Allan Octavian Hume
Encyclopedia
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
, a political party that was later to lead the Indian independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
. A notable ornithologist, Hume has been called "the Father of Indian Ornithology" and, by those who found him dogmatic, "the Pope of Indian ornithology."
Life and career
Hume was born at St Mary CraySt Mary Cray
St Mary Cray lies on the River Cray and is part of the London Borough of Bromley. St Mary Cray, like St Paul's Cray, has been somewhat overshadowed by the growth of nearby Orpington, which now provides local communities with their main shopping and business facilities...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, the son of Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume FRS was a Scottish doctor and Radical MP, born in Montrose, Angus.-Medical career:He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and moved to India in 1797...
, the Radical MP. He was educated at East India Company College, Haileybury
East India Company College
The East India College was a college in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, England. It was founded in February 1806 as the training establishment for the British East India Company . At that time, the BEIC provided general and vocational education for young gentlemen of sixteen to eighteen years old,...
, and then at University College Hospital
University College Hospital
University College Hospital is a teaching hospital located in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is closely associated with University College London ....
, where he studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
. In 1849 he sailed to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the following year joined the Bengal Civil Service at Etawah
Etawah
Etawah is a city on the Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. The city was an important center for the Revolt of 1857 . Also is the place of sangam or confluence between Yamuna and Chambal...
in the North-Western Provinces
North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India which succeeded the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and existed in one form or another from 1836 until 1902, when it became the Agra Province within the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh .-Area:The province included all...
, in what is now Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. His career in India included service as a district officer from 1849 to 1867, head of a central department from 1867 to 1870, secretary to the Government from 1870 to 1879.
It was only nine years after his entry to India that Hume faced the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
during which time he was involved in several military actions for which he was created a Companion of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in 1860. Initially it appeared that he was safe in Etawah, which was not far from Meerut where the rebellion began. This however changed and Hume had to take refuge in Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
fort for six months. Nonetheless, all but one Indian official remained loyal and Hume resumed his position in Etawah in January 1858. He built up an irregular force of 650 loyal Indian troops and took part in engagements with them. Hume blamed British ineptitude for the uprising and pursued a policy of ‘mercy and forbearance’.
In his early service as a District Officer in the Indian Civil Service, he began introducing free primary education and creating a local vernacular newspaper, Lokmitra (The People's Friend).
He married Mary Anne Grindall in 1853.
He took up the cause of education and founded scholarships for higher education. He wrote, in 1859 he wrote that education played a key role in avoiding revolts like the one in 1857:
... assert its supremacy as it may at the bayonet's point, a free and civilized government must look for its stability and permanence to the enlightenment of the people and their moral and intellectual capacity to appreciate its blessings.
In 1863 he moved for separate schools for juvenile delinquents rather than imprisonment. His efforts led to a juvenile reformatory not far from Etawah. He also started free schools in Etawah and by 1857 he established 181 schools with 5186 students including two girls. In 1867 he became Commissioner of Customs for the North West Province, and in 1870 he became attached to the central government as Director-General of Agriculture. In 1879 he returned to provincial government at Allahabad
Allahabad
Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...
.
He was against the revenue earned through liquor traffic and described it as "The wages of sin". With his progressive ideas about social reform, he advocated women's education, was against infanticide and enforced widowhood. Hume laid out in Etawah a neatly gridded commercial district that is now known as Humeganj but often pronounced Homeganj. The high school that he helped build with his own money is still in operation, now as a junior college, and it was said to have a floor plan resembling the letter H. This, according to some was an indication of Hume's imperial ego. Others have pointed out that he was victimized as he was out of step with the policies of the Government often intruding into every aspect of administration with his critical opinions.
Hume proposed to develop fuelwood plantations "in every village in the drier portions of the country" and thereby provide a substitute heating and cooking fuel so that manure could be returned to the land. Such plantations, he wrote, were "a thing that is entirely in accord with the traditions of the country -- a thing that the people would understand, appreciate, and, with a little judicious pressure, cooperate in." He wanted model farms to be established in every district. He noted that rural indebtedness was caused mainly by the use of land as security, a practice that had been introduced by the British. Hume denounced it as another of "the cruel blunders into which our narrow-minded, though wholly benevolent, desire to reproduce England in India has led us." Hume also wanted government-run banks, at least until cooperative banks could be established.
