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Postmarked Bombay: True Tales Of A Texan In British Colonial India, 1937-1945
Twenty-four-year-old Harry Witt did the unthinkable in 1937 when he left his family and sweetheart, Idie Lacy, in Houston, Texas, to take a job halfway around the world in British Colonial India.
Adventurous tales of tiger hunts, rickety train rides, and a birthday with a maharajah mix with humorous anecdotes of rural village life and brokering cotton to fill Harry’s letters home, giving Idie a unique glimpse of life in a strange land with a Texas twist.
Then Idie also did the unthinkable in 1939, taking a month-long sea voyage to marry Harry in Bombay. Their stories speak of learning to cope with each other and with life in a foreign culture and a faraway place. Idie was subsequently evacuated from India during World War II, while Harry stayed, working on a mission for his company and his country. His business contacts with Hindu, Muslim and English merchants helped him procure strategic materials for the Allies. Along the way, he interacted with everyone from peasants to maharajas and trekked into Nepal with a colleague, the first white men to do so.
Adventurous tales of tiger hunts, rickety train rides, and a birthday with a maharajah mix with humorous anecdotes of rural village life and brokering cotton to fill Harry’s letters home, giving Idie a unique glimpse of life in a strange land with a Texas twist.
Then Idie also did the unthinkable in 1939, taking a month-long sea voyage to marry Harry in Bombay. Their stories speak of learning to cope with each other and with life in a foreign culture and a faraway place. Idie was subsequently evacuated from India during World War II, while Harry stayed, working on a mission for his company and his country. His business contacts with Hindu, Muslim and English merchants helped him procure strategic materials for the Allies. Along the way, he interacted with everyone from peasants to maharajas and trekked into Nepal with a colleague, the first white men to do so.
298 pages, Paperback
Published October 25, 2023
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October 15, 2025
Postmarked Bombay is an interesting biography of a young Texan named Harry Witt (Rice University grad) who took a job in India from 1937 til 1945. This job required him to travel by boat half-way around the world to learn a new job buying and selling cotton from farmers all over India. In doing so, he left behind all of his family, friends, and fiancee in Houston, plus all the modern comforts of home (e.g., indoor plumbing, electricity, etc.).
In this book, Harry wrote many details of his daily adventures in frequent letters to his fiancee (and eventual wife) that explained what it was like living and working among locals who practiced different religions, spoke different languages, and lived sometimes desolate lives in harsh conditions (no indoor plumbing, no electricity, etc.).
For example, Harry often travelled long distances across India via over-crowded, leaky, smelly train cars that often ran several hours behind schedule. He might describe boarding a train after midnight from a depot in a small, poor town and then share a 4-passenger cabin with 8 others, none of whom spoke any English. Often, the old train doors and windows were not air tight, leaving passengers with a thin coat of black soot from the coal-fired engine.
In other stories, he'd describe travel to far away villages with limited food supplies on hand, in which case he would hunt the local jungles for game animals. If he was successful in bringing home meat, he'd always share with local villagers — many of whom were forbidden to hunt due to their religous beliefs. His wild stories included tiger hunts, close calls with cobras and panthers, elephant fights, and other unusual events. It also covered his work contributions to the war effort (in support of the USA and its allies) during WW2 when he changed jobs so that he could apply his vast knowledge about traveling India to acquire certain materials needed for the war effort.
My one and only disappointment was the ending. It seemed very abrupt and mentioned nothing of Harry's life after returning home to Houston in 1945. Readers are left wondering what became of his personal life and career. All we know is that his daughter eventually wrote this book. In any case, I'm glad I read this interesting biography and recommend it to anyone curious about what life was like in India during the 1930s and 40s (from the perspective of a young man from Houston).
In this book, Harry wrote many details of his daily adventures in frequent letters to his fiancee (and eventual wife) that explained what it was like living and working among locals who practiced different religions, spoke different languages, and lived sometimes desolate lives in harsh conditions (no indoor plumbing, no electricity, etc.).
For example, Harry often travelled long distances across India via over-crowded, leaky, smelly train cars that often ran several hours behind schedule. He might describe boarding a train after midnight from a depot in a small, poor town and then share a 4-passenger cabin with 8 others, none of whom spoke any English. Often, the old train doors and windows were not air tight, leaving passengers with a thin coat of black soot from the coal-fired engine.
In other stories, he'd describe travel to far away villages with limited food supplies on hand, in which case he would hunt the local jungles for game animals. If he was successful in bringing home meat, he'd always share with local villagers — many of whom were forbidden to hunt due to their religous beliefs. His wild stories included tiger hunts, close calls with cobras and panthers, elephant fights, and other unusual events. It also covered his work contributions to the war effort (in support of the USA and its allies) during WW2 when he changed jobs so that he could apply his vast knowledge about traveling India to acquire certain materials needed for the war effort.
My one and only disappointment was the ending. It seemed very abrupt and mentioned nothing of Harry's life after returning home to Houston in 1945. Readers are left wondering what became of his personal life and career. All we know is that his daughter eventually wrote this book. In any case, I'm glad I read this interesting biography and recommend it to anyone curious about what life was like in India during the 1930s and 40s (from the perspective of a young man from Houston).
November 20, 2023
Postmarked: Bombay. In this two-word title, author Harriet Claiborne captures the essence of letters, essays, and observations of pre-war and wartime British Colonial India that were written by her father, Harry Witt, during 1937–1946. Emerging from boxes and boxes of primary source information that remarkably survived decades, Mrs. Claiborne uses Harry’s journals, photos, reports for the home office, and letters to and from his Texas sweetheart Ida Dell to weave a story of Harry’s personal and unique insight into pre-democracy India.
After Harry’s college graduation, his new employer, a Texas cotton company, sent him overseas to work as a cotton broker. This work took him throughout the subcontinent traveling by train, pony, camel, motorcycle, jeep, and often on foot. As he traveled buying cotton, he recorded his keen observations of India’s government, history, people, geography, society, and rural up-country. He also wrote of the challenges he and Idie faced in a long separation, and then, when Idie finally arrives in Bombay carrying her wedding dress, they both take on the challenge of living in a country very unlike their Texas hometown.
Postmarked: Bombay is a true story that has found its rightful place between the covers of a book. Readers will find the history of a time gone-by wrapped in two love stories: the romance of Harry and Idie’s devotion to each other and the adventures of two young Texans in love with a continent.
After Harry’s college graduation, his new employer, a Texas cotton company, sent him overseas to work as a cotton broker. This work took him throughout the subcontinent traveling by train, pony, camel, motorcycle, jeep, and often on foot. As he traveled buying cotton, he recorded his keen observations of India’s government, history, people, geography, society, and rural up-country. He also wrote of the challenges he and Idie faced in a long separation, and then, when Idie finally arrives in Bombay carrying her wedding dress, they both take on the challenge of living in a country very unlike their Texas hometown.
Postmarked: Bombay is a true story that has found its rightful place between the covers of a book. Readers will find the history of a time gone-by wrapped in two love stories: the romance of Harry and Idie’s devotion to each other and the adventures of two young Texans in love with a continent.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews