The Boer War

Oscar Wilde Trial Cartoons

Artifact: Newspaper Cover Cartoon from 1895

“The Illustrated Police News” was a newspaper published in England from 1864 to 1938. It reported on crimes and proceedings in the legal system. People were interested in such proceedings so naturally a tabloid, one of the first of it’s kind developed. It was considered very sensationalist. It was known to contain overdramatic reports of the incidents it reported on which were meant to entertain readers. It also had very graphically drawn  images of cases and their aftermaths.

Homosexual activity was illegal/criminalized and considered mostly improper and not something high society or Britain should be associated with. The general attitude was generally more lenient than some eras in some history but there were still many men persecuted and eventually sent to prison. Many convicts committed suicide which led to many trying to “protect” their sons from corrupting influences. There were many studies of human sexuality during this era but people were just beginning to understand its complexities.

Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and playwright who was well respected in England. Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry who was the father of Lord Alfred Douglas, a lover of Wilde’s, on the charges of “criminal libel” after he left a note for Wilde claiming he had been “posing as a sodomite". Queensberry was acquitted as his claim was not false since Douglas had been arranging Wilde several meetings with male prostitutes. Wilde was soon after charged with “gross indecency” with men following the Queensberry case. Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years of hard manual labor. He was in prison between May 25, 1895 and May 18, 1897. Prison life was not kind to him and his failing health. He left England forever upon his release and died 3 years later in France.Wilde was eventually pardoned in 2017. Despite Wilde's reputation, when people began to see him as "other" his popularity meant nothing since Britain's government was obsessed with keeping the nation "pure". Wilde's homosexuality cast him out of regular society. 


Seeing how horribly his friend and college was treated, Bram Stoker used Dracula to safely express his frustration with society as a whole as it had allowed this to happen to Wilde. It is highly suspected that Stoker personally related to Wilde's plight and feared for himself as well as other writers. He was frustrated with his own internal struggles with sexuality. Dracula reflects this in it's many rejections of modern society and it's parody of how people view any form of other, particularly sexual others. 


Quotes From Dracula:

“It is nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere "modernity" cannot kill.” (63)

“A year ago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, matter-of-fact nineteenth century?” (278)

“There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth.” (69)

The fair girl went on her knees, and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. (71)

Stoker is almost parodying the way the British Empire was so set on being straight laced and British. The novel reflects how Stoker would have seen people being afraid of the status quo being challenged and those who were not like them gaining power over them.  Even upstanding citizens were at risk if they did not conform. Stoker didn’t want modern society to take over if it was going to hurt people he respected like Wilde.

'”This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me.' The fair girl, with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:-
'You yourself never loved; you never love!' On this the other women joined, and... a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the room... Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper:-
'Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?' " (70-71)

This is often referred to as so called “homoerotic subtext”. Weather or not this is necessarily a reflection of Stoker’s internal issues it is almost certainly a critique of the strange ways society viewed gender and sexuality as the measure of a person. All portrayal of sexuality in the novel would be considered strange and excessive to assist in this critique.

Discussion Questions:

How do you think images in such publications influenced public opinion of criminal investigations?

How does Wilde’s treatment reflect how anyone who did not fit the mold of what was “properly British”, even if they had once been respected?

How to Bram Stoker’s portrayals of vampires reflect people’s perception of sexuality in modern society? Does Stoker’s portrayal of sexual other reflect an internal struggle with himself as well as with society?

Works Cited:

Archive, The British Newspaper.  Register | British Newspaper Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2017.

Beckson, Karl. "Oscar Wilde." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 21 Aug. 2017. Web. 21 Nov. 2017.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Bram Stoker." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Apr. 2017. Web. 21 Nov. 2017.

Schaffer, Talia. ""A Wilde Desire Took Me": The Homoerotic History of Dracula." ELH. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 01 June 1994. Web. 21 Nov. 2017.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Edited by Glennis Byron, Broadview Press, 2000

The New Woman and Stereographs

Cover of Puck Magazine

The Artifact

Puck Magazine was an American publication founded by an Austrian born cartoonist, Joseph Keppler. It started off as a German language publication in 1876. Puck’s first English language edition was printed in 1877. This cover of Puck magazine was published September 21, 1888 at the height of the hysteria surrounding Jack the Ripper. It shows the back of a man who holds a bloody knife, Jack, looking at several drawings of what people thought he would have looked life. The bottom reads “Jack the Ripper. Who is he? What is he? Where is he?”  