He was very outspoken and never feared to criticise when he thought the Government was in the wrong. In 1861, he objected to the concentration of police and judicial functions in the hands of the police superintendent. In March 1861, he took a medical leave due to a breakdown from overwork and departed for Britain. Before leaving, he condemned the flogging and punitive measures initiated by the provincial government as 'barbarous … torture'. He was allowed to return to Etawah only after apologizing for the tone of his criticism. He criticized the administration of Lord Lytton
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
(before 1879) which according to him cared little for the welfare and aspiration of the people of India. Lord Lytton's foreign policy according to Hume had led to the waste of "millions and millions of Indian money". Hume was critical of the land revenue policy and suggested that it was the cause of poverty in India. His superiors were irritated and attempted to restrict his powers and this led him to publish a book on Agricultural Reform in India in 1879.
In 1879 he went against the authorities and finally resigned in 1882. The Government of Lord Lytton dismissed him from his position in the Secretariat. No clear reason was given except that it "was based entirely on the consideration of what was most desirable in the interests of the public service". The press declared that his main wrong doing was that he was too honest and too independent. The Pioneer wrote that it was "the grossest jobbery ever perpetrated" ; the Indian Daily News wrote that it was a "great wrong" while The Statesman said that "undoubtedly he has been treated shamefully and cruelly." The Englishman in an article dated 27 June 1879, commenting on the event stated, "There is no security or safety now for officers in Government employment."
In spite of the humiliation of demotion he did not resign at once from service and it has been suggested that this was because he needed his salary to support the publication of the "The Game Birds of India" that he was then working on. Hume retired from the civil service in 1882. In 1883 he wrote an open letter to the graduates of Calcutta University, calling upon them to form their own national political movement. This led in 1885 to the first session of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
held in Bombay. In 1887 he wrote to the Public Commission of India stating — I look upon myself as a Native of India.
His wife Mary died in 1890, and their only daughter was the widow of Mr. Ross Scott who was sometime Judicial Commissioner of Oudh. Hume left India in 1894 and settled at The Chalet, 4, Kingswood Road, Upper Norwood
Upper Norwood
Upper Norwood is an elevated area in south London, England within the postcode SE19. It is a residential district largely in the London Borough of Croydon although some parts extend into the London Borough of Lambeth, London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Bromley. Upper Norwood...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He died at the age of eighty-three on 31 July 1912. His ashes are buried in Brookwood Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in western Europe.-History:...
.
In 1973, the Indian postal department released a commemorative stamp.
Theosophy
Hume did not have great regard for institutional Christianity, but believed in the immortality of the soul and in the idea of a supreme ultimate. Hume wanted to become a chela (student) of the Tibetan spiritual gurus. During the few years of his connection with the Theosophical SocietyTheosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...
Hume wrote three articles on Fragments of Occult Truth under the pseudonym "H. X." published in The Theosophist. These were written in response to questions from Mr. Terry, an Australian Theosophist. He also privately printed several Theosophical pamphlets titled Hints on Esoteric Theosophy. The later numbers of the Fragments, in answer to the same enquirer, were written by A.P. Sinnett and signed by him, as authorized by Mahatma K. H., A Lay-Chela.
Madame Blavatsky was a regular visitor at Hume's Rothney castle at Simla
Shimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
and an account of her visit may be found in Simla, Past and Present by Edward John Buck (who succeeded Mr. Hume in charge of the Agricultural Department). A long story about Hume and his wife appears in A.P. Sinnett's book Occult World, and the synopsis was published in a local paper of India. The story relates how at a dinner party, Madame Blavatsky asked Mrs Hume if there was anything she wanted. She replied that there was a brooch, her mother had given her, that had gone out of her possession some time ago. Blavatsky said she would try to recover it through occult means. After some interlude, later that evening, the brooch was found in a garden, where the party was directed by Blavatsky. Later, Hume privately expressed grave doubts on certain powers attributed to Madame Blavatsky and due to this, soon fell out of favour with the Theosophists.
Hume's interest in spirituality brought him into contact with many Indian thinkers. He however lost all interest in the theosophical movement in 1883 and became involved with the creation of the Indian National Congress.
