Untold lives blog

Researching the East India Company's London warehouse labourers is a challenge because many of the documents about them were destroyed by the India Office in the mid-19th century.  So it is always exciting to discover fresh sources of information about them.  Recently I came across the King's Freemen collection at The London Archives.  This consists of military discharge papers lodged with the Chamberlain of the Corporation of London by servicemen and their families in order to obtain certificates of entitlement to exercise a trade in the City, without being admitted to the freedom.  There are papers for East India Company warehouse labourers who served in the Royal East India Volunteers in the period before 1814.

I have found 25 discharge certificates for Company warehouse labourers in the King's Freemen collection.  Almost all are copies, but the document submitted for Willliam Jordan is the original certificate issued at East India Buildings, Cutler Street, on 5 May 1814, signed by Robert Markland Barnard, Captain and Adjutant of the Third Regiment of the REIV, and bearing the Company’s seal in red wax. 

As well as giving an outline of the man’s service, many of the certificates give interesting and useful personal details.

John Morgan of the Third Regiment was born in the parish of St Leonard Shoreditch in Middlesex and in December 1814 he was living at 1 George Street in Bethnal Green.  He was about 33 years of age, 5 feet 9 ¾ inches in height, with a sallow complexion, grey eyes, and light brown hair, and his skin was pitted by smallpox.

Robert Dynan served as a Private in the 5th Company of the First Regiment of the REIV.  He was born in London and was living in August 1814 at Field Lane in Holborn.  Aged about 44, he was 5 feet 5 ½ inches tall, and had a light complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair.

Dynan had joined the Company warehouses as a labourer in July 1803.  Having worked in the Private Trade warehouse, he transferred to the Crutched Friars tea warehouse in December 1834.  He was made redundant in March 1835 because the Company’s commercial operations were being wound up, and he was awarded a weekly pension of 11 shillings.

Field Lane, Holborn, from Illustrated London News 23 January 1847. Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of The British Library Board.

The information about Dynan’s residence in the discharge certificate makes it possible to identify him in other records which show his life outside the warehouses.  Dynan lived for decades in Field Lane which was described by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist as’ a narrow and dismal alley’, ‘the emporium of petty larceny’.

Description of Field Lane from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - Illustrated London News 23 January 1847, Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of The British Library Board.

Whilst he was employed as a warehouse labourer, Dynan also kept a shoemaker’s shop in Field Lane. He was sued for debt in 1811 and imprisoned in Newgate. In 1827 William Sage was convicted at the Old Bailey for stealing a pair of shoes worth 5s from Dynan’s shop.

Dynan’s wife Margaret had a clothes shop in Field Lane. In 1829 she was tried at the Old Bailey for knowingly receiving stolen goods, a pair of trousers worth 19s.  Margaret was acquitted but William Scasebrook, aged 18, was found guilty of theft and transported for seven years.

Margaret and Robert were still living in Field Lane when they died in 1837 and 1842, aged 68 and 80 respectively. Both were buried at the church of St Andrew Holborn.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
The London Archives COL/CHD/FR/11/04 King's Freemen 1780s-1820s
Colours of the Royal East India Volunteers
Black labourers in London
IOR/L/AG/30/4-5 Registers of East India Company warehouse labourers
Margaret Makepeace, The East India Company's London Workers: Management of the Warehouse Labourers, 1800-1858 (2010)
British Newspaper Archive
Old Bailey Online

On 31 May 1916, the India Office Library purchased seven items at auction from Hodgson & Co.  Lot 29 cost £1 10 shillings, with 9d postage.  The correspondence about the purchase is significant because it establishes that the items once belonged to the collection of Sir Alexander Johnston, Chief Justice and President in Council in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).  This provenance information had not previously been recorded in our catalogues and the link between the items had been obscured.

Notice of auction at Hodgson & Co - Westminster Gazette 27 May 1916 British Newspaper Archive

Lot 29 included copies of letters relating to Baptist Missionary Henry Beddy.  Born in Dublin, he enlisted in the East India Company’s Bengal Army at 19, arriving in India in 1811 to serve in the Bengal Artillery.  Beddy married three times.  His first wife Mary Anne died in childbirth in 1816, and his second wife (also Mary Anne) died in 1822.  On 16 January 1823 he married Margaret MacDonough, and they had at least 11 children.

