Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1534

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.13 linear feet (1 album)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Scrapbook of a British subaltern, 1847-1860, Ms. Coll. 1534, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1847-1860 (inclusive)

Form:

Scrapbooks

Abstract:

Compiled by an unknown creator, the scrapbook of a British subaltern features poems, narratives, watercolors and pen sketches of shipwrecks, stormy seas, and vignettes of various outposts of the British Empire and life in British India.

The British Empire was a worldwide system of colonies, protectorates, and other territories, brought under the sovereignty of Great Britain and the administration of the British government. The East India Company drove the expansion of the British Empire in Asia. The company's army first joined forces with the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War, and the two continued to co-operate in arenas outside India. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British Crown began to assume an increasingly larger role in the affairs of the company. After quelling an uprising and mutiny of sepoys, Indian troops under British officers and discipline, the British crown assumed the East India Company's governmental authority in India with The Government of India Act 1858.

A subaltern is an officer in the British army below the rank of captain, especially a second lieutenant. The term may also reference someone with a low ranking in a social, political, or other hierarchy. It can also mean someone who has been marginalized or oppressed.

Source:

"British empire." Oxford Reference. 2012; Accessed 3 Aug. 2023. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191737541.timeline.0001.

The Scrapbook of a British subaltern features poems, vignettes, narratives and illustrations, watercolors and pen sketches. While the compiler is unknown, the writings suggest the narrator is a subaltern. The inside front cover features an inscription to a Rosa dated September 18, 1853, and Rosa appears throughout the album. From the narratives it is likely the compiler was a naval officer in the British military. The illustrations feature shipwrecks, and vessels in dire straits, one captioned "The Pekin in a Typhoon in the China Seas"; there are narratives titled: "a Sailor's Funeral" and "Contents of a Subaltern's room." The compiler traveled to various outposts of the British Empire. Several leaves feature illustrations with vignettes of life in British India: sepoys in ceremonial dress, a gentleman peering at a sign for Bangalore, and a woman carried aloft on a sedan chair.

Also included within the album is an illustration of the porcelain tower Nankin [Nanking', a fifteenth-century Ming Dynasty pagoda, and a number of botanical illustrations. and full page watercolor landscapes.