the starched circles of London & Kew;--- where you are rather patronized, than noticed for your own sake, or with a view to cultivating a more intimate acquaintance. Hospitality is the ruling passion, in India. I am sure there are full 20 houses in Calcutta, to which I am not scruple to go, unasked & unexpected, & where I should be certain of meeting

Page 8

with a hearty welcome. Indeed more than that number of families have invited me to become a permanent guest. Horses are always the heaviest expense. I always drive a cab & have 2 horses a day, for very usual avocations:-- sometimes they are lent to me, or I take those of the Aides de camp; besides which I have a woefully long bill at the stable keeper's, the charges being far higher than in Engl[an]d. -- As soon as I got the answer from Jang Bahadur I laid my Dash for Darjeeling, which takes 5 days; so that, starting on the 9th & travelling night & day. I shall reach the foot of the hills on the 15th, where I hope to be joined by Thomson & perhaps by Hodgson, who has gone down from Darjeeling, on account of his health.
This is a sad gossip, but I cannot close it without answering your question abt. Dr Campbell. Isabella is under a mistake about Dr. C[ampbell]. He never knew Willy, nor attended Glasgow college: he is not the son of Dr. C[ampbell] of Largs he does not know Dr. McGilvray *4 & he has lived 20yrs in India I myself knew 2 other Alex Campbells at college & I heard of even more Aff[ectionate]ly. your son Jos. D. Hooker.

ENDNOTES


1. This letter is a copy written in a hand not that of the original author, JDH, and is not signed by him. The copy was probably made by JDH's mother or sister.
2. A note added in pencil records the letter date as 1850 but context from other letters in the volume and Hooker's published Himalayan Journals indicates that the correct year is 1849.
3. The city formerly known as Calcutta is now called Kolkata.
4. The text from here is written in the margin of page 1 but an 'X' indicates that it is intended to be inserted here.

Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible.

Powered by Aetopia