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Album of 14 watercolours of India and Malaya.

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A charming album of vivid watercolour views of India and Malaysia, painted by a British zoologist and army officer during his time serving in India and the Straits Settlement.

Major Stanley Smyth Flower OBE (1871–1946) spent much of his early military and scientific career in Southeast Asia. His interest in zoology was piqued at a young age, and from 11 he was regularly attending meetings of the Zoological Society of London with his father, who was Director of the Natural History Museum from 1884. Having obtained a commission in the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1890, Flower was posted to India and the Straits Settlements. The practical knowledge of local fauna he gained while serving in the area won him the position of scientific advisor to the Government of Siam, and, having requested leave from the British Army, Flower set off for the Royal Museum in Bangkok. During his tenure Flower made several research trips throughout Siam, Malaya, and Singapore, and his findings, especially those on mammals, amphibians, and reptiles, were published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. In some cases his papers constitute the earliest published record of some of the species in their documented locations. Several species are named after him, including a snake which he discovered. During his later tenure as Director of the Zoological Gardens at Giza he would make the acquaintance of Rudyard Kipling, who described him in a letter of 17 February 1913 as ‘quite one of the most interesting men I have ever met’.

Watercolours:
‘Cantonement Magistrates Office. Benares. 14.10.94’
‘Benares: 31.10.94’
‘near Zaminia. 15.11.94’
‘Looking down the Ganges from Fort Chuner [sic]. 18.11.94’
‘Chunar. 18.11.94’
‘near Chunar. 19.11.94’
‘Looking down the Ganges to Fort Chunar. 19.11.94’
‘Chunar. 19.11.94’
‘on the Burna. 22.11.94’
‘Betel Nut Palm. (“Pinang”). Taiping, Perak. 19.6.95’
‘Penang. 24.3.95’
‘A Malay Village, Keddah; 13.4.95’
‘Kwala [Kedah]; 15.4.95’
‘Dover: 1.8.95’

See The Letters of Rudyard Kipling, ed. Thomas Pinney (1990–2004).

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