Emily Eden 2

In India

George Eden

In September 1835 George was appointed Governor-General of India[i]. It was from her firm sense of duty, and of course her love for this favourite of her siblings, that Emily elected to accompany her brother. George, Emily and Fanny arrived, along with their nephew William Godolphin Osborne, who was to be George’s military secretary, in Calcutta in March 1836 after a five month voyage. They landed on Emily’s birthday, she was thirty-nine.

George had as his private secretary John Colvin. George’s staff also included William Mcnaghten as his political secretary and his assistant Henry Torrens.

The first 20 months of George’s appointment the Edens spent in Calcutta; during the week at Government House and at the weekends at Barrackpore House[ii]. Emily hated the very formal life in Calcutta; the rigorous social obligations that had to be met, no matter how ill the climate made one feel. According to her the society was ‘second rate’ and there were very few topics of conversation.

On 20^th June 1837 the old king died and in his place his young niece, Victoria, came to the throne. The inexperienced young queen was to become very dependent on her fatherly and urbane Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. It was not until 30^th October that Emily, by then 200 miles distant from Calcutta, learnt of the passing of an age;

‘I think the young Queen a charming invention, and I can fancy the degree of enthusiasm she must excite. Even here we feel it. The account of her proroguing Parliament gave me a lump in my throat.’[iii]

Up Country

In the autumn of 1837 Emily accompanied George on an official progress ‘up-country’ and it is her letters to her sister Mary Drummond that give us details of the travels of the Governor-General in colonial India. George intended to familiarise himself with the East India Company territory stretching from Calcutta to the River Sutlej in the north. George also wished to consolidate the 1831 treaty of friendship between Britain and the Maharajah of the Punjab[iv], Ranjit Singh.

The Sunderbunds

The party left Calcutta on the 21^st October 1837 by steamer for the first 3 ½ weeks through the Sunderbunds and up the Ganges. On 15^th November the Governor and his entourage camped at Benares. By the end of November the party were travelling overland to Simla, using 850 camels, 140 elephants and hundreds of horses and bullocks.

Nawab of Oudh

There were 12,000 people travelling in the governor’s wake and it could take three days for the ten mile long caravan to cross a river. The Nawab of Oudh sent his chef to cook for the Governor General; much affronting St Cloup, George’s own chef, who had previously worked for the Prince of Orange. The Edens were accompanied by George’s staff and their families[v].

At their halts the Edens and their entourage met with the British living in the vicinity, but of course society morality still prevailed;

‘There was a lady yesterday in perfect ecstasies with the music. I believe she was the wife of an indigo planter in the neighbourhood, and I was longing to go and speak to her, as she had probably not met a countrywoman for many months; but then, you know, she might not have been his wife, or anybody’s wife.’[vi]

Cawnpore from the Ganges

Emily, George and Fanny were distressed by the hunger they came across in Cawnpore;

‘You cannot conceive the horrible sights we see, particularly children; perfect skeletons in many cases, their bones through their skin, without a rag of clothing, and utterly unlike human creatures.’[vii]

The Edens began distributing food, but their attempts were minimal compared to the problems; one of the party saw three villagers drop dead of starvation. Three days after the first distribution of supplies they came across worse deprivation; 700 people were fed but the violence that erupted required policing.

Victoria was crowned on the 28^th June 1838, but, so very unlike later Victorians, Emily makes no mention of the event in her letter of that date; instead she mentioned;

‘We had a musical dinner yesterday; a borrowed pianoforte and singing, and two couples who accompany each other. The flute couple I think a failure, but they are reckoned in this country perfectly wonderful……the other couple are beautiful musicians.’[viii]

A Successful Expedition

Lord Palmerston

George was, like Palmerston[ix], an anti-Russian politician and this led him to dabble in affairs in Afghanistan with disastrous consequences[x]. George listened to advisers whose proposals he believed would secure the north-west frontier. The plan of action involved going over the Khyber Pass, at the same time marching the army through Sind in violation of an 1832 treaty[xi], using the Persians siege of Herat as an excuse.

