Hyder Ali and Tipu in the British Novel
'Colonel Fergusson’s absence is unlucky. So is Maxpopple [Sir William Scott of Raeburn, who owned the farm ‘Maxpoffle’] and half a dozen Qui His besides, willing to write chits, eat Tiffing and vent all their pagan jargon when one does not want to hear it and now that I want a touch of their slang, lo! There is not one near me.'
Ferguson provided some written material that Scott, describing it as ‘highly picturesque’, incorporated directly into his novel.
Family, like brother Robert and cousin James Russell, were in the East India Company; his wife Charlotte received about £40,000 annually (today’s value) from her brother in India; his brother Robert died young. His uncle Colonel William Russell of Ashestiel served with both the East India Company and the army in Madras. His cousin James Russell was born in India and served in the Madras Native Cavalry. His brother-in-law Charles Carpenter was a 'commercial resident' at Salem in South India. Many of Scott's childhood neighbours in George Square, Edinburgh, had Indian connections, as did his Border friend and fellow ballad-collector John Leyden.
The Surgeon's Daughter was written between 20 June and 16 September 1827 and published as the third and final tale in Chronicles of the Canongate.
The main story of The Surgeon's Daughter was transmitted to Scott by a regular informant, a Galloway excise officer Joseph Train (1779‒1852). For details of life in India, Scott owned three useful publications: A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan (1775‒78) by Robert Orme; Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape of James Scurry, who was detained a prisoner during ten years, in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoou Saib (1824) and Narrative Sketches of the Conquest of the Mysore, Effected by the British Troops and their Allies, in the Capture of Seringapatam, and the Death of Tippoo Sultaun (1800).
As acknowledged in the 'Magnum Opus' edition of Chronicles of the Canongate (1831), 'The Surgeon's Daughter' was inspired by an anecdote related to Scott one morning by Joseph Train(1779‒1852), Gallowegian excise officer and antiquarian, who also supplied material for Guy Mannering, Old Mortality, and Red Gauntlet. Train's narrative, a version of which he submitted for the 'Magnum Opus' edition, involved an unscrupulous adventurer who tricks a surgeon's daughter into travelling to India so that he might hand her over to an Indian prince. It has not to date been established whether Train's anecdote derives from a true story.
Scott's most significant source, however, was Colonel James Ferguson (1778-1859), the younger brother of one of Scott's closest friends Sir Adam Ferguson. Ferguson returned to Scotland in 1823, after spending twenty-five years in India, and came to live with his two sisters at Huntlyburn on Scott's Abbotsford estate. As he worked on The Surgeon's Daughter, Scott felt increasingly hampered by his lack of first-hand knowledge of Indian life. As he wrote in his Journal (22 August 1827), the tale required 'a small seasoning of curry powder'. He turned to Colonel Ferguson who obliged him with written sketches of Indian manners, ceremony, and protocol and with advice on the Anglo-Indian language. Some of Ferguson's material is reproduced almost verbatim in The Surgeon's Daughter. It is from Ferguson too that Scott derives the punishment of death by an elephant that is inflicted on Richard Middlemass.
The Surgeon's Daughter is set in the mid-to-late 1770s between the First and Second Mysore Wars. It is the story of Menie Gray, daughter of Dr Gideon Gray (who is thought to have been modelled on Scott's own doctor, Ebenezer Clarkson of Selkirk). Menie falls in love with Richard Middlemas, an illegitimate child brought up in the surgeon's household. Richard has been educated in the medical profession, and the couple is betrothed with the blessings of Menie's father. Scorning his prospects as a country doctor, however, Richard leaves Scotland to seek his fortune in India. Here he becomes the paramour of an adventuress Adela Montreville who concocts a plot to lure Menie to India and hand her over to the Vice-Regent of Bangalore, Prince Tippoo Saib (whose passions have been aroused by a picture of the young girl). Bribery and hope of advancement lead Richard to go along with the scheme, and Menie, who has been reduced to poverty following her father's death, answers Richard's call to join her in India as his wife. The hero of the story turns out to be Adam Hartley, a student friend of Richard's and his unsuccessful rival for Menie's hand. Adam secures the help of Hyder Ali, Tippoo Saib's father, who assures Menie's safety and punishes Richard by having him crushed to death by an elephant. Shortly afterwards, Adam contracts a fatal disease leaving Menie as his principal heir. Out of respect for his memory, she remains unmarried.
