Lot 115
Indian Mutiny
Manuscript journal of service in the Indian Mutiny by a British officer, 1857-59
Auction: India in Ink: The Library of Dr Raj Krishna | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 79 to 208
Description
4to (22 x 18cm), late 19th- or early 20th-century half morocco, spine faded and lettered in gilt, ink on paper, 304 pp., the journal is in (at least) two unknown hands, comprising a fair copy of extracts of a series of letters of G.R. Westmacott to ‘H.M.S.W .and ’D.W.,' commencing in Umballa, 24th March 1857 and finishing in Bolarum, 1st June 1859, written from various places including Mhow and Allahabad, referring to action in India during the Indian Mutiny and its aftermath, together with 4 pp. ‘List of Officers mentioned’ and ‘Contents,’ in ink, and 2 pp. pencil list of regiments mentioned.
Provenance
INDIA IN INK: THE LIBRARY OF DR RAJ KRISHNA
Footnote
George Richard Westmacott (1832-82), grandson of the sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott and son of Captain Robert Marsh Westmacott, was born in Sydney, his family having moved to Australia in 1831. He joined the Bengal Infantry c. 1849. At the time of the Indian Mutiny he was serving as lieutenant in the Hyderabad Contingent, an army of the Nizam of Hyderabad staffed by British officers. The Contingent worked closely with the Madras Army of the East India Company and was loyal to the British during the Indian Mutiny. Westmacott was raised to captain in 1864, then major at the time of his marriage in 1866, and later became a colonel in the Bengal Staff Corps. The journal is a collection of extracts in chronological order, copied out from Westmacott's letters, presumably to his family, who had moved back to England by this time. The extracts describe in great detail the progress of the Indian Mutiny and his part in putting it down, including some close escapes from death, ‘I am not scragged yet although there is no knowing when I may be.’