The Fraser Company Drawings

Author(s): TOBY FALK

Source: RSA Journal , December 1988, Vol. 137, No. 5389 (December 1988), pp. 27-37
Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and
Commerce

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41374777

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 SIR GEORGE BIRDWOOD MEMORIAL LECTURE

The Fraser Company Drawings

TOBY FALK
Art historian

Delivered to the Society on Thursday 5 May 1 988,

with Ray Desmond in the Chair

THE CHAIRMAN: Welcome to the 1988 Birdwood Lecture.

anyone better qualified to discuss them than our speaker
On the walls of my home hang two splendid hand-coloured
tonight.
Toby Falk, was employed by Sotheby's from 1965 to 1973
aquatints from James Baillie Fraser's Views of the Himalayas
published in 1820. This book and his Views of Calcutta
as a cataloguer of oriental manuscripts and miniatures. Since
then he has been a freelance consultant. He has also
surely include some of the finest of Indian topographical
prints. James was joined by his brother William in India a reputation as an authority on Indian and Persian
established
during the opening decades of the nineteenth century, andand
miniatures, I has produced scholarly catalogues. Over the
still remember the excitement in the India Office past few years, in collaboration with Dr Mildred Archer, he
Library
about nine years ago when the then Director, JoanhasLancaster,
been examining the Fraser archives and the Company
discovered in the family archives up in Scotland not onlyand
drawings, thethe results of their labours are due to be
Indian diaries and correspondence of the two brothers but
published next year.
also the paintings they had commissioned from Indian We are privileged tonight to have a preview of this
artists. These Indian paintings, generically knownforthcoming
as book, and it gives me great pleasure to invite
Company drawings, are quite superb, and I cannotTobythink oftell us about the Fraser Company drawings.
Falk to

I have been working for some years with Dr Mildred
Archer on a book devoted to the Indian careers of James
Baillie Fraser and his brother William. They were both in-
volved in the commissioning of pictures by Indian artists in
the Delhi region, and James Baillie Fraser, as an artist in his
own right, published two series of aquatint views of India.
It was Joan Lancaster, former Director of the India
Office Library, who made the initial discovery that led to
the subject of this lecture. She was visiting a friend in the
Scottish Highlands, and on asking who lived in the house
next door to her friend's cottage, was told that a family
of Fräsers lived there. Knowing that a number of Fräsers
had in the past served in India, she asked if any of their
ancestors had been there. She was told that there was a
memorial in the garden, and on examining it found that
it had originally been raised to the memory of William
Fraser, soon after his death in Delhi in 1835. Sub-
sequently the name of his brother, James Baillie Fraser,
had been added after his death in 1856.
On further investigation, some boxes of papers were
found in the house and among these were the diaries and
letters of James and William Fraser, relating many details
of their times in India. With the papers was a remarkable
group of pictures. Many were Indian miniatures of the
traditional kind, but the most interesting were the
Company pictures. 'Company' is a term given to pic-
tures painted by Indian artists for servants of the East
India Company. Most were watercolours, on paper,
and of moderate size. The best of them were portraits
which had a special intensity, and were painted with
unusual skill and accomplishment. Indeed, in terms of
quality, they surpass all known Company portraits.
These pictures were brought down to London and were
subsequently sold in two auctions held here and in
America. Questions remained as to who painted them,
and the circumstances under which they were pro-
duced. The Fraser letters and diaries remained in
Scotland, so we went up there to study the papers in an
endeavour to answer what questions we could. We did
not discover everything we were looking for, but found
ourselves unexpectedly engrossed in the details of a
family story.

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 PROCEEDINGS

Fig. 1: Aquatint from Views in the Himala Mountains, engraved by R. Havell & Son and published in 1820,
after a drawing made by James Baillie Fraser in 1815.

