A provincially published pamphlet recording a Sergeant’s 17 Years’ service in India, Leeds, circa 1872

£35.00

Laverack, Alfred: Seventeen Years’ Experience in India. Printed by William Askey, Swinegate, Leeds and Tadcaster. No date but internal evidence suggests a possible date of 1872. small 8vo [7 x 5 ins].

55pp including 2pp describing Sergeant Laverack’s lectures and diorama, 1 woodcut in text. Original printed paper cover pasted to a recent card cover with taped spine, title page tcrimmed but retaining all printing, general wear and soiling but paper sound. Laverack joined the 98th Regt. of Foot in 1845 and sailed to India to join the regiment the following year, which was shipping there from China. His account of his time in India is rather rambling and he became a religious convert dispersing tracts at some point. He mentions some events and names people such as Napier, Havelock, and Campbell. Towards the end of the pamphlet he mentions being put in charge of a small croup of Sepoys in 1858 and travelling with the  94th Regt. to Karachi [Kurrachee] from where he travelled 600 miles by river. He mentions officers [some by name] amusing themselves by shooting alligators. Laverack does not seem to stick to a logical progression and, without spending too much time studying the whole pamphlet, I am somtimes confused as to whether he is talking about 1848 or 1858. This title is not in Ladendorf although she lists another title by him A methodist soldier in the Indian Army.  Ladendorf 311.     mar2/3

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