Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture Series Editor Joseph Bristow Department of English University of California – Los Angeles Los Angeles, California USA PalgraveStudiesinNineteenth-CenturyWritingandCultureisanewmono- graph series that aims to represent the most innovative research on literary worksthatwereproducedintheEnglish-speakingworldfromthetimeofthe Napoleonic Warsto the fin desiécle.Attentivetothehistorical continuities between ‘Romantic’ and ‘Victorian’, the series will feature studies that help scholarshipto reassess themeaning of thesetermsduringa centurymarked by diverse cultural, literary, and political movements. The main aim of the series is to look at the increasing influence of types of historicism on our understanding of literary forms and genres. It reflects the shift from critical theory to cultural history that has affected not only the period 1800–1900 butalsoeveryfieldwithinthedisciplineofEnglishliterature.Alltitlesinthe seriesseektoofferfreshcriticalperspectivesandchallengingreadingsofboth canonicalandnon-canonicalwritingsofthisera. More information aboutthisseries at http://www.springer.com/series/14607 ÉadaoinAgnew Imperial Women Writers in Victorian India – Representing Colonial Life, 1850 1910 ÉadaoinAgnew KingstonUniversity Kingston-upon-Thames UnitedKingdom PalgraveStudiesinNineteenth-CenturyWritingandCulture ISBN978-3-319-33194-2 ISBN978-3-319-33195-9(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-33195-9 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016958520 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect tothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutionalaffiliations. Coverillustration©TheKeasbury-GordonPhotographArchive/AlamyStockPhoto Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this book has been a journey in itself, one that started with my own travels to India, and I would like to thank my uncle, Pat Kelly, for helpingmetomakethatfirstvisit.Sincethen,Indiahasbeenanenduring feature of my academic work, and there are many people, and several institutions, thathave helped makethatpossible. I would like to extend my gratitude to the staff at Queen’s University, Belfast, who helped me through my postgraduate studies and guided my formative work on nineteenth-century women travellers. I would espe- cially like to thank Leon Litvack, Brian Caraher, Daniel Roberts, and Caroline Sumpter, who provided invaluable advice and expertise. It was alsoatQueen’sthatImetfellowVictorianistsClareClarke,BethRodgers, andClareGill.Ithankthemfortheirenduringfriendshipandforreading my work, listening to my papers, and sharing my passion for the over- lookedfiguresofthe Victorian period. I am extremely grateful to the Department of Education and Learning for funding my PhD research, which consolidated my fascination for Victorian India. I would also like to thank the staff at the Public Record OfficeofNorthernIreland,SenateHouseLibrary,theNationalArchives, and the British Library who helped me to uncover the many fascinating women whose stories unfold throughout this book. And, I am extremely thankful to Lola Armstrong, the archivist at Clandeboye, for persistently indulgingmyenduring interest inLady Dufferin. I am utterly indebted to all my wonderful colleagues in the English DepartmentofKingstonUniversity,London.Inparticular,Ioffersincere thankstoJaneJordan,SaraUpstone,DavidRogers,PatriciaPhillippy,and v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Selene Scarsi, who read drafts, offered advice, and provided a warm and welcoming forum in which to discuss my work. I am also extremely grateful to Heidi James-Dunbar who, although no longer a colleague, has remained a friend and has been of great personal and professional support. I would like to thank everyone at Palgrave, especially Ben Doyle, Eva Macmillan Hodgkin, Tomas René, and Joseph Bristow for all their hard work and for ultimately making this book possible by bringing it to publication. Andlastly,Ithankmywonderfulparents,myawesomesiblings,andmy incrediblegirlfriends;theyhaveallbeenwithmethroughoutthisjourney andneverfailedtobelievethatIcould,orwould,makeittotheendofthe road. They havesimply been the very bestoftravel companions. C ONTENTS 1 Introduction:ImperialWomen Writersin VictorianIndia 1 2 There’sNo Place LikeHome: Homes andGardens inVictorian India 21 3 GoodHousekeeping:Household Management andDomestic Organization 51 4 FamilyTies:Imperial WomenasWives andMothers 75 5 Ladies ofLeisure: Pastimes,Daily Routines, andPhilanthropicDuties 105 6 HotGossip:Sexand Sexualityin VictorianIndia 135 7 HighSociety:Hill StationsandSocial Occasions 157 8 Epilogue 183 Bibliography 185 Index 195 vii CHAPTER1 Introduction: Imperial Women Writers in Victorian India MoreBritishthantheBritish.