William, whose death had prompted the memorial in
the garden, seemed to be the central character. He was
sent to India in 1801, aged sixteen. The journey by ship
could take as long as six months in those days. Most died
within two years of arriving there, so why did the family
send him? The short answer was money. The Fraser
family had an estate, the rents of which they lived on, but
farming no longer paid well in late eighteenth century
Scotland. These were the early days of the Industrial
Revolution in England, where the gentry were enjoying
an improved and more sophisticated lifestyle. Scottish
families like the Fräsers wanted to keep up with this
higher standard of living. The father of the Fraser boys
mortgaged his estate, and with the money he bought a
sugar plantation in the West Indies. But sugar soon
became an insecure market, partly owing to over-
production. He next borrowed money against the sugar
plantation itself, and before long ran badly into debt. The
Fräsers were far from alone in this plight; many Scottish
families ran themselves into equivalent positions, and a
very common solution was to fall back on what seemed
their only asset, their sons. In the case of the Fräsers there
were five sons, and all were sent to India where they
might earn money. Throughout the Fraser letters and
diaries there is a constant sense of pressure on the children
to make money, and not to come home until they had
done so.
William Fraser was the second son, but he was the first
to go to India. Once away from home he was by no
means off the leash. At Portsmouth his mother wrote
warning him of the
dissipation and corruption of that place. If you knew,
yet I pray to heaven you may never know, the dreadful
and melancholy scenes witnessed there as young men

