artists kept duplicate copies of some of the originals they insisted Raffles still owed them, even in death.
and that is how they were able to produce the new In a magnanimous gesture they allowed Lady Raffles
work so quickly.” off with a £10,000 once-and-for-all payment.
But, as Dr Noltie explained, even worse was Although much of the Raffles Collection was given
yet to come for Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. “The to the British Museum in the nineteenth century,
denouement came when he arrived home, having lost his most beautiful natural history drawings and
everything,” he said. “He petitioned the British East paintings were retained by the family. This material,
India Company for compensation and a pension, originally owned by Raffles’ sister, eventually passed
but they knocked him back and insisted that he through her descendants to the Drake family, the
owed them the staggering sum of £22,000. That’s famous Scottish alpine plant specialists who ran the
something like two million pounds in today’s terms. Inshriach Nursery at Aviemore in Inverness-shire.
That was partly because of the time he spent in Britain Jack Drake, whose full name was John Raffles Flint
in 1816-17, which had not been officially approved Drake, deposited the material on permanent loan to
as leave. That was the final straw. Raffles died just two the India Office Library in 1969-70, which in turn
months later with a massive brain tumour; the stress was incorporated into the British Library.
can’t have helped!” Drake’s heirs decided to sell the collection, but
The British Government reacted with appalling fortunately, with generous help from the Heritage
indifference. Instead of honouring the memory of Lottery Fund and other sponsors, the British Library
the man who had been instrumental in securing so was enabled to purchase the collection and save it
many its long-term strategic and commercial goals for the nation in 2007. One of the conditions of
in the Far East, the government ignored his death the lottery grant was that selections of the material
altogether. It was therefore left up to Raffles’ grieving should go on public display throughout the United
widow to commission and pay for his national Kingdom. Hence the magnificent exhibition at
memorial in Westminster Abbey. The East India Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Company, ever diligent in the pursuit of the bottom from May 9 to June 28, 2009.
line, continued to harass Lady Raffles for the debt For further details visit www.rbge.org.uk
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