List of correspondence relating to Henry Beddy -Mss Eur C92

Henry Beddy was baptised into the Baptist faith about 1827, and having left the Bengal Army was appointed as a Baptist Missionary to Patna in 1831.  Margaret’s younger sister Ellen (Eleanor) MacDonough lived with the Beddys from childhood and was closely involved in missionary work, running the Orphan Refuge.

Ellen became involved with government servant George Hutteman.  Henry Beddy tried to put an end to the relationship, but on 20 November 1847 Ellen eloped with George, married, and moved to Calcutta.  Beddy found it impossible to understand Ellen’s actions and wrote a number of letters to her, besmirching her character.  On 1 December 1847 he wrote ‘Not a member of my family shall ever speak to you with my permission... I shall impress on the children’s mind that their Aunt Ellen MacDonough is to them dead’.  Beddy was later to admit: ‘I had written language capable of being used to my discredit’.

The Huttemans attended the Lall Bazar Baptist Church in Calcutta.  The Minister James Thomas wrote to Beddy about his sister-in-law.  Beddy’s reply accused Ellen of falsehood and deception and stated that George was an ‘unbeliever’.  His hostile attitude led to an investigation into his conduct towards Ellen. 

Note by James Thomas introducing the collection of documents about Henry Beddy and Ellen MacDonough -Mss Eur C92

Thomas gathered together copies of correspondence from the various protagonists and witnesses, so they could be presented to a Baptist Committee in London.  Beddy’s own letters admitted ‘an intimacy, friendship and affection sprang up between us that led to great familiarity, and it is now lamentably true that this familiarity was looked upon by some persons as improper’, whilst Reverend Nathaniel Brice was of the opinion that ‘there are facts connected with the affair which would make your ears tingle...’.

Extract of letter from Henry Beddy to James Thomas, 13 March 1848 --Mss Eur C92

Removed from Patna, Beddy and his family moved to Simla, where he became Pastor at the First Baptist Church.  He died there on 3 June 1857.

Ellen and George had three daughters, and after his death in 1866, she married Reverend John Lawrence of Monghyr.  She died in Christchurch, Hampshire, in 1879.

The India Office appreciated that the contents of the volume were problematic.  In a letter dated 26 January 1936 the Librarian H N Randle wrote that he hesitated to include the letters as part of the forthcoming catalogue of manuscripts as ‘there may be relatives alive, even after 90 years and it seems best to let these personalities rest in obscurity for another hundred years’.

Provenance research is more than acquiring a greater understanding of our collections and their history. It uncovers fascinating human stories along the way.

Lesley Shapland
Archivist & Provenance Researcher
India Office Records

Further reading:
Mss Eur C92: Volume compiled by Rev J Thomas, Calcutta, containing copies of correspondence relating to charges of misconduct against Rev Henry Beddy, missionary at Patna for the London Baptist Missionary Society
IOR/L/R/7/20, R961/16: India Office Record Department Annual Files, 1916
Mss Eur F303/23, p.137: India Office Library, Day Book, 14 Jul 1916
IOR/L/R/9/26, L36/37: Library Committee Papers & References, 1937
Missionary Herald, May 1832 
Full text of 'The story of the Lall Bazar Baptist Church Calcutta : being the history of Carey's church from 24th April 1800 to the present day'
India Office Library Catalogue of Manuscripts in European Languages. Vol. II, Pt. II: Minor Collections and Miscellaneous Manuscripts. By G. R. Kaye and E. H. Johnston. Section I, Nos. 1–538 (London: HMSO, 1937)

One Saturday evening in May 1870 at Murree Station, Bengal, a ball was held for the civil and military officers and their families stationed there.

People dancing at a ball from Dean's Shilling Story Books, 1876 - 12809.g.21 Images Online

The next morning, the ball’s attendees were surprised to find the Station’s Chaplain, Reverend William Whitmarsh Phelps, preaching his sermon on the immoralities of dancing and of attending such balls.  He went on to make comments more generally on the financial situation of men and what he seemed to view as the excessive spending associated with balls commenting on the ‘probable inability of husbands to meet their wives' milliners’ bills.’