Ranjit Singh had ensured that the British would take the lead in restoring Shah Shuja to his throne. The Commander in Chief of British forces in India disapproved of the plan and Wellington, who had served in India, thought it would mean

‘A perennial march into Afghanistan.’[xii]

Palmerston thought that the expedition would;

‘Place the Dardanelles more securely out of the grasp of Russia.’[xiii]

On 1^st October 1838, while staying at Simla, George dethroned Dost Mohammed[xiv] as a preliminary to the campaign. On 24^th October Emily wrote;

‘News had arrived yesterday that the Persians had abandoned the siege of Herât, and so the

--s fancied that the Cabul business would be now so easy.’[xv]

9,500 Crown and East India Company troops formed the core of the invasion force, backed up by 6,000 local troops under the command of Shah Shuja[xvi], George’s choice for leader of Afghanistan. George and Emily attended a ceremonial parade of the troops on 3^rd December before they departed.

‘For Runjeet, instead of being satisfied with a general view of the line, insisted on riding down the whole of it, about three miles, and inspecting every man….……in front there was the army marching by. First the 16^th Hussars, then a body of native cavalry, then the Queen’s Buffs, then a train of artillery drawn by camels, then Colonel Skinner[xvii]’s wild native horsemen.’[xviii]

Ghazni

Shah Shuja entered Kandahar on the 25^th April 1839 and Ghazni was taken by storm on 2rd July. The invasion itself was a success in that on 6^th August 1839, following the flight of Dost Mohammed, Shah Shuja regained his throne; the trick would be to keep him there. For his part in the success George was made Earl of Auckland.

The Disastrous Expedition

Ranjit Singh

Emily recorded Rajhit Singh’s death on 27^th June

‘We heard of dear old Runjeet’s death……It is rather fine, because so unusual in the East, that even to the last moment, his slightest signs, for he had long lost his speech, were obeyed.’[xix]

The government in India was concerned that Ranjit’s death could endanger the British lines of communication with Kabul. The Edens returned to Calcutta on the 1^st March 1840.

Dost Mohammed

Unpopular with the Afghans, the incapable Shah Shuja was unable to secure his position in Afghanistan without the support of the British forces and George was determined that the army would return to India. Dost Mohammed surrendered on 3^rd November 1840 and was given sanctuary in British India; Emily drew his portrait during September 1841.

‘I was so active this morning. The Dost and his family all set off to-day for the Upper Provinces, and I have done a sketch of him and his two sons – merely their heads – and wanted his nephew, who is a beautiful specimen of a Jewish Afghan, to fill up the sheet; so Mr. C— abstracted him out of the steamer early this morning and brought him to my room before breakfast.’[xx]

In April 1841 George appointed Major General Elphinstone as head of the British forces in Afghanistan, against the wishes of the Commander in Chief of all British forces in India[xxi]. George and Macnaghten, described disparagingly by Wellington as

‘”The gentlemen employed to command the army.”’[xxii]

believed they could withdraw the troops supporting Shah Shuja at a leisurely pace. George had refused to allow proper fortifications to be built for the garrison of Kabul[xxiii]. As an economy measure he also reduced the subsidies given to local chiefs to keep the passes open.

Bibliography

The Last Mughal – William Dalrymple, Bloomsbury 2006

Up the Country – Emily Eden, Virago 1983

Heaven’s Command – James Morris[xxiv], Penguin 1979

The Age of Reform – Sir Llewellyn Woodward FBA, Oxford University Press 1997

www.wikipedia.en

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[i] Lord Heytesbury had been chosen by Robert Peel for the post before the change of ministry

[ii] 14 miles up the Hooghly River

[iii] Up the Country - Eden

[iv] Leader of the Sikhs

[v] The trip was due to last eighteen months

[vi] Up the Country - Eden

[vii] Ibid

[viii] Ibid

[ix] Currently Foreign Secretary

[x] George had instructions to forestall Russian encroachment towards British India

[xi] Opening the Indus to trade provided that no munitions of war were carried on the river

[xii] The Age of Reform - Woodward

[xiii] Ibid

[xiv] Emir of Kabul

[xv] Up the Country - Eden

[xvi] The former ruler of Kabul; Shuja’s troops were under the command of Macnaghten, the Political Officer