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 THE FRASER COMPANY DRAWINGS
ruin their fortunes before going on board ship, laying
a foundation for future remorse and misery to
themselves and their parents, it would fortify you
against any corruption there.
He sailed in September and arrived the following
journey up country to Delhi took him six months. At this
February. The kind of scene he would have encountered
on arrival may have been much like thris aquatint, showing
Calcutta with East Indiamen gathered at the end of their
outward journey. The views illustrating this lecture are
all aquatints after drawings made by James Baillie Fraser,
the eldest of the five Fraser brothers. His original draw-
ings are lost, but the aquatints were published in two
series, the first in 1820 of the Himalayan Hills (Fig. 1),
the second of Calcutta Views published from 1824.
William had been appointed a 'Writer' to the East
India Company, which was the usual appointment for a
young man entering the service. He studied at the
College of Fort William, learning Indian languages and
administration, and did extremely well, winning more
than one prize. But it was also important to make a place
for himself in Calcutta society. His ambitions at this
stage are summed up in a letter he wrote to one of his
younger brothers:
To obtain a knowledge of this country, of eastern
manners and literature, that is to attain that know-
ledge which will best fit you for the discharge of any
publick situation, I would lead your attention to three
branches of study; viz a scientific and grammatical
knowledge of the eastern languages which I class thus
as to utility: Arabic, Persian, Hindoostanee, Sanscrit,
Bangalee etc. A Personal intercourse with natives of all
denominations and castes, to acquire idiom, dialect,
manner, local knowledge, knowledge of custom,
character, prejudice, religion, ancient hereditary
habits and distinguishing characteristics. And a con-
stant association with the most intelligent, well
informed, respectable members of your Calcutta
society: those who are remarkable as classical oriental
scholars; those of research ability, statistical and
political knowledge; those who are distinguished for
the parts they have acted & the employment they
hold. All such, in the mixed and superb society of
Calcutta you must constantly meet, and if you like
become intimate and familiar with. In mentioning
these three pursuits I include none of your original
European pursuits, studies or book amusements,
which must ever hold their value & situation of
parallel utility.
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In 1806 William got his first job when he was appointed
as an Assistant to the Resident at Delhi. Before leaving
Calcutta, he had his portrait painted to send home. He
chose a rather strange costume, Indian in style,
incongruously topped by a type of tam-o'-shanter. His
time Delhi had only just come under British rule, and the
country was infested with robbers and plunderers whose
primary aim was to grab horses. William gives a vivid
picture of one of these situations when he wrote home:
They gallop up firing their matchlocks till within a
hundred yards when they sling them over their
shoulders by a belt and take to the sword and spear. If
you have a pistol which every officer generally has &
which no man would travel or ride without, the
business is easily settled and you shoot him just when
within the length of his spear. Without a pistol there
is serious danger.
William's work at Delhi was involved with the
'Settlement' of land. This was a matter of re-establishing
land ownership and making an assessment of the land's
productivity for revenue purposes. In the course of this
work and the collection of revenue William met many
village elders, some of whom were depicted by one of the
artists of the Company drawings. William's work kept
him out of doors most of the time:
From sunrise until 9 o'clock I am always on horseback
with Sextant, Theodolite & measuring wheel. The
same from 3 in the afternoon until dark. The inter-
mediate time is spent in the projection of the survey on
paper and the daily current official duty. The evenings
to reading or writing, such as this present letter. My
health is robust and uninterruptedly good, which I
owe to constant exercise and stout temperance. I
seldom have but one meal in the day & never exceed
two glasses of Madeira. For occasional recreation I
keep horses & hawks & borrow an Elephant when I
wish to shoot. By your desire I have given up wholly
pursuing Tygers on foot.
William's father had been worried about his hunting
activities - 'shooting and hunting kill more young men
than war and drinking in India,' he complained. William
had gained a reputation for the dangerous practice of
hunting tigers on foot. One of his Indian helpers in this
was Kala, who, it appears from an inscription on his
portrait (Fig. 2), slayed a tiger on foot at the age of nine-
teen. Whatever William told his father, it seems he did
29
 PROCEEDINGS
Fig. 2: Kala, who stayed a tiger with a sword when hunting with William
Fraser. Watercolour hy an Indian artist, circa 1815-16 (private collection).
not entirely give up his hunting. Indeed, by the age of
twenty he was running his own life, free of his home ties.
His family responsibility remained only a financial one.
He was earning a good salary and had other ways of
making money, one being the breeding of horses. The
acquisition of good horses was a problem for the East
India Company. Importation from Europe was expen-
sive, and local stock was inferior. William bought horses
from Delhi dealers, traders who brought the animals
from beyond the Western Himalayas. William would
buy as many as forty or sixty horses at a time, sharing in
the enterprise with an Indian friend of his, Nawab Ahmad
Bakhsh Khan. William's younger brother Alexander
was in Calcutta at this time, and a Calcutta artist painted
a picture of his favourite horse, probably one of those
acquired by William. The inscription on it reads:
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Eclipse, purchased for me at Hardwar in April 1808.
Arrived in Calcutta in August the same year, on the
same day that I arrived from England. Has since then
twice accompanied me to Delhi and twice back to
Calcutta. Killed in two successive mornings, with his
assistance, ten wild boars in March 1812. He was
severely wounded by a boar in January 1814, since
which time I have not rode him.
Amongst the places William visited near Delhi was the
village of Rania. This was where a local girl lived who
became his mistress or bibi. He was reputed to maintain
several women, each with several children, but no
substantiation of this has been found. Whatever he did,
he kept the truth from his parents:
It is enough for me to reflect how many valuable
women are to be had in Britain, to hinder me from
risking the charms of a hundred or more in India. So I
must wait until I go home & then it will be too late.
For eight years William worked in the Delhi territory,
and in 1814 he received a new posting. The Nepal War
broke out against the Gurkhas, and William was
appointed political agent to one of the generals. He was
the on-the-spot representative of Company policy, having
no official military rank. But he had the responsibility of
local recruiting, an idea which was partly his own. He
was ideal for this posting, for he could speak local dialects
and got on well with Indians. William soon found he
could recruit ideal men in the hills, and he could even
recruit Gurkhas, the people who were the main enemy.
There were those who had become disaffected and those
who surrendered and came across to the British cause.
These recruits were well suited for action in the hilly
terrain:
[William] describes the Ghoorkalees as a far superior
race to those of the country - in size and strength, in
discipline and determined courage, and long endur-
ance. They are said to run up a mountain or steep
activity with wonderful agility, even with greater ease
than our troops tread the plains. They carry 6 days
provisions along with them, besides their arms and
ammunition, and can subsist ten more on berrys and
roots of the jungle. Such people in such a country are
not soon to be subdued, but the natives are said to be
anxious to assist us in their expulsion.
After the fighting was over, many of these Gurkha
recruits were taken into permanent British army service and
formed the first Gurkha regiments that we still know today.
RSA JOURNAL, DECEMBER 1988
 THE FRASER COMPANY DRAWINGS

