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Lot# 928 - 205-209 Auction

  • Lot# : 928 India

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    The Thomas Fiott de Havilland correspondence archive, 308 entire letters, all with full content, written or addressed to Thomas Fiott de Havilland in the period between 1809 to 1841 with emphasis on the years 1809/1810 the Seringapatam mutiny as well as those from the campaign against the Mahratas in 1815/16 in Madras (Chennai). The correspondence comprises letters, to and from his wife Elizabeth ("Eliza") de Sausmarez (1782-1818), with many written in Bangalore and Madras showing oval POST PAID BANGALORE handstamp. further a correspondence to his friend Georg Cadall, Fortress Adjutant in Seringapatam, letters to his fellow officer William Garrard (1778-1836) or James Lilliman Caldwell (1770-1863I, a leading military engineer fan future general as well as incoming mail from London or Guernsey including many ship letters with interesting contents and markings. This archive has to be regarded in general as a unique source of information about the changeful everyday life of the English in Southern India in the early 19th century. Finally it has to be pointed out, that every single letter has been completely transilterated.

    Thomas Fiott de Havilland (1775-1866) was born in Guernsey and joined the service of the British East India Company in 1792 and became Captain in 1806, Major in 1815 and at last Lieutenant-Colonel in 1824. In his younger days he served at the siege of Pondicherry (1793), at the conquest of Ceylon (1796) and the siege of Seringapatam (1799) where he met Arthur Wellesley, better known as Lord Wellington. Serving at Seringapatam in 1809 he participated actively in the well-known mutiny against the Governor of Madras. In consequence he was set under arrest and had to return to England to defend his case. Finally reinstalled he returned to Madras in 1814 and became one of the leading military and civil engineer, in the madras presidency and completed the Saint George's cathedral. In 1825 he retired from the service and returned to Guernsey, where he died in the age of 90.
    Starting bid : 35,000 CHF
    Hammer price : not sold