Background of Jack the Ripper

In the 1880’s Britain experienced a large influx of immigrants from Ireland, Jewish refugees, and other foreigner’s from Eastern Europe. They mostly congregated in the slums of the East End by the parish of Whitechapel. This area became very overcrowded with the lower class, and there became a high population of low class prostitutes. On March 12, 1888 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde debuted as a play, and in late August of 1888 the first Ripper murder happened. Jack the Ripper sent a collection of letters to the police mocking them for not being able to catch him. He has 5 confirmed victims, and there are 6 murders after the canonical five that were never fully confirmed to be his. The media was a big part for establishing the famous idea that Jack the Ripper was at least a middle class man, making it easy for him to get away from the crime scenes. The police believed that it was a foreign man, most likely a Jewish man or a middle eastern. Jack the Ripper’s case has become one of the most famous serial killer stories of all time. He has showed up in many works of literature, movies, and television shows.

Media Sources and Quotes

New York Times

“There is a bare possibility that it may tun out to be something like the case of Jekyll and Hyde, as Joseph Taylor, a perfectly reliable man, who saw the suspected person this morning in a shabby dress, swears that he has seen the same man coming out of a lodging house in Wilton street very differently dressed….What adds to the weird effect they exert on the London mind is the fact that they occur while everyone is talking about Mansfield’s “Jekyll and Hyde” at the Lyceum.”

The London Times

“The series of shocking crimes perpetrated in Whitechapel, which on Saturday culminated in the murder of the woman Chapman, is something so distinctly outside the ordinary range of human experience… this murderer’s brutish savagery.”

Jekyll and Hyde

“God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say?” (42)

“Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness…” (41)

“Instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged. With a transport if glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight in every blow.” (87)

“The powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll. And certainly the hate that now divided them was equal on each side.” (91)

Jack the Ripper and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Jack the Ripper has been compared to Jekyll and Hyde many times through history. If we go back to the New York Times article a witness reported seeing a man in shabby clothes go into a lodging station and then come out “very differently dressed.” (New York Times) Although the police had the idea that the suspect was a foreigner, even though there was not a lot of evidence supporting that idea, the media and the public were fixed on the idea that this murderer could easily stay hidden by being a regular englishman. Looking at both through the lense of Darwin’s work also brings to light similarities. Darwin states that rudimentary organs are always present in man, not matter how successfully they are suppressed they are still able to become active should reversion occur. As is seen in both Jack the Ripper and Mr. Hyde they have reverted and used the ‘rudimentary organ’ that would have caused them to become murderous. Darwin also describes primitive man as having a large jaw with canine teeth and as being hairy. Hyde is referenced by Jekyll as having hairy hands. If the cartoon is examined again several of the figures have wild beards or other hairy attributes, including the figure who is looking at the poster.  

Discussion Questions

Is there anything regarding both Jack the Ripper and Jekyll and Hyde as they relate back to the texts by Darwin that would explain why they’ve both stayed in the public eye for so long?

How do you think these events, both Jack the Ripper and the publication of Jekyll and Hyde, affected the British public’s view of Darwin and his work? Do you think they influenced the imperialist views of the British?

Sources

• Curtis, L.. Jack the Ripper and the London Press, Yale University Press, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wheatonma-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3419898.
• Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Edited by Martin A. Danahay, Broadview Editions, 2005.
• “Puck.” U.S. Senate: Puck, United States Senate, 23 Jan. 2017, www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/puck/puck_intro.htm.

"New Crowns for Old Ones" Political Cartoon

Artifact:

My artifact is a political cartoon from Punch; or, The London Charivari, a humor magazine in the 1800s known for its political satire & cartoons. The cartoon is by John Tenniel and was published on April 15th, 1876.  

The cartoon depicts Benjamin Disraeli, the British Prime Minister at the time, presenting Queen Victoria with the “Crown of India” as he persuades her to exchange her old British crown for his. Beneath the title “NEW CROWNS FOR OLD ONES!” it says (Aladdin adapted.) In this comic Disraeli is the magician who in the original story of “Aladdin” from 1001 Arabian Nights continuously carries an ornate and new lamp trying to exchange it for others’ old, dull ones. The magician’s lamp, while beautiful, is much less valuable than the dingy magic lamp containing the magical djinn, or genie. Tenniel has depicted Disraeli as trying to trick Queen Victoria into exchanging the crowns instead of the lamps from “Aladdin.”