William could not resist getting involved in Battery

I left the the and half way up the hill and near t
fighting himself. One of the early hill forts Black
to behill, I met him - he had marched 12 miles th
stormed
morning.
was at a place called Kalanga. William's General, - it was an awkward place for a r
Rollo
Gillespie, was a hot-headed Scot who made encounter - surrounded by servants & officers. Th
the fatal
mistake of altering his own plan of actiondid I meet the
without con-brother I parted from this time 16 yea
sulting his supporting forces. William joined - & howinaltered
the - rather a weak boy of 14, I now
fighting and was quite seriously wounded meet in thehim a large stocky strong man already famo
neck:
& well known, having by his own exertions talents
I now write to you sitting up and quite well, all but a
activity gained a most respectable name . . .
little stiffness in the neck. Fortunately my wound was
Meeting on a high road, surrounded by soldiers, y
from an arrow. It passed across my neck between the
cannot suppose that much affectionate greeting cou
gullet and windpipe avoiding on each side the arteries
take place between us - and William's gener
and large vessels. Had it been barbed as every other
manners now have acquired such an appearance of
one was it must have cut the great arteries; but it had a
austerity & reserve, that the same evidence of feeli
smooth round point. The wound which it made in
which others would shew, & which he actuall
entering is already healed and that only which the
experienced, was not to be expected from him.
surgeon's knife made in extracting it on the opposite
side open and gently suppurating. Before In a small
this portrait miniature, painted on ivory no
you will
long
have heard the detail of our unfortunate after The
attempt. this time, William is shown wearing t
heat, impatience and impetuosity of poor uniform of Skinner's Horse. He was a great friend
General
Gillespie was the principal cause of our Colonel
defeatJames Skinner, the son of a Scottish soldier by
. . . The
signal for assault was given about 9 in the morning, itwho by his own acumen founded a co
Indian mother,
had been intimated that it was not to takeof place
irregular
untilcavalry,
1 known popularly as 'The Yello
Boys'
or 2 pm. The defence was so desperate that I saw from their distinguishing yellow uniform (Fig.
James
women actually throwing stones from the walls. I waswas overwhelmed by the scenery of the hill
hit in 5 places with stones besides the region
woundinacross
which the Nepal War was being fought. H
the throat . . . The Goorkhas fought most wasbravely
also exhilarated
and by the fact that he was present on
very
resolutely and if they fight as well in the field
field weofshall
battle which was making such exciting ne
have a tough campaign. back in Calcutta. He expressed his excitement by mak
sketches of some of the scenes around him:
It was not long after the Kalanga incident that
William's elder brother James Baillie Fraser When
came at Jytock
up to with General Martindell's Army
got seized
the hills to visit him. He had started his career by work- with a desire to delineate some of t
objects that
ing in the West Indies on the family sugar plantations. there met our view, and the first impul
was in an
He later returned to Scotland and decided to go to India.odd place, in our Batteries, when really
Unlike William, he did not join the Company was not quite pleasant, for the Enemies Shots wer
service
but set himself up as a merchant. His voyage playing
out wasover our heads quite briskly (we were behind
un-
wall
propitious, for misfortune struck just off the however).
Indian coast I proposed taking a sketch of t
when his ship ran on a sandbank and sank. He Stockade we to
was able were battering and then followed som
transfer ship, and finally reached Calcutta. But his work Soldiers - all of which crude attemp
of the Irregular
you shall one day see. When the Devil of Drawing
there went badly, mainly as a result of a trading partner-
ship he made with an unsuitable companion.brokeAfterloose,
only there
a was no holding him.
After a Part
year he left Calcutta, determined to visit William. few weeks
of the battle reached a stalemate, a
his incentive was the excitement of a war being was
William on, appointed
and to go on an expedition into t
the fascination of the reports which reached Calcutta.
hills to persuade as many petty rajas as possible to join t
Having cleared up his affairs, he travelledBritish. They made
up country as their preparations, and the t
fast as he could, anxious not to arrive too brothers
late to see some
set off with their entourage of about
of the action. He had not seen William for sixteen
hundred years,
men. The party often came to obstacles such
and really had only a vague idea of what ravines
sort of man
and hiscrossed by perilous rope bridges. Jam
rivers
brother had become. spent as much time as he could working on drawin

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 PROCEEDINGS

wandering among the lovely and romantic

his own country. The delight of such assoc
only be understood by those who have ling
long term of separation, and who anxiously
moment of reunion with their native land.

