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An Account of a Journey in Kashmir by David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer and Letters from Emily Overend Lorimer to her Parents sent from Bahrain and Kerman [582v] (1186/1291)
The record is made up of 2 files (630 folios). It was created in 1898-1914. It was written in English and Persian. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
KERMAN
»
LXVII.
1 - 7 - 14 .
Kemaan may seem to you all a 1)11 out of the world, but we
really live at a quite sufficient pace. My last Diary took me up
to our dinner party. was very thankful to have all safely over.
Delightful as it was having the Taylors, it was not wholly without
strain. Mrs. T. was an angel about trying to help in every possible
way but as you very well know a visitor helping you to arrange flowers
really means that you spend in fetching and placing TeadyUtases for 4 ^
ger about twice as long as it would have taken you to do them your
self and then you stay and chat while she does them so that a half hor
hour's Job resolves itself into a three hours’ one ! And so with
everything else. Even though I brought my typewriter into the
drawing room and my index boxes, it usually ended in my spending most
of the forenoon chatting in the intervals of pretending to work.
Having someone always at hand whom you feel you ought to be attend
ing to.makes it very hard to do as much quiet thinking as you like
before any sort of show and I was terribly afraid that I should find
I had forgotten something. But though it is very peaceful to have
^ the house free again, I think the^<being here was good for us both
7 and I think it really did help them a little to weather the first
of their sorrow. They had been going to stay another while and
may Indeed come back later, but they fled off yesterday on Monday
in haste on receipt of the news of the Swedish doctor’s Imminent
danger.
By Monday we all knew there was practically no hope. Before
contracting typhoid, he was already weakened by dysentry and various
small attacks of fever, so that he hadn’t really a very good chance;
finally he made a very rebellious and troublesome patient and at
last developed hemorrhage and heart trouble. The C.M.S. people
were with him day and night and nothing that could give him a chance
was omitted. Nhen we heard it was only a matter of hours Mrs. T.
went down to supplement the C.M.S. folk and to be with the poor littfe
wife, whom she ultimately took with ehr to the Bank House for the ni®
night. That evg. there was nothing we could do except send down
such white flowers as we had. Next a.m. I jumped on to my bicycle
at about 6.30 and ran down to the Bank House. On the way I met Mr.T
coming up to tell Lock that the Memorial service was fixed for ll
and that they Intended to cremate the body afterwards. Now
cremation is a most civilised and excellent thing and it is great
pity that we do not use it more at home, but why, oh why, cremate
in a Mussulman country where the one unforglveable insult is to
call a person "son of a burnt father" ? It seems as if by some
irony the poor Swedes are determined to give more trouble to the
general public even in their deaths than other folk. w e gather
that the ^wdlsh officers extracted a solemn promise from each other
that if any died out here his remains should be brought home to
Sweden.
About this item
- Content
This file consists of two separate physical files as follows:
1) An account of a journey in Kashmir in 1898-99 written by David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer of the Indian Army. His account is entitled 'Three Months of Privilege Leave'. It contains his observations on the languages, peoples, transport, flora and fauna, trade and climate of the region. There are occasional edits and corrections to the original text marked in red pen. The Persian language material in the file is a proverb written on folio 194.
In addition to this travel diary, the following is enclosed: an essay by Lorimer entitled 'Modern Education' dated 9 February 1895 (folios 1-24); two copies of a pamphlet that was published 'for private circulation' in memory of David's brother, John Gordon Lorimer, following his death on 8 February 1914 (folios 255-262); and another essay by Lorimer entitled 'Our Indian N.W. Frontier - a study in a bye-gone Civilisation. A forgotten Chapter of Frontier History' (folios 221-253).
2) Copies of letters that were sent from Emily Overend Lorimer to her parents, Thomas George Overend and Hannah Kingsbury. The letters describe the lives of Emily and her husband, David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer (referred to as 'Lock' in the letters), while living in Bahrain from October 1911 until November 1912 (folios 263-310) and in Kerman from January 1913 until November 1914 (folios 313-634). David served as Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Bahrain 1911-12 and as HM Consul, Kerman and Persian Baluchistan, 1913-14.
The letters discuss a range of topics including Lorimer's observations of local customs, food, climate, scenery and festivals; the couple's domestic life and arrangements (especially their servants, who are often discussed in racialised, insulting language); and her interactions with other non-local residents. Also discussed are Lorimer's reading habits, her and her husband's health, family news and, occasionally, world events and political developments.
On folios 322-324, the file contains a description of a walk around Kerman in March 1914 that is accompanied by a sequence of six small black and white photographs of various points in the journey (folios 315-321).
In addition to these letters, the file also contains a number obituaries and letters of condolence written upon the death of David's brother, John Gordon Lorimer, on 8 February 1914 (folios 299-302, 415-416 and 543-544).
On folio 417, the file contains an obituary of David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer published in an unknown newspaper following his death on 26 February 1962.
- Extent and format
- 2 files (630 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the front cover of volume one (ff 1-262) and terminates at the inside back cover of volume two (ff 263-634); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English and Persian in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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An Account of a Journey in Kashmir by David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer and Letters from Emily Overend Lorimer to her Parents sent from Bahrain and Kerman [582v] (1186/1291), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur D922/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100179946973.0x000042> [accessed 27 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur D922/1
- Title
- An Account of a Journey in Kashmir by David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer and Letters from Emily Overend Lorimer to her Parents sent from Bahrain and Kerman
- Pages
- 263r:298v, 303r:306v, 309r:391v, 393r:411v, 418r:542v, 545r:634v
- Author
- Lorimer, Emily Martha
- Copyright
- ©Munro Family
- Usage terms
- Creative Commons Attribution Licence