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Cambridge University Press978-1-107-01509-8 - Subaltern Lives: Biographies of Colonialism in the Indian Ocean World, 1790–1920Clare AndersonFrontmatterMore information

Subaltern Lives

Subaltern Lives uses biographical fragments of the lives of convicts, cap-tives, sailors, slaves, indentured labourers and indigenous peoples tobuild a fascinating new picture of colonial life in the nineteenth-centuryIndian Ocean. Moving between India, Africa, Mauritius, Burma,Singapore, Ceylon, the Andaman Islands and the Australian colonies,Clare Anderson offers fresh readings of the nature and significance of‘networked’ Empire. She reveals the importance of penal transporta-tion for colonial expansion and sheds new light on convict experiencesof penal settlements and colonies, as well as the relationship betweenconvictism, punishment and colonial labour regimes. The book alsoexplores the nature of colonial society during this period and embedssubaltern biographies into key events like the abolition of slavery, theAnglo-Sikh Wars and the Indian Revolt of 1857. This is an importantnew perspective on British colonialism which also opens up new possi-bilities for the writing of history itself.

clare anderson is Professor of History at the University ofLeicester. She is currently developing comparative work on Europeanpenal colonies, on the interface between ‘academic’ and ‘family’ history,and the relationship between history, sociology and anthropology.

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Critical Perspectives on Empire

Editors

Professor Catherine HallUniversity College London

Professor Mrinalini SinhaPennsylvania State University

Professor Kathleen WilsonState University of New York, Stony Brook

Critical Perspectives on Empire is a major series of ambitious, cross-disciplinaryworks in the emerging field of critical imperial studies. Books in the series explorethe connections, exchanges and mediations at the heart of national and globalhistories, the contributions of local as well as metropolitan knowledge, and theflows of people, ideas and identities facilitated by colonial contact. To that end,the series not only offers a space for outstanding scholars working at the inter-section of several disciplines to bring to wider attention the impact of their work;it also takes a leading role in reconfiguring contemporary historical and criticalknowledge, of the past and of ourselves.

A full list of titles published in the series can be found at:

www.cambridge.org/cpempire






Subaltern LivesBiographies of Colonialism in the Indian OceanWorld, 1790–1920

Clare Anderson






cambr idge university pressCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City

Cambridge University PressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press,New York

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107645448

C© Clare Anderson 2012

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place without the writtenpermission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2012

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication dataAnderson, Clare, 1969–Subaltern lives : biographies of colonialism in the Indian Ocean world,1790–1920 / Clare Anderson.

pages cm. – (Critical perspectives on empire)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-1-107-01509-8 – ISBN 978-1-107-64544-8 (pbk.)1. Marginality, Social – Indian Ocean – History. 2. Marginality, Social –Oceania – History. 3. Great Britain – Colonies – History. I. Title.HN683.5.A654 2012365′.34 – dc23 [B] 2011049192

ISBN 978-1-107-01509-8 HardbackISBN 978-1-107-64544-8 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence oraccuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred toin this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on suchwebsites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.






Contents

List of illustrations page viAcknowledgements viiiList of abbreviations xiMaps xii

1 Introduction 1

2 Dullah 23

3 George Morgan 56

4 Narain Sing 93

5 Liaquat Ali and Amelia Bennett 124

6 Edwin Forbes 157

7 Conclusion 187

Bibliography 196Index 210

v






Illustrations

2.1 Fort Cornwallis, Andaman Islands, Indian Ocean, c. 1790.Watercolour by Robert Hyde Colebrooke. Rex Nan KivellCollection, NK170. National Library of Australia. page 24

2.2 Chetoo, an incorrigible convict of the fifth class, in J.F.A.McNair, Prisoners Their Own Warders: A Record of the ConvictPrison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements Established 1825,Discontinued 1873, Together with a Cursory History of theConvict Establishments at Bencoolen, Penang and Malacca fromthe Year 1797 (London: Archibald Constable and Co., 1899). 31

2.3 ‘Grande Riviere’, in T. Bradshaw, Views in the Mauritius, orIsle of France, drawn from nature (London: James Carpenterand Son, 1832). 38

3.1 ‘Jump Jim Crow’. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester,Massachusetts, USA/The Bridgeman Art Library. 62

3.2 Constance Trudgett. Edward Dukyer papers, NationalLibrary of Australia, MS9061/3/1. 79

3.3 Original Huts for Convicts, Singapore, in J.F.A. McNair,Prisoners Their Own Warders: A Record of the Convict Prison atSingapore in the Straits Settlements Established 1825,Discontinued 1873, Together with a Cursory History of theConvict Establishments at Bencoolen, Penang and Malacca fromthe Year 1797 (London: Archibald Constable and Co., 1899). 80

3.4 Victor Danvin, Groupe de convicts dans un defrichement(Group of convicts in a clearing), Tasmania, 1837. AllportLibrary and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmanian Archive andHeritage Office. 85

4.1 ‘Convict artist’ S.R. Taylor, Settlement scene showing partof Obo and the Ataran from Moulmein, Burma, c. 1853.4759148, National Library of Australia. 105