The Surgeon's Daughter was highly praised by half the reviewers as a powerful narrative, while the others gave it a lukewarm reception at best: the most common complaint was that the events, particularly in the second part set in India, were improbable, and that Scott was out of his element on the subcontinent.
Sir Walter Scott had family and friends who had been or were in India while he was writing his novels: their experience was useful to him for three of his novels: The Surgeon's Daughter; Guy Mannering; and St Ronan's Well.
In 1821, Scott wrote: India is ‘the corn chest for Scotland, where we poor gentry must send our youngest sons as we send our black cattle to the South’. Scott’s novella, A Surgeon’s Daughter, is partly set in India and friends serving there helped with details. One of these was Colonel James Fergusson who, after his return from India, in 1823, had settled at Huntlyburn, a house on Scott’s Abbotsford estate. As he approached the end of The Surgeon’s Daughter and the scene shifted from Britain to India, Scott felt he needed Fergusson’s help:
‘I cannot go on with the tale without I could speak a little Hindhanee, a small seasoning of curry powder — Fergusson will do it if I can screw it out of him'.
The problem was that Fergusson was not always there when wanted:
In 1821, Scott wrote: India is ‘the corn chest for Scotland, where we poor gentry must send our youngest sons as we send our black cattle to the South’. Scott’s novella, A Surgeon’s Daughter, is partly set in India and friends serving there helped with details. One of these was Colonel James Fergusson who, after his return from India, in 1823, had settled at Huntlyburn, a house on Scott’s Abbotsford estate. As he approached the end of The Surgeon’s Daughter and the scene shifted from Britain to India, Scott felt he needed Fergusson’s help:
‘I cannot go on with the tale without I could speak a little Hindhanee, a small seasoning of curry powder — Fergusson will do it if I can screw it out of him'.
The problem was that Fergusson was not always there when wanted:
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| Walter Scott |
Ferguson provided some written material that Scott, describing it as ‘highly picturesque’, incorporated directly into his novel.
Family, like brother Robert and cousin James Russell, were in the East India Company; his wife Charlotte received about £40,000 annually (today’s value) from her brother in India; his brother Robert died young. His uncle Colonel William Russell of Ashestiel served with both the East India Company and the army in Madras. His cousin James Russell was born in India and served in the Madras Native Cavalry. His brother-in-law Charles Carpenter was a 'commercial resident' at Salem in South India. Many of Scott's childhood neighbours in George Square, Edinburgh, had Indian connections, as did his Border friend and fellow ballad-collector John Leyden.
Walter helped his nephew to an Indian position – but discouraged his sons. His eldest son, Walter Scott (1801-1847) fulfilled Scott’s military ambitions by becoming an accomplished soldier. Scott purchased his son a commission and he joined the army, initially as Cornet before being promoted to Captain and Lieutenant Colonel of the 15th King’s Hussars. He married Jane Jobson in 1825. Walter went to Madras only after his father’s death and died en route home. By the time of his death in 1847, there was no issue, and the Abbotsford estate passed to his eldest sister’s children.
When his other son Charles was offered a place as a lawyer in India, Scott promptly had the offer postponed and ensured that Charles never went, and when the daughters of his dead friend William Erskine planned to go to India, Scott offered only reluctant approval because he could not see any other path for them. Evidently, the experience of so many deaths amongst those he had sponsored to go there had cooled his enthusiasm for India as a place of opportunity.
