Allan Octavian Hume

Allan Octavian Hume (June 6, 1829 - July 31, 1912) son of Joseph Hume was a British civil servant and political reformer. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress.

Contents

1 Life and career 2 Theosophy 3 Contribution to ornithology 4 Reference 5 External links

Life and career

Hume was born at Montrose, Forfarshire, the son of Joseph Hume, the Radical MP. He was educated at Haileybury Training College and then University College Hospital, studying medicine and surgery. In 1849 he sailed to India and joined the Bengal Civil Service at Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. He soon rose to become District Officer, introducing free primary education and creating a local vernacular newspaper, Lokmitra (The People's Friend). He married Mary Ann Grindall in 1853.

In 1860 Hume was made Companion of the Bath for his services during the Indian Mutiny. In 1867 he became Commissioner of Customs for the North West Province, and in 1870 he became attached to the central government as Director-General of Agriculture. In 1879 he returned to provincial government at Allahabad.

He took up the cause of education and founded scholarships for higher education. He wrote in 1859, "a free and civilized government must look for its stability and permanence to the enlightenment of the people and their moral and intellectual capacity to appreciate its blessings." In 1863 he moved for separate schools for Juvenile delinquents rathern than imprisonment. His efforts led to a Juvenile Reformatory not far from Etawah. He also started free schools in Etawah and by 1857 he established 181 schools with 5186 students including two girls. He was also against the revenue earned through liquor traffic and described it as "The wages of sin". With his progressive ideas about social reform, he advocated women's Education, was against infanticide and enforced widowhood. Hume laid out in Etawah a neatly gridded commercial district that is now known as Humeganj but pronounced, "Homeganj." The high school that he helped build with his own money is still in operation, now as a junior college, and it has a floor plan resembling the letter H. This, according to some is an indication of Hume's imperial ego, although the form can easily be missed.

Hume proposed to develop fuelwood plantations "in every village in the drier portions of the country" and thereby provide a substitute heating and cooking fuel so that manure could be returned to the land. Such plantations, he wrote, were "a thing that is entirely in accord with the traditions of the country-a thing that the people would understand, appreciate, and, with a little judicious pressure, cooperate in."

He also took note of rural indebtedness, chiefly caused by the use of land as security, a practice the British themselves had introduced. Hume denounced it as another of "the cruel blunders into which our narrow-minded, though wholly benevolent, desire to reproduce England in India has led us." Hume also wanted government-run banks, at least until cooperative banks could be established.

He was very outspoken and never feared to criticise when he thought the Government was in the wrong. In 1861, he objected to the concentration of police and judicial functions in the hands of the police superintendent. He criticized the administration of Lord Lytton (before 1879) which according to him cared little for the welfare and aspiration of the people of India. Lord Lytton's foreign policy according to him had led to the waste of "millions and millions of Indian money".

In 1879 the Government made their disapproval of his criticism and frankness known and summarily removed him from the Secretariat. The Englishman in an article dated 27 June 1879, commenting on the event stated, "There is no security or safety now for officers in Government employment."

Hume retired from the civil service in 1882. In 1883 he wrote an open letter to the graduates of Calcutta University, calling upon them to form their own national political movement. This led in 1885 to the first session of the Indian National Congress held in Bombay. Hume served as its General Secretary until 1908.

Hume left India in 1894 and settled at Upper Norwood in London. He is buried in Brookward Cemetery.

Theosophy

Hume wanted to become a chela (student) of the Tibetan spiritual gurus. During the few years of his connection with the Theosophical Society Hume wrote three articles on Fragments of Occult Truth under the pseudonym "H. X." published in The Theosophist. These were written in response to questions from Mr. Terry, an Australian Theosophist. He also privately printed several Theosophical pamphlets titled Hints on Esoteric Theosophy. The later numbers of the Fragments, in answer to the same enquirer, were written by Mr. Sinnott and signed by him, as authorized by Mahatma K. H., A Lay-Chela.