While preparing his own drawings, James h

filling in the human figures. He was, after all,
artist, and was in any case out of practice. A
the Himalayan trip, he noted in his diary how
the assistance of a local artist. This critical refe
a key to the origin of the Company pictures
This day as yesterday all day drawing and I h
finished my sketch of Gungotree with the
am not satisfied with it but will not do mor
have the advantage of seeing some watercol
ing which I may take a lesson from - Л ha
native artist my brother has hired to take th
of several of the servants and Ghorkas which
me much in several of my undertakings.
The Gurkha portraits from among the
drawings are thus among the first commissi
out for James. The Gurkhas themselves mus
quite colourful characters, but James says of
such ragamuffins I have seldom seen - they
Chinese features mixed with the tartars - t
sallow complexion is an admirable addition
dark shaggy hair, shorn by the ears, and ver
upon the head they wear a peculiar turban
like the broad Scotch bonnet - their garm
Fig. 3: Kala, after his recruitment, wearing the uniform of Skinner's Horse.
filthy and they carry, besides a tulwar, a sho
Watercolour by an Indian artist, circa 1815-16 (private collection).
knife in their cummerbund.

and many of the series of aquatintsIndian

subsequently
artists who were employed by the
published of the hills were based onpaint
these. Asportraits
such they as these were not used t
travelled, James became very interested this
in seeing
type the holy
of picture. Their tradition was to p
Indian the
places at the sources of the great Indian rivers, manner, using pigments akin to goua
Ganges
and the Jumna. Two of the most notableof ofwatercolour.
the aquatintsTheir compositions were also
illustrate Gungotri and Jumnotri, where shrines
but under are
James' guidance figures were gr
situated near the heads of these rivers. James' descriptions
successfully along European lines. The best o
reveal that he had far from forgotten hometuresand
areScotland:
by one artist, whose name is not
Among the Indian patrons he worked for w
These hills are usually of holly, yew, white birch, and
been the Mughal emperor Akbar II, wh
many other noble trees we are acquainted with, but I
reigning under the protection of the Britis
have seen no heather, nor anything like it. There is
knew Akbar II, and after their return to Del
jasmine in profusion and Roses white and red cover
hills he and James went to pay their respect
the copswood & enamel all the forest sides and banks
of the numerous burns and little rills. we
Thus we could at 8 o'clock and at half past
breakfasted
to court
almost imagine ourselves at home. A native of where
any the same ceremony as usua
formedhimself
part of the British Isles might have believed of bowing and saluting. His Majesty

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 THE FRASER COMPANY DRAWINGS

pleased to see William returned again, Oneand

thing asked
which becomes
him apparent is that the two
brothers
several questions regarding the hills - sillymade aenough
unique partnership
- for the production of
He was dressed only in white withthesehis drawings.
richJames, the artist, gave the sense of direc-
emerald
and pearl necklace around him - and tion andall
the drive
theforcourt
quality and accuracy of detail.
were so too, it was a full Durbar. William, though extremely busy with his work, had the
contacts. He could get the artists to work for him and he
The pastime James enjoyed most when in with
was in touch Delhi was
unusual Indian subjects which would
attending the evening entertainments or 'Nautches'.
have been inaccessible to most Europeans. His pictures
These often included troupes of dancing girls, and James
contrast with the run of Company paintings of buildings
resolved to get portraits of some of these:
and trades, of which there are very many. It is this, above
After dinner we had a nautch. As we all, that
get makes
morethe Fraser pictures so different from other
accus-
groups of
tomed to the thing it certainly improves on Company
one,paintings.
or at
least becomes more intelligible and theAtsongs
this point,
arethose of you particularly interested in
more
followed. Company painting may be wondering how many artists
There were many setts of Nauch women,the Fräsers employed.
someWeof do not exactly know, but they
whom were very fair - and the dressesdid employwere
several. Lalljee
very did not play a large part and
rich. Some sang extremely well - and was notone
the leading artist. Another man was apparently
Malageer
particularly excelled. I have orderedemployed for buildings only,
her picture to befor he is sometimes referred
to by James,
done in one of her attitudes, and shall but the architectural
attempt it drawings are not
myself, getting her to the Bungalow. known to us today. The figurative pictures fall into quite
definite groups, which nevertheless merge somewhat at
Malageer was painted by two Indian theartists,
edges. First ofone
these of
groups are the recruits and
whom, named Lalljee, also painted the portrait of
Gurkhas. They show a high level of finish, notably in the
William on ivory. James gives some details of this artist
faces, and a very carefully composed relationship between
in his diary for 26 August 1815: the figures (see Fig. 4). Then there are the village scenes
I have prevailed on William to sit forand village
his characters.
picture Theto
grouping here is never quite
Lalljee a native who takes likenessessoremarkably
complex, and we see wella different technique with a
broader
- he was a pupil of Zofanies, and does notuse of stippling. The
disgrace hisartist of this group must be
teacher considering the usual total want of idea of a farm scene for Colonel
Ghulam Ali Khan, who painted
James Skinner
light & shade that the natives in general labour with animals similarly depicted. Then
under.
there are the pictures which James himself says he added
After his sojourn in Delhi, James was eventually obliged
to the pictures obtained by William. These are subjects of
to return to Calcutta to get back to work. By this time he
more general interest, of the type that would have been
was thinking of the possibility of publishing something,
available for purchase in Delhi. The artists of these
using the Company drawings as illustrations. He left
groups seem to have been working in close collaboration
William with a long list of subjects for the native artists
with one another. Possibly they were all of the family of
to paint. William complained about this in a
Ghulam Aliletter
Khan. to his
father:
William continued his work in the Delhi Territory,
I heard from James today. He is gone crazed after remaining a close friend of Colonel Skinner and
drawings and notes, and to execute all his commis- becoming second in command of his irregular force of
sions would employ a man's life. However, I am do- cavalry. Many of William's recruits joined Skinner's
ing as much for him as I can manage, by the agency of Horse, a few of them employed by William for his per-
stiff Delhi Draughtsmen. I have got a good painter of sonal service. One of these was a lad named Ummee
figures, portraits and groups, but a landscape painter is Chand, who worked for William and was particularly
not indigenous to Hindoostan. I sent James the other favoured because he had once saved William from an
day 40 paintings of figures etc. which I hope he may be attempted assassination. This was described by William in
able to get transmitted to you. Some years hence I shall a long letter sent to James in March 1819. This shortened
see them in Scotland, with recollections that can never version of that letter tells the story, while at the same
leave my heart. time illustrating something of William's way of life:

