Book published by the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia in 1999, 219 pages. Paperback (N8126)
From the rear side cover: August Peter Hansen, a young Dane, was stranded through illness in Calcutta when his ship had to sail on without him. Friendless and penniless he proceeded to make his way through joining the humbler ranks of the Municipal Police and gradually established himself in society, raising a family and earning for himself a reputation for honesty which was both a help and hindrance in various stages of his career. From police work in the City of Calcutta, he accepted a position of extreme trust with Birla as a Security Agent and Manager in his business ventures, and finally becoming a Customs Officer. His accounts of incidents at each stage of his career read almost like a detective story, yet they are told with a certain ingenuousness which make for veracity.
Most of the books on security work in India have been told from the 'top' looking down, and this is an interesting and stimulating account of the 'worms-eye' view with added force from being written by someone who was not of the Raj but became a naturalised Britisher towards the end of his career and whose third son was killed in World War Two....
The condition of the book is generally very good. The covers have one or two very minor scuffs but are clean and bright, the spine is intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.