Madame Blavatzky was a regular visitor at Hume's Rothney castle at Simla and an account of her visit may be found in Simla, Past and Present by Edward John Buck (who succeeded Mr. Hume in charge of the Agricultural Department). Thacker & Spink, Calcutta, 1904. On one occasion, she tried to demonstrate occult powers by locating a long lost ornament of Mrs. Hume. Hume privately expressed grave doubts on certain powers attributed to Madame Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society and fell out of favour with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophists.

Hume lost all interest in theosophy when he was got involved with the creation of the Indian National Congress.

Contribution to ornithology

During his career in Etawah, he built a personal collection of bird specimens, however it was destroyed during the 1857 mutiny. Subsequently he started afresh with a systematic plan to survey and document the birds of the Indian Subcontinent and in the process he accumulated the largest collection of Asiatic birds in the world, which he housed in a museum and library at his home in Rothney Castle on Jakko Hill, Simla. Rothney castle originally belonged to P. Mitchell, C.I.E and after Hume bought it, he tried to convert the house into a veritable palace, which he expected would be bought by the Government as a Viceregal residence in view of the fact that the Governor-General then occupied ‘Peterhoff’, which was too small for Viceregal entertainments. Hume spent over two hundred thousand pounds on the grounds and buildings. He added enormous reception rooms suitable for large dinner parties and balls, as well as a magnificent conservatory and spacious hall with walls displaying his superb collection of Indian horns. He hired an European gardener, and made the grounds and conservatory a perpetual horticultural exhibition, to which he courteously admitted all visitors.

Rothney Castle could only be reached by a troublesome climb, and was never purchased by the British Government and he himself did not use the larger rooms except for one that he converted into a museum for his wonderful collection of birds, and for occasional dances.

He used this vast bird collection to produce a massive publication on all the birds of India. Unfortunately this work was lost in 1885 when all Hume's manuscripts were sold by his servants as waste paper. Hume's interest in ornithology reduced due to this theft as well as a landslip caused by heavy rains in Simla leading to damages to his personal museum and specimens. He wrote to the British Museum wishing to donate his collection on certain conditions. One of the conditions was that the collection was to be examined by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe and personally packed by him, apart from raising Dr. Sharpe's rank and salary due to the additional burden on his work caused by his collection. The British Museum was unable to heed to his conditions. It was only after the destruction of nearly 20000 specimens, that alarm bells were raised by Dr. Sharpe and the Museum authorities let him visit India to supervise the transfer of the specimens to the British Museum.

Sharpe provides the following account of Hume’s impressive private ornithological museum:

I arrived at Rothney Castle about 10 am on the 19th of May, and was warmly welcomed by Mr Hume, who lives in a most picturesque situation high up on Jakko…From my bedroom window, I had a fine view of the snowy range. Although somewhat tired by my jolt in the tonga from Solun, I gladly accompanied Mr. Hume at once into the museum…I had heard so much from my friends, who knew the collection intimately,…that I was not so much surprised when at last I stood in the celebrated museum and gazed at the dozens upon dozens of tin cases which filled the room. Before the landslip occurred, which carried away one end of the museum, It must have been an admirably arranged building, quite three times as large as our meeting-room at the Zoological Society, and…much more lofty. Throughout this large room went three rows of table cases with glass tops, in which were arranged a series of the birds of India sufficient for the identification of each species, while underneath these table- cases where enormous cabinets made of tin, with trays inside, containing species of birds in the table cases above. All of the rooms were racks reaching up to the ceiling, and containing immense cases full of birds… On the western side of the museum was the library, reached by a descent of three steps, a cheerful room, furnished with large tables, and containing besides the egg-cabinets, a well-chosen set of working-volumes. One ceases to wonder at the amount of work its owner got through when the excellent plan of his museum is considered. In a few minutes an immense series of specimens could be spread out on the tables, while all the books were at hand for immediate reference…After explaining to me the contents of the museum, we went below into the basement, which consisted of eight great rooms, six of them full, from floor to ceiling, of cases of birds, while at the back of the house two large verandahs were piled high with cases full of large birds, such as Pelicans, Cranes, Vultures, &c. An inspection of a great cabinet containing a further series of about 5000 eggs completed our survey. Mr. Hume gave me the keys of the museum, and I was free to commence my task at once.