Typical of Scott’s personal engagement with India include his active involvement in finding friends, the sons of friends and clients' places in India and then promoting their careers with letters to the governing powers. In addition to his nephew (another Walter Scott), he helped his cousin, Patrick Meik, John Leyden, the son of neighbours in the Borders, and the two sons of the poet Allan Cunningham. Amongst gifts of Indian origin, he received from David MacCulloch, formerly a merchant in Bengal, a sword that was claimed to be that of Tipu Sultan. Sadly, his letters also record the deaths in India of Richard Lockhart, his son-in-law’s brother, and of the brothers Hugh and John Scott (sons of Francis Scott of Beechwood and his distant cousins) who died in India within a month of each other, as well as the death on his way back from India of the eldest son of his friend William Adam of Blairadam. Given all this, it is perhaps not surprising that Scott had mixed feelings about India as a destination for Scotland’s sons (and daughters). When his elder son, Walter, hoped to go to India with his regiment Scott opposed it resolutely:
'in the Kings service […] you can get neither experience in your profession nor credit nor wealth nor anything but an obscure death in storming the hill fort of some Rajah with an unpronounceable name […] or if you live it is but to come back 20 years hence a lieutenant or captain with a yellow face a diseased liver and not a rupee in your pocket to comfort you for broken health.'
When his other son Charles was offered a place as a lawyer in India, Scott promptly had the offer postponed and ensured that Charles never went, and when the daughters of his dead friend William Erskine planned to go to India, Scott offered only reluctant approval because he could not see any other path for them. Evidently, the experience of so many deaths amongst those he had sponsored to go there had cooled his enthusiasm for India as a place of opportunity.
Typical of Scott’s personal engagement with India include his active involvement in finding friends, the sons of friends and clients' places in India and then promoting their careers with letters to the governing powers. In addition to his nephew (another Walter Scott), he helped his cousin, Patrick Meik, John Leyden, the son of neighbours in the Borders, and the two sons of the poet Allan Cunningham. Amongst gifts of Indian origin, he received from David MacCulloch, formerly a merchant in Bengal, a sword that was claimed to be that of Tipu Sultan. Sadly, his letters also record the deaths in India of Richard Lockhart, his son-in-law’s brother, and of the brothers Hugh and John Scott (sons of Francis Scott of Beechwood and his distant cousins) who died in India within a month of each other, as well as the death on his way back from India of the eldest son of his friend William Adam of Blairadam. Given all this, it is perhaps not surprising that Scott had mixed feelings about India as a destination for Scotland’s sons (and daughters). When his elder son, Walter, hoped to go to India with his regiment Scott opposed it resolutely:
'in the Kings service […] you can get neither experience in your profession nor credit nor wealth nor anything but an obscure death in storming the hill fort of some Rajah with an unpronounceable name […] or if you live it is but to come back 20 years hence a lieutenant or captain with a yellow face a diseased liver and not a rupee in your pocket to comfort you for broken health.'
The Surgeon's Daughter was written between 20 June and 16 September 1827 and published as the third and final tale in Chronicles of the Canongate.
The main story of The Surgeon's Daughter was transmitted to Scott by a regular informant, a Galloway excise officer Joseph Train (1779‒1852). For details of life in India, Scott owned three useful publications: A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan (1775‒78) by Robert Orme; Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape of James Scurry, who was detained a prisoner during ten years, in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoou Saib (1824) and Narrative Sketches of the Conquest of the Mysore, Effected by the British Troops and their Allies, in the Capture of Seringapatam, and the Death of Tippoo Sultaun (1800).
While he was composing the novel, Scott realised that he needed more information about India than these books provided, so he enlisted the help of James Ferguson (1778‒1859), who had served with the East India Company, and who furnished him with a set of sketches of Indian life and manners that proved very helpful: they are sometimes quoted almost verbatim.
As acknowledged in the 'Magnum Opus' edition of Chronicles of the Canongate (1831), 'The Surgeon's Daughter' was inspired by an anecdote related to Scott one morning by Joseph Train(1779‒1852), Gallowegian excise officer and antiquarian, who also supplied material for Guy Mannering, Old Mortality, and Red Gauntlet. Train's narrative, a version of which he submitted for the 'Magnum Opus' edition, involved an unscrupulous adventurer who tricks a surgeon's daughter into travelling to India so that he might hand her over to an Indian prince. It has not to date been established whether Train's anecdote derives from a true story.
