Photo 1256/10

A miscellaneous collection comprising the following items relating to the Brand family in India:

1. Cabinet photograph by M. Puttasawmy Chetty of Madras, showing the grave of Flora Winchester (née Richmond; d. 1905), wife of George Ellard Brand.

2. A very finely carved sandalwood box, with Indian religious motifs and figures and with engraved dedication label, presented to George Ellard Brand (1865-1918) by students of the Madras School of Arts, of which he was Superintendent, on his departure on leave on 21 June 1906. The box is accompanied by a copy of the address it originally contained, in which the students praise Brand for his patience and perseverance and enthusiasm in achieving whatever is entrusted to you … our gratitude and love towards you, induce us to approach you with this small token, which, we trust will remind you of us in your hours of retirement in your motherland. The original of this address is held in the British Library collections at Mss Eur F525/17.

Accompanying papers:

3. Baptismal certificate of Arthur Reginald Brand (1895-1971), solemnized at St Peter’s Church, Tanjore (Thanjavur), 22 November 1895.

4. Marriage certificate of Arthur Reginald Brand and Mary Sybil Garland Payne, at Newton Abbot Parish Church, 30^th April 1940.

5. Invitation to Investiture Ceremony at the Banqueting Hall, Madras, 6 March 1946, at which A. R. Brand received the M.B.E.

6. Application for British citizenship on behalf of Caroline Mary Brand, on her return to England from India, on the retirement from the Madras Forest Service of her father Arthur Reginald Brand, in 1946; with supporting documents.

7. Family tree of the Brand family, from the early 19^th century to the present day; original and updated fair copy prepared by Caroline Mary Garland Adams.

8. Xerox copies of various documents relating to the career of A. R. Brand, the originals in the possession of Mrs Caroline Garland Adams: educational certificates (1913), commission as an officer in the Volunteer Forces of India (1913); appointment as an officer in the Indian Army Reserve (1917); M.B.E. certificate (1946).

Biographical note:

Arthur Reginald Brand MBE (1895-1971), was the son of Major George Ellard Brand (1865-1918), Principal of the School of Arts in Madras. He was born in Coorg in 1895 and attended the Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore, before studying at the Forest Research Institute and College, Dehra Dun, 1915-1917. He then entered the Provincial Forest Service, where he rose to the position of Assistant Conservator of Forests, Madras, from c.1933-1947. In 1929 he gained a commission in the Army in India Reserve of Officers, posted to the Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners, with the rank of captain. In 1933 he was promoted to the rank of major. In 1920 he married Ada Rolfe (d. 1934), and they had one son, Arthur Percival Rolfe Brand (1924-1994), who served in the Gurkhas with the rank of captain, and in civilian life worked for Royal Insurance, mainly overseas (Hong Kong, Haifa). In 1940, Brand visited the UK for the first time, where he met and married Mary Sybil Garland Payne (b. 1910). They had one daughter, Caroline Mary Garland Adams (b. 1944 in India). In 1946 he was awarded the MBE. They moved to England in 1947, where Arthur Reginald Brand died in 1971.