4.2 Bhai Maharaj Singh Memorial, Silat Road, Singapore.Author’s photograph. 111

5.1 Liaquat Ali, c. 1875. Author’s collection. 128

vi






List of illustrations vii

5.2 Landing Place. Andaman Islands. X Spot where Lord Mayo,Gov. General was murdered. Unknown photographer,albumen print, 1870s. 95.0004–00046, Alkazi Collection ofPhotography, New Delhi. 131

5.3 Amelia Bennett as a child, with her siblings, c. 1855. By kindpermission of Janet Chapman, Lucy Kallebring and JuneWilmshurst. 134

5.4 Amelia Bennett as a young woman, c. 1870. By kindpermission of Janet Chapman, Lucy Kallebring and JuneWilmshurst. 135

6.1 European sailors of the Indian Navy, Breaching the DelhiGate, 1858. PAD5908, C© National Maritime Museum,Greenwich. 162

6.2 Andaman Islands: North end of Port Blair, with the firstbuilding erected there, a hospital, 1857. Unknownphotographer, albumen print. 96.39.0054, Alkazi Collectionof Photography, New Delhi. 164

6.3 Andaman Islands: Foreground – Chatham Island;background – Ross Island; on the right – AberdeenSettlement. Mr. Nicholson of the Survey Dept. who came todetermine the longitude. Unknown photographer, albumenprint. 96.39.0056, Alkazi Collection of Photography, NewDelhi. 165

6.4 Andamans Jack, photographed by Oscar Mallitte, 1858. TheRoyal Collection C© 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 174






Acknowledgements

Subaltern Lives has emerged out of fragments collected in archives inBritain and overseas for almost two decades. I owe an enormous debt ofgratitude to the following organisations for supporting my research dur-ing this period: the British Academy, the British Association for South-East Asian Studies in the UK, the Carnegie Trust for the Universitiesof Scotland, and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC;award no. R000271268). I had the great privilege of holding the inaugu-ral Sackler-Caird Senior Research Fellowship at the National MaritimeMuseum during 2007–9, which gave me the time and space to gather mymaterial together and write this book. I am hugely grateful to the cura-torial and research staff at the museum, especially Margaret Lincoln, JohnMcAleer and Nigel Rigby, and I hope that the museum will be pleasedwith the outcome. I would also like to note that the material in Chapter 6forms part of a larger, collaborative ESRC project called ‘IntegratedHistories of the Andamans’ (award no. RES-000–22-3484).

I would like to thank the many archivists, librarians and counter staffwith whom I have had the pleasure to work over the years. These includecolleagues in the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections and ManuscriptRoom in the British Library; Caird Library, National Maritime Museum,Greenwich; Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge;Department of Manuscripts, University of Cambridge Library; NationalLibrary of Scotland; The National Archives, Kew; National Archives ofMauritius; National Library of Mauritius; National Archives of India;Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Duke Univer-sity; Royal Archives, Windsor Castle; Tamil Nadu State Archives; StateLibrary of Tasmania; and the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.

It would be impossible to name the many scholars who have influencedmy work over the years, across and between the disciplines of history,historical geography and postcolonial studies. However, I would like tobegin by thanking my immensely supportive colleagues in the Schoolof Historical Studies at the University of Leicester, as well as in theDepartment of Sociology, University of Warwick. At Warwick, a special

viii






Acknowledgements ix

note of gratitude also to those engaged in the activities of the GlobalHistory and Culture Centre, Institute of Advanced Studies, and WarwickSouth Asia Group, especially David Arnold whose pioneering work insubaltern studies has underpinned much of what I (and many others)do. I would also like to thank my Andamans project co-investigators,Madhumita Mazumdar and Vishvajit Pandya. It has been a pleasure andan honour to work with such supportive and accomplished scholars. Ihope that it will be evident in the book that I am indebted to the familyhistorians and community groups who in various ways have worked withme too. They include: Theresa Brown (Penobscot County GenealogicalSociety), Margaret Makepeace (British Library), the Maulvi Liyaquat AliMemorial Society, Lionel Conroy, Doug Fanthome and especially JuneWilmshurst.

I have presented draft chapters of this book at a number ofseminars, workshops and conferences. I am especially grateful forcomments received at the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh; British Asso-ciation of South Asian Studies annual conferences; National MaritimeMuseum; Oceanic Circulations conference, University of Technology,Sydney; Escape conference, University of Tasmania; Reconfiguring theBritish: Nation, Empire, World seminar, Institute of Historical Research,London; Subaltern Biographies workshop, University of Warwick;Transnational History seminar at the University of Oxford; and the Uni-versity of York (UK)’s History seminar. Richard B. Allen, GurminderK. Bhambra, Abdul Momin Chowdhury, Lucy Frost, Devleena Ghosh,Durba Ghosh, Sophie Gordon, Nile Green, Kevin Greenbank, Joannade Groot, Sumit Guha, Catherine Hall, David Hardiman, Sarah Hodges,Sally Horrocks, Zoe Laidlaw, Gerard McCann, Di Paton, Adele Perry,Anoma Pieris, Cassandra Pybus, Deborah Sutton, Kerry Ward and JonWilson have helped me greatly in various ways. James Bradley, AntoinetteBurton, Clive Dewey, Ian Duffield and Kirsty Reid were kind enough toread drafts of this manuscript, and I thank them for their stimulatingcomments and suggestions.