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 PROCEEDINGS

Fiç. 4: Four tribesmen. Watercolour by an Indian artist, circa 1815-16 (private collection).

My Dearest James sick people who had come for medicine

Being now I may say perfectly recovered, I am on what
ordering my was necessary I walked tow
Dining tent.
return to Dehlee, and just now almost shivering withThe crowd had squeezed behin
separated
cold. I have never given you any particulars me from the two orderli
of the acci-
dent, which you may perhaps like to Ghoorkhas
know. I had who usually attend me. I had a
within 15
gone out at Daybreak after tygers, and returned paces of the ropes of my tents,
about
one in the afternoon, of course fatigued noticed
witha the
man standing about 7 or 8 paces
legs of
distance & heat & exercise, in consequence straddled
which I apart, & his hands resting on
took a cup of tea and slept till 3 - at 4the Elbows
I went sticking out, his left hand hol
to the
Office tent to transact business and hearsword by the
petitions; andscabbard below the hilt. His
sat there until about ten minutes after sunset
and - on immediately struck me as in
attitude
that evening from 4 to 5 hundred people threatening,
were col-but I had not a moment to re
lected, a greater number than usualwhen having been his sword, and poizing it to m
he drew
drawn together to see three tygers which leapedhadtwobeen
paces to my left where the crow
killed - the Office tent is surroundedso by thick.
postsThat
and moment I knew what was to
had
ropes to keep off the crowds which always not even
collect; my a switch in my hand & c
'Orderly'
camp was pitched in a grove of trees near a fine turning
tank my head round to see wh
close to the village. At dusk when thewere,
OfficeI had not time to look at the man again
people
could not see any longer to read, I got my armpassing
up and to defend my head when he struck
on the
through the crowd which was thick-pressed left of
outside side of my head, which laid m
the ropes and posts, I stood a minute toground.
look at I4 however
or 5 heard the blade ring & s

