A sale of English-beauties, in the East Indies'
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I hope you enjoyed reading, as did I, Unheard Melodies‘ post of 7 December on Kensal Rise Cemetery, The Decent Inn of Death. Anyone
who was anyone in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries was buried in
great style. In Britain we have Kensal Rise, Highgate and Glasgow; in
Paris they have Père Lachaise, all destinations in their own right to
those who value ‘The Pleasures of Melancholy‘, as Thomas Warton Jr wrote in 1745:
But the most atmospheric necropolis, or city of the dead, of them all is surely Park Street Cemetery in Calcutta. This cemetery, which by the 1980s was in the middle of ‘downtown’ Calcutta, is a warning to city planners everywhere – when it was built in the 1700s it was sited at the far southern end of town, and called Burial Ground Road, but the city centre moved inexorably south, turning the cemetery into a landmark of midtown Calcutta (on a street now renamed Mother Teresa Sarani), which has been allowed to remain a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city.
At least it seems peaceful in relation to the surrounding traffic. But I invite you to listen to the sounds as you follow this 53 second video of Park Street Cemetery. Apart from the ubiquitous crows, and a distant peacock, at 0.13 seconds you can hear the koel, or brain-fever bird, said to have driven generations of English women mad as they listened to the rising crescendo in the pre-monsoon heat, waiting for a climax to the song and a downpour that seemed as if it would never arrive. (And yes, I do speak from personal experience, though I seem to have more or less recovered my sanity!)
I spent a good deal of time in the cemetery in the late 1980s, photographing the graves to form part of the record being compiled by Maurice Shellim for BACSA (the British Association for the Preservation of Cemeteries in South Asia), of which Robert and I are life members. As any photographer knows, in the tropics the best time for photography is in the early morning or just before dusk. It is also the time favoured by the formidable mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects of the region, as I can attest (One must suffer for one’s art of course, this I knew). Luckily for me, this only resulted in two bouts of dengue fever: the residents of the cemetery were not so lucky, in fact their life expectancy once arriving in Calcutta was said to be ‘two monsoons’
The two best known occupants are probably Sir William Jones and Rose Aylmer. Sir William Jones, the founder of the Asiatic Society, was a man of great distinction – a fact of which few were more aware than he himself. His obelisk tomb is the tallest in Calcutta, now unfortunately painted white. But the epitaph waxes lyrical about his great humility, summing up:
Rose Aylmer, the object of Walter Savage Landor‘s elegaic poem, was said rather tartly by locals to have died from a surfeit of pineapples:
like many unmarried girls just beginning to be past it, arrived in Calcutta on ‘the fishing fleet’. She died before knowing whether she would have to join the sad troupe of the ‘returning empties’.
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Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British Empire: North America: Lower Canada
Matthew Aylmer was born in 1775 the eldest of 5 children of Henry Aylmer, 4th Lord Aylmer, and Catherine Whitworth. The Irish title was created in 1718, Baron of Balrath, County Meath. Aylmer never held an English title. He was a competent soldier, being praised for his conduct at Egmont-op-Zee by the CO of the 49th Foot, Isaac Brock, and receiving the Army Gold Cross after attending most of the battles in the Peninsular War. His time as Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada was a bitter disappointment to him. He started with little experience of the job but great enthusiasm. He was determined to avoid the accusation of showing favoritism to the English and made an effort to treat French and English with equal fairness, but he was distrusted by the French, and the Legislature made life difficult for him. The Assembly passed 92 resolutions of grievance and demanded that the British government re-call him. He was ordered back to England the following year and two years later rebellion broke out. Whilst in office he supported his wife, Louisa, in her work during the Cholera epidemic of 1831-2, helping the sick and their dependants. She also took a great interest in education, visiting schools and bestowing prizes on the children.