Many of the individuals in the congregation found his remarks to be inappropriate and out of line, and wrote to Robert Millman, Bishop of Calcutta, to complain about Phelps’s conduct.

The Bishop’s response to the complaints was prompt and decisive.  He censured Phelps for his comments, stating that the very idea of dancing being immoral seemed absurd and that he found the Reverend’s comments regarding officers' finances to be impertinent.

'The Immorality of Dancing' - Newspaper article from the Boston Guardian, 11 June 1870 British Newspaper Archive

Phelps did not remain in Bengal much longer following the events in Murree.  By 1872 he had left India on furlough, retiring from service on 16 July 1872.

The Reverend William Whitmarsh Phelps was born in Cricklade, Wiltshire, in 1826, the son of Reverend William Whitmarsh and Octavia his wife.  He studied for the clergy at Queen’s College Oxford and received his M.A. in 1852.  He was appointed an Assistant Chaplain on the East India Company’s Bengal Establishment on 2 August 1854 and was subsequently posted to Peshawar, Sialkot and Rawalpindi before being appointed as a Chaplain in 1866.  He had been Chaplain in Mian Mir before being posted to Murree.

He married firstly in Lee, Kent, in 1857 to Amelia Matilda Hughes Hughes.  The couple had no children and she died in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1892.  Phelps married for a second time the following year to Laura King.  They had one daughter Laura Elizabeth Whitmarsh who was born in Eastbourne in 1894.

William Whitmarsh Phelps died on 6 October 1906 in Brighton Sussex, one month shy of his 80th birthday.

Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records

Further Reading:
IOR/E/4/828, p.103 - Appointment of Reverend W.W. Phelps to the Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment
Boston Guardian 11 June 1870 ‘The Immorality of Dancing’ British Newspaper Archive
S. J. McNally, The Chaplains of the East India Company, p.87 entry for William Whitmarsh Phelps - Available in Asian and African Studies Reading Room OIR 253.0954

When the East India Company (EIC) invaded the South Indian kingdom of Sivaganga in 1772, they met with opposition from Indian warrior women.  These women were a diverse group from different walks of life - royal household, rural areas, across all caste groups.  Although many of their names and stories have not found a place in history, they have survived in local folklore, songs, bharathanatyam performances, and have been immortalised as deities in the local temples.

View of Sivaganga, Mysore, India. Wash-drawing by Colin MacKenzie, 1800 - British Library WD570.

Here is the story of three of these early female freedom fighters: Velu Nachiyar, Udaiyaal and Kuyili.  As the earliest women to rise against the EIC, their lives offer a glimpse into the beginnings of the anti-colonial movements, evoking an image of resilience and fortitude.

Rani Velu Nachiyar was a formidable Tamil Queen, who was both admired and vilified by the British for her valour and bravery in defending her kingdom.  She was born in 1730 to the Raja and Rani of the Ramnad kingdom. Skilled in the art of warfare and weaponry, Velu Nachiyar was also a scholar, and mastered several languages including English, French and Urdu.  At the age of 16, she married the prince of Sivaganga, Muthuvadugananthur Udaiyathevar. In 1750, Velu Nachiyar and her husband became monarchs of the Kingdom of Sivaganga.

Sword with double edged steel blade; iron hilt, guard, pommel and reinforcements. Two brass jingles below the pommel cap.Tamil Nadu (Sivaganga) India, 17th century. V&A Collections (Accession No. IM.11-1924).

In 1772, EIC troops, alongside the Nawab of Arcot’s son, invaded Sivaganga and marched towards the Kalaiyar Kovil Fort.  The Raja of Sivaganga was killed at the Battle of Kalaiyar Kovil on 25 June.  The kingdom fell under enemy control and the Kalaiyar Kovil Fort was plundered.  Rani Velu Nachiyar and her daughter Vellachi escaped capture through the sacrifice of Udaiyaal, a village woman who refused to reveal their secret hideout during interrogation and who was killed for her insubordination.  Rani Velu Nachiyar and Vellachi fled Sivaganga and sought refuge near Dindigul.

