Hamilton Vetch
Hamilton Vetch (1804–1865){{cite journal |last1=Stevens |first1=Keith |title=Henri Vetch (1898-1978): Soldier, Bookseller And Publisher |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch |date=2006 |volume=46 |page=103 |jstor=23890010 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23890010 |issn=1991-7295}} was a British officer of the Bengal Army of the East India Company, who reached the rank of major-general. He was active as a political agent in Upper Assam. The alternative spelling Veitch of his family name was also used.
Military career
File:Dhaka Christian Cemetery 202211-43.jpg
He was a younger brother of James Vetch, born in Haddington. In 1822 he became an East India Company cadet.{{cite book |title=The East-India Register and Army List |date=1845 |publisher=W.H. Allen |page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3QIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA144 |language=en}} He became an ensign in 1823, at Fort William, in the 23rd Regiment of the Native Infantry. He served in the First Anglo-Burmese War, under Captain William Hayes, after transfer into the 2nd Grenadier Battalion.{{cite news |title=Death of Major-General Hamilton Vetch |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001427/18650811/060/0005 |work=Morning Advertiser |date=11 August 1865|page=5}}{{cite book |title=Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia |date=1824 |publisher=Wm. H. Allen & Company |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8w8oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93 |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Illustrated London News |date=1865 |publisher=Elm House |page=179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Xb62qJ98PEC&pg=PA179 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=Richard |title=Beatson's Mutiny: The Turbulent Career of a Victorian Soldier |date=23 March 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-691-8 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdSLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT71 |language=en}} He was promoted lieutenant in 1825. By this point, the 23rd Regiment had been renamed as the 54th.{{cite journal |last1=Stevens |first1=Keith |title=Henri Vetch (1898-1978): Soldier, Bookseller And Publisher |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch |date=2006 |volume=46 |page=144 note 4 |jstor=23890010 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23890010 |issn=1991-7295}}
Vetch then served in the Anglo-Khasi War of 1829–1833 under David Scott, occupying Nongkhlaw in the western Khasi Hills.{{cite journal |last1=Dutt |first1=K. N. |title=The Khasi Insurrection, 1829 (Its Real Causes and Character) |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |date=1959 |volume=22 |page=337 |jstor=44304319 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44304319 |issn=2249-1937}} Captain Lister advanced from Sylhet.{{cite book |last1=Bareh |first1=Hamlet |title=The History and Culture of the Khasi People |date=1964 |page=146 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462529/page/n163/mode/1up}} Vetch brought up the 43rd Assam Light Infantry in a decisive encounter, and proceeded to destroy villages.{{cite book |last1=Bareh |first1=Hamlet |title=The History and Culture of the Khasi People |date=1964 |page=152|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462529/page/n168/mode/1up}}
Joining the Assam Sebundy Corps under Lieutenant Matthews in 1836, Vetch was in action against the Bhutia in a dispute over the dooars, where he captured a standard in action against the "Dewangiri rajah", at Soobung Kottah.{{cite book |last1=Dihingia |first1=Hemeswar |title=Assam's Struggles Against British Rule, 1826-1863 |date=1980 |publisher=Asian Publication Services |page=97 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Major-General Hamilton Vetch |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001681/18650812/031/0012 |work=Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service |date=12 August 1865|page=12}} He was made brevet-captain in 1838, and the rank was confirmed in 1842. In 1839, following the death of Adam White, he formally annexed the Matak rajya enclave.{{cite book |last1=Lahiri |first1=Rebati Mohan |title=The Annexation of Assam, (1824-1854) |date=1954 |publisher=General Printers & Publishers |page=167 |url=http://14.139.211.59/bitstream/123456789/1287/13/13_chapter_05.pdf |language=en}} In 1841, he was Principal Assistant, political agent for eastern Assam, and serving with the 54th Bengal Native Infantry.{{cite book |title=The Bengal and Agra Annual Guide and Gazetteer |date=1841 |publisher=W. Rushton and Company |page=xxxv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDQ5SzWIDg8C&pg=RA3-PR35 |language=en}} He took over at Dibrugarh, the site for the military station in Lakhimpur district that he selected in 1838–40, towards the end of 1842.{{cite book |title=Reports on the state of the police in ... Cuttack [afterw.] Report on the police of Cuttack |date=1844 |page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYEIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA144 |language=en|author1=Bengal }}{{cite book |last1=Kinney |first1=T. |title=Old Times in Assam |date=1896 |publisher=Star Press |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgNRmyM9iCgC&pg=PA150 |language=en}} He required the forcible resettlement of a group of Khamti people in the district, to land north of Sadiya, and a similar resettlement of Singpho people, at the end of 1843.{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Thomas |title=The Frontier in British India: Space, Science, and Power in the Nineteenth Century |date=7 January 2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-84019-4 |pages=234–235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctQGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA234 |language=en}} It was in accordance with a policy of moving hill peoples to the east.{{cite book |last1=Mackenzie |first1=Sir Alexander |title=The North-east Frontier of India |date=1995 |publisher=Mittal Publications |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_XlNBxckEQC&pg=PA70 |language=en}}
