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Allan Octavian Hume

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Allan Octavian Hume (June 6, 1829 - July 31, 1912) son of Joseph Hume was a Scottish civil servant and political reformer. He was, along with Sir William Wedderburn, a founder of the Indian National Congress. He was described by Dr. Salim Ali as the father of Indian Ornithology.

Allan Octavian Hume
Allan Octavian Hume

Contents

Life and career

Hume was born in Montrose, Forfarshire, Scotland, the son of Joseph Hume, the Radical MP. He was educated at Haileybury Training College and then University College Hospital, studying medicine and surgery. In 1849 he sailed to India and the following year joined the Bengal Civil Service at Etawah in the North-Western Provinces, in what is now Uttar Pradesh. He soon rose to become District Officer, introducing free primary education and creating a local vernacular newspaper, Lokmitra (The People's Friend). He married Mary Anne Grindall in 1853.

In 1860 Hume was made Companion of the Bath for his services during the rebellion or Indian rebellion of 1857. 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.

He took up the cause of education and founded scholarships for higher education. He wrote in 1859,

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 rathern 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. He was also 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 has a floor plan resembling the letter H. This, according to some is an indication of Hume's imperial ego, although the form can easily be missed.

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 also took note of rural indebtedness, chiefly caused by the use of land as security, a practice the British themselves had introduced. 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. He criticized the administration of Lord Lytton (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 him had led to the waste of "millions and millions of Indian money".

In 1879 the Government made their disapproval of his criticism and frankness known and summarily removed him from the Secretariat. 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."

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 held in Bombay. Hume served as its General Secretary until 1908. Along with Sir William Wedderburn (1838-1918) they made it possible for Indians to organize themselves in preparation of self government.

Hume left India in 1894 and settled at Upper Norwood in London. His ashes are buried in Brookwood Cemetery.

Theosophy

Hume wanted to become a chela (student) of the Tibetan spiritual gurus. During the few years of his connection with the Theosophical Society 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.

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.

Madame Blavatsky was a regular visitor at Hume's Rothney castle at Simla 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). 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 lost all interest in theosophy when he got involved with the creation of the Indian National Congress.

Contribution to ornithology

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 mutiny. 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. Rothney castle originally belonged to P. Mitchell, C.I.E and after Hume bought it, he tried to convert the house into a veritable palace, which he expected would be bought by the Government as a Viceregal residence in view of the fact that the Governor-General then occupied ‘Peterhoff’, which was too small for Viceregal entertainments. 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 he himself did not use the larger rooms except for one that he converted into a museum for his wonderful collection of birds, and for occasional dances.


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 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 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 provides the following account of Hume's impressive private ornithological museum:





Sharpe also noted



The Hume collection as it went to the British museum in 1874 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).




The Hume Collection contained 258 types.


Some of the species that were first described or discovered by Hume are as follows. The numbers are references to S. D. Ripley and Salim Ali's Synopsis and the old names are retained. Many of these names are no longer valid.




An additional species, the Large-billed Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus orinus known from just one specimen collected by him on his Sind expedition of 1871 is believed, on the basis of recent DNA studies, to be a proper species. However the bird has never been subsequently seen or collected.


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 and Dr. Dougall of the Geological Survey of India and James Wood-Mason of the Indian Museum in Calcutta.


Hume employed William R. Davidson 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.



Stray Feathers


Hume started the quarterly journal Stray Feathers - A journal of ornithology for India and dependencies in 1872. 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.



Hume's network of correspondents


Hume built up a network of ornithologists reporting from various parts of India. A list based on the correspondents mentioned in Stray Feathers and in his Game Birds is as follows. This is probably only a small fraction of the subscribers of Stray Feathers. 








