Letter from Qalaherriaq to Eleanor Isabella Gell, 11 May 1853. Qalaherriaq [Erasmus Augustine Kallihirua] 1853. Pen on paper. 18.1 x 11 cm. Derbyshire Record Office. D8760/F/OBJ/5. Reproduced courtesy of the Derbyshire Record Office

Along with three of his drawings, Qalaherriaq's letter to Mrs Eleanor Isabella Gell is held at Derbyshire Record Office, in the ‘Gell Family of Hopton Hall, Wirksworth, 1714-1994’ archive. Copies of these drawings – Sail. Ship, Anchor. Ship and Bear Walking in Water in Summer – are also present in the exhibition. Qalaherriaq wrote the letter to Eleanor Gell (1824-60) during his four-year residency at St Augustine's College in the early 1850s. His letter reveals that the drawings were a gift to her.  

Married to the Reverend John Philip Gell (1816-98), Eleanor was one of Qalaherriaq’s three witnesses for his baptism in November 1853. Written in a neat handwriting and perfect English, the polite tone of the letter and the personal gift of the three drawings suggest that the nature of Qalaherriaq’s relationship to Mrs Gell was a friendship of sorts, and one that began some time before his baptism. Having travelled to and lived in different parts of the British Empire, Eleanor Gell’s global orientation must have played a significant role in her interest for Qalaherriaq. The main reason and opportunity for social contact with him, however, hinged on the fact that she was the daughter of the missing explorer John Franklin. Through her father, whose disappearance was the catalyst for Qalaherriaq’s abduction to England and subsequent enrolment at St Augustine’s, Eleanor Gell became entangled in Qalaherriaq’s fate. Assisting in Qalaherriaq’s religious conversion as his godmother, she contributed to the furthering of empire. 

A diligent and well-liked student at St Augustine’s, Qalaherriaq actively participated in his own religious conversion. Yet, while navigating his new existence and adjusting to the colonial desires of the people in his social environment, the textual and visual expressions he left behind suggest he never lost his sense of place and belonging. As his drawings testify, Qalaherriaq’s family, relatives, friends, and hunting partners – along with the dogs and other animals his people relied on for living a good life in Northwest Kalaallit Nunaat – stayed with him until his death. 

Essay by Ingeborg Høvik and Axl Ingemann-Jeremiassen