Malcolm Hamilton Beattie British Ceylon: Uncut Gems at Trincomalee

An original c.1880s pen & ink drawing, M.H. Beattie, British Ceylon: Uncut Gems at Trincomalee.

An interesting cartoon drawn in British India in the late 19th century. The artist is Malcolm Hamilton Beattie (1862–1941), who served with the Hooghly Pilot Service in Bengal from 1878 to 1913.

In 1935 Beattie published a book titled 'On the Hooghly', a retrospective account of his time in India, illustrated with drawings which he states were from 'my old sketch books'.

One of a collection that we have by the artist, some of the drawings directly correspond to illustrations in the book. Whilst this drawing was not included, it relates directly to an episode that is recounted in the book, when the British India Steamer Chyebcusa stopped at Trincomalee in Ceylon. Locals climbed aboard and attempted to sell them large uncut gems. The British wives were greatly interested but the men had spent all their money playing cards and drinking liquor. The wife of a 'Mr B.' was particularly disappointed, so in consolation Beattie and Mr B. went on a walk ashore, where remarkably they spotted 'little pebbles of all the colours of the rainbow'. Returning to the boat with these 'uncut gems', Mr B. delighted his wife, and when she asked him how much he had paid for them, he could gladly say, "It's lucky we didn't buy any here: they were much cheaper on shore !"

Malcolm Hamilton Beattie was born and schooled in the UK, before joining the training ship, Worcester, lying off Greenhithe in 1876, aged fourteen. In 1877 the Indian Government decided to recruit the Bengal Pilot Service from the training ships Worcester and Conway; the following year Beattie sailed for the East on board the P&O Peshawur. In 1887 he married Maria Isabel Lindquist and had four sons born at Calcutta. As was common, the boys were sent to England for their schooling, at Eastbourne College, and by 1935 Malcolm Beattie had also returned to the UK, living at Burntwood, Eastbourne.