  • Mr. R. M. Adam,  Sambhur, Oudh, Agra, Lucknow
  • Leith Adams, Kashmir
  • Mr. Benjamin Aitken, Madras, Matheran, Khandalla, Poona, 1873,  Poorundhur hill, eighteen miles south of Poona
  • Mr. E. Aitken,  Poona
  • Mr. James Aitken, Amraoti, Berar
  • Mr. A. A. Anderson, Futtehgurh
  • Mr. A. Anderson, Budaon
  • Major J. W. M. Anderson, Banvasi, Sirsi
  • Dr. Anderson, Upper Burma, Yunnan, Calcutta
  • Dr. Armstrong, Bay of Bengal
  • Captain J. H. Baldwin, Author of Game of Bengal, Pilibhit, Mirzapur
  • Lieut. H. E. Barnes, Afghanistan, Chaman, Rajpootana
  • Major Barnes, Pangong, Oong Lung La, Kansu
  • Mr. J. Battie, Lakhimpur Kheri
  • Sir S. C. Bayley , Sadiya Mishmi hills
  • Captain R. C. Beavan, Maunbhoom District, Shimla, Mount Tongloo (1862)
  • Captain Bellis, Sandur
  • Mr. J. A. Betham (Betul, Satna)
  • Dr. Bidie, Madras Central Museum (Goodvancherrie, Bluebreasted Quail)
  • Colonel John Biddulph, Gilgit
  • Major C. T. Bingham, Thoungyeen Valley, Burma, Tenasserim, Moulmein, Allahabad
  • Captain Bishop, Karachi
  • Mr. W. Blanford
  • Mr. William Blewitt, Hansi, Hissar
  • Mr. F. R. Blewitt, Raipur,Jhansi
  • Mr. Edward Blyth
  • Dr. Bonavia, Lucknow
  • Mr. Bourdillon, Travancore
  • Mr. Frank Bourdillon, Assamboo Hills, Travancore, Mynall (Travancore)
  • Mr. T. Fulton Bourdillon, Travancore
  • Mr. Brookes, Kashmir,Sonamarg, Kashmir.
  • Mr. Brooks, Mirzapoor District
  • Mr. W. Edwin Brooks
  • Mr. C. Browne, Salt range
  • Sir E. C. Buck, Gowra, Hatu, near Narkanda (in Himachal Pradesh), Narkanda, (about 30 miles north of Shimla)
  • Burgess, Ahmednagar
  • Captain and then Colonel E. A. Butler, Belgaum (1880), Karachi, Deesa, Abu
  • Mr. F. W. Butler, Muzzafarnagar
  • Major Campbell (26th MNI) Quilon
  • Mr. Cardozo. Kurnool
  • Mr. H. R. P. Carter, Coonoor, Nilgiris
  • Major Carwithen (Sher-ka-danda - Mountain Quail)
  • Mr. Chennell, North Khasi hills
  • Mr. W. N. Chill, Delhi, Sultanpur
  • Captain and later Major Cock, Dharamshala, Anchar Dall, Kashmir
  • Mr. R. A. Clark, Mynadhar, Cachar
  • Mr. Cleveland, Gurgaon district
  • Miss M. B. Cockburn, Nilgiris and Kotagiri
  • Colonel Congreve
  • Mr. Cowley, Sadiya, Dibrugarh
  • Mr. J. R. Cripps, Eastern Bengal,Fureedpore, Eastern Bengal, Dibrugarh District, Assam,Dacca, Sylhet
  • Mr. G. Damant, Naga hills , Rungpore, Malda
  • Mr. Darling, Tenasserim, Moulmein
  • Mr. William Davison, hot springs at Ulu Laugat,  Nilghiris, Ootacamund, Tavoy
  • Mr. J. L. Darling, junior, Neddivattam,Vythery, Culputty, Wynaad (1874),
  • Nilgiris, Kartary, Coonoor, Ooty
  • Mr. James Davidson, Satara and Sholapur districts,Khandeish, Kondabhari Ghat
  • Mr. H. B. Davidson, Tavoy
  • Mr. Davis, Burma, Thatone
  • Mr. F. A. DeRopstorff (Andamans)
  • Mr. Scrope B. Doig, Eastern Narra District, in Sind,
  • Drew, Tso Morari
  • Mr. Egan, Cuddapah, Nellore
  • Mr. Ellison, Deputy Commissioner, Chhindwara
  • Mr. Elphinston, North Kanara
  • Captain H. J. Elwes, Sikkim
  • Rev. S. B. Fairbank, KodaiKanal
  • Lieut. W. S. Fairbrother (29th PNI) Safed Koh
  • Mr. H. Fasson, Chittagong
  • Captain Feilden, Northern Pegu, Thayetmyo
  • Captain FitzHerbert, Rifle Brigade, Rawalpindi
  • Major M. Forbes Coussmaker, Mysore, Bangalore
  • Mr. W. Forsyth, Dehree-on-Soane, Jumna
  • Mr. J. A. Gammie, Chinchona reserves (Sikkim)
  • Colonel Godwin-Austen, Shillong, Umian valley, Assam
  • Mr. Huntley P. Gordon, Bellary
  • Colonel Graham, Darrang District, Assam
  • Mr. G. Greig, Garhwal
  • Dr. John Harvey, Chamba
  • Mr. Hastings, Etawah
  • Henderson



