John Jacob's Clock
12 August 2013
Muhammad Zaman Narejo, Additional Commissioner I, Larkana is the bringer of good news regarding John Jacob's clock in the DC's residence at Jacobabad. Having read this blog and the sad footnote, young Zaman betook himself from his work at Larkana to Jacobabad to check out the clock. He called to tell me that the clock was, after all, not destroyed by the protestors. The clock is still there and working as these images show. Thank you Zaman Narejo, you have done very well.
Labels: Heritage, Jacobabad, John Jacob, Sindh
posted by Salman Rashid @ 17:02,
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The Clock that John Jacob built
24 July 2013
Fateh Abid Lashari, friend and fellow writer from Jacobabad says John Jacob was the most outstanding administrator that the land of Sindh ever knew. And I know at least two modern Deputy Commissioners who agree. Having read H. T. Lambrick’s John Jacob of Jacobabad it is difficult not to acquiesce; for not only did Jacob possess remarkable ability as a frontiersman, but was an administrator of outstanding ability besides being an engineer and mechanic as well. But who was John Jacob?
Born on January 11, 1812, John was one of ten children (eight sons, two daughters) of Stephen Jacob, the vicar of Woolavington (Somerset) and his wife. In 1826 when he took the entrance test for the army, his examiner, probably taking Jacob’s very bad stammer as a sign of nervousness, made it a point to inquire after it saying it would be necessary make a report of it. Jacob’s peers of course told him he would never make it, for not only did he have the speech impairment, he was also rather short-statured. But make it he did, and with distinction too.
Read more »Labels: Jacobabad, John Jacob, Prisoner on a Bus: Travels Through Pakistan, Sindh
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Sentinel Watch, Police Office Building, Jacobabad
03 March 2013
Upper Sindh was challenging country to manage in the 19th century. To its west were the Bugtis and to the north the Mazaris – both formidable Baloch tribes. The first administrator that the East India Company sent out was a man of exceptional calibre and humanity who established his writ in this volatile region. For the local Baloch, John Jacob became a saint of sorts, on whose grave in Jacobabad they light oil lamps even today.
More than half a century after Jacob had brought order to the region, the men of the Raj thought it necessary to raise a new building to house the offices of the Superintendent of Police. The 20th century had dawned and mixing local and European architectural forms was widely acceptable. Completed in 1910, the Police Office Building in Jacobabad became yet another remarkable example of the amalgam.
Labels: Book of Days 2013, Jacobabad, Sindh, Stones of Empire
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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