INDIA DURING THE RAJ: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
Diaries and related records held by the European Manuscripts Section in the Oriental and India Office Collections at the British Library, London

Part 2: Diaries and related records describing life in India, c.1819-1859

This project makes available for the first time a wide ranging collection of original manuscript diaries, letters and journals from the European Manuscripts section of the India Office Library.  These provide an extraordinarily rich and diverse series of accounts of life in India under the Raj.

Part 2 comprises a further 48 diaries, up to and including the period of the
Indian 'Mutiny'.  It features:

• An original Indian manuscript account of the 'Mutiny';
• Descriptions of journeys through India and in the Middle East by a member of the Bombay Civil Service;
• Accounts of travels and social life in Bangalore, 1854-59;
• The diary of a merchant seaman and indigo planter, describing his experiences at sea and his life in India, 1840-56;
• Diaries of Hannah Ellerton relating to her social life and the running of schools in Calcutta, 1843-56;
• Numerous accounts of the outbreak of the 'Mutiny' in Ambala; the Siege of Delhi; actions at Gungeerie, Puttiali, and Mynpoorie; the Siege of Lucknow; operations around Cawnpore; and other engagements;
• Diaries of Katherine Bartrum and Maria Germon describing their escape to Calcutta.

Rich in sociological and historical detail the diaries will be invaluable to historians, sociologists, military experts and gender historians. They offer much for research both on the impact of the Raj on Britain and the impact of India on Britain.