14 artworks, primarily watercolours, by JH Hicks during his trip to Bhutan in 1949

This file contains a variety of photographic material and non-photographic material. There is a portrait photograph of 'Major George Sherriff' with biographical information on a slip of paper and 2 accompanying negatives. There are 2 colour photographs of different types of Meconopsis which appear to be recent prints. There is also a printed map mounted beneath one of these photographs, detailing the area of Major George Sherriff's journey in the Himalayas.

Further non-photographic material includes: a note relating to the 'Sherriff' photographs from the Botany Department at the British Museum; a photocopy of the 'box cover' for the original 'A Quest of Flowers'. There is also a black and white photograph of a drawing of the birds: Garrulax gularis, Fulvetta ludlow, Spelaeornis s. sherriffi.

There are also a number of colour photographs of Ludlow and Sherriff's collecting equipment, which have been taken by Mrs Di McNab(?). The equipment belongs to Ashi Tasha (sister of Queen Mother Ashi Kesang) which had been left in Bhutan.

There are 5 negative relating to G. Sherriff photographs. The black and white photographs taken by G. Sherriff number 126. A note states that they have been arranged where possible by the Ludlow and Sherriff collecting number.

This relates to the plant photographs found at the middle of the box file. Towards the back of the box file are a selection of photographs of people and landscapes. The original packaging (with annotations) in which the photographs were donated by Peter Cox is also contained here. Many of the photographs have a label on the reverse which relates to corresponding herbarium material of the same number. Most photographs also have the location and date listed on the reverse. Some photographs also have marking related to the desired cropping or enlarging of future prints on the reverse. The largest prints are around 8 x 10 inches and the smallest around 3 x 4 inches. The majority of prints are at the smaller end of the scale.

1 black and white photograph mounted on thick greypaper.

Photograph an Bungalow at Hatisar.

Writing on the back.

[TRANSCRIPTION]

Bungalow at Hatisar
26/Mar/49
49.A.6.7

1 black and white photograph mounted on thick grey paper.

Photograph taken at night of people standing around a campfire.

Writing on the back

[TRANSCRIPTION]

Camp fire. End of second day.
26/Mar/49
49.A.6.8

Newspaper and paper wrappers from an unmounted collection from the herbarium of Dr. Hugh Francis Clarke Cleghorn.
A box of unmounted specimens from Cleghorn's herbarium and annotated as from ‘Cumbaukum Droog’ [Kambakkam Durgam] was discovered in the basement longstore at RBGE in 2025. It was assessed by Henry Noltie; the specimens were mounted and added to the herbarium collection, and the newspapers and folders used by Cleghorn to wrap his collection were seen as significant enough to be added to the Archive. Henry described the process in a Botanics Story: (right click, open link in new tab) https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/40144
The Collection includes manuscript lists relating to the Cumbaukan flora and a journal article cutting, made by Cleghorn, from the 1835 volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society: an article titled an ‘Account of the Ragery Hills, near Madras’ by a Colonel Monteith.
The specimens were contained in newspaper flimsies dating between 1853 and 1859, most of which were placed in covers made of Indian ‘country’ paper annotated with the numbers and names of 20 plant families. Although the specimens were collected in December 1853, the majority of the newspapers date from 1858/9, presumably when Cleghorn undertook some herbarium curation. They are trimmed to uniform size, c 27 x 44 cm – some more or less whole sheets folded, others cut in half (when the titles are often missing).
The newspapers are of considerable interest, assuming that they were subscribed to by Cleghorn, rather than bought as scrap paper. Two certainly were his as they are inscribed with his name, title, and address while on tour as Conservator of Forests in Salem and Ooty. These tell us something about his reading habits and suggest a great thirst for news both Indian and from Britain. Also used was also a pamphlet advertising a Madras ‘Periodical Horse Mart’ revealing a previously unknown, though unsurprising, interest in horse flesh; and proof that he subscribed to the Gardeners’ Chronicle, suspected but previously unproven. Of the Indian newspapers was one published in Bangalore (The Bangalore Herald) and seven in Madras (Madras Circulator, The Commercial Gazette, United Service Gazette, The Athenaeum, The Madras Times, The Madras Spectator and the official government Fort St George Gazette). Of those published in Britain the largest number of sheets are from The Overland Mail, with smaller numbers from four others (The Indian News, The Morning Herald, The Record and The Examiner). There is also a single half-sheet from an unidentified Fife newspaper to show that he kept up with news from Scotland.
The articles in the papers dating from 1858/9 are of particular interest, with many articles discussing the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny. Interesting though the ‘news’ items are, the papers are equally intriguing for the advertisements and aspects of social history revealed. described here are only a few items that were noticed while cataloguing the plants: a meeting of the Madras Photographic Society attended by Sir Walter Elliot (6 April 1858); the opening of the organ by William Hill in St George’s Cathedral (13 September 1858); stained glass fanlights for the cathedral designed by Archibald Cole, Professor Fine Arts in the Madras School of Industrial Art, made by Nathaniel Wood Lavers of London (later Lavers, Barraud & Westlake) (21 January 1859); an advertisement by J. Deschamps offering three pianos by Erard (1 mahogany grand of 7 octaves; 1 mahogany grand square of 6¾ octaves; 1 rosewood cottage of 6¾ octaves) and 1 mahogany grand square by Broadwood (May 1854); J.J. Fonceca & Co offering ‘Likenesses either in Oil, Water Colors, or Crayon … Landscape and Cattle Drawings … charges so regulated with a view to place their services within reach of all (21 January 1859); an auction by Oakes, Partridge and Co. offered a by then very old fashioned ‘square piano by T. Tomkison, in good order’ (6 July 1853).

One file of letters from G.S. Puri, Regional botanist, Botanical Survey of India, Wester Circle, Poona to H.R. Fletcher at RBGE describing the development of the Poona herbarium, museum and experimental garden in around 1958. There is discussion of a seed exchange plus a short article on the activities of the Poona herbarium for publication in our journal [was it ever published?].