Reports on India

Scope and Content

This is a leather bound volume with pages numbered from 143 to 300 containing handwritten commentaries relating to India and Russia in 1830, described on the introductory pages as follows:

  • Sir John McDonald's observations of Col. Evans work on The Invasion of India pp 143-216
  • Sir John Malcolm's notes on Col. Evans and Sir John McDonald's remarks, pp 217-230
  • Memoir of the NW Frontier taken from Public records by Capt/now Major/ Bonamy showing the Importance of the River Indus as connected with its defence, pp 231-300.
  • Included in the volume is a newsaper cutting, dated April 1840, about a Russion expedition against China.

Administrative / Biographical History

  • Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian. He was born in 1769 in the Scottish Border country. He left school, family and country at the age of thirteen, and achieved distinction in the East India Company, where he was nicknamed 'Boy Malcolm.' Arriving at Madras in 1783 as an ensign in the East India Company's Madras Army, he served as a regimental soldier for eleven years, before spending a year in Britain to restore his health. He returned to India in 1795 as Military Secretary to General Sir Alured Clarke.
    In 1827 he was appointed Governor of Bombay. In 1831 Malcolm returned to Britain, and died on 30 May 1833.
  • General Sir George de Lacy Evans GCB (7 October 1787 – 9 January 1870) was a British Army general and later an MP. He was born in 1787, in Moig, County Limerick, Ireland and joined the East India Company's forces in 1800 before volunteering for the British Army in India in 1806. Evans was present at the battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 and the battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Evans became increasingly concerned that Russia had designs on India. He wrote two books, "On the Designs of Russia" (1828) and "On the Practicability of an Invasion of British India" (1829). From 1854, during the Crimean War he commanded the 2nd Division of the British Army. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Rye in 1830, and from 1831 to 1832, and for Westminster from 1833 to 1841 and from 1846 to 1865. Evans died on 9 January 1870.
  • Sir John Macdonald Kinneir (3 February 1782 – 11 June 1830) was a Scottish army officer of the East India Company, diplomat and traveller. He was born at Carnden, Linlithgow, on 3 February 1782, and Kinneir was attached to Sir John Malcolm's mission in Persia in 1808–9. From 1813 Kinneir was for some years town-major of Fort St George, Madras, and in 1824 was appointed envoy to Persia, for the East India Company where he remained as envoy until his death at Tabriz on 11 June 1830.

Access Information

Open. Please contact the archivist. Details can be found here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

Acquisition Information

The source of acquisition is unknown.

Archivist's Note

Catalogued by Matt McKenzie, RAS volunteer, under the supervision of archivist Nancy Charley.

Conditions Governing Use

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

Custodial History

The custodial history and copyist are unknown.