  • Lt. Hill, Rifle Brigade, Peshawar (1877)
  • Mr. Hildebrande, Pahpooon, Younzaleen
  • Mr. Brian Hodgson, Nepal
  • Captain W. J. Heaviside, R.E, Ujjain, Purneah
  • Home, 'Hero of the Kashmir Gate' (Bulandshahr, Aligarh)
  • Captain Thomas Hutton, Doon, Mussoorie, Quettah
  • Mr. James Inglis, Dilkoosha, Cachar
  • Mr. J. D. Inverarity, Gujarat
  • Mr. Valentine Irwin, Tippera Hills
  • Colonel L. H. Irby Seetapore, Oudh, Munsheyaree in Kumaon
  • Mr. E. James, C.S. Satpura hills, Khandesh to Kanara (Sindh,Baikal teal)
  • Mr. J. Jarbo, Chittagong
  • Sir W. Jardine, E. S. Layard, Esq., Point Pedro
  • Dr. T. C. Jerdon, Tellicherry
  • Lt. Kelham, 72 Highlanders, Perak
  • W. Mahomed Oomer Khan, Peshawar district
  • Dr. King, Mt Abu (1868) commonness of Grey Junglefowl
  • Major H. Alexander Kinloch (Shot two Pink headed duck near Najafgarh jheel in Delhi)
  • Mr. H. S. Laird, Belgaum
  • Lieut. W. W. Lean, Khyber Pass, Fort Jumrood (Dr. Julian Smith)
  • Captain and later Colonel W. Vincent Legge, Ceylon
  • Professor H. Littledale, Baroda, Godhra
  • Mr. Iver Macpherson, Mysore, Kakencotte State Forest
  • Kenneth Mackinnon
  • Mr. P. J. Maitland, Jacobabad
  • Mr. F. R. Mallet , Tibet, Niti Pass (Brahminy Duck)
  • Mr. L. Mandelli, Lebong, Sikkim, Darjeeling
  • Mr. A. M. Markham, Allahabad
  • Colonel C. H. T. Marshall, Bhawulpoor, Murree
  • Colonel G. F. L. Marshall, Nainital, Bhim tal
  • Mr. Charles McInroy, Hunsur, Chitradurga(Bagriodkere tank)
  • Colonel McMaster, Kamptee, Nagpur, Secunderabad (shot a Pink headed Duck)
  • Sir William Merewether
  • Mr. H. Millet, Maldah district
  • Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, Seeghoor Ghaut, Neilgherries
  • Khan Nizam-ud-din, Khan Bahadur, Sirsa
  • Mr. E. C. Nunn, Hoshungabad
  • Captain O'Moore Creagh, Ana-Sagur lake at Ajmer
  • Mr. James A. Murray, Karachi Museum
  • Mr. Eugene Oates, Thayetmo, Tounghoo, Pegu
  • Captain Oldham, Sialkot
  • Colonel Palin, Kutch
  • Mr. J. C. Parker, Salt-Water Lake, Calcutta, Kishnaghur and Jessore
  • Col. Peyton, (crack shooter of southern Mahratta)
  • Sir F. Pollock, Peshawar
  • Prjevalsky
  • Captain Wardlaw Ramsay, Afghanistan, Karenee hills
  • Mr. H. James Rainey, Khoolna (Sundarbans), Jessore
  • Mr. George Reid, Lucknow, Oudh
  • Colonel Renny, Karachi
  • Mr. Roberts, Naga hills
  • Mr. R. W. Rumsby, Ambala
  • Mr. G. P. Sanderson (Chittagong)
  • Dr. John Scully, Gilgit district, Nepal, Kashgaria
  • Sir R. G. Schomburgk, Bangkok
  • Mr. C. B. Sherman,Esq. Ex-Engineer, Travancore
  • Mr. F. A. Shillingford, Sahibgunj, Purneah
  • Lieut. W. J. Smith, Pangong lake
  • Mr. D. B. Sinclair, Gulabad Jheel, Peshawar
  • Captain H. Stevens, 42nd NI, Sadiya, Mishmi
  • Major later Colonel and Governor O. B. St. John, R.E., Southern Persia, Shiraz, Kandahar, South Afghanistan
  • Dr. Ferdinand Stoliczka
  • Mr. Robert Swinhoe, Hongkong
  • Mr. Charles Swinhoe, S. Afghanistan
  • Mr. H. C. Syers, Suptd. of Police, Klang, Malay peninsula
  • Mr. C. J. W. Taylor,  Manzeerabad, Mysore
  • Captain Temple (Deputy Commissioner, Seoni)
  • Mr. Albert G. Theobald, Madras districts south of Mysore, Collegal
  • Mr. W. Theobald, Kashmir, Meady NE. Thayetmo
  • Mr. R. Thompson, Kumaon and Garhwal forests,Haldwani and Ramnagar, Kumaon, Garhwal (deputy conservator of forests, Central Provinces) Captain Horace
  • Terry, Pulney Hills, Pulungi, Pittur valley
  • Colonel Samuel Tickell
  • Major Maurice Tweedie, Kheri district, Lakhimpur
  • Mr. R. H. C. Tuffnell, Sirhpoor, between Ahmedabad and Deesa
  • Colonel Tytler, Dacca, 1852
  • Captain Unwin, 5th Goorkhas (1871) Rawalpindi
  • Mr. Valentine Ball, Rajmahal hills, Subanrika (Subansiri)
  • Mr. Vernon, Loharna, Kathney river Lakhimpur
  • Mr. G. W. Vidal, Ratnagiri, South Konkan
  • Mr. Wait, Coonoor
  • Captain T. M. Ward, Salsette
  • Major Waterfield, Peshawar
  • Mr. H. E. Watson, Sind, Sehwan district,Manchhar Lake (Mute Swan)
  • Mr. C. E. Wenden, Sholapur
  • Col. Williamson, Garo hills, Tura range (Inspector General of Police, Assam)
  • Frederick Wilson, Mussoorie
  • Lieut. Colonel W. J. Wilson, Condakirla, Vizagapatnam (Pink headed Duck)
  • Captain Wimberley, Andamans
  • Captain Frank Wise, Erie Hills Kurrachee district
  • Mr. A. Whyte, Ceylon
  • Mr. A. Grahame Young, Arjend, Tehran, Kullu