Historical Background:

                 This comic is a metaphor depicting the moment when Queen Victoria would be crowned Empress of India, about nine months after this cartoon was published. Disraeli was a key figure in having Queen Victoria crowned. India had been under British rule since the late 1850s, but giving Victoria the additional title of “Empress of India” would serve as a sign of good will and friendship between the two.

                  This comic was published a month after Disraeli delivered the Royal Titles Act of 1876. Even though England had been present in India since the 1850s, in 1876 prime minister Disraeli would propose to add the title of “Empress of India.”

                 Opponents to Disraeli’s notion thought it was a thinly veiled way of showing their absolute control over India and disguising it as a display of friendship.

                 They also disliked the word “empress” because they believed it indicated an attitude of “military despotism” over India. “This is a clumsy periphrasis in which you are involving the country if you have not only royal but imperial majesties.” said one opponent. They also thought the word would weaken the impression and supremacy of Queen Victoria’s original title.

The Moonstone:

                Wilkie Collins had a long history of critiquing the British political system and specifically British imperialism.

                The Moonstone was a sensation novel not only for its exciting story and innovative plot devices, but also for its critique of Britain’s treatment of and relationship with India. Collins saw how the British considered themselves naturally superior to Indians, with a strong sense of entitlement (like how his characters believe they are entitled to the Moonstone, the “heart” of India) and superiority (remember how men like Herncastle regard Indians’ lives with so little value)

                Collins states in the preface that the fictional Moonstone is based off of two real diamonds: the Koh-i-Nor and the diamond on the top of the Russian Imperial Sceptre, originally the eye of an Indian idol. He also mentions taking inspiration from the Koh-i-Nor’s supposed curse upon those who “divert it from its ancient uses.” 

How They Relate:

                The comic relates to The Moonstone because they both challenge the romanticized idea of imperialism and the British presence in India. 

               Disraeli is presenting this shiny new title of Empress as a wonderful creation that will strengthen ties between India and Britain, when instead it’s a symbol of oppression and despotism. In The Moonstone, the stone is given to Rachel, seemingly a simple, pretty souvenir from India, but it’s actually an artifact of huge significance, representing the heart of India, that means a lot to the people it was stolen from. 

               The tone in this comic and its metaphor relate to The Moonstone’s matching disscontempt for India’s abuse and British society’s ignorance. 

               The way Wilkie Collins depicts the Indians and their treatment by the British is a critique of British imperialism. 
               He does this by showing that the three Indians are intelligent, patient, and an intellectual threat instead of only a physical one. They are a constant presence felt in the novel, even when they are not in plain sight or performing an action. It's a surprise when we find out they speak English and can treat some of the English characters with respect because these traits go against the stereotypes about Indians. 

Discussion Points:

                In his preface, Collins states that in The Moonstone, “In some of my former novels, the object proposed has been to trace the influence of circumstances upon character. In the present story I have reversed the process. The attempt made, here, is to trace the influence of character on circumstances.” (47) What do you think he means by this? How did he use this to criticize British imperialism?

                In the comic, Queen Victoria is being swindled out of her more valuable “old crown.” In The Moonstone, what would you say the characters lose in exchange for the Moonstone? (e.g. Innocence, compassion, or rationality) 

Important Quotes:

In the prologue, John Herncastle kills the men meant to protect the Moonstone in cold-blood and then lies about it to his cousin, claiming he doesn’t know the cause of death. It’s a startling scene, to have these supposedly more civil and rational Englishmen plunder and murder for wealth.  “‘The Indian met his death, as I suppose, by a mortal wound,’ said Herncastle. ‘What his last words meant I know no more than you do.’” (57) Herncastle outright lies to his cousin, this exchange makes the prologue even more disturbing because not only are is this English soldier a murderer, but a cruel one who doesn’t feel any regret for murdering these Indians.

The Indians in The Moonstone aren’t impulsive killers, they wait and use cunning methods to try and obtain the Moonstone. In the end, the reader doesn’t even truly know how exactly they came to obtain the Moonstone. “How it has found its way back to its wild native land - by what accident, or by what crime, the Indians regained possession of their sacred gem, may be in your knowledge, but is not in mine. You have lost sight of it in England, and (if I know anything of this people) you have lost sight of it for ever.” (542)

“Who ever heard the like of it - in the 19th century, mind; in an age of progress, and in a country which rejoices in the blessings of the British constitution?” (88) The British thought themselves to be very advanced in their time, especially compared to the “devilish” Indian society.

