The Madras Famine, with an Appendix Containing a Letter from Florence Nightingale

What it is

This pamphlet, The Madras Famine, was written by Sir Arthur Cotton, an officer of the Royal Engineers, and printed in London in 1877. Its appendix contains a letter from Miss Florence Nightingale and other papers. The opening pages of the pamphlet say that in the past session of Parliament there had been four discussions of India, and that the word water was never mentioned in them, even though the famine was the most prominent subject.

Why it matters

The pamphlet shows how British officials and reformers argued about famine relief in India in the 1870s. Cotton argued that water and irrigation were central to the problem. Nightingale's letter, placed in the same publication, gives her own views on famine relief policy. Reading the two together shows that people of the time disagreed about the causes of famine and how to prevent it.

Look closer

• Why does Cotton say that the word water was never mentioned in the debates, and what does he suggest that silence reveals?
• Who was this pamphlet written for, and what did its authors want those readers to do?
• Whose voices are missing from this pamphlet, especially the people who lived through the famine?