Lot 42
East India Company
Collection of official letters countersigned by Alexander Speirs, political resident at Gwalior then Nagpur, 1840s
£1,764
Auction: 19 September 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
5 manuscript documents, in Urdu or Persian, nasta'liq script, each on a single sheet of polished laid paper, 60 x 20cm or 45 x 20cm, decorated with gold leaf, each signed ‘Alex. Speirs, Resident' or ‘Alex. Speirs, Rest.’, together with 9 similar documents, including: 3 decorative documents, without Speirs's signature, 2 with dates (1844 and 1849), one undated but annotated in English ('[…] for office[?] of Scindiah'); one not decorated but signed ‘True Copy, A. Speirs, Rest’; and 3 others
(a folder)
Footnote
Alexander Speirs joined the army of the East India Company as a cadet in 1805. As the company's agent at Sirohi and holding the rank of captain he negotiated a treaty with Rao Sheo Singh to bring the state under British control. He was the company's resident at the court of Gwalior, with the rank of colonel, and then Nagpur, and appears to have died in that city c.1847.