“If he was right, here was our quiet English house suddenly invaded by a devilish Indian Diamond - bringing after it a conspiracy of living rogues, set loose on us by the vengeance of a dead man.” (88) It stuck out while reading how he phrases this. Ignoring that this was a stolen treasure that was taken through murder of Indian men charged with guarding it, he instead phrases it as the poor English house being plagued by malicious spirits. Instead of facing the consequences for stealing the Moonstone from India, it is the “vengeance of a dead man” that is causing their misfortune.

Works Cited:

Bardinelli, John. “The Origin of the Genie in the Lamp.” John Bardinelli, Giant Glacier, 3 Mar. 2015, www.giantglacier.com/the-origin-of-the-genie-in-the-lamp/.

Blake, Robert Norman. “Benjamin Disraeli.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 22 Mar. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Disraeli. 

Collins, Wilkie, and Steve Farmer. The Moonstone. Broadview, 1999.

Disraeli, Benjamin. “Royal Titles Bill. 1 March 9, 1876.” Disraeli's reading of the Royal Titles Bill. 1 March 9, 1876, The Victorian Web,  www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/disraeli1.html.

“Making Britain.” Queen Victoria Becomes Empress of India | Making Britain, The Open University, www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/queen-victoria-becomes-empress-india.

Szczepanski, Kallie. “Political Cartoons - A View of Colonial India.” ThoughtCo, Thought Co., 17 May 2015, www.thoughtco.com/colonial-india-in-cartoons-195499.   

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Sultanganj Buddha

Sultanganj Buddha

by Chris Gardner

What is the Sultanganj Buddha?

Archaeologist estimate it was created between 500 and 700 AD. It is around 2 and a half meters tall which is about 7 feet tall and over 500 kilograms. It was created with pure unrefined copper using a technique called Cire Perdue. The Sultanganj Buddha is currently the largest complete Indian metal sculpture ever found

Cire Predue or Lost wax technique

 

First a mold is made to house the model which is made from clay. The inside of the mold is then brushed with wax and tiny holes are put in the mold. As the hot bronze is poured in the remaining wax melted out of the holes. Eventually the cast is opened and the bronze is taken out where it receives its finishing touches. 

What the Sultanganj Buddha Represents

Buddha or Siddhartha Gautama was alive during the 6th to 4th century B.C. Though several days meditation all of the answers he was seeking became clear and he became a truly enlightened. For 80 years traveled around teaching the ways of meditation and what it was to be fully awake. His left hand is held downward revealing the palm to indicate favor.His right hand is rained in a position known as Abhayamudra which represents protection. currently the Buddha is shrouded in mistery historically speaking and we only know so much.

What does a 500 AD statue have to do with the 1860s?

This is E. B. Harris, The Railway engineer who discovered the Buddha in 1862. the statue in the middle is the Sultanganj Buddha. The relic on the left is now in the British Museum. on relic on the right is at an Asian Art museum in San Francisco.

What Is The East Indian Railway

Created by Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, The first experimental line shown here was from Calcutta and Rajmahal. It was later extended to Delhi. This first rail was made up of 100,000 tons of rail

 The estimated cost of this project was £1,000,000. The full cost of the whole railway system was £4,000,000. The money was largely raised in London through the East Indian Railway Company.

The first railway was finished in 1862

Discovery of the Sultanganj Buddha

                                                                       During the construction of the Sultanganj station which was built next to underground Buddhist monastery. E. B. Harris discovered the Buddha stuck in the ground ten feet under the surface. Once he found the Buddha it was taken to a metal manufacturer in order to melt it down for Rails. Luckily the metal Manufacture was owned by Samuel Thornton who paid 200 pounds to have it shipped to Birmingham England. During transport it was allegedly almost stolen by the curators of the British Museum.

Birmingham

The reason Samuel went through the trouble to get the statue was because Birmingham was in the center of iron and steel craft. He wanted it to celebrate the inspiration of the Birmingham Craftsmen. He then handed it over to the Birmingham Museum & Art gallery where it has remained since. It is now a icon of the region where many people of Buddhist and other faiths visit it every single day

  The Birmingham Museum describes it as part of Birmingham’s history. The Buddha is currenty part of a world religions exhibit.

The Modern battle for ownership

Is it the Birmingham Buddha or the Sultanganj Buddha? The Head of the Archaeological Survey of India say there is a need for a “diplomatic and Legal campaign” to retrieve the Buddha from Birmingham and have considered asking the United Nations for help by using the heritage department known as Unesco. Rita Mclean, head of the Birmingham Museum has been open to the idea of returning artifacts but the metal Buddha statue is prized and gigantic. They also believe the acquiring of the Buddha was a legitimate archaeological find and not stolen.

