'Removing the dead from the camp hospital', the Great Famine, 1877 (c)

Photograph by Captain Willoughby Wallace Hooper (1837-1912), Madras, India, 1877 (c). Captain (later Colonel) W W Hooper was an officer in the 4th Prince of Wales Own Regiment of Madras Light Cavalry.

Indian civilians carry a deceased victim on a litter in front of a hut housing malnourished famine victims, in a relief camp during the Great Famine (1876-1878).

From an album of photographs compiled by Colonel C A Mercer, 4th Regiment of Gurkha Infantry, India, 1868-1878. From a page entitled, 'Reminiscences of the Madras Famine 1877-78'.

A major famine developed in India in 1876 after a sustained and severe drought led to the failure of harvests. The famine was particularly harsh in the south and south-west of India but its effect spread across the subcontinent in the following two years. Several million people died as a result of the famine and the failure of the British colonial regime to relieve the crisis effectively led to the creation of a Famine Commission in 1880.

According to the Hodson Index of Indian Army Officers, Colonel Charles Archibald Mercer (1847-1923) joined the British Army as an ensign, serving with the 19th (The 1st Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment of Foot and the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot. Mercer served on the North West Frontier of India with the 19th in the Black Mountain Expedition (1868). Mercer went on to serve with the 4th Gurkha Regiment, participating in the 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880). He became a colonel in 1897.