View of Dindigul. Tamil Nadu, India, 1790 - British Library WD 640, f.3(16)).

During her eight-year exile, Rani Velu Nachiyar acquired influential alliances with neighbouring rulers (e.g. Gopala Nayaker, Hyder Ali) who supported her preparations for battle against the EIC, providing additional soldiers, weapons, resources and training. Rani Nachiyar built an army of fierce female warriors that she named after Udaiyaal.

Mausoleum of Haidar Ali near Mysore, Karnataka. Coloured aquatint by J. Wells after A. Allan, 1794 -Wellcome Collections (Reference: 29869i).

In 1780, Rani Velu Nachiyar and the Udaiyaal army skilfully infiltrated Sivaganga.  Aware of the superior military prowess of the British, Rani Nachiyar used her knowledge of the terrain and employed guerrilla warfare tactics - spies, sabotage, ambush.  Rani Nachiyar’s military advisor was Kuyili, a woman from a lower caste background.  As a spy for the royal household, she had protected the Rani’s life on multiple occasions and soon rose to the rank of commander-in-chief of the Udaiyaal women’s army.  At the Battle of Sivaganga, Kuyili devised a strategy to attack the EIC’s weapons storage.  Disguised as a rural woman, Kuyili entered the secure storehouse unnoticed and set herself ablaze, destroying the EIC’s weapons and ammunitions.  The EIC and the Nawab fled from Sivaganga in defeat and Rani Nachiyar regained her Kingdom.  The Tamil Queen ruled Sivaganga for another decade before handing the kingdom to her daughter.

View of Shevagunga on the road to Seringapatam. Wash-drawing by Robert Home, 1792 - British Library WD3775[14].

In recent years India has honoured the memory of these women warriors through issuing commemorative stamps, installing monuments and memorials.

Rani Velu Nachiyar on Indian postage stamp 2008- Wikimedia Commons

The contribution of these women as warriors vanished at the intersection of colonialism and patriarchy, instead brown women were recast as helpless and in need of saving. I hope this blog post creates curiosity and the excavation of more stories of Warrior Women!

CC-BY
Theeba Krishnamoorthy
Research Fellow, University of East London

Creative Commons Attribution licence

Further reading:
Archer, Mildred. British Drawings in the India Office Library, Vol. 2: Official and Professional Artists (London: 1969), p474-475.
Letters received from Madras (28 Feb 1772 - 29 Oct 1773), including letters from General Smith regarding the Carracoil War. British Library, IOR/E/4/305.
Mishra, A., Mishra, M. and Paluri, L. (2021) 'Velu Nachiyar: The Veeramangai who petrified the British'. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, 12(8).

NB In the British Library archives: (1) Raja (King) Muthuvadugananthur Udaiyathevar of Sivaganga is referred to as Nalcooty Polygar; and (2) Kalaiyar Kovil is spelt as Kella Coil or Carracoil.

We continue the story of Jabez Tepper, cousin of JMW Turner...

Jabez Tepper is buried in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, in a grave that contains several other Turner relatives.

Gravestone for Jabez Tepper at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. Photograph by author.

In January 1872, letters of administration for Tepper’s estate were granted to his cousin, William Coham Turner, as it was thought that he had died intestate.  This grant was revoked in July 1872, following the discovery of a will dated January 1835 which named his mother and her heirs as beneficiaries.  Tepper’s brother, Samuel, a house painter and carpenter, now the sole heir, was located in Alabama USA.  He returned to England in May 1872 and stayed with William Coham Turner in St John’s Wood, London.  The will was granted probate in August 1872.  In the documents Tepper is described as a bachelor.

Arrival of Samuel Tepper in England from Alabama - Leeds Times 11 May 1872 British Newspaper Archive

Samuel Tepper met with Victoria Boyer, Jabez Tepper’s elder married daughter.  Because they were illegitimate, neither Victoria nor Catherina had any claim on the estate, but Samuel Tepper wanted to do the right thing and gave a substantial sum to each of the sisters.