Sharpe also noted

Mr. Hume was a naturalist of no ordinary calibre, and this great collection will remain a monument of his genius and energy of its founder long after he who formed it has passed away...Such a private collection as Mr. Hume's is not likely to be formed again; for it is doubtful if such a combination of genius for organisation with energy for the completion of so great a scheme, and the scientific knowledge requisite for its proper development will again be combined in a single individual.

The Hume collection as it went to the British museum in 1874 consisted of 82,000 specimens of which 75,577 were finally placed in the Museum. A breakup of that collection is as follows (old names retained).

2830 Birds of Prey (Accipitriformes)… 8 types
1155 Owls (Strigiformes)…9 types
2819 Crows, Jays, Orioles etc…5 types
4493 Cuckoo-shrikes and Flycatchers… 21 types
4670 Thrushes and Warblers…28 types
3100 Bulbuls and wrens, Dippers, etc…16 types
7304 Timaliine birds…30 types
2119 Tits and Shrikes…9 types
1789 Sun-birds (Nectarinidae) and White-eyes (Zosteropidae)…8 types
3724 Swallows (Hirundiniidae), Wagtails and Pipits (Motacillidae)…8 types
2375 Finches (Fringillidae)…8 types
3766 Starlings (Sturnidae), Weaver-birds (Ploceidae), and larks (Alaudidae)…22 types
807 Ant-thrushes (Pittidae), Broadbills (Eurylaimidae)…4 types
1110 Hoopoes (Upupae), Swifts (Cypseli), Nightjars (Caprimulgidae) and Frogmouths
(Podargidae)…8 types
2277 Picidae, Hornbills (Bucerotes), Bee-eaters (Meropes), Kingfishers (Halcyones),
Rollers(Coracidae), Trogons (Trogones)…11 types
2339 Woodpeckers (Pici)…3 types
2417 Honey-guides (Indicatores), Barbets (Capiformes), and Cuckoos (Coccyges)…8 types
813 Parrots (Psittaciformes)…3 types
1615 Pigeons (Columbiformes)…5 types
2120 Sand-grouse (Pterocletes), Game-birds and Megapodes(Galliformes)…8 types
882 Rails (Ralliformes), Cranes (Gruiformes), Bustards (Otides)…6 types
1089 Ibises (Ibididae), Herons (Ardeidae), Pelicans and Cormorants (Steganopodes), Grebes
(Podicipediformes)…7 types
761 Geese and Ducks (Anseriformes)…2 types
15965 Eggs

The Hume Collection contained 258 types.

Some of the species that were first described or discovered by Hume are as follows. The numbers are references to S. D. Ripley and Salim Ali's Synopsis and the old names are retained.