Contribution to ornithology and natural history
From early days, Hume had a special interest in science. Science, he wrote:and of natural history he wrote in 1867:
During his career in Etawah, he built a personal collection of bird specimens, however it was destroyed during the 1857 rebellion. Subsequently he started afresh with a systematic plan to survey and document the birds of the Indian Subcontinent and in the process he accumulated the largest collection of Asiatic birds in the world, which he housed in a museum and library at his home in Rothney Castle on Jakko Hill, Simla
Shimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
. Rothney castle originally belonged to P. Mitchell, C.I.E and after Hume bought it, he tried to convert the house into a palace expecting it to be bought by the Government as a Viceregal residence since the Governor-General then occupied Peterhoff, a building too small for large parties. Hume spent over two hundred thousand pounds on the grounds and buildings. He added enormous reception rooms suitable for large dinner parties and balls, as well as a magnificent conservatory and spacious hall with walls displaying his superb collection of Indian horns. He hired a European gardener, and made the grounds and conservatory a perpetual horticultural exhibition, to which he courteously admitted all visitors.
Rothney Castle could only be reached by a troublesome climb, and was never purchased by the British Government and Hume himself never used the larger rooms except for one that he converted into a museum for his collection of birds, and for occasional dances.
He made several expeditions to collect birds both on health leave and where work took him. He was Collector and Magistrate of Etawah from 1856 to 1867 during which time he studied the birds of that area. He later became Commissioner of Inland Customs which made him responsible for the control of 2500 miles (4,023.4 km) of coast from near Peshawar in the northwest to Cuttack on the Bay of Bengal. He travelled on horseback and camel in areas of Rajasthan to negotiate treaties with various local maharajas to control the export of salt and during these travels he took note of the birdlife:
His expedition to the Indus area was one of the largest and it started in late November 1871 and continued until the end of February 1872. In March 1873, he visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. In 1875 he visited the Laccadive Islands. And in 1881 he made his last ornithological expedition to Manipur. This was made on special leave following his demotion from the Central Government to a junior position on the Board of Revenue of the North Western Provinces.
He used this vast bird collection to produce a massive publication on all the birds of India. Unfortunately this work was lost in 1885 when all Hume's manuscripts were sold by a servant as waste paper. Hume's interest in ornithology reduced due to this theft as well as a landslip caused by heavy rains in Simla which damaged his personal museum and specimens. He wrote to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
wishing to donate his collection on certain conditions. One of the conditions was that the collection was to be examined by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe was an English zoologist.-Biography:Sharpe was born in London and studied at Brighton College, The King's School, Peterborough and Loughborough Grammar School. At the age of sixteen he went to work for Smith & Sons in London...
and personally packed by him, apart from raising Dr. Sharpe's rank and salary due to the additional burden on his work caused by his collection. The British Museum was unable to heed to his conditions. It was only after the destruction of nearly 20000 specimens, that alarm bells were raised by Dr. Sharpe and the Museum authorities let him visit India to supervise the transfer of the specimens to the British Museum.
Sharpe wrote of Hume's impressive private ornithological museum:
Sharpe also noted:
The Hume collection of birds as it went to the British museum in 1884 consisted of 82,000 specimens of which 75,577 were finally placed in the Museum. A breakup of that collection is as follows (old names retained).
