Hall and Sultan family on their legendary picnic
Looking at this picture I wonder. There is that sense of happy proximity that families sometimes get. How can the little boy in the middle of the carriage look like my grandfather? And yet he does. He is smiling at his grandmother who has just said something to him.
Granny and Arthur sit comfortably together on one side. Granny Hall doesn't bother to turn to camera, she sits comfortably, but Arthur does turn a little, and his body faces his mother and his arm touches the drape on the side.
Gertrude Sultan (nee Hall) and he husband Mr Sultan on a visit from Gwalior are on their feet at the back. Gertrude smiles from a long way away. Perhaps she is thinking of us looking at this picture. She's conscious of her husband at her side. Of facing her brother. Of her mother speaking to John. She has crafted this moment. Perhaps the picnic was her idea. She's a mover and a shaker. When the photo has been taken they will sit down again. Square to Arthur and Granny Hall.
And at the front their children face forwards, alert at the same angle. Master Sultan smiles broadly.This is fun. The blanket on his legs making him seem feminine. He shares a worn blanket with his sister, who is 15 perhaps - Edith Sultan.
And she is not at all at ease. She's tall, but slouches a little forward protectively. You would expect her to be friends with Connie. To sit next to her. But Connie is at the back of the carriage, hiding behind John. Connie could easily move and her head would show, but all we see is one eye and cheek. Before this picture was taken, at the beach the two girls stand well apart. It's hard to think well of Connie, the colonial teenager.
Edith is right at the front, outside the group, her bum almost on the edge of the seat, and she turns away from the driver who doesn't look at the camera, but looks at her unsmiling, unpleasantly, his whip erect. Philip Hall seems to look at the camera, but close up you see his eyes swivel. He too looks at her, curious. His body is inserted between that of the driver and Edith, he looks a little squashed. The brim of his hat folded against the driver's arm.
The horses have hardly moved while the picture was being taken. Stock still, is the expression. They are tired. In South Africa Connie, John, Philip and Arthur periodically go for long trips in the Lowveld in a carriage the size of a small room, pulled by at least 12 oxen.
Mr Sultan is an administrator. A minor member of the the family of the Maharajah of Gwalior. He is the private secretary to the Maharajah. An administrator, a bureaucrat. Do they live in a room in the vast palace in Gwalior? They must do.
This family that will continue on it's journey back to Clifton. Prescience. Here is the story of a passage to Bristol. Of the incoming tide, of the empire in outrush gathering back. Ebbing briefly. Here it is.
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