Wikibiohistory

:Short of a full ancestry (ahnentafel etc) of Begum Johnson, we cannot be certain that she was part-Indian or not. Her portrait is ambiguous. However, to call her Indian would be correct in the language of that time. She was born in Madras and raised in India, and so counted as "Indian". Her mother's ancestry is not known, but her father was the very British Governor of Fort St. George (Madras). At best, if her mother was part-Indian, she would be part-Indian. That would not make her an Indian wife to the Englishmen then living in Calcutta, but rather an India-born English wife. There are wonderful books debating the nature of English and Anglo-Indian (then known differently) identity in early British India. Unfortunately, I don't think any books exist on the period before Lord Cornwallis and Wellesley, as materials are so scanty. Job Charnock's wife was Indian (apparently a Brahmin widow), but his daughters were apparently regarded as English and certainly married prominent Englishmen.<br>

:Wikibiohistory 00:54, 16 May 2010 (UTC)