The Moonstone- the value of an object

The most obvious comparison to the Moonstone is that both were taken from a sacred place and displayed as a prized possession. but there is a second similarity that lies in the debate of ownership between Birmingham and India. Everyone is entranced by the moonstones beauty that like the Sultanganj Buddha. Some view the Moonstone as nothing more than a Market value stone to be sold while other see it for a non-market value that is harder to describe. Both relics were also taken from where they were from in-order to "save it" because it seems that England is the only one who can save the true worth of an object.

Citations

“A History of the World - Object : The Sultanganj Buddha.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/8-3XPL7dTim7Xpv39u8oXw

“On Display Here, Wanted by India.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 31 May 2010, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/on-display-here-wanted-by-india-1988002.html#gallery.

“Sultanganj Buddha, Birmingham.” Diamond Way Buddhism UK Blog, 30 May 2010, blog.dwbuk.org/buddhist-iconography/the-sultanganj-buddha-birmingham/

“The Sultanganj Buddha in Detail.” Sultanganj Buddha, www.sultanganj.info/sultanganj-buddha.html.

“Buddha.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 23 Jan. 2015, www.biography.com/people/buddha-9230587.

Birth of Railways in Eastern India, www.irfca.org/~mrinal/history_er.html.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Lost-Wax Process.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 Oct. 2015, www.britannica.com/technology/lost-wax-process.

·       The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins (Broadview, ISBN: 9781551112435)

The 1850s: Artifacts of Empire

ARTIFACT: A Lady's Diary: Before and During the Indian Mutiny by M. H. Ouvry

DETAILS ABOUT THE ARTIFACT:

Originally published in 1892, the diary details the point of the author and her husbands marriage in 1854 to their return to England in April of 1858

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN MUTINY:

The “Indian Mutiny” goes by many names including the Sepoy mutiny and the “1857 uprising.” It was an unsuccessful violent military uprising of between the Hindu and Muslim members of  the Indian sectional of the British army. There were many long term and short term causes to the uprising including the harsh unfair treatment and persecution of those in the regiment. A horrid example is the gruesome Execution by Cannon (depicted in the image above). A less gory reason behind the “mutiny” is the Doctrine of Lapse which regulated how land could be passed down in India which was in contrast with the Hindu Law that landowners can "adopt" successors to pass their land to if they have no natural heir. Instead the Doctrine of Lapse has the land annexed to Britain. Another issue that may have led to the uprising is the Enfield rifle, the cartridge of which was greased with pork and beef fat which deeply goes against the religion of Muslims and Hindu's. Though there are many other factors that could’ve led to the uprising.

The uprising was largely violent and had a high casualty count. The mutineers committed multiple massacres in Delhi, Kanpur, and Lucknow (image to the right) with the deaths of women and children which was highly atrocious to the British. However brutal the Mutiny was short lived and ended a year later on July 8th 1858.

COMPARISON TO THE MOONSTONE:

As these events are occurring around the same time period that the Moonstone is being written in, there are parallels seen with the  stereotypes against Indians with the descriptions of the Indians and their suspicious, dark manner. Using what seems to be dark magic for evil purposes according to Betteridge, Penelope and anyone else who learns of what Penelope say. Their prejudice against the Indians also leads them to have them locked up for no real reason. Betteridge also seemingly forgets about them being locked up in jail until someone else brings it up showing he does not hold them at a high priority. The prejudice that occurs in the novel also parallels British mentality against the Indians, seeing them as less than, savage and that they need to assimilate to British culture to be valid.

THE ARTIFACT:

The diary starts off with the author and her husband getting married and taking the long boat ride to India. The entries are rather short and to the point. As they reach and experience India, the entries get longer and more descriptive. Around halfway through the entries she gets sick in the months of the mutiny. And she debates that what is being said about it is an exaggeration(85). Her and her husband find their way into the midst of the fighting and her husband works hard to fight, he even saves someones life. As the mutiny is coming to a close her and her husband come back to England.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Do you think this account of the happenings during the Indian Mutiny is a good source to finding out what really happened between the two sides? Why or why not?

Do you think that like Charlotte Bronte the author was discouraged to publish her writings because she was a female?