- 2830 Birds of Prey (Accipitriformes)… 8 types
- 1155 Owls (Strigiformes)…9 types
- 2819 Crows, Jays, Orioles etc.…5 types
- 4493 Cuckoo-shrikes and Flycatchers… 21 types
- 4670 Thrushes and Warblers…28 types
- 3100 Bulbuls and wrens, Dippers, etc.…16 types
- 7304 Timaliine birds…30 types
- 2119 Tits and Shrikes…9 types
- 1789 Sun-birds (Nectarinidae) and White-eyes (Zosteropidae)…8 types
- 3724 Swallows (Hirundiniidae), Wagtails and Pipits (Motacillidae)…8 types
- 2375 Finches (Fringillidae)…8 types
- 3766 Starlings (Sturnidae), Weaver-birds (Ploceidae), and larks (Alaudidae)…22 types
- 807 Ant-thrushes (Pittidae), Broadbills (Eurylaimidae)…4 types
- 1110 Hoopoes (Upupae), Swifts (Cypseli), Nightjars (Caprimulgidae) and Frogmouths (Podargidae)…8 types
- 2277 Picidae, Hornbills (Bucerotes), Bee-eaters (Meropes), Kingfishers (Halcyones), Rollers(Coracidae), Trogons (Trogones)…11 types
- 2339 Woodpeckers (Pici)…3 types
- 2417 Honey-guides (Indicatores), Barbets (Capiformes), and Cuckoos (Coccyges)…8 types
- 813 Parrots (Psittaciformes)…3 types
- 1615 Pigeons (Columbiformes)…5 types
- 2120 Sand-grouse (Pterocletes), Game-birds and Megapodes(Galliformes)…8 types
- 882 Rails (Ralliformes), Cranes (Gruiformes), Bustards (Otides)…6 types
- 1089 Ibises (Ibididae), Herons (Ardeidae), Pelicans and Cormorants (Steganopodes), Grebes (Podicipediformes)…7 types
- 761 Geese and Ducks (Anseriformes)…2 types
- 15965 Eggs
The Hume Collection contained 258 types
Biological type
In biology, a type is one particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached...
. In addition there were nearly 400 mammal specimens including new species such as Hadromys humei.
The egg collection was made up of carefully authenticated contributions from knowledgeable contacts and on the authenticity and importance of the collection, E. W. Oates wrote in the 1901 Catalogue of the collection of birds' eggs in the British Museum (Volume 1):
Species described
Some of the species that were first described or discovered by Hume are as follows. The numbers are references to species as given in S. D. Ripley's synopsis and the old names are retained. Many of these names are no longer valid.
Hume made several expeditions solely to study ornithology and in March 1873 he made one to the Andaman, Nicobar and other islands in the Bay of Bengal along with geologists Dr. Ferdinand Stoliczka
Ferdinand Stoliczka
Ferdinand Stoliczka was a Moravian palaeontologist who worked in India on paleontology, geology and various aspects of zoology. He died of high altitude sickness during an expedition across the Himalayas.-Early life:Stoliczka was born at the lodge Zámeček near Kroměříž in Moravia...
and Dr. Dougall of the Geological Survey of India and James Wood-Mason
James Wood-Mason
James Wood-Mason was a Scottish zoologist who worked in the Indian Museum at Calcutta from 1877 succeeding Prof. John Anderson. He made many collections of marine animals and lepidoptera.-Publications:...
of the Indian Museum in Calcutta. Hume employed William Ruxton Davison
William Ruxton Davison
William Ruxton Davison was a British ornithologist and collector.Davison was the curator of the Raffles Museum in Singapore from 1887 to 1893. Prior to this Davison worked as a collector for Allan Octavian Hume. He travelled on behalf of Hume in Tenasserim in the 1870s and collected 8,600 specimens...
as a curator of his personal bird collection and also sent him out on collection trips to various parts of India, when he was held up with official responsibilities. Around 1878 he was spending about ₤ 1500 a year on his ornithological surveys.
My Scrap book: or rough notes on Indian Oology and ornithology (1869)
Edward Blyth
Edward Blyth was an English zoologist and pharmacist. He was one of the founders of zoology in India....
and Dr. Thomas C. Jerdon
Thomas C. Jerdon
Thomas Caverhill Jerdon was a British physician, zoologist and botanist. He is best remembered for his pioneering works on the ornithology of India...
who, he wrote [had] done more for Indian Ornithology than all other modern observers put together and he described himself as their friend and pupil. He hoped that his book would form a nucleus round which future observation may crystallize and that others around the country could help him fill in many of the woeful blanks remaining in record. In the preface he notes:
Stray Feathers
Hume started the quarterly journal Stray Feathers in 1872. At that time the only journal for the Indian region that published on ornithology was the "Journal of the Asiatic Society". He had wondered if there was merit to start a new journal and in that idea was supported by Stoliczka.He used the journal to publish descriptions of his new discoveries, such as Hume's Owl, Hume's Wheatear and Hume's Whitethroat. He wrote extensively on his own observation as well as critical reviews of all the ornithological works of the time and earned himself the nickname of Pope of Indian ornithology. He critiqued a monograph on parrots, Die Papageien by Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch
Otto Finsch
Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch was a German ethnographer, naturalist and colonial explorer.-Biography:...
suggesting that name changes (by "cabinet naturalists") were aimed at claiming authority to species without the trouble of actually discovering them. He wrote:
Hume in turn was attacked, for instance by Viscount Walden, but Finsch later became a friend.
