WD2331-2344

STRACHEY, Sir RICHARD (1817-1908)

Bombay Engineers 1836; transferred to Bengal Irrigation Department 1839. Lieutenant 1841; Captain 1854; Major 1857; Colonel 1862; Major-General 1871; Lieutenant-General and retired from India 1875. His first years in India were spent at Poona and in Khandesh, with a holiday in the Nilgiris. On joining the Bengal Irrigation Department he worked on the Jumna Canal and in 1843 became Executive Engineer under Cautley on the Ganges Canal, helping to construct the head-works at Hardwar. From 1845 to 1846 he was involved in the Sikh War at the battles of Aliwal and Sobraon. He returned to work on the Ganges Canal, but fell ill with fever and went on leave to Naini Tal. While on holiday he studied botany and geology and made expeditions into W. Nepal. In 1848 he accompanied the botanist, J.E. Winterbottom, F.L.S., on an expedition into Tibet, journeying as far as the Lakes of Rakas and Manasarowar, which had been visited by his brother, Henry, in 1846. In 1849 he made an expedition from Almora with his brother, crossing the Niti Pass. He went on leave to England from 1850 to 1855 and worked on his botanical collections. In 1854 he married Caroline Anne Bowles and in 1855 returned to India for irrigation work in Bundelkhand. His wife died in September 1855 and he went on leave to Simla in October. In 1856 he was appointed Under-Secretary, Public Works Department, in the absence of Henry Yule (q.v.). During the Mutiny he became Secretary to all departments under Sir John Peter Grant, during the latter's temporary Lieutenant-Governorship of the Central Provinces.

Consulting Engineer Railway Department 1858. In 1859 he married Jane Maria, daughter of Sir Peter Grant. Secretary Public Works Department 1862; Inspector-General Irrigation 1866; Governor-General's Legislative Council 1869; Inspector-General Railway Material and Stores, India Office, 1871; Member of Council of India 1875; Indian Famine Commission, Finance and Military Member, Supreme Council 1878-79; Member of Council of India 1879-89; Chairman East India Railway Company 1889; Representative of Indian Government at Brussels Monetary Conference 1892; Member Lord Herschell's Currency Committee.

Bibliography: C.R. Sanders, ‘The Strachey family,’ 1855-1932 (Duke University Press, 1953). For the Grant family and their house, the Doune, at Rothiemurchus, see Elizabeth Grant (ed. Lady Strachey),’ Memoirs of a Highland lady, 1797-1827’ (London, 1898).

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WD2331-2344

200 drawings deposited on permanent loan, together with WD2345-2369 and Mss Eur F127, by James Strachey, son of Sir Richard Strachey, 10 November 1964.

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WD2333-2335; WD2344

Three landscape views, 1855; and a design for the memorial to Lord Elgin, 1866.

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WD2336-2343

8 drawings of wooded hills and mountains in Tibet made during the expedition to Lake Manasarowar (Tibet). 1848.

Inscribed on original portfolio: ‘Tibetan Panorama.’

Squared up for enlargement. Numbered ‘1’ to’ 8.’

Pen-and-ink; 15.5 by 22.5 ins.