WORKS CITED

“A Lady’s Diary Before and During the Indian Mutiny [Illustrated Edition].” Google Books, books.google.com/books/about/A_Lady_s_Diary_Before_and_During_the_Ind.html?id=1TpvCwAAQBAJ&source=kp_cover.

Hickman, Kennedy. “Indian Rebellion of 1857: Siege of Lucknow.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/indian-rebellion-1857-siege-of-lucknow-2361380.

Shepherd, Kevin r. d. “Kevin R.D. Shepherd: Commentaries.” Indian Mutiny 1857-58, 1 Jan. 1970, kevin-rd-shepherd.blogspot.com/2014/03/indian-mutiny-1857-58.html.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Doctrine of lapse.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 9 Apr. 2014, www.britannica.com/topic/doctrine-of-lapse.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Indian Mutiny.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 10 Feb. 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Mutiny.

The Koh-I-Noor Diamond at The Great Exhibition of 1851

Main Artifact: Koh-I-Noor Diamond on display at The Great Exhibition of 1851

Illustrated London News, 31 May 1851. NAL pressmark: PP.10. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Koh-i-Noor, between two other diamonds, as it was originally presented to Queen Victoria. Illustrated London News, 31 May 1851. NAL pressmark: PP.10. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

History of the Koh-I-Noor Diamond

Considered one of the biggest diamonds ever recorded in history the Koh-I-Noor was first recorded in the 1300s in India. Considered a symbol of power and wealth the diamond passed between various kingdoms in India until 1628 when the Mungal leader Shah Jahan commissioned a jewel encrusted throne, often referred to as the peacock throne because of the two jewel peacocks on the top, with the Koh-I-Noor displayed at the top. The diamond remained on the throne until Nadar Shah, the ruler of the Persian Empire conquered the Mungals in 1739 claiming the peacock throne as one of his prizes. The Koh-I-Noor itself he removed to later be put onto an armband for himself.

It is not until 1813 that the diamond returns to India thanks to the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, who according to Anand and Dalrymple the authors of Koh-I-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond, symbolized the reclamation of all that India had lost to Shah in his plundering of Delhi in 1761. No longer was the diamond sought after for it's beauty and monetary value, but it became a symbol of prestige and power that the British found irresistible.

The British waited until 1851 when, after several years of power struggles for the throne, the new leader was a ten year old boy, Duleep Singh. The British imprisoned his mother and forced Duleep to sign the a document amending the Treaty of Lahore that stipulated that he hand over the Koh-I-Noor to the British. Now the diamond found itself in the possession of Queen Victoria who had it displayed at The Great Exhibition of 1851, and to this day the diamond is still a part of the crown jewels displayed in the Tower of London. It has also been cut up several times in attempts to increase the shine.

The Great Exhibition of 1851

The Opening of the Great Industrial Exhibition of All Nations by George Cruikshank and David Bogue. Museum no. CIS 19648

The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a large scale version of public exhibitions that has been growing increasing popular in Britain as a means to show the public the best that British Industrialization had to offer. Prince Albert made the 1851 exhibition international as a way to help Britain establish its superiority, as well as to set an example to the rest of the world at how welcoming Britain is. The exhibition was held in a specially constructed glass and steel building called the crystal palace that was 1848 by 408ft.

Aeronautic view of The Palace of Industry For All Nations, from Kensington Palace by Charles Burton, England, 1851 - 1852. Museum no. 19614

Comparison to The Moonstone

The most obvious connection is that the Moonstone is actually loosely based on the Koh-I-Noor which is even stated in the preface to the first edition (48). Both diamonds are said to be cursed because of their tumultuous and complicated history.

The most striking connection is the idea of the moonstone being “the heart of India” which is why it is so important to them that it is returned. This is very similar to the idea that Anand and Dalrymple bring up about Ranjit Singh and later the rest of the world viewing the diamond as a symbol of power and prestige. This serves as an example of British imperialism because it's their belief that by capturing what is most important to a country they can control and rule them.

Discussion Questions

• Let’s discuss this idea of the diamond as a symbol power and prestige.
• India still wants the Koh-I-Noor back today, but who really owns the diamond?

Bibliography

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Boissoneault, Lorraine. “The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—And Why the British Won’t Give It Back.” Smithsonian, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-koh-i-noor-diamondand-why-british-wont-give-it-back-180964660/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2017.

“Henry Cole and the Koh-i-Noor Diamond.” Blog, http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/tales-archives/henry-cole-and-the-koh-i-noor-diamond. Accessed 11 Oct. 2017.

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