In the early sixties of the 19th century Christopher William Corbett, an Irish soldier after his retirement from the active service came to Nainital as a Post Master. Sir Henry Ramsay, the then Commissioner of Kumaon allotted in his name 10 acres of land at Kaladhungi -a small foothill station 30 kms downhill from the upper end of Lake Naini -so that having seen the horrors of Afgan War and the uprising of 1857 this soldier might spend the rest of his life in peace and tranquility. Christopher built a beautiful Victorian bungalow and called it 'Arundel'. This Christopher was the father of James Edward Corbett, the famous hunter, naturalist and master story teller who, having killed a dozen man eating tigers and leopard responsible for over 1500 human kills made the jungles of Kumaon safe for the fuel and fodder collecting hill women.
Born on July 25, 1875 in Nainital James Edward Corbett, affectionately called Jim, was the twelfth child of Mary James Corbett -who had carried four children by her first husband Charles James Doyle. Jim was her eighth and penultimate child from Chritopher William.
Nothing of Arundel, save the site where it was built remains now. Close to it Jim later constructed a winter home for himself where he lived till 1947 before leaving for Kenya with his spinster sister Maggie. It stands today as a museum to his memory -one of the very few monuments to a European anywhere in India. The museum campus has a small and well maintained garden, where lie buried two of his gundogs Robin and Rosina. A few letters revealing different shades of his personality, a few family portraits, shikar pix, a sketch of Arundel and a handful of his belongings like a couple of hurricane lamps, a settee, cane furniture and also his empty gun-rack once proud of his .275 caliber rifle, a Wesley Richards .500 express rifle, a 28 bore short gun and several others. Close to the museum are several spots Jim speaks about at length in his books, especially in his 'Jungle Lore'.
Popular among his beloved hill-folks as Carpet Sahib Jim started his career as a railway contractor, got war time commission as a Captain in 1917, owned a store in Nainital, became a city-father, an active member of the Nainital Municipal Board, trained the soldiers -including the legendry Chindits in Jungle warfare and was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during the Second Word War. A veteran hunter who knew sights and sounds of the jungle to the very core Jim opted for Camera shooting, writing and conservation in the later part of his career. He chronicled his experiences in seven different titles. A good deal of his savings was spent in erecting a stone wall encircling the arable locality called Choti Haldwani in Kaladhungi. Remains of this wall erected to ward off the wild animals may still be seen there. Jim also has to his credit drawing quite painstakingly six live tigers in the farmyard and successfully photographing them in broad day light. In and around Kaladhungi still linger several tales of the 'white sadhu' that the Jim was to the local folks; -the tales of his benevolence, of his being able to perform miracles where mortals would fail, of his sleeping in the thatched huts of poor villagers, speaking their dialect and sharing their bread.