Hume sometimes mixed personal beliefs in notes that he published in Stray Feathers. For instance he believed that birds flew by altering the physics ("altered polarity") of their body and repelling the force of gravity. He further noted that this ability was normal in birds and could be acquired by humans by maintaining spiritual purity claiming that he knew of at least three Indian Yogis and numerous saints in the past with this ability of aethrobacy.
Network of correspondents
Hume built up a network of ornithologists reporting from various parts of India. More than 200 correspondents are listed in his Game Birds and this was only a fraction of the subscribers of Stray Feathers. This huge network made it possible for Hume to cover a much larger geographic region in his ornithological work.
Many of Hume's correspondents were eminent naturalists and sportsmen of the time.
He also corresponded and stayed up to date with the works of ornithologists outside India including R. Bowdler-Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe was an English zoologist.-Biography:Sharpe was born in London and studied at Brighton College, The King's School, Peterborough and Loughborough Grammar School. At the age of sixteen he went to work for Smith & Sons in London...
, the Marquis of Tweeddale
Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale
Colonel Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale , known before 1862 as Lord Arthur Hay and between 1862 and 1876 as Viscount Walden, was a Scottish soldier and ornithologist. He was born at Yester, Gifford, East Lothian. He served as a soldier in India and the Crimea. He succeeded his father to the...
, Pere David
Armand David
Father Armand David was a Lazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as a zoologist and a botanist.-General Biography:...
, Dresser
Henry Eeles Dresser
Henry Eeles Dresser was an English businessman and ornithologist.Henry Dresser was born in Thirsk where his father was the manager of the bank which had been set up by his grandfather...
, Benedykt Dybowski, John Henry Gurney
John Henry Gurney
John Henry Gurney was an English banker, amateur ornithologist, and Liberal Party politician.-Life:Gurney was the only son of Joseph John Gurney of Earlham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk. At the age of ten he was sent to a private tutor at Leytonstone near the Epping Forest, where he met Henry Doubleday,...
, J.H.Gurney, Jr., Johann Friedrich Naumann
Johann Friedrich Naumann
Johann Friedrich Naumann was a German scientist and editor.Naumann is regarded as the founder of scientific ornithology in Europe...
, Severtzov
Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov
Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov was a Russian explorer and naturalist.On an expedition to the Syr Darya he was captured by bandits and freed after a month. In 1865-68 he explored the Tien Shan and Lake Issyk Kul...
and Dr. Middendorff.
Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon (1879-1881)
This work was co-authored by C. H. T. MarshallCharles Henry Tilson Marshall
Charles Henry Tilson Marshall was a British Army Officer, serving in the Punjab, India. In his spare time he collected birds in the Punjab and the Himalayas, and sent these to Allan Octavian Hume. He was the brother of George Frederick Leycester Marshall, with whom he published ornithological...
. The three volume work on the game birds was made using contributions and notes from a network of 200 or more correspondents. Hume delegated the task of getting the plates made to Marshall. The chromolithographs of the birds were drawn by W. Foster, E. Neale, M. Herbert, Stanley Wilson and others and the plates were produced by F. Waller in London. Hume had sent specific notes on colours of soft parts and instructions to the artists. He was unsatisfied with many of the plates and included additional notes on the plates in the book. This book was started at the point when the government demoted Hume and only the need to finance the publication of this book prevented him from retiring from service. He had estimated that it would cost ₤ 4000 to publish it and he retired from service on 1 January 1882 after the publication.