1775 Born on 24th May
1787 Inherited title of 5th Baron Aylmer
1787 Ensign 49th Foot at the age of 12
1791 Lieutenant
1798 Taken prisoner for 6 months after abortive raid on Ostend
1799 Distinguished himself at Egmont-op-Zee
1800 Major 85th Foot
1801 Married Louisa Anne Call, 4th Aug. No children.
1802 Lieutenant-Colonel on half-pay
1803 Transferred to Coldstream Guards
1810 Colonel. ADC to the King up to 1812
1813 Major General. Brigade commander, present at most battles of the Peninsular War
1814 Adjutant General in Ireland up to 1823
1815 KCB 2nd Jan, Knighted 6th June
1823 Travelled in Switzerland and Italy for 7 years
1825 Lieutenant General
1825 Changed name to Whitworth-Aylmer on death of uncle, The Earl of Whitworth
1827 Appointed Colonel of 56th Foot, 29th Oct.
1830 Commander of British Forces in North America and Governor General
1831 Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada
1832 Appointed Colonel of 18th Royal Irish Regiment, 23rd July.
1834 Assembly of Lower Canada demand his re-call
1835 Re-called to England
1845 Promoted to General
1850 Died in Eaton Square, Belgravia on 23rd Feb
Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer - Wikipedia, the free ...
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Rose Aylmer--
was she a courtesan ?NO CHANCE
just came along with courtesans? ON THE FISHING FLEET
DID SHE GET AUCTIONED ALONG WITH OTHER COURTESANS(PROSTITUTES)-
NO- BECAUSE THE MONEY SPEND ON THE MONUMENT SHOWS IT-
THAT THE PEOPLE LOVED HER ,THOUGH SHE WAS JUST 20 AND NOT MARRIED TO ANY HEAVIES-"NABOBS" OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
by James Gillray, published by William Holland
hand-coloured etching and aquatint, published 16 May 1786
hand-coloured etching and aquatint, published 16 May 1786
CAN SEE PURCHASERS INSPECTING TOP (L) BOTTOM(R)
.jpg&docid=Ja4zXqWiVGfmNM&tbnid=zBDw9PqQLDvrTM&vet=12ahUKEwiv5NfNlfSFAxUK4zQHHQZbDCAQM3oECGUQAA..i&w=309&h=240&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwiv5NfNlfSFAxUK4zQHHQZbDCAQM3oECGUQAA)
.jpg){kind=small}
-
Object type
Museum number
1851,0901.295
-
Title (object)
- A sale of English-beauties, in the East Indies
-
Description
A ship-load of English courtesans has just arrived in Calcutta and is being sold by a thin and foppish auctioneer who stands on the extreme left on an improvised rostrum. The women are being inspected by Englishmen and orientals whose appearance is more Turkish than Indian. The central figure is a woman who gives her right hand to an Indian, at whom she looks languishingly, her left to a stout Englishman, over whose head a little black boy holds a tall umbrella. Papers projecting from his pocket are inscribed 'Instructions for the Governor General'. A stout oriental smoking a long pipe holds up the petticoats of a woman in back view who puts her hand on the shoulder of an elderly man wearing a jewelled turban, turning aside from a young military officer. The middle distance is crowded with figures; an enormously fat woman (right) is being weighed in a scale opposite a barrel inscribed 'Lack of Rupees' which she slightly outweighs. On the right is the side of a high warehouse into the door of which a number of weeping women are crowding. Over the door is inscribed, 'Warehouse for unsaleable Goods from Europe NB: To be return'd by the next Ship'.More
Behind are the masts of a ship with furled sails.
In the foreground is a row of seven casks all inscribed 'Leake's Pills'; on them is a box inscribed 'Surgeons Instruments'. The auctioneer stands on a case inscribed 'British-Manufacture' and decorated with crossed birch-rods. Beside it is a smaller case supposed to contain books and inscribed 'For the Amusement of Military Gentlemen. Crazy Tales'; 'Pucelle'; 'Birchini's Dance'; 'Elements of Nature'; 'Female Flagellants Fanny Hill'; 'Sopha'; 'Moral Tales'. The auctioneer's desk is a bale placed on end and inscribed 'Mrs. Phillips (the original inventor) Leicester Field London. For the use of the Supreme Council.' 16 May 1786
Hand-coloured etching and aquatint
-
Producer name
-
School/style
-
Date
- 1786
-
Production place
- Published in: London
- (Europe,British Isles,England,London)
- Published in: London
-
Materials
-
Technique
-
Dimensions
- Height: 417 millimetres
- Width: 530 millimetres
-
Inscriptions
Inscription Content
Lettered with title and publication line: "Pubd. May 16th. 1786 by Willm. Holland, No 50 Oxford Street".
