“There cannot be a more wretched situation than that of a young woman who has been induced to follow the fortunes of a married sister, under the delusive expectation that she will exchange the privations attached to limited means in England for the far-famed luxuries of the East.
The husband is usually desirous to lessen the regret of his wife at quitting her home, by persuading an affectionate relative to accompany her, and does not calculate beforehand the expense and inconvenience which he has entailed upon himself by the additional burthen.”
These are the words of Emma Roberts whom we met in a previous blog post. They appear in her book Scenes and characteristics of Hindostan, with sketches of Anglo-Indian society which was published in 1835.
Emma had travelled to India in 1828 with her sister Laura, who was married to Captain Robert Adair McNaghten of the Bengal Infantry, so it seems that she was speaking from experience.
She explained that it was likely that the family would move up-country soon after arriving in India, and this was when the poor young woman’s troubles began. She was “an incumbrance”, the third person in the buggy, always finding herself in the way. Outdoor recreations were denied, except riding in a carriage, and she was not allowed to walk beyond the garden or verandah.
The climate made gardening impossible even though she was surrounded by exotic plants. Hot winds split the wood of pianos and guitars, and sheet music was eaten by white ants. Drawing was a possible pastime, but supplies of necessary materials might be lacking. The climate did not suit needlework.
Any young men at the station would avoid giving attention to a single woman unless they were contemplating matrimony, fearing that “expectations” would be formed which they were not inclined to fulfil.
Few young women who had accompanied their married sisters to India possessed the means to return home however much they disliked the country. They were forced to remain “in a state of miserable dependence, with the danger of being left unprovided for before them, until they were rescued by an offer of marriage”.
Emma identified two other categories of “spinsterhood” in India apart from the sisters and near relatives of the brides of officials. The first consisted of the daughters of civil and military servants, merchants and others settled in India, who had been sent to England for their education. They generally returned to India between the ages of 16 and 20, expecting to be married.
The second was made up of the orphan daughters, both legitimate and illegitimate, of men resident in India. These girls were educated in India and often had no family connections to help them. A large number, supported by the Bengal Orphan Fund, lived in a large house at Kidderpore near Calcutta.
The practice of holding balls for invited men to meet the resident girls was discontinued by the 1830s – “this undisguised method of seeking husbands is now at variance with the received notions of propriety”.
Emma said that the girls then had no opportunity to encounter suitors unless they had friends in Calcutta to invite them to social events, or “the fame of their beauty should spread itself abroad”. The increasing number of young women arriving from England every year lessened the Kidderpore girls’ chances of meeting eligible matches.
This article first appeared on the British Library’s Untold Lives blog.