Lord Pentland archive

Ebay throws up some unexpected treasures, including this small archive of letters, photographs, watercolour sketches and ephemera from Lord and Lady Pentland's time at Government House in Madras (now Chennai).

Lord Pentland, formerly John Sinclair, was Secretary for Scotland under the Liberal governments of Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith, but was sacked by the latter (who thought his Scottish Secretary had the ‘the brain of a rabbit...and the temper of a pig’) and banished to India as governor of the Madras presidency.

Lord Pentland's son, Henry John Sinclair, settled in the US and had a daughter, who seems to have been selling off parts of the family effects. Earlier this year I bought his top hat.