At Cambridge University Press, I am enormously grateful to com-missioning editor Michael Watson, as well as the Critical Perspectives onEmpire series editors, themselves such inspiring historians and writers,Catherine Hall, Mrinalini Sinha and Kathleen Wilson. Heartfelt thanksalso to the anonymous readers of the manuscript. I hope that I havedone justice to their insightful comments in tightening up my arguments.Thanks to my copy-editor, Joanna Pyke.

An earlier version of Chapter 3 appeared as ‘Weel about and turn aboutand do jis so, Eb’ry time I weel about and jump Jim Crow: Dancing onthe Margins of the Indian Ocean’, in Sameetah Agha and Elizabeth






x Acknowledgements

Kolsky (eds.), Fringes of Empire: Peoples, Places, and Spaces in Colo-nial India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007). Chapter 4 waspublished previously as ‘The Transportation of Narain Sing: Punish-ment, Honour and Identity from the Anglo-Sikh Wars to the GreatRevolt’, Modern Asian Studies 44, 5 (2010), 1115–45. Extracts of Chap-ter 6 appeared in an exploration of the role of the kidnap and confine-ment of indigenous peoples during early surveys and colonisation of theAndamans: ‘Colonization, Kidnap and Confinement in the AndamansPenal Colony, 1771–1864’, Journal of Historical Geography 37, 1 (2011),68–81. I thank the editors and publishers of each of these publicationsfor permission to reproduce material here.

Most of all, I thank Sam, for his support of my research and writ-ing (and many other things besides) – always with enormous generosityand good humour. Our sons Hugh and James have brought a wholenew dimension to both our lives. I am also hugely grateful to my mum,Madeleine Anderson, who has come to our domestic rescue on numer-ous occasions. Without her, quite simply, I would not have been able towrite this book. Thank you.

Subaltern Lives is dedicated to the memory of my father, RowellAnderson (1927–2008). It is bittersweet, indeed, that he did not liveto see it in print.






Abbreviations

BJC Bengal judicial consultationsBL British LibraryBomJC Bombay judicial consultationsCSAS Centre of South Asian Studies, University of CambridgeHJailsP Home jails proceedingsHJP Home judicial proceedingsHPBP Home Port Blair proceedingsHPC Home political consultationsIFC India foreign consultationsIFP India foreign proceedingsIJP India judicial proceedingsIOR India Office Records, British LibraryIPC India public consultationsIPP India public proceedingsISC India secret consultationsMJC Madras judicial consultationsMJP Madras judicial proceedingsNAI National Archives of IndiaNAM National Archives of MauritiusNWPJP North-Western Provinces judicial proceedingsTAHO Tasmanian Archives and Heritage OfficeTNA The National Archives, United KingdomTNSA Tamil Nadu State Archives

xi






0 1000 400030002000 5000 km

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 miles

PortLouis

Souillac

Grand River

WESTERNAUSTRALIA

A U S T R A L I A

VAN DIEMEN’SLAND

MAURITIUS

Mauritius

Aden

Seychelles DiegoGarcia

I N D I A

KandySRI LANKA

SOUTHEAST ASIA

I N D I A N O C E A N

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

Cape Town

RobbenIsland

NorfolkIsland

Sydney

Melbourne

Madagascar

Colombo

MoretonBay

Map 1 The Indian Ocean






0 250 1000750500 1250 km

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 miles

Madras

Bombay

Calcutta

PatnaAllahabad

LucknowAgra

Lahore

Multan

Cawnpore

I N D I A

Map 2 British India






0 500 12501000750250 1500 km

0 250 750500 1000 miles

Kandy

SRI LANKAColombo

AndamanIslands

I N D I A

B U R M A

STRAITSSETTLEMENTS

Bencoolen

Rangoon Moulmein

Akyab

Mergui

Penang

MalaccaSingapore

ARAK

AN

TEN

ASSE

RI M

B a y o f B e n g a l

I N D I A N O C E A N

Map 3 Southeast Asia






0 50 150100 200 km

0 25 50 75 100 125 miles

VAN DIEMEN’S LAND

Launceston

Port Arthur

Hobart

CampbellTown

Macquarie Harbour

Map 4 Van Diemen’s Land






0 200 400 600 800 km

0 200100 300 400 500 miles

ANDAMAN

ISLANDS

NorthAndaman

MiddleAndaman

SouthAndaman

SouthAndaman

Port Blair

RossIsland

Chatham Island

Viper Island PortBlair

Map 5 Andaman Islands: South Andaman






0 200100 300 km

0 10050 150 miles

New York

Boston

Dixmont

MAINE

C A N A D A

U N I T E D

S T A T E S

Map 6 East Coast, North America









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Subaltern Lives - Cambridge University Pressassets.cambridge.org/97811070/15098/frontmatter/... · build a fascinating new picture of colonial life in the nineteenth-century Indian