In the preface Hume wrote:
while his co-author Marshall, wrote:
Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds (1883)
This was another major work by Hume and in it he covered descriptions of the nests, eggs and the breeding seasons of most Indian bird species. It makes use of notes from contributors to his journals as well as other correspondents and works of the time.A second edition of this book was made in 1889 which was edited by Eugene Oates
Eugene William Oates
Eugene William Oates was an English naturalist.Oates was born in Sicily and educated in Bath, England. For a time he attended Sydney College, Bath and later under private tutors. He was a civil servant in the Public Works Department in India and Burma from 1867 to 1899...
. This was published when he had himself given up all interest in ornithology. An event precipitated by the loss of his manuscripts through the actions of a servant.
He wrote in the preface:
Eugene Oates wrote his own editorial note
This nearly marked the end of Hume's interest in ornithology. Hume's last piece of ornithological writing was done in 1891 as part of an Introduction to the Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission an official publication on the contributions of Dr. Ferdinand Stoliczka, who died during the return journey on this mission. Stoliczka in a dying request had asked that Hume should edit the volume on the ornithological results.
Taxa named after Hume
A number of animals and birds are named after Hume. These include :- Hume's Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus humei
- Manipur Bush RatManipur Bush RatThe Manipur Bush Rat also known as Hume's Rat or Hume's Hadromys, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in northeastern India, and is listed as endangered..-Range and habitat:...
, Hadromys humei (ThomasOldfield ThomasOldfield Thomas FRS was a British zoologist.Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and sub-species for the first time. He was appointed to the Museum Secretary's office in 1876, transferring to the Zoological Department in 1878...
, 1886) - Hume's ArgaliArgaliThe argali, or the mountain sheep is a wild sheep, which roams the highlands of Central Asia . It is the biggest wild sheep, standing at the shoulder, measuring long and weighing , with a maximum known weight of...
, Ovis ammon humei Lydekker 1913 (Syn. Ovis ammon karelini, Severtzov, 1873)
Indian National Congress
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
's rule, Hume observed that the people of India had a sense of hopelessness and wanted to do something, noting "a sudden violent outbreak of sporadic crime, murders of obnoxious persons, robbery of bankers and looting of bazaars, acts really of lawlessness which by a due coalescence of forces might any day develop into a National Revolt." Concerning the British government, he stated that a studied and invariable disregard, if not actually contempt for the opinions and feelings of our subjects, is at the present day the leading characteristic of our government in every branch of the administration.
There were agrarian riots in the Deccan
Deccan Plateau
The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, rising further to more than a kilometers high in the south, forming a raised triangle nested within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of...
and Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, and Hume suggested that an Indian Union would be a good safety valve and outlet to avoid further unrest. On the 1st of March 1883 he wrote a letter to the graduates of the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
:
His poem The Old Man's Hope
Old Man's Hope
Old Man's Hope is a poem by Allan Octavian Hume, the founder of the Indian National Congress, in which he sought to channel the zeitgeist of unrest prevalent in India in the 1880s towards a self-rule movement.-The poem:The text of the poem is as follows -...
published in Calcutta in 1886 also captures the sentiment:
Sons of Ind, why sit ye idle,
Wait ye for some Deva's aid?
Buckle to, be up and doing!
Nations by themselves are made!
Are ye Serfs or are ye Freemen,
Ye that grovel in the shade?
In your own hands rest the issues!
By themselves are nations made! ...
The idea of the Indian Union took shape and Hume initially had some support from Lord Dufferin
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society...
for this, although the latter wished to have no official link to it. Dufferin's support was short-lived. It has been suggested that the idea was originally conceived in a private meeting of seventeen men after a Theosophical Convention held at Madras in December 1884. Hume took the initiative, and it was in March 1885, when the first notice was issued convening the first Indian National Union to meet at Poona the following December.
He attempted to increase the Congress base by bringing in more farmers, townspeople and Muslims between 1886 and 1887 and this created a backlash from the British, leading to backtracking by the Congress. Hume was disappointed when Congress opposed moves to raise the age of marriage for Indian girls and failed to focus on issues of poverty. Some Indian princes did not like the idea of democracy and some organizations like the United Indian Patriotic Association went about trying to undermine the Congress by showing it as an organization with a seditious character. In 1892, he tried to get them to act by warning of a violent agrarian revolution but this only outraged the British establishment and frightened the Congress leaders. Disappointed by the continued lack of Indian leaders willing to work for the cause of national emancipation, Hume left for Britain in 1894.
