BENGAL; FRASER, Andrew Henderson Leith.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Marked-up proof copies of parliamentary papers relating to the partition of Bengal. Sir Andrew Fraser (1848-1919), Lieutenant-governor of Bengal, makes corrections across the first 83 pages of these proof papers. When partition took effect in October 1905 it stimulated radical nationalism, which coalesced in the Swadeshi Movement. Fraser resisted the temptation for repressive measures, but his handling of the matter was controversial and in 1911 partition was annulled. With over 30 years' experience in the Indian Civil Service and his "solid, if unspectacular career" drawing to a close, Fraser was appointed lieutenant-general in November 1903. Shocked at how out of touch Bengal's administrators were with the people, "often unable to speak Bengali fluently and only touring the districts infrequently" (ODNB), Fraser supported the principal aim of partition, that it would make Bengal more governable, with a Hindu-majority west and a Muslim-majority east. In his memoir, Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots (1912), Fraser devotes a chapter to partition but treads carefully, as the reversal of the plan took place "after the severance of my connection with India" and his retirement to Scotland in 1908.Provenance: John Riddy (1934-2017), bibliophile and university administrator, with his ownership inscription on the first blank, "John Riddy, Perth 1975". Riddy "built up a much-admired private library on the history of British India … a witty, erudite, generous and kind man … He was also a t

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