(FloraAnnieSteel,TheGardenofFidelity: BeingtheAutobiographyofFloraAnnieSteel,1847–1929,p.156) Thecoverofthisbookshowstheimposingstatueofawhitemarbleangel that stands in Cawnpore. It was realized by the sculptor Baron Carlo Marochetti, after a design by Charlotte Canning, and erected at the well wheretheNanaSahib’sforcesmassacredaround200womenandchildren during the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion.1 Hariot Dufferin saw it as an appro- priatelysombre,evocative image: TheMemorialWellinthecentreoftheMemorialGardenis,however,the saddest spot of all. The well has been filled in, and is surrounded by an ornamentalwall,insideofwhich,inthecentre,standsawhitemarblefigure of an Angel. She leans against a cross, and has long wings touching the ground;herarmsarecrossed,andsheholdsapalmbranchineachhand,and herheadisbent,withtheeyesclosed.Wedidnotthinkhereyesbeautiful enough,butthewholethingsuggestssorrow,silenceandsolemnity,andso farissuccessful.Nonativeiseverallowedtoenterthisenclosure,andthey havetogetpassestocomeintothegarden.2 The tragic events commemorated here occurred after the Indian army employedanewrifleandapparentlycoatedthenewcartridgesinpigand ©TheAuthor(s)2017 1 É.Agnew,ImperialWomenWritersinVictorianIndia, PalgraveStudiesinNineteenth-CenturyWritingandCulture, DOI10.1007/978-3-319-33195-9_1 2 1 INTRODUCTION:IMPERIALWOMENWRITERSINVICTORIANINDIA cowgrease.HinduandMuslimsoldiershadtoopenthesecartridgeswith theirteeth,anorderthatcausedgreatreligiousoffenceandmeantbreak- ingcaste.Consequently,inthefollowingmonths,IndianSepoysrebelled againsttheBritishauthoritiesandwarbrokeoutacrossthesubcontinent.3 The British press seized upon this incident, which obscured the multi- fariousreasonsfortheFirstWarofIndianIndependence,andreducedthe risingtoasinglecatalyst.Bydoingso,theycasttheIndians’behaviourasa violentoverreaction andencouraged areductive reading ofthe events. The Rebellion was seen by many Victorians as a simple story of good versusevil,asPatrickBrantlingerexplainsinhisanalysisofcolonialliterature: Inthebasicfantasyrepeatedendlesslyinnovels,plays,poems,andhistories, the imperialist dominators became victims and the dominated, villains. Imagining the mutiny in this way totally displaced guilt and projected repressed, sadistic impulses onto demonicized Indian characters. Most Victorian accounts insistently mystify the causes of the mutiny, treating the motivesoftherebelsaswhollyirrational,atoncechildishanddiabolical.4 The Cawnpore Memorial contributed to this mystification by visually embodyingthisbasicnarrative.ItsChristiansymbolismensuredthatmany nineteenth-centurytravelguidesandcolonialmemoirsfocusedonthereli- giousaspectsofthestatue,ratherthanattendingtothepoliticalmotivations fortheRebellion.Forexample,AHandbookforTravellersinIndia,Burma, andCeylonIncludingtheProvincesofBengal,Bombay,andMadras(1911) describedthefigureasan‘AngeloftheResurrection’,standingwith‘arms crossedonherbreast,asifresignedtotheAlmightyWill,eachhandholding apalm,theemblemofpeace’.5SuchresponsesinvokedthoughtsofChrist rising from the dead. Furthermore, because Christianity uses palms as a symbolforitsmartyrs,thestatue,emergingfromthewell,actedasasymbol ofhope;itdenotedsimultaneouslythetriumphofaChristianEmpireanda beliefinlifeafterdeathforthosekilledatthesite. While the religious connotations of the angelic figure have been fre- quently discussed, critics have consistently overlooked its invocation of Victorian femininity, as epitomized by Coventry Patmore’s iconic poem TheAngelintheHouse(1854).LikePatmore’snarrative,thestatueidealizes pure, passive, and selfless femininity. By commemorating the massacre at Cawnpore in this manner, the British transformed the women who died during the First War of Indian Independence into selfless martyrs, who madeavirtuoussacrificeforthegreatergoodoftheBritishcolonialmission.