The 27th session of the Indian National Congress at Bankipur (26–28 December 1912) recorded their "profound sorrow at the death of Allan Octavian Hume, C.B., father and founder of the Congress, to whose lifelong services, rendered at rare self-sacrifice, India feels deep and lasting gratitude, and in whose death the cause of Indian progress and reform sustained irreparable loss."
South London Botanical Institute
After the loss of his manuscript containing his lifetime of ornithological notes. Hume took up a great interest in horticulture while at Shimla.... He erected large conservatories in the grounds of Rothney Castle, filled them with the choicest flowers, and engaged English gardeners to help him in the work. From this, on returning to England, he went on to scientific botany. But this, as Kipling says, is another story, and must be left to another pen.
In 1910 Hume bought the premises of 323 Norwood Road, and modified it to have a herbarium and library. He called this establishment the South London Botanical Institute
South London Botanical Institute
The South London Botanical Institute was founded in 1910 by Allan Octavian Hume, a former civil servant for the British Raj in India. After returning to England in 1894 Hume turned his attention to horticulture, which eventually led him to create the Institute in a large Victorian house in Norwood...
which continues to promote the study of plants to the present day. Hume objected to advertisement and refused to have any public ceremony to open the institute. Frederick Townsend, F.L.S., an eminent botanist, who died in 1905, had left instructions that his herbarium and collection was to be given to the institute, which was then only being contemplated.
The SLBI has a herbarium containing approximately 100,000 specimens mostly of flowering plants from Europe including many collected by Hume. The collection was later augmented by the addition of other herbaria over the years, and has significant collections of Rubus
Rubus
Rubus is a large genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these plants have woody stems with prickles like roses; spines, bristles, and gland-tipped hairs are...
(bramble) species and of the Shetland flora, the latter including a major gift from the late Richard Palmer, joint author of the standard work on Shetland plants. Other resources include a very good library originally containing Hume's own books. The institute today has classroom facilities, a small botanical garden, and an ongoing programme of talks and courses. In the years leading up to the establishment of the Institute, Hume built up links with many of the leading botanists of his day. He worked with F. H. Davey
Frederick Hamilton Davey
Frederick Hamilton Davey was an amateur botanist who devoted most of his leisure time to the study of the flora of Cornwall. Born at Ponsanooth in the Kennall Vale, Cornwall to a large family of limited means, he left school aged 11 to work in the Kennall Powder Mills. Encouraged by his father and...
and in the Flora of Cornwall (1909), Davey thanks Hume as his companion on excursions in Cornwall and Devon, and for help in the compilation of the 'Flora', publication of which was financed by Hume.
Tributes
The Government of India honoured Hume in 1973 when the Indian Post released a postage stamp of denomination 20 paise on his death anniversary. The government at that time was the Indian National CongressIndian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
party, which he had helped found in 1885. He also figured first in a long series of miniature portraits arranged in a four postage stamp se-tenant
Se-tenant (philately)
Se-tenant stamps or labels are printed from the same plate and sheet and adjoin one another, unsevered in a strip or block. They differ from each other by design, color, denomination or overprint. They may have a continuous design. The word "se-tenant" translates from French as meaning "joined...
set issued in 1985 commemorating the Centenary of the Indian National Congress.
Further reading
- Bruce, Duncan A. (2000) The Scottish 100: Portraits of History's Most Influential Scots, Carroll & Graf Publishers.
- Buck, E. J. (1904) Simla, Past and Present. Thacker & Spink, Calcutta, 1904. excerpt
- Mearns and Mearns (1988) Biographies for Birdwatchers. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-487422-3
- Mehrotra, S. R. (2005) Towards India's Freedom and Partition, Rupa & Co., New Delhi.
- S. R. Mehrotra, Edward C. Moulton (Eds) (2004) Selected Writings of Allan Octavian Hume: District Administration in North India, Rebellion and Reform, Volume One: 1829-1867. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-565896-5
- Moxham, Roy (2002) The Great Hedge of India. ISBN 0-7567-8755-6
External links
Works- List of the birds of India (1879)
- The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3
- Game birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3
- Hints on Esoteric Theosophy
Stray Feathers
Biographical sources