In 1846 Vetch and other officers explored and reported on the old Bhismaknagar hill fort.{{cite web |title=Gazetteer of India: Arunachal Pradesh, Lohit District|page=38 |url=https://arunachalpradesh.gov.in/images/Gazetteer/lohit.pdf |publisher=Government of Arunachal Pradesh|date=1978}} In 1848 Vetch went on a campaign in the Abor Hills against the Adi people (known then as Abors). He had been in negotiations with local leaders in 1847 on gold washing, but subsequently resorted to an expedition to free some Bodo–Kachari people who had been detained while engaged in it. He was attacked, and burned an Adi village in retaliation.{{cite book |last1=Mackenzie |first1=Sir Alexander |title=The North-east Frontier of India |date=1995 |publisher=Mittal Publications |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_XlNBxckEQC&pg=PA36 |language=en}}
Economic affairs
With Commissioner Francis Jenkins, Vetch took an interest in the economic possibilities of the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. There were deposits of coal and gold.{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Julie G. |title=Britain and Tibet 1765-1947: A Select Annotated Bibliography of British Relations with Tibet and the Himalayan States Including Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-33647-5 |page=317 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZD9--xYamkC&pg=PA317 |language=en}} There were clearly other resources in Assam, and a wide interest in improving its land communications.{{cite journal |last1=Dzuvichu |first1=Lipokmar |title=Colonial Routes and the Evangelical Imaginings of the 'Celestial Highway' in the Early Nineteenth Century Northeast Frontier NORTHEAST FRONTIER |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |date=2005 |volume=66 |page=893 |jstor=44145902 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145902 |issn=2249-1937}} In 1842 Vetch was elected to the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India.{{cite book |last1=Agricultural & Horticultural Society of India |title=Journal |date=1842 |page=245 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XxHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA245 |language=en}}
In 1851 Vetch wrote to Jenkins in general terms about difficulties experienced by those attempting gold washing on the Dibang River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. The decision of the Bengal administration had been to farm out the gold rights.{{cite book |title=Report on the Administration of the Province of Assam |date=1878 |publisher=Assam Secretariat Press |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYcIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA71 |language=en}} He was keen to see tea cultivation, and opium subject to tax.{{cite book |last1=Commons |first1=Great Britain Parliament House of |title=Parliamentary Papers |date=1859 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |page=ix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8ISAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR9 |language=en}}
Andrew John Moffatt Mills was asked to by the Marquess of Dalhousie to make a tour of districts in north-east Bengal in 1853, and Vetch, now ranked major and Assam's deputy commissioner, contributed to his report on Assam. He commented positively on the replacement of the paik system of the Ahom kingdom by tenancy.{{cite book |last1=House of Commons |title=Parliamentary Papers |date=1858 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLESAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA131 |language=en}} He advocated strongly to Mills for support of investment in tea, in line with the policy by then adopted by Jenkins.{{cite book |last1=Dey |first1=Arnab |title=Tea Environments and Plantation Culture: Imperial Disarray in Eastern India |date=13 December 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-47130-5 |pages=15–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsd6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |language=en}} The report as published in 1854 contained an appendix by Vetch on the revenue system in Assam.{{cite book |last1=Bhuyan |first1=Suryya Kumar |title=Early British Relations with Assam: A Study of the Original Sources and Records Elucidating the History of Assam for the Period from Its First Contact with the Honourable East India Company to the Transfer of the Company's Territories to the Crown in 1858, with Notes and Bibliography |date=1949 |publisher=Printed at the Assam Government Press |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKdCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA33 |language=en}}
Vetch gave extended evidence on the economy of Assam to a House of Lords committee in March 1859, as a lieutenant-colonel. He also answered questions on the political situation concerning Kandarpeswar Singha, grandson of Purandar Singha.{{cite book |last1=House of Lords |title=Reports from Select Committees of the House of Commons, and Evidence, Communicated to the Lords |date=1859 |pages=184–214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POJbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA184 |language=en}}
From 1857
On his own account, Vetch left Assam in 1857, suffering from dysentery.{{cite book |last1=House of Lords |title=Reports from Select Committees of the House of Commons, and Evidence, Communicated to the Lords |date=1859 |page=213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POJbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA213 |language=en}} In Haddington and in Edinburgh that year he encountered Jane Welsh Carlyle, whom he had known and admired in his school days.{{cite web |title=Carlyle Letters Online: JWC TO THOMAS CARLYLE Auchtertool / Thursday [30 July 1857] |url=https://carlyleletters.dukeupress.edu/volume/32/lt-18570730-JWC-TC-01 |website=carlyleletters.dukeupress.edu}} He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1862.