[xvii] Of the East India Company; leader of Skinner’s Horse

[xviii] Up the Country - Eden

[xix] Ibid

[xx] http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/eden/letters/letters.html#II-44

[xxi] Elphinstone had no experience of fighting in the east and was ill

[xxii] The Age of Reform - Woodward

[xxiii] Shah Shuja had taken the citadel for his seraglio

[xxiv] This edition predates Jan Morris’s change of gender from James

Emily Eden

An August Family

William Eden

Emily Eden[i] was born on 3^rd March 1797 in Old Palace Yard in Westminster. She was the twelfth of fourteen children[ii] of William Eden, first Baron Auckland and his wife Eleanor Elliot, daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot[iii] and sister of the future Earl of Minto,[iv]. William Eden was an influential Whig politician[v] and a friend of William Pitt the Younger. One of Emily’s uncles was the last British Governor of Maryland, Sir Robert Eden; another uncle, Morton[vi], was a diplomat.

In the year of Emily’s birth her eldest sister Eleanor[vii] was the subject of much public interest when it was rumoured that she was about to marry the younger Pitt. When the matter became public Pitt denied ever having proposed, much to Sir Gilbert’s fury. Two years later Eleanor married the Earl of Buckinghamshire[viii] as his second wife[ix]. When Emily was three her sister Elizabeth married Francis Osborne[x] and Elizabeth and her husband had five children.

Eleanor Hobart, Countess of Buckinghamshire

Emily’s childhood was spent at Eden Farm, near Beckenham in Kent. Eleanor Eden ensured that Emily was well educated and by the age of 11 Emily had read Boswell’s Life of Johnson, the memoirs of Cardinal de Retz and Shakespeare.

In 1818, when their mother died, Emily and her sister Fanny set up home with their brother George, now Baron Auckland[xi]. In 1810 George was elected MP for Woodstock and Emily became accustomed to acting as a hostess at Whig events.

The Marriage Conundrum

Lady Emily Cowper

In 1828 when Lady Caroline Lamb, the wife of the leader of the Whigs Lord Melbourne, died the 31 year old Emily was seen as a potential second wife for the Whig politician. Emily occasionally stayed at Panshanger, the home of her friend Lady Emily Cowper, Melbourne’s sister; Melbourne found Emily’s company charming.

Lady Cowper and her cronies soon began to discuss the prospect of marriage between the pair. Emily, as a practised Whig hostess would make the perfect wife; there would be none of the tantrums and passionate interludes that Lady Melbourne had been so fond of and had made her husband’s life so hideous.

But Emily’s first impression of Melbourne was far from favourable;

‘He bewilders me and frightens me and swears too much.’[xii]

On further acquaintance Emily’s opinion changed to an affectionate respect, but as far as marriage was concerned Emily was cool;

 ‘I stand very low on the list of his loves and for his thinking well of my principles, it would be rather hard if he did not, considering the society he lives in.’[xiii]

Emily was financially independent and was able to please herself in the matrimonial stakes.  Melbourne was not very keen on the idea of matrimony with Emily either.

Caroline Norton

A cool and rational character himself, Melbourne preferred the dramatic attractions of Mrs Caroline Norton[xiv], for whom Melbourne had found her husband George a job as a police magistrate, thus setting the political world gossiping about the Home Secretary’s entanglement. Emily was not impressed by the volatile Caroline and the feeling was mutual; Caroline wrote to Melbourne in tart mode;

‘You, I suppose, will be happy at Panshanger with the virtuous Stanhope[xv] and the virgin Eden.’[xvi]

Lord Melbourne

But despite this mutual disapproval between Emily and his inamorata, Emily and Melbourne stayed fast friends and correspondents, writing about politics, theology and the foibles of their acquaintances.

The First Book

In 1829 Emily wrote The Semi-Attached Couple, a light hearted look at the world she knew so well. The book owes a great deal to Jane Austen, an author to whom Emily was exceptionally partial.

The story is one of an aristocratic couple who marry, only to fall in love thereafter. Of course the husband believes that his wife has married him because he is rich. When Lord Teviot is likely to lose all he discovers his wife loves him and all ends happily.

