CUT SIGNATURE OF SCOTTISH DOCTOR JOSEPH HUME WHO WAS SURGEON TO AN ARMY REGIMENT IN INDIA.

Circa [1840]., [1840].. Good. - Hume's signature, "Joseph Hume", is penned in black ink on a slip of cream-colored paper 3/4 of an inch high by 2-5/8 inches wide. The paper is mounted on a somewhat larger piece of card. The slip of paper is lightly foxed around the edges. Good. <p>Joseph Hume [1777-1855] was a Scottish doctor and a Radical Member of Parliament, born in Montrose, Angus. He moved to India in 1797 and was commissioned as a surgeon to an army regiment. He was able to take up work as an interpreter and commissary-general owing to his knowledge of the Indian language. After resigning and returning home in 1808, he traveled around England and Europe before entering politics as MP for Weymouth, Dorset. He became acquainted with John Mill and the philosophical reformers of the school of Jeremy Bentham. Thereafter he devoted himself to political activism, embracing such causes as improving the life of the working classes and trade union reform. He was especially known for holding the feet of Chancellors of the Exchequer to the fire, challenging every item of public expenditure, exercising a check on extravagance and causing the word "retrenchment" to be added to the Radical program of "peace and reform".