author
Allan Octavian Hume
1829–1912
A restless Victorian reformer, naturalist, and organizer, he helped set in motion one of the most important political movements in modern Indian history. He was also a serious ornithologist whose work left a lasting mark on the study of South Asian birds.
1 Audiobook
The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1
by Allan Octavian Hume
About the author
Born in 1829, he spent much of his career in British India as a civil servant, while also building a reputation as a political reformer and a committed student of nature. Reliable sources describe him as a key founder of the Indian National Congress, the organization that would later become central to India’s independence movement.
He is also remembered for his work in ornithology and botany. The Natural History Museum notes that his bird collection, donated in 1885, was one of the largest it had ever received, showing how seriously he pursued scientific work alongside public service.
He died in 1912, but his legacy reaches across politics and natural history: a British administrator who became closely tied to the early story of Indian nationalism, and a field observer whose curiosity produced an enormous scientific record.