Shortly after Jabez Tepper’s death, Mary Pennell went to his offices in Bedford Row, with a friend, and arranged for the removal of furniture, a large chest of silver plate and other valuables, including a diamond snuff box, which had been a gift to JMW Turner from King Louis-Phillipe of France.  She also visited and removed items from the farm in Sussex where she had lived with Tepper.  She was later apprehended and taken to court, charged with theft.  Mary claimed that she had a right to the property as she had lived as Tepper’s wife for sixteen years but could produce no proof of marriage.  She denied the existence of any will, although there were rumours that copies had been destroyed.  At the preliminary hearing it was judged that there was insufficient evidence for a successful prosecution and the case was dismissed.

Samuel Tepper returned to his home in Camden, Alabama, in October 1873, with a substantial sum of money and several Turner paintings and engraving plates.  He disposed of many others before he left, not wishing to pay the duty for importing them.  He suffered from ill health and probably depression and, in 1887, took his own life.

Gold snuff-box with floral and foliate ornament.  On the lid is the monogram LP with crown above for Louis Philippe, all in diamonds set in silver. © The Trustees of the British Museum 

After Samuel Tepper’s return from America, it appears that Mary Pennell had to return items that she had taken, including the Louis-Phillipe snuff box. The box was donated to the British Museum in 1944 by Maria Helena Turner, the great-grand-daughter of J.M.W. Turner's uncle, John Turner.

In 1877, the surviving beneficiaries of JMW Turner’s will brought a case against the estate of Jabez Tepper.  Tepper had bought their shares in Turner’s engravings for what he claimed was a fair price of £500 for each beneficiary.  This had netted him £2,500. When the engravings were auctioned after Tepper’s death, they fetched £35,000.  The family’s lawyers produced evidence that the engravings had been valued at £5,000 for legacy duty, so Tepper had been well aware of their real value.  The court found in the plaintiffs’ favour and ordered that the sale to Tepper be set aside.  An appeal by the Tepper estate failed.

Report of court ruling - Brief 15 December 1877 British Newspaper Archive

There is a certain irony in the coincidence that Jabez Tepper, having thwarted Turner’s plans for his inheritance, was similarly thwarted in his own. In both cases, large portions of the estate went to people they were never intended for.

CC-BY
David Meaden
Independent Researcher

Creative Commons Attribution licence

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive for reports on the court cases involving the Turner estate, the prosecution of Mary Pennell, and Samuel Tepper’s visit to England.

Turner’s restored house in Twickenham is open to visitors.

When JMW Turner died in 1851, his chief executor was solicitor Henry Harpur, a cousin on his mother’s side of the family.  The will, however, was contested by another cousin, Jabez Tepper, also a solicitor, representing Turner’s father’s relations.

Letter from Jabez Tepper published in The Times 24 December 1851

Tepper’s successful challenge meant that that ‘Turner’s Gift’, the proposed alms houses for ‘the maintenance and support of poor and decayed Male Artists being born in England’, was never established. Tepper invoked the Mortmain Law, under which the transfer of land in Twickenham to a trust had to be at least a year before Turner’s death.  This had not happened.

Extract from the will of Joseph Mallord William Turner, 10 June 1831 – The National Archives, document reference PROB 1/96

In 1856, the relatives represented by Tepper inherited a substantial part of Turner’s estate.  In January 1858 Tepper offered to buy the other relations’ shares of Turner’s engravings for £500 each.  All but one accepted his offer.

Jabez Tepper was born in South Molton in Devon in August 1815, one of seven children born to James Tepper, a wool stapler, and Mary Turner Tepper, JMW Turner’s cousin.  Jabez left Devon to join the legal profession, becoming an indentured clerk in London in 1835.

Like his cousin Turner, Tepper lived an unconventional private life, never marrying but fathering two daughters, Victoria Helen and Catherina Mary Jane, probably born in 1840 and 1841, although no records of their births have yet been traced.  In the 1841 census Tepper was described as a law student living in Gravesend, with wife Jane and seven-month-old daughter Helen.  Family historians have identified the woman who was the mother of Tepper’s daughters as Jane Cook, born in London in October 1817.  According to some family trees, she died in 1842, but the only death record I can find for a Jane Tepper in London that year is for a two-year old child.

There is, however, a Jane Tepper, also known as Cook, a shoebinder, who died aged 47 on 21 February 1865 in the London parish of St Giles.  This Jane lived in poverty; could they be one and the same and if so, when did she and Tepper separate?

About 1855, widow Mary Pennell moved in with Tepper,  She is also referred to as his wife, although they never married.  Born Mary Smith in Walworth in 1824, she married gardener Edward Pennell in 1846.  Their daughter, Mary Jane, died as a baby in 1848 and Edward Pennell died the following year.

After Mary moved in with Tepper, his two daughters lived with them for some time but there is some suggestion that Pennell treated them unkindly and they were found lodgings.  In the 1861 census, Tepper is living at 24 Notting Hill Square with Mary, whilst his daughters are boarding with the Taylor family in St Pancras.

In 1864, Tepper was granted freedom of the City.  He was an active freemason, and in 1871 he was Worshipful Master of the Metropolitan Grand Steward’s Lodge.

The Freemason, 25 March 1871 - Museum of Freemasony Masonic Periodicals Online

For some time between 1868 and 1871, Tepper lived at Turner’s former studio and gallery in Queen Anne Street.  The 1871 census shows Tepper living on a farm at Hellingly, Sussex, with Mary.

Death notice for Jabez Tepper - Morning Advertiser 14 December 1871 British Newspaper Archive 

Jabez Tepper died at his London home on 10 December 1871.  His actions would be challenged in the law courts in the years following his death.

To be continued…

CC-BY
David Meaden
Independent Researcher

Creative Commons Attribution licence

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive for Jabez Tepper’s career and reports on the court cases involving the Turner estate.

Turner’s restored house in Twickenham is open to visitors.

The wives of Army Officers offer a unique perspective into history.  They were often close to conflict and military action but distanced from their husbands and extended family.  Such is the case for Alice Deborah Marshall, known as Deborah, (1899-1993), whose letters sent to her mother document her life as a military wife between 1927-1933 in the North-West Frontier Provinces, India [now Pakistan].  These letters are now part of the India Office Private Papers series Mss Eur F307.

Extract from a letter sent by Deborah to her mother Isabella Alice Cree describing an incident where a young British soldier was shot on a train, 28 July 1931 - India Office Private Papers Mss Eur F307/5

Deborah was the wife of Major-General John Stuart Marshall (1883-1944), who served in the Indian Army between 1904-1940.  She came from a military family herself, born to Major General Gerald Cree (1862-1932) and Isabella Sophie Alice née Smith (1874-1966), with a brother, Brigadier Gerald Hilary Cree (1905-1998), whose very active career during World War Two is well documented.

The life described in her letters is one she seems at ease with despite the hazards and constant upheaval.  In her witty and descriptive manner, she documents the lively and gossipy social life of a military town and the characters involved, as well as the minutiae of how she occupied her days and her responsibilities as a mother to her daughter Suzanne Mary (1924-2007) .

We see the towns she lived in, Gulmarg and Peshawar primarily, changing over the year, becoming lonely ghost towns when the army moved on or weathering the destruction the monsoon caused.  Golfing and gardening are casually discussed alongside the daily conflicts of the Indian Army and the dramatic events of the Afridi Redshirt Rebellion (1930-1931).

Crowd on Khissa Khani Bazaar in Peshawar, 31 May 1930 -  British Library Photo 345 (66) Images Online

Her husband John Stuart Marshall’s military duties and his involvement in the conflict are described in detail.  Between 1930 and 1931 battles fought against the Afridi tribal freedom-fighters in the Tirah Valley as well as in the Khajuri Plains are described by Deborah to her mother.  At the end of the year in December and January 1931-2 we see the intensity of the mass arrests of ‘Redshirt’ sympathizers in Peshawar.  ‘Rebels’ were beaten bloody and imprisoned and Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the anti-colonialist activist, was arrested. While living in Army-occupied Peshawar at that time Marshall writes to her father:
'They [the British soldiers] combed the City through and when they marched out (...) were salaamed on all sides by a perfectly silent crowd!  Those with any tendency to shouting hicalab [revolution] by that time were nursing horrible bruises at home! (…)  Everyone is very hopeful on the effect this may have on the rest of India, when they see what a very strong line they have taken here' (Mss Eur F307/5 f.287).

