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Allan Octavian Hume (June 6, 1829 - July 31, 1912) son of Joseph Hume was a Scottish civil servant and political reformer. He was, along with Sir William Wedderburn, a founder of the Indian National Congress. He was described by Dr. Salim Ali as the father of Indian Ornithology.
Life and career
Hume was born in Montrose, Forfarshire, Scotland, 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 the following year joined the Bengal Civil Service at Etawah in the North-Western Provinces, in what is now 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 Anne Grindall in 1853.
In 1860 Hume was made Companion of the Bath for his services during the rebellion or Indian rebellion of 1857. 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.
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. Along with Sir William Wedderburn (1838-1918) they made it possible for Indians to organize themselves in preparation of self government.
Hume left India in 1894 and settled at Upper Norwood in London. His ashes are buried in Brookwood 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 A.P. Sinnett and signed by him, as authorized by Mahatma K. H., A Lay-Chela.
A long story, about Hume and his wife appears in A.P. Sinnett's book Occult World, and the synopsis was published in a local paper of India. The story relates how at a dinner party, Madame Blavatsky asked Mrs Hume if there was anything she wanted. She replied that there was a brooch, her mother had given her, that had gone out of her possession some time ago. Blavatsky said she would try to recover it through occult means. After some interlude, later that evening, the brooch was found in a garden, where the party was directed by Blavatsky.
Madame Blavatsky 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). Later, Hume privately expressed grave doubts on certain powers attributed to Madame Blavatsky and due to this, soon fell out of favour with the Theosophists.
Hume lost all interest in theosophy when he got involved with the creation of the Indian National Congress.
Contribution to ornithology
From early days, Hume had a special interest in science. Science, he wrote and of natural history he wrote in 1867
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 a 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 a servant as waste paper. Hume's interest in ornithology reduced due to this theft as well as a landslip caused by heavy rains in Simla which damaged 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:
Sharpe also noted
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. Many of these names are no longer valid.
- 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) 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.
Stray Feathers
Hume 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 network of correspondents
Hume built up a network of ornithologists reporting from various parts of India. A list based on the correspondents mentioned in Stray Feathers and in his Game Birds is as follows. This is probably only a small fraction of the subscribers of Stray Feathers.
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Additional authors in Stray Feathers
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He also corresponded with ornithologists outside India including R. Bowdler-Sharpe, the Marquis of Tweeddale, Pere David, Dresser, Dybowski, John Henry Gurney, J.H.Gurney, Jr. ,Johann Friedrich Naumann, Severtzov, Dr. Middendorff.
Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon (1879-1881)
This work was co-authored by C. H. T. Marshall. The three volume work on the game birds was made using contributions and notes from a network of 200 or more correspondents. Hume delegated the task of getting the plates made to Marshall. The chromolithographs of the birds were drawn by W. Foster, E. Neale, M. Herbert, Stanley Wilson and others and the plates were produced by F. Waller in London. Hume had sent specific notes on colours of soft parts and instructions to the artists. He was unsatisfied with many of the plates and included additional notes on the plates in the book.
In the preface Hume wrote
while his co-author Marshall, wrote
Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds (1883)
This was another major work by Hume and in it he covered descriptions of the nests, eggs and the breeding seasons of most Indian bird species. It makes use of notes from contributors to his journals as well as other correspondents and works of the time.
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 had asked that Hume should edit the volume on the ornithological 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.
References
- Bruce, Duncan A. (2000) The Scottish 100: Portraits of History's Most Influential Scots, Carroll & Graf Publishers.
- Buck, E. J. (1904) Simla, Past and Present. Thacker & Spink, Calcutta, 1904.
- 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
- Biographies of ornithologists
- Hume-Blavatsky correspondence
- Indian Postal site
- South London Botanical Institute
- Book review
1829 births | 1912 deaths | Natives of Kent | Scottish ornithologists | Anglo-Scots | Indian activists | Companions of the Bath | אלן אוקטביאן יום | Allan Octavian Hume | Allan Octavian Hume
"Allan Octavian Hume"