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 THE FRASER COMPANY DRAWINGS

as the loss of sense was only momentary him to come to me, who had just got up & t
I thought
unwounded
immediately to myself 'the blow is a false one, the lay sprawling on his back and m
got up
fellow is a Bungler'. The instant the fellow drew andhisrun away, when a Ghoorka co
sword, the crowd of at least 400 people struck
one and him allon the middle of the nose & cut
across
turned tail, & were scattered out of sight and in two. The poor fellow seemed to b
among
the trees in a moment. Not one attempted waiting the coup Degrace, and got it in a w
to prevent
deprived him
or grapple with the assassin. When I recovered my of life without pain or struggl
sense from the blow, which must have beentimeinI perhaps
was attempting to call out to save him
3 or 4 moments, I raised myself on the might find out
right elbow & who he was or by whom he
observed the fellow standing 4 or 5 pacesto the act, but
in front & I found myself deprived of the
articulation,
retreating backwards but holding his sword preparing although I was in my perfec
for another blow. When he saw me raise When
myselfI found
he the scene was finished I wen
tent to look
advanced immediately and made a cut which at and dress the wound. I could not
I was
fortunate to guard by my right foot, and examine it myself
as the sword nor see it plainly in the glass, and the
had to cut through the sole of the boot I people told little
received me that tho' the Skull had been cut
injury. I thought of myself at this time through
as I hadtheoften
brain did not appear to be injured. After
seen a cock laid by a Blow on his back inletting
the the
pit,wound
with bleed till I felt myself faint I bound
his legs up. The man observing this againit up, made
made mytwo
will and sent for a supply of leeches and
a native
bounds to my left to get to my head or side, to bleed
and struckme. I then took a good dose of salts
and after
a third Blow, but as he was by this time stillanmore
hour went to bed & slept 2 hours. This is
agitated, it missed and wounded methe whole
only onof the
my story - a long one to write, but
which in
fingers of the left hand which I had extended toaction
defenddid not take up I suppose more than
20 seconds.
myself. Failing in this attempt he seemed My articulation is now almost perfect
determined
again.
to get completely to my rear, that is to my I have
head as given
I layup wine tobacco and meat, I am
thereby
on the ground, and went round still more reduced
to my to a moderate & genteel size.
left.
As I could not for weakness & being stunned shew Yours affectionately,
front by turning round on my elbow so quickly as he [William]
maneuvered about, this last effort to get at my head
The irony of this is that William was in fact finally
would have probably been fatal. You must recollect
assassinated, years later, in 1835. He lost his life through
that all this which I have written did not take up more
a grudge borne against him arising out of a disputed case
probably than 10 seconds, that is from the moment
of inheritance. I
The event shook the British inhabitants of
saw the man until he made the 3rd Blow. By this time
Delhi, for whom William had become an established
the Orderlies who had been born away were extri-
presence. James had by this time travelled home via Persia
cated, and Ummeechund a favourite Servant, who had
and was busy publishing his illustrated books and novels.
been holding the inkstand in the office, had just come
His two great pictorial works illustrated views of the
outside. He saw immediately what was going on. He
Himalayas and Calcutta with brilliant aquatints. The
had not even a stick in his hand, but immediately
Company drawings were never published, but they still
throwing down the inkstand, ranstand atasthea recordfellow
of those months that James and William
grasping him in his arms. They were both strong, but
spent together in Delhi and the hills. They were the only
Ummeechund much the tallest. The fellow endeav-
times the two brothers met as adults. The monument in
oured to cut him by striking downwards and back-
the garden where James and William played as children
wards, and just as I had turned full towards them &
still stands as a memorial to the exciting, fragmented, yet
was getting up, they both fell to the ground. One of
ultimately tragic lives that so many Scottish boys experi-
the Orderlies then came up & made two or three cuts
enced during the early days of British India.
at the fellow who seemed aware of his fate, for he let
go his sword. They were however Extracts
such from awkward
manuscript sources quoted in this lecture are from the Fraser
papers, listed by the National Register of Archives, Scotland. A book by
operators that instead of cutting the fellow, one of
Mildred Archer and Toby Falk, giving references and illustrating the
them cut poor Ummeechund across the hand,
Companydrawings &aquatints
and the theof James Baillie Fraser, is being produced
by Calmann
Assassin was unhurt. Strange to tell they and King all
then for Cassell,
left to be published in the spring of 1989.