Hamilton Vetch died at Dacca on 11 June 1865. Jane Carlyle wrote on 15 August:
He had gone out again for "just one year, to settle his affairs."{{cite web |title=New Letters and Memorials Vol. 2-3 L211-268/p233-344 |url=https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/carlyle/newlam/nlm203.html |website=digital.library.upenn.edu}}
A formal notice in the London Gazette gave as an East Lothian residence Huntingdon, which may be Huntington House, Haddington.{{London Gazette |issue=23086 |date=20 March 1866 |page=1935}} He left estates in Bengal that were divided between his three children, with half going to his son Hamilton, the remainder being divided equally between Robert and Agnes.{{cite book |title=Allen's Indian mail and register of intelligence for British and foreign India: 1866,1/6 |date=1866 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imxDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA19 |language=en}}
Family
In 1842 Vetch married Louisa Colebrooke Campbell (died 1852), daughter of Colin Campbell, surgeon-general in Bengal. Their daughter Agnes (born 1845), the first child, married Wladislaw (Ladislaw) Ścibor-Rylski in 1870, in Bayonne or Biarritz — he was in business in Lucerne.{{cite journal |last1=Stevens |first1=Keith |title=Henri Vetch (1898-1978): Soldier, Bookseller And Publisher |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch |date=2006 |volume=46 |page=104 |jstor=23890010 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23890010 |issn=1991-7295}}{{cite book |title=Allen's Indian mail and register of intelligence for British and foreign India: 1870,7/12 |date=1870 |page=876 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGFDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA876 |language=en}} Their daughter {{interlanguage link|Rosalie Ścibor-Rylska|fr}} is known as the lover of Paul Claudel, and mother of his daughter Louise. She married Francis Vetch (1862–1944), a second cousin on the Vetch side.
There were also two sons of Hamilton and Louisa, Hamilton the younger (1848–c.1900) and (Robert) Francis. Robert Francis Vetch married in 1870 Eliza Allen Harding, daughter of Walter Harding, Chief Justice of Natal.{{cite news |title=Married |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001057/18700902/038/0003 |work=Saunders's News-Letter |date=2 September 1870|page=3}} A lieutenant of the 20th Foot, he was dismissed from the army in 1875.{{cite news |title=Military Gazettes |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001681/18751027/045/0019 |work=Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service |date=27 October 1875|page=19}} In 1883, he was working as a transport manager for the International Association of the Congo, opening up new territory.{{cite web |title=Le centenaire de l'Etat Indépendant du Congo|page=91|url=http://www.kaowarsom.be/documents/PUBLICATIONS/BIJDRAGEN%20OVER%20DE%20HONDERDSTE%20VERJARING%20VAN%20DE%20ONAFHANKELIJKE%20KONGOSTAAT.pdf |publisher=Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, Brussels|date=1988}} Of the National African Company, he died in Lagos in 1887 aged 38.{{cite news |title=Deaths |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001485/18870409/113/0014 |work=St James's Gazette |date=9 April 1887|page=14}}