Description

Microfilm No. 62

Papers of Sir Andrew Wingate, K.C.I.E., I.C.S.

Given by Mrs. Shaw-Zambra. (Miss Monica Wingate)

Memoir: ‘The British Bureaucrat in India 1869-1902’: Recollections of Sir Andrew Wingate. (On microfilm – MF62). (Material copied out by his daughter, Miss Irene Wingate.)

• Chapter I. Poona to Satara where he took over as First Assistant. Satara District. On tour 7 or 8 months. Detailed description, and philosophical considerations. Cases of village land disputes.
• Chapter II. Eurasians – cholera – the plight of young Indian wives. Describes a village feud. History of Satara Palace.
• Chapter III. Famine 1876-78 – attitude towards visit of Prince of Wales 1875-76 (Edward VII). Attitude after the Mutiny.
  Kaladji District, Bijapur History. Dealing with famine through Mamlatdars. Relief works – how carried out under difficulty. Village relief work described. A Rajputana reminiscence – Durbar at Meywar by direction of the Maharana. Famine again: treatment of the emaciated; hoarding.
• Chapter IV. The Mysore Famine 1877-78. Sent to Bangalore as Famine Officer; assesses and describes situation. Gratuitous feeding changed to work and cash payments. Viceroy arrives, and gives opinion and Wingate describes in detail his methods of change over, and apportioning of food. Incident of refusal of Chief Engineer to take on famine relief. Sketch of Lord Lytton’s character, and examples of his sensitivity and acumen. Sketch of Sir Charles Elliott. Incident of R.C. nuns helping with night nursing, their help having been refused before – comment on R.Cs. More incidents regarding care of famine sufferers. Allocation of the Manscori House Fund. Sent as settlement officer, Meywar State, under the P.R. Colonel T. Cadell (V.C.) in employ of Maharana. Incident of recollections of the Mutiny and the tragedies in Neemuch. A small rebellion in Central Meywar among Jat cultivators. Panna Lalji the Prime Minister, quietens it. Not rebellion, alarm over land rights. Note on the Indian peasantry and rebellion – alarm easily taken.
• Chapter V. Boundary disputes. Scraps of conversation from villagers indicating Wingate’s deep interest in the mind and religious beliefs of the villagers and his knowledge of history and religion. The Briton abroad – his example, and the example of Christianity.
  Precautions. Attitudes to village life to be cautionary about Death of MahaRana Sujjan Singhji, and the fear of Sati preparations for mourning and funeral. Visit of The Viceroy Lord Dufferin in 1885. Notes on opium. Announcement of first settlement at Chitor. Disputes resulting in no agricultural work. Wingate between cultivators and banerjees. Gets banerjees to agree to an assessment on fallow fields. Sketch of Dr. James Shepherd of Udaipur. Sketch of Maharana Fateh Singji. Bribery by the Hakim assisting Wingate.
• Chapter VI. Transferred to Kashmir as Settlement Officer. Historical sketch. Assistant from Punjab – difficulties of setting up work. Situation difficult for work. Muslim cultivators v. Brahmins. Violent extortion methods of extracting revenue. C. H. Plowden and Wingate get no response to their pleas for the plight of the peasantry. Wingate’s successor was Sir Walter Lawrence who carried the Settlement through. Influence of the Rev.Tyndale-Biscoe and the Neve brothers and C.M.S. Hospital.
• Chapter VII. Return to Bombay Presidency as Collector of Salt Revenue. Russia in Central Asia. Hindu Moslem rioting in Yeola, Nasik District. His method of dealing with it. Riots in Dhalia and Goona.
• Chapter VIII. Forest grievances. The Nasik Bridge – the various difficulties perpetrated by Brahmins. The Nasik mela. Miss Rose Harvey – a missionary – who founded a Veterinary Hospital and a Leper Hospital and a Babies’ Home.
• Chapter IX. Sind. Historical summary, and surmise on future development. Plague – plague camps in Sind – attitudes to measures taken. Threatened resignation of Municipality on Governor’s announcement that British would be employed as search parties for plague victims.
• Chapter X. Plague in the Bombay Presidency – summoned to take charge in Presidency excluding the city. Research into the cause of plague eventually discovered. Help given by volunteer workers. Lord Sandhurst investigated housing conditions of the mill workers and finds them horrific. Introduces Bombay Improvement Act. No relief for those who were left destitute by the plague. Lord Sandhurst and Wingate approached Lord Elgin the Viceroy. The Finance Minister Sir James Wesland grants 4 lakhs of rupees.
• Chapter XI. Calcutta. Bill to relieve Indian Christians from death duties. Discussion by Sir Charles Rivaz, Sir Harman Singh, etc. Lord Curzon asks Wingate to reconsider his decision to retire, as India needed patriarchs who felt for the people. Muslims prevented from experience of government by creation of Eastern Bengal and the opposition of Bengali Brahmins. 206pp.