NAM.1967-11-1-3-1

Bound MS letterbook (marked 'Public Letters'), containing copies of out-letters written by Lt W W H Greathed, Bengal Engineers, India, 3rd Aug 1849 to 11th Feb 1852. From the papers of Maj Gen William Wilberforce Harris Greathed, 1848-1868. Main part of the correspondence relates to Greathed's duties as Superintendant of canals in the Delhi area. He complains about cases involving his employees being taken out of his jurisdiction, and to a colleague Engineer that his work is damaging his canals. Suggests Government allow a village responsibility system for levying water supplies and requests that the King of Delhi's staff use usual routes with their elephants instead of the edge of his canals. Administrative matters include a memorandum on Horse allowances, the need for a 2nd Captain in the Corps, disallowed, unlike the Royal Engineers arrangements for a court martial and detailed matters relating to decisions of the Military Auditor General. Human issues include a report of a fight between two sepoys and the difficulties of detaining them, a recommendation for promotion for a Sergeant Casey and a doctor's certificate recommending Greathed return to Europe to see an eminent Surgeon. A separate part of the book records in detail Greathed's initiative in having the death of a brother officer, Frederick Grindall, commemorated by a plaque eventually sited in Croydon Common Church, and his difficulty in obtaining all the subscriptions, 1849-1851.