Scott's most significant source, however, was Colonel James Ferguson (1778-1859), the younger brother of one of Scott's closest friends Sir Adam Ferguson. Ferguson returned to Scotland in 1823, after spending twenty-five years in India, and came to live with his two sisters at Huntlyburn on Scott's Abbotsford estate. As he worked on The Surgeon's Daughter, Scott felt increasingly hampered by his lack of first-hand knowledge of Indian life. As he wrote in his Journal (22 August 1827), the tale required 'a small seasoning of curry powder'. He turned to Colonel Ferguson who obliged him with written sketches of Indian manners, ceremony, and protocol and with advice on the Anglo-Indian language. Some of Ferguson's material is reproduced almost verbatim in The Surgeon's Daughter. It is from Ferguson too that Scott derives the punishment of death by an elephant that is inflicted on Richard Middlemass.
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| Hyderali as pretended fakir |
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| Robert Orme |
Robert Orme, on whose Indian history Scott depended, was the son of Dr Alexander Orme, Surgeon at Anjengo (Anchuthengu) British factory in Travancore. Robert Orme, born in Anchthengu, and lived there for two years, became an authority on India. Alexander Orme was the brother in law of the first Tellicherry (Thalassery ) British fort Chief from 1703 to 1728, Robert Adams. Surgeon Alexander became the political agent at Anjengo after the Attingal massacre in 1721.
There is a surgeon after all.
Robert Orme ( 1728-1801 ) was a historian admired in his time, inspiring writers, Thomas Macaulay and William Makepeace Thackeray too. But he was later ignored by historians from James Mill onwards. His work, History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from 1745, laid the foundation for all the future historical works on India. He was born on Christmas day in 1728, as the second son of the Chief of the English East India Company Factory there, Dr Alexander Orme, and Lady Hill. Lady Hill was the sister of the wife of Robert Adams, Chief of Tellicherry factory. Alexander had replaced the notorious Chief, William Gyfford, who was killed by the Attingal Pillai Brigade along with 132 Britishers, in 1721, on the premises of the Attingal palace, and the corrupt Midford, who followed, Gyfford.
Dr Alexander was a surgeon in the service of the Company, at Anchuthengu Factory, in 1707. Robert Orme was sent to London, only to come back to India in later years.
Robert was sent to his aunt, Mrs Robert Adams, when he was two; he studied at Harrow School during 1734-1741, under Dr James Cox. He spent a year at the Accountant General's office of the Royal African Company, before joining the mercantile house of Jackson and Wedderburn at Calcutta in 1742 and entering the East India Company's service as a Writer, in 1743. His elder brother, William was already a Writer at the Company's Calcutta office. Robert Orme gained deep knowledge of Indian customs. He considered Indians generally and Bengalis especially, effeminate, and attributed the climatic conditions to the character. In the 1761 article, The Effeminacy of the Inhabitants of Indostan, he wrote: Breathing in the softness of the climates, having few real wants; and receiving even the luxuries of other nations with little labour, from the fertility of their own soil, the Indian must become the most effeminate inhabitant of the globe, and this is the very point at which we now see him.
He was appointed member of the Council of Fort St George at Madras, from 1754 to 1758. During that period, he took part in the Council deliberations on the Carnatic operations and was instrumental in sending the Young Robert Clive, as Head of the punitive expedition, against Siraj-ud-Dowlah, in 1757, to Calcutta, in the aftermath of the infamous Black Hole incident of Calcutta in 1756.
Dr Alexander was a surgeon in the service of the Company, at Anchuthengu Factory, in 1707. Robert Orme was sent to London, only to come back to India in later years.
