15. Why you should practise your drawing

On 16^th Sept 1840, Captain Philip Anstruther of the Madras Artillery was surveying in the neighbourhood of Tinghai, the chief town of Chusan in China when a crowd of Chinese soldiers attacked him. He was over-powered, bound hand and foot, hammered on the kneecaps and carried away to Ningpo. He was tall and was forced to get into this small cage with wooden bars.

An iron ring was put round his neck;
 his hands put into handcuffs locked were to a stick,
 which was fastened to the ring on his neck.
 He was chained with very heavy leg irons (about 18lbs)
 which was locked to the cage with a chain.
 "I found my head,” he wrote,
 "handsomely laid open to the bone,
 and my legs and arms covered with bruises.”

In spite of his cramped position, Anstruther managed to sketch what he saw. His drawings pleased his captors so much that they allowed him a larger cage 3’6” by 2’1”. On 22^nd Feb 1841, Captain Anstruther and several other British survivors were freed and carried in palanquins to the port of Chinhai and four days later they were safe on board HMS Blonde in the harbour of Chusan. Anstruther returned to Madras whither he transported his cage as an interesting souvenir.

From a display at the St. George’s Fort Museum in Chennai.

There is a postscript:

“Anstruther was no likely candidate for a beauty show, His shaggy hair and beard were of a fine rufus red. Instead of being flattered, so he avowed, he would not permit any one even to sketch his portrait but he did paint one of himself. For some time he aroused the curiosity of his brother officers by always carrying a gold mohur (coin) in his pocket. The purpose of which one day he disclosed in the officers’ mess. A stranger entered and Anstruther, walking up to him gave him a hearty slap on the back and said “By God, Sir you are uglier than I am. Here’s a gold mohur for you.”

I’m back in the UK now but will be adding the odd appendix from time to time. I carry no gold coin.