>Dear John
>I never cease to be surprised by the interesting queries raised on the
>mailbase. This particular one blows a lot of dust off my memory bank.
>My father ( who was on the staff of the Quetta Staff College) knew Frank
>Beaty. Whilst I can't help in the matter of researching the Beaty family
>genealogy. I can certainly confirm a road was named after him in Quetta -
it
>ran between the Fort Arsenal and Samungli past the RAF Lines. Beaty was
>closely contempraneous with RK. My father always felt Beaty was a model for
>Strickland rather than Kim - but he acknowledged it was a highly
speculative
>guess. Strickland was described by RK as 'a dark young fellow -- spare,
>black-eyed .....and a very interesting companion.' Would this fit the
>genetic pattern of subsequent Beatys?
>Frank Beaty was buried in the rubble and injured in the May 1935 Quetta
>earthquake He lost a son and grandchildren in that disaster.
>Is there any record of RK ( who died some eight months after the Quetta
>earthquake) contacting him ? One would imagine that if a literary linkage
>existed between RK and Frank Beaty he would have sent a message of
>condolence.
>An interesting query.
>Michael Jefferson .
>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Radcliffe <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Friday, February 23, 2001 7:23 AM
>Subject: Fw: The Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore
>
>
>>Can anyone help Mr Beaty ?
>>
>>All good wishes, John R
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: Jeremy Beaty <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Friday, February 23, 2001 1:40 AM
>>Subject: The Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore
>>
>>
>>> Francis Henry John BEATY was a reporter on the Civil and Military
Gazette
>>> newspaper in Lahore before and perhaps during Rudyard Kipling's
>employment
>>> there between 1882 and 1887. The BEATY family has no records of my great
>>> grandfather's writings for the Gazette. I would like to search the
>>archives
>>> of the Gazette that closed its doors in1963. Would you know, by any
>>chance,
>>> where the archival records of Gazette newspapers are stored and if I can
>>get
>>> access to them when I am in London in May this year?
>>>
>>> It is said (see the excerpt below) that Rudyard took Francis Montague
>>> Algeron BEATY, Francis Henry's son, as a model for Kim. Other than this
>>> excerpt I have no evidence of this;
>>>
>>> "Quetta was a place that seemed to breed characters larger than life.
>The
>>> most famous of them all was Beaty Sahib (Frank Beaty), a crafty giant
>with
>>a
>>> mahogany coloured face and a broad grin which disclosed a single
>>discoloured
>>> front tooth. Kipling took him as the model for Kim, and his exploits as
>>head
>>> of the Baluchistan Police Force had made him famous all over the
>frontier.
>>> His police post had carried no pension but a grateful municipality had
>>named
>>> a road in Quetta after him and the Quetta Club found him a job as sports
>>> secretary when he retired. Now in 1935, the stories of the wicked past,
>>told
>>> with gusto and good humour, made him welcome in the cantonment messes
>>where
>>> young officers gulped in every word and in return forced drinks on a not
>>> unwilling story teller."
>>> Ref. page 18, Thirty Seconds at Quetta (The Story of an Earthquake) by
>>> Robert Jackson, published in 1960 by Evans Brothers Ltd., London.
>>>
>>> Would you have any supporting evidence that Francis Beaty was in fact
was
>>a
>>> model for the character Kim. Francis M. A. BEATY was born on April 21,
>>1865
>>> only nine months before Rudyard's birth. In our family legend it is said
>>> that not only was Francis a good friend of Rudyard, but that his father
>>and
>>> John Lockwood Kipling were friends as well.
>>>
>>> I am researching the BEATY ancestry and would any help you can give me.
>>>
>>> Thank you so much.
>>>
>>> Jeremy & Joy Beaty, Mississauga, Ontario. [log in to unmask]
>>> http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/b/e/a/Jeremy-G-Beaty
>>>
>
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