Peregrinations
In search of Henry James Matthew
I had planned to be in Simla (now spelt 'Shimla') for a day and a half but my flight from Delhi was cancelled due to bad weather and I caught a later plane to Chandigarh (Punjab) and then took a four-hour taxi ride to Shimla, arriving late at 8.30 p.m. The next day I went to the Church, Christchurch, where our ancestor was chaplain from 1877-1886. When I asked about the stained glass window which had been installed in his wife's memory, I was told that it must have been broken. In any case, I took photos of the stained glass window behind the altar. Later in the day, I was in a photo shop which was selling old photos. I bought a black and white photo of the church in 1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny, or, as the Indians say, The First War of Independence. I asked if there were any old bookshops. I was guided to one which only opened in the evening. The shop was a goldmine of antique books. A book, Simla Past & Present, published in 1904 with a second edition in 1925, has been reprinted in India recently. In this book it is written: "The chancel window of Christ Church was erected by public subscription to the memory of Bishop Matthew's wife who died in England while he was Chaplain of Simla, and is an allegorical representation of the 'Te Deum'. The fresco surrounding it was designed by Mr. Lockwood Kipling (father of Rudyard Kipling), and carried out under his supervision by his pupils of the Mayo School of Art, Lahore." In 1877, Henry James was also made Archdeacon of Lahore, so he travelled to and 'fro quite a bit. He was made Bishop of Lahore in 1887 (consecrated, if that's the word) in London before arriving in Lahore in February 1888. It is clear that Henry James spent a lot of time in Simla as there is a record that he bought a house "in the nineties". Also, I saw a small booklet, recently published in Bath for £10, listing the residences of Simla in 1898 (when HJM died in Lahore), and who owned those residences. HJM's residence, 'Chadwick', was listed as being owned or occupied by HJM and his sister, a Deaconess. In 1915, someone wrote about 'Chadwick' as follows: "Chadwick occupies one of the most charming sites in Simla and the garden is very pretty and well kept. The fruit trees are at present laden with apples already turning a rosy red and the deep warm colour of the later summer flowers form a lovely foreground to the blue hills vanishing in the bluer mist and white cloud beyond. The ideal place for a garden is at the end of a spur as Chadwick is. On three sides you look through space to the mountains, some nearer, some farther, and on the fourth side are trees and more trees effectively screening other habitations and making one feel a rest and quiet that never comes to the person whose every movement almost is overlooked by neighbouring windows." There is also a very interesting piece of information about a weeping willow tree in 'Chadwick's' garden. In the 1850s, the only dental surgeon in the whole of Punjab was one Mr O'Meara. During Napoleon's captivity on the island of St. Helena, Mr O'Meara's uncle, Dr.O'Meara, was the Emperor's medical attendant. "After Napoleon died, Dr. O'Meara planted a weeping willow tree over the great man's grave. Cuttings from this tree were afterwards sent round the Cape to India to Mr. O'Meara, and consequently several real St. Helena weeping willow trees may now be seen growing in and about Simla, the best specimen being at 'Sherwood', the late Sir Arthur Ker's Mashobra residence. There is also a particularly fine tree at 'Chadwick' on Summer Hill." I was unable to check out 'Chadwick'. Next time, perhaps. Another piece of information is that after he was installed as Bishop of Lahore in 1888, HJM personally paid for a stained glass window in his wife's memory to be installed in the Cathedral.
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