‘But Helen wanted no assistance. The tameless energy of eighteen bore her through all the fatigues of broken nights and watchful days; and every hour her husband became dearer to her as she became more necessary to him. His eyes followed her with the tenderest gaze.’[xvii]

But Helen and Teviot’s tale is not the book’s only love tangle;

‘”There were Walden and I, who both fell in love with each other at first sight, we are happy. Beaufort and Mary began by hating each other; they are happy. In Ernest’s case, the love was all on the lady’s side; and now, did anybody ever see a man in such a state of felicity as he is?”’[xviii]

One of the novel’s minor protagonists bears a distinct resemblance to Mrs Bennett of Pride and Prejudice[xix] by Jane Austen. Emily’s Mrs Douglas hates to praise anyone not belonging to her own household;

‘”Oh Helen” said Mrs Douglas, and then paused. She was in imminent peril of being forced to praise, but she escaped with great adroitness. “Well, if Helen were not one of that family, I should n0t dislike her.”’[xx]

Publication was to wait, until after the success of her second novel, in 1860.

Life in Political Circles

Lord Grey

In November 1830 the Whigs returned to power under the premiership of Lord Grey. George was made President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint, while Melbourne was Home Secretary. George was later made First Lord of the Admiralty[xxi], a position he retained when William IV asked Melbourne to take the post of Prime Minister in July 1834 after the resignation of Lord Grey.

The first Melbourne administration lasted until the November, when Earl Spencer died and his son Lord Althorp, leader of the Whigs in the Commons, was translated to the Lords. William IV ordered the Whig government to resign, informing Melbourne that he had asked the Duke of Wellington to form a ministry. Melbourne was annoyed by the king’s interference, but he declined to publicise his feelings in the matter, writing to Emily;

‘I have always considered complaints of ill-usage contemptible, whether from a seduced, disappointed girl or a turned-out Prime Minister.’[xxii]

Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel

Sir Robert Peel of the Tory party replaced Melbourne as Prime Minister. The Peel administration was short lived and the Whigs returned to power in April 1835, when George once again became First Lord of the Admiralty.

In September 1835 an appointment was made that was to cause Lord Melbourne some minor distress and push him into a depression;

‘In 1835 Miss Eden’s brother, Lord Auckland, was made Governor-General of India; and she went away with him. No longer could Melbourne look forward to calling on her each week, for an entertaining talk on the foibles of his colleagues or the Epistles of St Paul; no longer could he relax his taut nerves in the pleasant warmth of her kindness and good sense.’[xxiii]

Bibliography

Melbourne – David Cecil, The Reprint Society 1955

The Semi-attached Couple and the Semi-detached House – Emily Eden, Virago 1988

Heaven’s Command – James Morris[xxiv], Penguin 1979

The Age of Reform – Sir Llewellyn Woodward FBA, Oxford University Press 1997

www.wikipedia.en

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[i] Great-Great-Great Aunt of Anthony Eden

[ii] She had seven sisters and six brothers

[iii] A Scottish politician and scholar

[iv] Governor General of India from 17807 to 1813

[v] Among other posts Sir Gilbert served as Postmaster General and President of the Board of Trade

[vi] Morton was given the title Baron Henley in 1799 for his services to the crown

[vii] Twenty years older than Emily

[viii] A politician who served, among other posts, as the Governor of Madras, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Postmaster General

[ix] His first wife, Margaretta Bourke died in 1796

[x] First Baron Godolphin; he was the second son of the Duke of Leeds and his son George inherited the Dukedom in 1859

[xi] William Eden died in 1814

[xii] Melbourne - Cecil

[xiii] Ibid

[xiv] Granddaughter of Richard Sheridan; her Caroline's campaigning led to the passing of the Custody of Infants Act 1839, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 and the Married Women's Property Act 1870.

[xv] Earl Stanhope

[xvi] Melbourne - Cecil

[xvii] The Semi-attached Couple - Eden

[xviii] Ibid

[xix] First published in 1813

[xx] The Semi-attached Couple - Eden

[xxi] George was First Lord three times and he commissioned William Hobson to sail for the East Indies; Hobson named Auckland in New Zealand after him

[xxii] Melbourne - Cecil

[xxiii] Ibid

[xxiv] This edition predates Jan Morris’s change of gender from James