Scenes such as this and Deborah’s observations reveal the everyday British attitudes towards their own rule during a time when great political upheaval was imminent.  John Stuart Marshall would eventually go on to become Chief Administration Officer of Eastern Command in India and of the Eastern Army before passing away in 1944.  Deborah was re-married in 1946 to Major Arthur John Dring (1902-1991) of the Indian Political Service, subsequently becoming Lady Dring until her death in 1993.

Maddy Clark
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Deborah Alice Marshall Papers India Office Private Papers Mss Eur F307– a paper catalogue of the contents is available to consult in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room.
Allen, C. 1975. Plain tales from the Raj : images of British India in the twentieth century. St Martin’s Press, New York.
Papers of Lt Col Arthur John Dring 1927-c.1948 India Office Private Papers Mss Eur F226/8.

A letter between two 19th-century women can provide a glimmer of light into their personal lives.  It can help researchers relying mainly on published material to find out more about the women than just their public achievements.  Emily Faithfull and Mary Carpenter may not share the same historical fame as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson or Elizabeth Fry, but a letter sent by one to the other gives useful, albeit small, evidence of personality.

Letter from Mary Carpenter to Emily Faithfull, 2 July 1862 - British Library, Add MS78907H

On 2 July 1862 Mary Carpenter wrote to Emily Faithfull to congratulate her ‘on [the] status given you by being appointed the Queen’s Publisher…’.  Mary was ‘desirous of becoming better acquainted’ with Emily and was keen to meet her if she happened to visit Bristol where Mary resided.  A scrawled note under Mary’s signature suggests that she also had the generosity of spirit to send Emily a mechanical Earth.

Mary Carpenter (1807-1877) was devoted to helping children who were living in poverty, especially those who had unfortunately fallen into committing criminal acts.  Through her lobbying efforts, Parliament introduced two laws known as the Youthful Offenders Act in 1854 and 1857 which approved the establishment of reformatory and industrial schools.  However, Mary became better known for her work in helping to educate women in India with her attempts to establish schools, as well as for establishing the National Indian Association in England. 

Emily Faithfull (1835-1895) was equally committed to promoting the rights of women but in the field of employment in England.  She strongly believed that with good education, women were just as equipped to do the same kind of jobs as men.  This conviction led her to create the Victoria Press in 1860, recruiting women compositors to help publish books.  Emily was rewarded for her efforts by Queen Victoria appointing her as ‘Printer and Publisher in Ordinary’ to Her Majesty.

Front cover of Emily Faithfull, On some of the drawbacks connected with the present Employment of Women (1862) British Library shelfmark 8276.a.13, also available via Google Books

Emily not only issued her own publications about women and employment but also toured the United States giving lectures and helped movements promoting women’s employment rights.  Her beliefs were encapsulated in a paper which she presented to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Sciences.  Mary Carpenter was involved in this group, but clearly hadn't met Emily prior to 1862.  In her paper, Emily argued that a woman should not rely on the income of her husband.  A husband’s sudden death might mean having to find employment to support herself and her family, and an untrained woman was at a disadvantage.  Emily asked: ‘Is it less dignified to receive the wages of industry than the unwilling or even willing bounty of friends and relations?’ and continued to state that it must be, ‘... undignified for her to receive payment for labour...’.  Emily also established the International Musical, Dramatic and Literary Association in 1881 to represent composers and artists.

A letter helps us learn about how women activists might have needed a reason to contact each other, as well as how little they may have met each other in person.

Mary (Marette) Hickford
Library, Information and Archive Services Apprentice

Further reading:
Carpenter, M (1862) Letter from Mary Carpenter to Emily Faithfull, 2 July 1862. London: British Library, Add MS78907H.
Faithfull, E (1862) On some of the drawbacks connected with the present Employment of Women. A paper read before the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science ... 3rd edn. London.
Hunt, F (2009) ‘Faithfull, Emily’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Prochaska, F (2004) ‘Carpenter, Mary’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
The National Indian Association and its handbook for students in Britain