-
Curator's comments
(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)More
This attack on the morals of the English in India is probably connected with the proceedings against Hastings. The figure intended for the Governor-General has no resemblance to Cornwallis (who left England at the beginning of May 1786 and did not reach Calcutta till September). For Mrs. Phillips cf. BMSat 5171 and n. The auctioneer is perhaps intended for Christie, and has a certain resemblance to BMSat 6101.
Grego, 'Gillray', pp. 81-2.
-
Bibliography
- BM Satires 7014
- BM Satires 7014
-
Location
Not on display (British XVIIIc Mounted Imp)
-
Exhibition history
2001 Jun-Sep, London, Tate Britain, 'Gillray and the Art of Caricature'
-
Subjects
-
Associated names
-
Acquisition name
-
Acquisition date
1851
-
Department
Prints & Drawings
-
Registration number
1851,0901.295
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My Favourite Necropolis
O, lead me, queen sublime, to solemn gloomsHe was only 17, so he can perhaps be forgiven for finding ‘cheerless shades’ so congenial, but in fact any resident of the British Isles needs to develop the ability to feel pleasure in melancholy if only because of our weather, especially in November and February.
Congenial with my soul; to cheerless shades,
To ruin´d seats, to twilight cells and bowers,
Where thoughtful Melancholy loves to muse…
But the most atmospheric necropolis, or city of the dead, of them all is surely Park Street Cemetery in Calcutta. This cemetery, which by the 1980s was in the middle of ‘downtown’ Calcutta, is a warning to city planners everywhere – when it was built in the 1700s it was sited at the far southern end of town, and called Burial Ground Road, but the city centre moved inexorably south, turning the cemetery into a landmark of midtown Calcutta (on a street now renamed Mother Teresa Sarani), which has been allowed to remain a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city.
At least it seems peaceful in relation to the surrounding traffic. But I invite you to listen to the sounds as you follow this 53 second video of Park Street Cemetery. Apart from the ubiquitous crows, and a distant peacock, at 0.13 seconds you can hear the koel, or brain-fever bird, said to have driven generations of English women mad as they listened to the rising crescendo in the pre-monsoon heat, waiting for a climax to the song and a downpour that seemed as if it would never arrive. (And yes, I do speak from personal experience, though I seem to have more or less recovered my sanity!)
I spent a good deal of time in the cemetery in the late 1980s, photographing the graves to form part of the record being compiled by Maurice Shellim for BACSA (the British Association for the Preservation of Cemeteries in South Asia), of which Robert and I are life members. As any photographer knows, in the tropics the best time for photography is in the early morning or just before dusk. It is also the time favoured by the formidable mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects of the region, as I can attest (One must suffer for one’s art of course, this I knew). Luckily for me, this only resulted in two bouts of dengue fever: the residents of the cemetery were not so lucky, in fact their life expectancy once arriving in Calcutta was said to be ‘two monsoons’
The two best known occupants are probably Sir William Jones and Rose Aylmer. Sir William Jones, the founder of the Asiatic Society, was a man of great distinction – a fact of which few were more aware than he himself. His obelisk tomb is the tallest in Calcutta, now unfortunately painted white. But the epitaph waxes lyrical about his great humility, summing up:
He thought none beneath him but the base and ignoble.Hmm. Not quite sure whether this will be humble enough to get him past St Peter at the pearly gates.
Rose Aylmer, the object of Walter Savage Landor‘s elegaic poem, was said rather tartly by locals to have died from a surfeit of pineapples:
Ah, what avails the sceptred race,In Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy‘, Amit and Lata walk around the cemetery and particularly like Rose Aylmer’s tomb, which Amit says ‘looks like an upside-down ice-cream cone’. Amit explains that Landor had met Rose in the Swansea Circulating Library and then again when she,
Ah, what the form divine!
What every virtue, every grace!
Rose Aylmer, all were thine.
Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes
May weep, but never see,
A night of memories and of sighs
I consecrate to thee.
like many unmarried girls just beginning to be past it, arrived in Calcutta on ‘the fishing fleet’. She died before knowing whether she would have to join the sad troupe of the ‘returning empties’.