Robert was sent to his aunt, Mrs Robert Adams, when he was two; he studied at Harrow School during 1734-1741, under Dr James Cox. He spent a year at the Accountant General's office of the Royal African Company, before joining the mercantile house of Jackson and Wedderburn at Calcutta in 1742 and entering the East India Company's service as a Writer, in 1743. His elder brother, William was already a Writer at the Company's Calcutta office. Robert Orme gained deep knowledge of Indian customs. He considered Indians generally and Bengalis especially, effeminate, and attributed the climatic conditions to the character. In the 1761 article, The Effeminacy of the Inhabitants of Indostan, he wrote: Breathing in the softness of the climates, having few real wants; and receiving even the luxuries of other nations with little labour, from the fertility of their own soil, the Indian must become the most effeminate inhabitant of the globe, and this is the very point at which we now see him.
He was appointed member of the Council of Fort St George at Madras, from 1754 to 1758. During that period, he took part in the Council deliberations on the Carnatic operations and was instrumental in sending the Young Robert Clive, as Head of the punitive expedition, against Siraj-ud-Dowlah, in 1757, to Calcutta, in the aftermath of the infamous Black Hole incident of Calcutta in 1756.
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| Anjengo Fort |
He was the Accountant General during 1757-58, made a small fortune and returned to England in 1759.
He bought a house in Harley Street, London, and spent his time writing. History of the Military Transactions was published in three volumes in 1763-78 and, Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, the Morattoes and English Concerns in Industan from 1659, was published in 1782. From 1769, till his death, he was the paid Historiographer of the East India Company. It was on the strength of his Military History, that he was appointed the Historiographer, and the military encounters of the British came through the writings of Robert Orme. It formed the foundation for many other works on India. Walter Scott had read the book in his youth and he relied heavily upon Robert for his novels, including, The Surgeon's Daughter, based in India. The Newcomes of Thackeray invokes Robert frequently.
He bought a house in Harley Street, London, and spent his time writing. History of the Military Transactions was published in three volumes in 1763-78 and, Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, the Morattoes and English Concerns in Industan from 1659, was published in 1782. From 1769, till his death, he was the paid Historiographer of the East India Company. It was on the strength of his Military History, that he was appointed the Historiographer, and the military encounters of the British came through the writings of Robert Orme. It formed the foundation for many other works on India. Walter Scott had read the book in his youth and he relied heavily upon Robert for his novels, including, The Surgeon's Daughter, based in India. The Newcomes of Thackeray invokes Robert frequently.
The Chief in Tellicherry, Robert Adams had married Alexander's sister. Adams was believed by Alexander Hamilton to have made considerable sums in private trade during his time in India. This allowed him to retire to live in Cavendish Square, one of the grandest addresses in London at that time, having been developed by the 2nd Earl of Oxford and John Prince starting in 1717. He died in 1738.
Much of the money that Adams had made during his time in India is believed to have come from making loans of Tellicherry Factory funds to the Zamorin, who used it to fund his wars with the Dutch from Cochin and especially those at Chetwai (Chettuva).
These loans had not been sanctioned by the Board of Directors of the East India Company, and Robert Adams found himself in some difficulty when the Zamorin later defaulted on many of the repayments. Adams made a journey to Calicut in order to try to recover the money.
The EIC authorities fearful that he might abscond, placed his wife (sister to Alexander Orme at Anjengo.) under restraint at Tellicherry to prevent them both from running away. However after a while, she was able to board the Decker, a vessel bound for Fort St. George, Madras, and in this vessel, she collected her husband at Calicut.
Much of the money that Adams had made during his time in India is believed to have come from making loans of Tellicherry Factory funds to the Zamorin, who used it to fund his wars with the Dutch from Cochin and especially those at Chetwai (Chettuva).
These loans had not been sanctioned by the Board of Directors of the East India Company, and Robert Adams found himself in some difficulty when the Zamorin later defaulted on many of the repayments. Adams made a journey to Calicut in order to try to recover the money.
The EIC authorities fearful that he might abscond, placed his wife (sister to Alexander Orme at Anjengo.) under restraint at Tellicherry to prevent them both from running away. However after a while, she was able to board the Decker, a vessel bound for Fort St. George, Madras, and in this vessel, she collected her husband at Calicut.
© Ramachandran
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