Sarah Elizabeth (Countess) Amherst Sold at Auction Prices

LADY SARAH ELISABETH AMHERST (1762-1838)

An account book belonging to Lady Amherst, containing approximately 249 manuscript receipts, payment slips and accounts, dating from 7 August 1823 to February 1828, written in brown or black ink, many signed 'S. E. Amherst' or 'Sarah Amherst', most annotated in Bengali on versos, sewn in to blue paper wrappers, 4to (255 x 200mm), the upper cover with paper label titled 'Right Hon.ble Lady Amherst' in manuscript. BRITISH INDIA: A RARE AND FASCINATING INSIGHT INTO THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL AND HIS WIFE. Sarah, Countess Dowager of Plymouth, widow of the 5th Earl of Plymouth and daughter of the second Lord Archer, married William Pitt, 2nd Baron (later 1st Earl) Amherst of Arracan (1773-1857) in 1800. He became Governor-General of Bengal in 1823, following a somewhat unsuccessful diplomatic career which included a notorious mission to China in 1816 (for which see lot 96 of related interest) when he refused to kowtow to the Emperor. Lord Amherst succeeded Lord Hastings to the post of governor-general of Bengal in 1823 -- the date from which Lady Amherst's account book begins. The records offer an insight into daily life at Government House, Calcutta, during a time which saw the disastrous war with Burma (1824-26) and the death of the Amherst's eldest son in 1826. The accounts date to beyond the official departure of Lord Amherst from India in 1827. The account book presents a picture of the extravagant way of life of the upper classes serving in India in the 19th century, and of the luxuries afforded to Lady Amherst to suit her high social position as wife of the governor-general. Interspersed with payments made into 'Lady Amherst's private account', are receipts for jewelry and precious stones, including an 'agate necklace from Bombay' and 'gold madras bangles', for china, 'a collection of rare shells', for silks, satins, and for garments made by tailors and milliners in Calcutta. In addition to the more domestic details are insights into Lord and Lady Amherst's library and daily reading material: invoices include lists of purchases from Samuel Smith & Co. in Calcutta, such as Drummonds First Steps to Botany and Taylors Selections from Humboldt, and subscriptions for the Bengal Weekly Messenger and the Calcutta Weekly Price Current from the Bengal Hurkaru Press. A number of receipts reveal Lady Amherst's patronage of local Indian painters; she herself followed the British vogue for drawing, and was a noted amateur watercolourist and pupil of Chinnery. Receipts from 1827 include a payment to 'Mahomed Lateef Draftsman' for '2 drawings of the Taj mahal at Agra @ 30 each' and a 'drawing Aitmadoodoula in the Doab' for 25 rupees, and a list of eleven 'native drawings'. In the same year Sarah Amherst made her own sketch of the 'Buland Darwaza of the Jami Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri', which her daughter Sarah Elizabeth worked up later in 1829 after returning to England (see M. Archer, British Drawings in the India Office Library, no.1290).