RSA JOURNAL. DECEMBER 1988 35

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 PROCEEDINGS

DISCUSSION

DR С. WYNN PARRY (Consultant physician): Didhis trip.Fräsers

the He sent the pictures back to his father in 1819, left
Indiaof
commission pictures of any flora and fauna as some in the
1820 and arrived home in 1823, by which time the
earlier Company servants did? aquatints had been published. The Havell organization in
London took care of them; he never saw proofs.
THE LECTURER :The Fräsers did not; they were not of that
DR J.
turn of mind. In earlier years there had been many c. HARLE (formerly Keeper of Eastern Art, Ashmolean
such
pictures commissioned, mostly in Calcutta, whereMuseum,
most Oxford):
of Skinner's irregular troops, the Yellow
Boys, had
the British and all the Establishment were and where a distinctive uniform. Could you tell us more
you
could get things done. There was a botanic gardenabout it?
there,
and Wellesley started a menagerie. They employed
permanent artists who painted flowers and animals,THE LECTURER:
but the There are different variations of the official
Fräsers did not. There is one picture in the Fraser collection
uniform, and there are Fraser pictures of people of different
of a lion, but it is dead. ranks in slightly different uniforms, but the full uniform
always had a crossband with a tigerskin on it, and always
MR CHARLES GREIG (Eyre and Greig Ltd): Is there someanyyellow. There was also quite often a frogged coat. I
record of what happened to James' drawings? cannot be specific about how the yellow was used in the
various ranks, but some of them had completely yellow
THE LECTURER: No, none of his drawings for the coats.
aquatint
In the pictures they appear to be quite a strong
yellow, not a dull shade.
subjects survives. Presumably they went to the publishers
and were lost. Perhaps they were heavily used in the making
LINDA LEACH:
of the aquatints. In his diaries and letters James makes it Skinner was very artistic, and some of his
quite clear that he did several versions of many ofpaintings
these look quite similar to these. Did he share the same
pictures. We have not found them. Some of his artists?
drawingsDid he in fact get either of the brothers started?
survive, but they are of a different nature; there are some
sketches in notebooks of Persia and a few sketches THEof India Yes to the first, no to the second. He
LECTURER:
when he was drawing in Calcutta, but the drawings that
definitely he
employed Ghulam Ali Khan. The pictures of his
would have been proud of appear not to have survived. done by Ghulam
I Ali Khan are inscribed and dated later,
suspect they do exist, but he did not sign them and around
they1827.are
Skinner took on Ghulam Ali Khan and
probably languishing under the name of another artist adopted this
or kind of painting after William's example. In
sitting in some museum basement. other words, William and James were the initiators and
James Skinner, as a friend of theirs, took up the same
THE CHAIRMAN: You mentioned that he was an amateur practice.
artist. Is there any evidence of his receiving professional
training in his youth? MR T. RICHARD BLURTON (Research Assistant, British
Museum, Department of Oriental Antiquities): You
THE LECTURER: He said he had a master called Mrmentioned that the drawings were all sold at auction. Were
Chisholm when he was at school, and he did notany get on by British institutions?
bought
very well. By the time he arrived in India he wished he had
not wasted time at school and had paid more attention THE LECTURER:
to Two that I have shown tonight - one of a
his lessons. He was a completely amateur artist, but of
village scene and another of three rather statuesque people -
course everybody was trained to some extent in drawing were bought in by the India Office Library. That is the only
those days. British institution, to the best of my knowledge, that has
any. The Army Museum has none; they have the Skinner
THE CHAIRMAN: His drawings benefited by being aquatinted pictures by Ghulam Ali Khan.
by Havell, probably the best aquatinter in England at the
time. MR BLURTON: Do you know where the rest of them went?

THE LECTURER: Yes, he was very complimentary about
Havell. One of the Havells in fact came through Calcutta
while James was there, and he evidently got on very well
with him. The finish of those aquatints must be largely due
to Havell. They were published before James got home from
THE LECTURER: That is a very pertinent question. We are
going to illustrate all the Fraser pictures of any significance
in our forthcoming book. We have done a lot of research in
trying to find them, and we now know where ninety per
cent of them are.

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 THE FRASER COMPANY DRAWINGS

THE CHAIRMAN: How many drawings are there THE CHAIRMAN: Having seen such splendid slides, you will
altogether? agree with me that it was a pity that these fine drawings
were dispersed at auction. Nevertheless, we have the
THE LECTURER: It depends where you draw the line, but consolation of knowing that, through the diligent scholarship
over ninety. There are some rougher Company pictures of Toby and Mildred, we shall have a detailed record of
which they possibly bought in sets but did not commission, them in their book. Thank you, Toby, for a fascinating and
so there is some uncertainty about the exact number. memorable contribution to the Birdwood Lectures.

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