| Order number: |
OA4, Memories of the British in India, Sound Cassettes, Box 1 [CLOSED]
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| Summary: |
Edwin Beer, who was educated as a chemist and was involved in the development of viscose, recalles his life in India from 1908 to 1924. The recollections are mostly concerned with prospecting for minerals. Summary of interview:- Childhood and early life; work in England as a chemist; going to Bombay in 1908 to work on analysing manganese ore samples; losing his job and travelling India by train lloking for work; mineral prospecting and filling in the geological map of India; relations of the British and Indians, and his own personal relations with them; attitude of Indians to an unemployed European; opinions of Indian independence and British administration; the Amritsar massacre; experiences and sights seen when prospecting; ways of life of Indians and British: starting up Portland cement export trade: reasons for leaving India; methods of prospecting: living in the Kashmir region; the heat; his last day in India; servants; summing up of his experiences in, and thoughts about, India.
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| Main author: |
Beer; Edwin John (b 1879); geologist |
| Other authors: |
Blake; David M (fl 1983); librarian and interviewer |
| Previous numbers: |
OA2/175/1-3
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| Extent: |
2 sound casettes
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| Admin history: |
Edwin John Beer - Geologist and mineralogist; c1899-1908 worked as an analytical chemist engaged in perfecting the viscose material later known as rayon; took post in Bombay analysing manganese ores and assaying gold 1908; employed by the General Prospecting Syndicate, headed by Charles Jambon, to prospect for minerals in India c1909-14; searching for suitable sites for production of Portland Cement in India c1914-20. |
| Custodial history: |
Recorded as part of the ’Memories of the British in India’ project by India Office Library & Records [subsequently the Oriental and India Office Collection, British Library]. This recording was previously held at SOAS Library as part of the 'British in India Oral Archive Project' collection [Reference OA2], removed from this collection in August 2014 to reflect the recording’s alternative provenance as part of the ‘Memories of the British in India’ project. |
| Access status: |
Closed
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| Access conditions: |
Sound recording currently unavailable at SOAS Library due to preservation reasons. Researchers can access a copy of this audio recording at the British Library Listening & Viewing Service. For more details see www.bl.uk/listening or contact listening@bl.uk / 020 7412 7418.
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| Copyright: |
Copyright held by British Library |
| User restrictions: |
Private study only. For publication or broadcast please refer to Archivist |
| Language: |
English
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| Originals: |
Original sound recording of interview available at British Library Listening & Viewing Service [Reference: C63/151-155]
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| Format: |
Archive
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