Attrib. Henry Brabazon Urmston Puklee Valley, North Hazara [h], Punjab, India

An original 1857 watercolour painting, Attrib. Henry Brabazon Urmston, Puklee Valley, North Hazara [h], Punjab, India.

A fascinating large watercolour attributed to Henry Brabazon Urmston (fl.1860). The subject indicated on the verso of the painting is 'Puklee Valley, North of Hazarah, Punjab, India—Mountains of Koonsh and Kaghan in the distance, October 1857'. The distinctively painted plains of Puklee Valley were part of the North West Frontier region of the Punjab. A further, later inscription on the verso states 'The Puklee Valley Upper Mazarah Punjab from Manserah [Mansehra] (storm approaching) Oct 1857'.

Henry Brabazon Urmston served in the Bengal Army 1847–74. He held various positions, including Assistant Commissioner in the Punjab with special duty in Kashmir during 1857, and Deputy Commissioner in Peshawar, Bannu, Sialkot, Amritsar and Rawalpindi. In 1850 he married Harriett Elizabeth Hughes (1828–1897), who had arrived in India earlier that year as a Christian missionary—a calling to which she was to devote her life in both India and later in the UK. Her mission was not to the people of India, but initially to the wives of the soldiers. Her meetings attracted the husbands too and she was known as 'Holy Mary'. After their return to the UK in 1875 due to ill health, she spent years—unusually for a woman—preaching in support of the Zenana Bible and Medical Missionary Society.

This watercolour is one of a group of three that we have for sale, which stylistically are very similar to Henry Brabazon Urmston's work. A collection of his watercolours sold at Christie's in 1997, detailing Urmston's movements through India. The Urmstons settled at Rawalpindi in the Punjab, now part of Pakistan.

Two figure drawings by Urmston are held in the India Office Library, London.

In watercolour with white bodycolour highlights and scratching out.