Birds of Passage: Henrietta Clive's Travels in South India 1798-1801

by Henrietta Clive, Nancy K. Shields (Editor)

Lady Henrietta Clive travelled through southern India with her children in the aftermath of the Third Mysore War against Tipu Sultan. The editor has interwoven extracts from Henrietta's journals with passages from the diary of her 12-year-old daughter and from her correspondence with her brother, George Herbert, Earl of Powis.

Genres: Travel, India, History, Biography

328 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[a hooded figure from your friendly neighbourhood dog park]

Lady Henrietta Clive and her girls seem fascinating and pretty damn modern-minded for their times. The prologue was a tantalising teaser of travels through South India and got me really pumped to get to know Henrietta... but the truth is, the rest of the book didn't live up to those expectations? It read more like S. Marshak's poem about the lady's luggage, repeating over and over again, and I don't feel like I've actually traveled anywhere or got to know these people beyond their gift exchanges and bowel complaints and occasional nice witticism/actual bit of India. Maybe it's the epistolary format that made my limited attention drift all the time or I just fail as a reader, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

[Eunice]

Well done to Nancy Sheilds for uncovering Henrietta Clive's journals and letters and editing them into this lovely little book. Lady Clive (daughter-in-law of Clive of India) accompanied her husband when he was posted as Governor of the Carnatic by the East India company in 1798. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan at Seringapatnam she set out with her two teenage daughters, the governess, her Persian teacher and an entourage of several hundred to support them, to travel first to Bangalore for the cooler summer climate and then on to Seringapatnam, Mysore across the hills to Coimbatore, Palani and then followed the Cavery to Tanjore and back to the coast and Madras. He stayed in Madras running the Carnatic.

I read her account while staying at our cottage which is about 50km south of Palani. We are about to set off in the reverse direction to Mysore. It is wonderful to read her descriptions of places which are very familiar - she spent several weeks living on top of a rock at Ratnagiri, she met some of Tipu's wifes (who seem to have had a pretty dismal life even before he was overcome). At Tanjore she met Serfoji, the famous Maharaj and described also meeting his wives.

On her journey she looked for minerals, plants and produce to send to Madras and sometimes back to UK. She maintained a voluminous correspondence but often letters tooks months if not years to reach their destination.

The book is a selection from her journal and that of her daughter and her letters. These have been beautifully put together. Only one quibble - a few more notes and, in some cases, giving the modern names of the places she is visiting would help.

[Kate]

By eland publishing which does out of date travel books
Published mark Shand

[Holli]

This was research. Read primarly for the first hand account of Madras in 1790-1800. Well organized. Good extra details. Learned a lot.