Malcolm (Sir John). Signed manuscript report on the siege of Asirgarh, 1819, & 2 others

Sold for £2,100

Malcolm (Sir John, 1769-1833). [Manuscript report signed on the siege of Asirgarh], [1819], secretarial manuscript, 28 leaves, signed by Malcolm 'John Malcolm' on folio 27 recto, folios 10 and 28 blank, watermarks dated 1816 and 1817, partial foliation, frequent catch-words, sometime stitched, now disbound, creased from folding, a few leaves remaining in bifolia, but most now separated along central fold, folio 6 partially split along one fold, some short splits and closed tears elsewhere, pencil annotation to folio 18 verso ('1819 Madras, Papers respecting late Campaign & List of the Native Powers, To be enquired if they have re[ceive]d from [?]Br.Genl Sir J. Malcolm'), foolscap (32.4 x 20 cm), together with:

ibid., 'Memorandum of the proceedings of Brigadier General Sir John Malcolm from the 16th of January to the 20th of June 1818 including those connected with the submission of the Peishaw Badjerow', 1818, secretarial manuscript, 11 numbered bifolia (i.e. 22 leaves), watermarked 1815, sometime stitched, now disbound, creased from folding, bifolia 10 and 11 separated, a few other short splits and tears, manuscript docket to final folio verso ('Bengal, R. 24th August 1818, Memoir of the Proceedings [...]'), foolscap (32.4 x 20 cm),

Munro (John, 1778-1858), [Group of copy letters and documents relating to Munro's court martial], [Madras, 1809], secretarial manuscript on paper, 40 leaves (of which a few blank), containing copies of 13 letters and documents in various hands, watermarked 1806, contemporary boards, rebacked, foolscap (32 x 20 cm)

(Qty: 3)

Provenance (first item): Acquired from Michael Hicks Beach, London, between 1990 and 1995 (with manuscript catalogue note on headed paper).

The fall of Asirgarh fortress in 1819 after the Third Anglo-Maratha War marked the end of organised military resistance to Company rule in central India. Malcolm's report on the siege was printed in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register (1820), volume 9, pp., 59-66, but this manuscript copy contains at least two passages apparently omitted from the published version: folio 20 recto line 5 ('During last night a Mewattee who') to folio 21 recto line 5 from bottom ('Doveton's operations'); and folio 22 line 3 from bottom ('The Killadar ...') to the end of folio 22 verso. The second item ('Memorandum') was printed as appendix V in Malcolm's Political History of India (1826).

Munro was quartermaster-general of the Madras army when he was controversially arrested (but never charged) at the request of officers offended by the wording of his report advocating the retention of the so-called 'Tent Contract' (see Tuck, ed., The East India Company, 1784-1834, p. 170).