1827 - 1869
William James Jay was Curate
of Goldhanger between 1847 and 1849 and is listed in the White’s Directory of
1848 as Curate at the time when Revd. C.B. Leigh was the Rector. After less that
two years at Goldhanger he joined the East India Company and moved to India. He
worked for the Company throughout the Mutiny period and while at Fatehgarh in
Uttar Pradesh instructed the young Maharajah Duleep Singh, who was the last
Maharaja of Lahore and of the Sikh Empire.
The Maharajah was converted to a Christianity, and was baptised by the
Revd. Jay in March, 1853.
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the young Maharajah Duleep
Singh |
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the Maharajah’s original palace |
No photograph of the Revd. Jay
has been found, but this picture of the Maharajah (on the right) with friends
could include him. |
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From documents and websites
now available it seems that the Revd. Jay played a significant part in the
anglicising the very young Maharajah, and perhaps albeit unwittingly,
creating the circumstances in which the British Empire acquired all the
Maharajah’s lands in Lahore and the Punjab, as well as transferring ownership
of the famous Kohinoor diamond to Queen Victoria, which is now in the Coronation
Crown. The main perpetrators of the scheme appear to have been the Viceroy of
India, Governor-General Dalhousie and surgeon Dr. John Spence Login, as
extracts from these websites indicate…
from… www.internetstones.com/maharani-jindan-kaur-emerald-and-seed-pearl-necklace-one.html
After
the death of the Maharani Jindan Kaur in 1863, in England, her personal
jewellery was inherited by her one and only son Duleep Singh, who married
twice. His first wife was Maharani Bamba Muller, by whom he had six children,
three boys and three girls. After the death of his first wife in 1887,
Maharajah Duleep Singh, took his second wife Ada Douglas Wetherill, by whom he
had two children, both girls. Maharajah Duleep Singh was anglicised and
converted to Christianity before being exiled to Britain in 1854. He was eleven
years old at the time he was deposed by the British on March 29, 1849, and was
entrusted to the care of Dr. John Login, by Governor-General Dalhousie. Dr.
Login took Duleep Singh from Lahore to Fatehgarh, in Uttar Pradesh, on December
21, 1849, perhaps on the instructions of Dalhousie, in order to keep the boy
away from the influences of the Punjab, his former domain. He was provided
lavishly furnished houses in Fategarh and also in Lucknow, where he spent his
remaining days in India, before being exiled to Britain in 1854.
Thus
he spent almost five years in India after he was deposed, before being exiled
to Britain. During this period he came under the tutelage of both Dr. Login and
Bhajan Lal, a Christian convert, both of whom exposed the boy to a lot of
Christian text and literature. Governor-General Dalhousie had instructed Dr.
Login, that the boy should be completely anglicised before he was sent to
Britain. It was in keeping with these instructions that Duleep Singh was raised
in complete isolation from his own countrymen and tight restrictions were
placed on who he was allowed to meet.
No
Indians except trusted servants, were allowed to meet him in private. Duleep
Singh's closest childhood friends were both English, one the child of an Anglican missionary. The child's brain-washing
was complete before he attained his 15th birthday, and he was converted to
Christianity, at Fatehgarh, with the blessings of Governor-General Dalhousie.
After the Child's Anglicisation was completed, he was exiled to Britain in
1854.
from…
ajitvadakayil.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/maharaja-ranjit-singh-rise-and-fall-of.html
The Kohinoor jewel was
signed away to queen Victoria in 1849 by 11 year old boy King Duleep Singh
while in exile. As a reward he could
play with the royal kids in London. Duleep Singh's closest childhood friends
were both English, one the child of an Anglican
missionary. The child's
brain-washing was complete before he attained his 15th birthday, and he was
converted to Christianity, at Fatehgarh, with the blessings of Governor-General
Dalhousie. He was then exiled to
Britain in 1854.
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By 1860, after nine years at
Fatehgarh the Revd. Jay’s health had deteriorated and he returned to England
with his wife and young family and became Chaplain and Superintendent at Poplar
Hospital in the East end of London. Later when the Maharajah, who was
befriended by Queen Victoria, came to England and lived at Elveden Hall near
Thetford, the Revd. Jay was installed by the Maharajah as Rector of Elveden. In
1866 he christened the Maharajah's son Prince Victor Albert Jay and when eight
months later Queen Victoria ordered a second christening, Queen Victoria was
godmother and the Revd. Jay was godfather. Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep
Singh (1866-1918) was the eldest son of Maharani Bamba Müller and Maharaja
Duleep Singh. Notably, this eldest son has “Jay” as a third Christian name following
Victor(after Queen Victoria) and Albert(after prince Albert).
In 1869 Revd. Jay died and
was buried in the Churchyard at Elveden near to where Duleep Singh and his wife
were subsequently buried. There is a memorial window in St Catherine's College,
Cambridge dedicated to the Revd. Jay,
which was commissioned by his younger son, the Revd. Arthur Osborne Jay,
known as the “Boxing Parson”.
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The
window below was given in St Catharine's College Cambridge, 1913 by the Revd.
Arthur Osborne Jay, vicar of Holy Trinity, Shoreditch, in memory of his
father, also a member of the College. the Rev. Arthur Osborne Montgomery
Jay(1858-1945) was an undergraduate of the College between 1876-80 and was
known as "The Boxing Parson' and was author of Life in Darkest
London. His father, the Rev. William James Jay(1819-69) was an
undergraduate of the College between 1843-7…
Window in memory of the Revd. William James Jay in St Catharine's College, Cambridge |
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There is much more about the Maharajah Duleep
Singh on these sites… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duleep_Singh www.duleepsingh.com www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99jun27/sunday/head4.htm sikhinstitute.org/duleepsingh/chronology.pdf www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/41277 maharajaranjitsingh.com/maharaja_dalip_singh_biography.html |
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