Pseudonym Gallery

Sketches of Cricket in India, 1890

A series of sketches by an English Cavalry Officer of a game of cricket played between an Indian College and British Officers, in India, 1890. The correspondent who sent in the account of this match wished to remain anonymous and gave little in the way of details about the match. Indeed the Indian College was given the pseudonym The Progress College of Arts and Sciences and the location was not disclosed. The Illustrated London News editor who wrote the original caption said there was a touch of caricature in their depiction of the Indian players, but hoped the joke would be taken in a good-humoured spirit, as it is meant

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Joseph Salomonson of Amsterdam The Apostle of Natural Life

Joseph Salomonson of Amsterdam (1853-?) - also known as MEVA The Apostle of Natural Life - a healer and advocate of a return to nature and a more simpler existence. A wandering teacher, Joseph believed that humans should/could live to age 250... I find that by taking the raw carrots, raw turnip, raw onions, and fruit, I now have no thirst, and I have come to believe that thirst is artificial, and that it only accompanies cooked food when salt is put into it, but the natural life does not demand drink. I have not drank any water, tea, coffee, or spirits of any kind, since September, 1901. One should sleep on the ground, for the ground is much healthier than conventional beds. Of course I would not advise meat-eaters to begin at once to sleep on the ground, for they are not prepared for such a change. Date: 1906

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

The Earl of Rosslyn - stage name, James Erskine

James Francis Harry St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl Rosslyn (1869-1939), author and journalist. Also unusual in that he was a member of the peerage who trod the boards professionally, making his debut in Trelawney of the Wells under the theatrical pseudonym of James Erskine. This photograph appeared in an article in the Lady's Realm entitled, The Peerage and the Stage and the writer notes that, he wears a black velvet collar on his white Newmarket coat but has otherwise none of the outward peculiarities of the profession he has adopted.'! Date: 1904

© Mary Evans Picture Library