Additional authors in Stray Feathers








  • Andrew Anderson
  • J. M. Anderson
  • J. C. Berkeley
  • T. Bomford
  • E. S. Butler
  • Frank W. Chanter
  • Robert Cran
  • Charles Chubb
  • J. W. Ditmas
  • M. Eden
  • D. G. Elliot
  • F. Field
  • C. Gubbins
  • Edward L. Hawkins
  • H. E. M. James
  • J. S. Laird
  • A. LeMessurier, Sindh
  • R. P. LeMessurier
  • E. Lowis
  • Richard Lydekker
  • J. MacGregor, Deccan and South Mahratta








He also corresponded with ornithologists outside India including R. Bowdler-Sharpe, the Marquis of Tweeddale, Pere David, Dresser, Dybowski, John Henry Gurney, J.H.Gurney, Jr. ,Johann Friedrich Naumann, Severtzov, Dr. Middendorff.



Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon (1879-1881)


This work was co-authored by C. H. T. Marshall. 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.


In the preface Hume wrote



while his co-author Marshall, wrote






Hume's comment on the illustration The plate is a cruel caricature of the species, just sufficiently like to permit of identification, but miscolored to a degree only explicable on the hypothesis of somebody's colour-blindness… Fortunately for our supporters, this is the very worst plate in the three volumes.

Enlarge

Hume's comment on the illustration The plate is a cruel caricature of the species, just sufficiently like to permit of identification, but miscolored to a degree only explicable on the hypothesis of somebody's colour-blindness… Fortunately for our supporters, this is the very worst plate in the three volumes.










White-fronted Goose One of the illustrations that Hume considered as exceptionally good.

Enlarge

White-fronted Goose One of the illustrations that Hume considered as exceptionally good.








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.


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. 


Shortly after Hume's return to London he took up an interest in botany, and founded and endowed the South London Botanical Institute which continues to promote the study of plants to the present day. He worked with the botanist F. H. Davey and in the Flora of Cornwall (1909), Davey thanks Hume as his companion on excursions in Cornwall and Devon, and for helping in the compilation of that Flora.



References



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