Hon. Rose Aylmer | |
| Birthdate: | |
| Death: | Died in Calcutta, India |
| Cause of death: | Cholera |
| Immediate Family: | Daughter of Henry Aylmer, 4th Lord Alymer of Balrath and Catharine Whitworth Sister of Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, GCB; Frederick Whitworth William Aylmer, 6th Baron Aylmer, KCB; Hon. Henry Aylmer and Hon. James Thomas Aylmer Half sister of Salusbury Cade; Benjamin Cade and Catherine Savary |
|---|---|
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Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer
Matthew Aylmer, 1st Baron Aylmer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
The second-rate HMS Royal Katherine, which Aylmer commanded at the Battle of Beachy Head
Henry Aylmer, 4th Lord Alymer of Balrath
Henry Aylmer, 4th Lord Alymer of Balrath[FATHER OF ROSE AYLMER] | |
| Also Known As: | "Sir Henry Aylmer 7th Baronet of Balrath" |
| Birthdate: | |
| Death: | Died |
| Immediate Family: | Son of Henry Aylmer, 3rd Baron Aylmer and Anne Aylmer Husband of Catharine Whitworth Father of Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, GCB; Frederick Whitworth William Aylmer, 6th Baron Aylmer, KCB; Hon. Henry Aylmer; Hon. James Thomas Aylmer and Hon. Rose Aylmer Brother of Hon. Anne Aylmer |
|---|---|
British Empire: North America: Lower Canada
www.britishempire.co.uk
5th Baron Aylmer
5th Baron Aylmer
Matthew
Aylmer[brother of Rose Aylmer] was born in 1775 the eldest of 5 children of Henry Aylmer, 4th
Lord Aylmer, and Catherine Whitworth. The Irish title was created in
1718
Matthew Aylmer was born in 1775 the eldest of 5 children of Henry Aylmer, 4th Lord Aylmer, and Catherine Whitworth. The Irish title was created in 1718, Baron of Balrath, County Meath. Aylmer never held an English title. He was a competent soldier, being praised for his conduct at Egmont-op-Zee by the CO of the 49th Foot, Isaac Brock, and receiving the Army Gold Cross after attending most of the battles in the Peninsular War. His time as Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada was a bitter disappointment to him. He started with little experience of the job but great enthusiasm. He was determined to avoid the accusation of showing favoritism to the English and made an effort to treat French and English with equal fairness, but he was distrusted by the French, and the Legislature made life difficult for him. The Assembly passed 92 resolutions of grievance and demanded that the British government re-call him. He was ordered back to England the following year and two years later rebellion broke out. Whilst in office he supported his wife, Louisa, in her work during the Cholera epidemic of 1831-2, helping the sick and their dependants. She also took a great interest in education, visiting schools and bestowing prizes on the children.
1775 Born on 24th May
1787 Inherited title of 5th Baron Aylmer
1787 Ensign 49th Foot at the age of 12
1791 Lieutenant
1798 Taken prisoner for 6 months after abortive raid on Ostend
1799 Distinguished himself at Egmont-op-Zee
1800 Major 85th Foot
1801 Married Louisa Anne Call, 4th Aug. No children.
1802 Lieutenant-Colonel on half-pay
1803 Transferred to Coldstream Guards
1810 Colonel. ADC to the King up to 1812
1813 Major General. Brigade commander, present at most battles of the Peninsular War
1814 Adjutant General in Ireland up to 1823
1815 KCB 2nd Jan, Knighted 6th June
1823 Travelled in Switzerland and Italy for 7 years
1825 Lieutenant General
1825 Changed name to Whitworth-Aylmer on death of uncle, The Earl of Whitworth
1827 Appointed Colonel of 56th Foot, 29th Oct.
1830 Commander of British Forces in North America and Governor General
1831 Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada
1832 Appointed Colonel of 18th Royal Irish Regiment, 23rd July.
1834 Assembly of Lower Canada demand his re-call
1835 Re-called to England
1845 Promoted to General
1850 Died in Eaton Square, Belgravia on 23rd Feb
Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer - Wikipedia, the free ...==============================================
Rose Aylmer--
was she a courtesan ?NO CHANCE
just came along with courtesans? ON THE FISHING FLEET
DID SHE GET AUCTIONED ALONG WITH OTHER COURTESANS(PROSTITUTES)-
NO- BECAUSE THE MONEY SPEND ON THE MONUMENT SHOWS IT-
THAT THE PEOPLE LOVED HER ,THOUGH SHE WAS JUST 20 AND NOT MARRIED TO ANY HEAVIES-"NABOBS" OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
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