Deeper Than Indigo: Tracing Thomas Machell, forgotten explorer

The author’s quest begins when the word ‘indigo’ draws her to the illustrated journals, now in the British Library, of Victorian explorer Thomas Machell. She finds her life to have striking echoes of his, not least his travels to and within India, a career in indigo, and a passion for journal writing. She is also intrigued by his aspiration to write ‘a novel in the form of an autobiography’ and by his quirky watercolor sketches. Machell of Crackenthorpe, born in 1824, first demonstrated his year…