12 Persian Shearwater (Procellaria lherminieri persica) [=Puffinus persicus]
17 Short-tailed Tropic-bird (Phaethon aethereus indicus)
33 Great Whitebellied Heron (Ardea insignis)
96 Grey, Andaman or Oceanic Teal (Anas gibberifrons albogularis)
140 Burmese Shikra (Accipiter badius poliopsis)
148 Indian Sparrow-hawk (Accipiter nisus melaschistos)
180,183 Indian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus fulvescens)
181 Himalayan Griffon Vulture (Gyps himalayensis)
200 Andaman Pale Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela davisoni)
201 Nicobar Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela minimus) [=Spilornis minimus]
235 Northern Chukor (Alectoris chukar pallescens)
239 Assam Black Partridge (Francolinus francolinus melanonotus)
263 Northern Painted Bush Quail (Perdicula erythrorhyncha blewitti)
265 Manipur Bush Quail (Perdicula manipurensis manipurensis)
273 Redbreasted Hill Partridge (Arborophila mandellii)
308 Mrs. Hume’s Barredback Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae humiae)
330 Andaman Bluebreasted Banded Rail (Rallus striatus obscurior)[= Gallirallus
striatus]
466 Roseate Tern (Sterna dougalli korustes)
476 Blackshafted Ternlet (Sterna saundersi) [=Sterna albifrons]
516 Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba livia neglecta)
525 Andaman Wood Pigeon (Columba palumboides)
555 Andaman Redcheeked Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda tytleri)
563 Eastern Slatyheaded Parakeet (Psittacula finschii)
601 Bangladesh Crow-pheasant (Centropus sinensis intermedius)
607 Andaman Barn Owl (Tyto alba deroepstorffi)
610 Ceylon Bay Owl (Phodilus badius assimilis)
611 Western Spotted Scops Owl (Otus spilocephalus huttoni)
613 Andaman Scops Owl (Otus balli)
614 Pallid Scops Owl (Otus brucei)
618b Nicobar Scops Owl (Otus scops nicobaricus) [=Otus alius]
619 Punjab Collared Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena plumipes)
626a Himalayan Horned or Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo hemachalana)
643 Burmese Brown Hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata burmanica)
645 Hume’s Brown Hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata obscura)
653 Forest Spotted Owlet (Athene blewitti) [=Heteroglaux blewitti]
654 [[Hume's Owl]] (''Strix butleri'')
669 Bourdillon’s or Kerala Great Eared Nightjar (Eurostopodis macrotis bourdilloni)
673 Hume’s European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus unwini)
679 Andaman Longtailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus andamanicus)
684 Hume’s Swiftlet (Collocalia brevirostris innominata)
684a Black-nest Swiftlet (Collocalia maxima maxima)
686 Andaman Greyrumped or “White-nest” Swiftlet (Collocalia fuciphaga inexpectata)
691 Brown-throated Spinetail Swift (Chaetura gigantea indica)
732 Nicobar Storkbilled Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis intermedia)
738 Andaman Whitebreasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis saturatior)
773 Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus narcondami)
793 Pakistan Orangerumped Honeyguide (Indicator xanthonotus radcliffi)
841 Manipur Crimsonbreasted Pied Woodpecker (Picoides cathpharius pyrrhothorax)
887 Karakoram or Hume’s Short-toed Lark (Calandrella acutirostris acutirostris)
889 Indus Sand Lark (Calandrella raytal adamsi)
898 Baluchistan Crested Lark (Galerida cristata magna)
915 Pale Crag Martin (Hirundo obsoleta pallida)
974 Large Andaman Drongo (Dicrurus andamanensis dicruriformis)
986 Andaman Glossy Stare (Aplonis panayensis tytleri)
998 Hume’s or Afghan Starling (Sturnus vulgaris nobilior)
1000 Sind Starling (Sturnus vulgaris minor)
1041 Hume’s Ground Chough (Podoces humilis)
1113 Andaman Blackheaded Bulbul (Pycnonotus atriceps fuscoflavescens)
1165 Mishmi Brown Babbler (Pellorneum albiventre ignotum)
1172 Mount Abu Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus schisticeps obscurus)
1190 Manipur Longbilled Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus ochraceiceps austeni)
1225 Kerala Blackheaded Babbler (Rhopocichla atriceps bourdilloni)
1234 Hume’s Babbler (Chrysomma altirostre griseogularis)
1289 Western Variegated Laughing Thrush (Garrulax variegatus similis)
1301 Khasi Hills Greysided Laughing Thrush (Garrulax caerulatus subcaerulatus)
1330 Manipur Redheaded Laughing Thrush (Garrulax erythrocephalus erythrolaema)
1363 Sikkim Whitebrowed Yuhina (Yuhina castaniceps rufigenis)
1389 Bombay Quaker Babbler (Alcippe poioicephala brucei)
1424 Eastern Slaty Blue Flycatcher (Muscicapa leucomelanura minuta)
1434 Whitetailed Blue Flycatcher (Muscicapa concreta cyanea)
1453 Eastern Whitebrowed Fantail Flycatcher (Rhipidura aureola burmanica)
1484 Hume’s Bush Warbler (Cettia acanthizoides brunnescens)
1510 Northwestern Plain Wren-Warbler (Prinia subflava terricolor)
1520 Northwestern Jungle Wren-Warbler (Prinia sylvatica insignia)
1526 Sind Brown Hill Warbler (Prinia criniger striatula)
1540 Blacknecked Tailor Bird (Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus)
1569 Small Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca minula)
1570 Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca althaea)
1577 Plain Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus neglectus)
1664 Andaman Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis andamanensis)
1707 Redtailed Chat (Oenanthe xanthoprymna kingi)
1714 Hume’s Chat (Oenanthe alboniger)
1730 Burmese Whistling Thrush (Myiophonus caeruleus eugenei)
1820 Manipur Redheaded Tit (Aegithalos concinnus manipurensis)
1850 Manipur Tree Creeper (Certhia discolor manipurensis)
1903 Andaman Flowerpecker (Dicaeum concolor virescens)
1913 Andaman Olivebacked Sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis andamanica)
1918 Assam Purple Sunbird (Nectarinia asiatica intermedia)
1129a Nicobar Yellowbacked Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja nicobarica)
1955 Blanford’s Snow Finch (Montifringilla blanfordi blanfordi)
1960 Finn’s Baya (Ploceus megarhynchus megarhynchus)
1970 Nicobar Whitebacked Munia (Lonchura striata semistriata)
1971-2 Jerdon’s Rufousbellied Munia (Lonchura kelaarti jerdoni)
1993 Tibetan Siskin (Carduelis thibetana)
1995 Stoliczka’s Twite (Acanthis flavirostris montanella)

An additional species, the Large-billed Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus orinus known from just one specimen collected by him on his Sind expedition of 1871 is believed, on the basis of recent DNA studies, to be a proper species. However the bird has never been subsequently seen or collected.

Hume made several expeditions solely to study ornithology and in March 1873 he made one to the Andaman, Nicobar and other islands in the Bay of Bengal along with geologists Dr. Ferdinand Stoliczka and Dr. Dougall of the Geological Survey of India and James Wood-Mason of the Indian Museum in Calcutta.

Hume employed William R. Davidson as a curator of his personal bird collection and also sent him out on collection trips to various parts of India, when he was held up with official responsibilities.

Hume had previously published several works, including Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds (1883) and Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon (1879, co-authored by C. H. T. Marshall). He also started the quarterly journal Stray Feathers - A journal of ornithology for India and dependencies in 1872. He used the journal to publish descriptions of his new discoveries, such as Hume's Owl, Hume's Wheatear and Hume's Whitethroat. He wrote extensively on his own observation as well as critical reviews of all the ornithological works of the time and earned himself the nickname of Pope of Indian ornithology.

Hume's last piece of ornithological writing was done in 1891 as part of an Introduction to the Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission an official publication on the contributions of Dr. Ferdinand Stoliczka, who died during the return journey on this mission. Stoliczka in a dying request asked that Hume should edit the volume on the scientific results.

Shortly after Hume's return to London he took up an interest in botany, and founded and endowed the South London Botanical Institute which continues to promote the study of plants to the present day. He worked with the botanist F. H. Davey and in the FLORA OF CORNWALL (1909), Davey thanks Hume as his companion on excursions in Cornwall and Devon, and for helping in the compilation of that Flora.

Reference

• Biographies for Birdwatchers, Mearns and Mearns, ISBN 0124874223
• Moulton, Edward (2003) 'The Contributions of Allan O. Hume to the Scientific Advancement of Indian Ornithology' in Petronia: Fifty Years of Post-Independence Ornithology in India, ed. J. C. Daniel and G. W. Ugra. Bombay Natural History Society - New Delhi: Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Pages 295-317.

External links

• Project Gutenberg edition of The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 (http://manybooks.net/pages/humea13111311713117-8/0.html)
• http://www.zoonomen.net/bio/bioh.html
• http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/10/16/stories/2002101600230300.htm
• http://sociologyesoscience.com/rhreport2.html
• http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/hume1884.htm
• http://www.indianpost.com/viewstamp.php/Color/Suede%20Gray/ALLAN%20OCTAVIN%20HUME