She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen: British Women in India

by Katie Hickman

The first British women to set foot in India did so in the very early seventeenth century, two and a half centuries before the Raj.

Women made their way to India for exactly the same reasons men did - to carve out a better life for themselves. In the early days, India was a place where the slates of 'blotted pedigrees' were wiped clean; bankrupts given a chance to make good; a taste for adventure satisfied - for women. They went and worked as milliners, bakers, dress-makers, actresses, portrait painters, maids, shop-keepers, governesses, teachers, boarding house proprietors, midwives, nurses, missionaries, doctors, geologists, plant-collectors, writers, travellers, and - most surprising of all - traders.

As wives, courtesans and she-merchants, these tough adventuring women were every bit as intrepid as their men, the buccaneering sea captains and traders in whose wake they followed; their voyages to India were extraordinarily daring leaps into the unknown.

The history of the British in India has cast a long shadow over these women; Memsahibs, once a word of respect, is now more likely to be a byword for snobbery and even racism. And it is true: prejudice of every kind - racial, social, imperial, religious - did cloud many aspects of British involvement in India. But was not invariably the case.

In this landmark book, celebrated chronicler, Katie Hickman, uncovers stories, until now hidden from history: here is Charlotte Barry, who in 1783 left London a high-class courtesan and arrived in India as Mrs William Hickey, a married 'lady'; Poll Puff who sold her apple puffs for 'upwards of thirty years, growing grey in the service'; Mrs Hudson who in 1617 was refused as a trader in indigo by the East Indian Company, and instead turned a fine penny in cloth; Julia Inglis, a survivor of the siege of Lucknow; Amelia Horne, who witnessed the death of her entire family during the Cawnpore massacres of 1857; and Flora Annie Steel, novelist and a pioneer in the struggle to bring education to purdah women.

For some it was painful exile, but for many it was exhilarating. Through diaries, letters and memoirs (many still in manuscript form), this exciting book reveals the extraordinary life and times of hundreds of women who made their way across the sea and changed history.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, India, Womens, Biography, Historical, British Literature

Audible Audio

First published May 2, 2019

About the author

Katie Hickman was born into a diplomatic family in 1960 and has spent more than twenty-five years living abroad in Europe, the Far East and Latin America. She is featured in the Oxford University Press guide to women travellers, Wayward Women.

Reviews

[Nijah Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book as a native of the subcontinent was equal parts fascinating and infuriating- whilst I felt sympathy for the British women who immigrated to India the book documents, I also felt appalled at the level of racism and superiority that was so casually assumed by these women. Though in places the writer Katie Hickman tries to counter such tendencies that emerge from the historical texts she relied on to write this account, at other times I felt she gave undue credit and importance to women who thrived under EIC rule in India at the expense of the locals. Nevertheless, the book was an eye opener and a welcome refresher on history I had up until now only studied with a passive interest in high school.

[Katedurie50 · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are more groundbreaking or erudite books on the British in India, several of them by William Dalrymple, but also something like Jane Robinson's book on the women of the Mutiny (or Uprising, as it tends to be called now.) But this book is a colourful, entertaining narrative, full of offbeat and eccentric characters, exceptional rather than typical women, from the early days of the East India Company (determinedly hostile to any female presence until it realised it needed Wives to keep men there and began shipping out twelve year old orphans. Poor things) until the medical women, as well as educators, who arrived in the decades after the Uprising. Their stories are full of fascination: Biddy Timms from Surrey, who collaborated with and married an Indian Muslim; Mrs Leeson, who in the Uprising survived as all her children and pupils and friends were slaughtered round her; Flora Annie Steel, who wrote the definitive guide, as no-nonsense, opinionated and blunt as she was, on adapting to Indian life, as well as a number of novels, which show a degree of sympathy for Indian culture and practices.
And incidental details are fun -like Baron Ochterlony, who took the air each evening with his thirteen native mistresses, all mounted on elephants. He wouldn't have got away with that in Forfar.

[Syeda Amna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was both intriguing and infuriating. Katie Hickman claims that the earliest British women to arrive on the subcontinent were not quite the colonialists that came later, and I guess that is supposed to make them more sympathetic characters, but this focus on individual women who had no intention to colonize India seems to miss the forest for the trees. It does not change the orientalist lens or the privilege many of these women had... At times, such as at the beginning of chapter 2, even the East India Company is portrayed as a struggling, fledgling company dependent on the whims of the British monarchy, and while this may have been true in the seventeenth century, the tone in which those paragraphs are written makes the reader almost want to root for the company. This is problematic if you're not familiar with Indian history.
Towards the end, there is a longer acknowdgement of the colonial mindset some of these women had, especially when the author discusses he 1857 War of Independence. But what happened during and after that war is hard to miss/ whitewash.
It seems as though we are encouraged to root for or sympathize with women who arrived in the subcontinent because they were daring and "different" from other British women at the time and were sometimes in great peril. In celebrating their accomplishments, Hickman steamrolls over very infuriating events during British colonization (Battle of Plassey, anyone?) and offers no real commentary about their complicity in the whole endeavor. In other words, because they were not direct colonists, we can celebrate them with a half hearted attempt at understanding the nuances/ dynamics of power at the time. This is the sort of stuff you expect from first wave feminists, not anyone who is attempting to be remotely intersectional.
Honestly, I would have given this one star but Hickman knows how to turn a phrase. The descriptions (of storms at sea, and court politics, etc) are very well written. She also picks just the right quotes from all of the historical sources she uses (diaries, letters, etc) to paint a vivid, exciting picture of the times. I enjoyed reading about how the EIC policies towards women changed over time as the needs of the British settlements in India changed, even though the interactions with Indians sometimes seemed tone deaf.

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the life of me, I can't remember how I first came across this book, and it's really bugging me. Oh, well.

This is an interesting one - a very narrow history of British women who travelled to India during the time of the East India Company or under the official rule of the British Crown.

It excels at highlighting the experiences of particular women. There's no end to anecdotes about their lives, with some commentary about general expectations of what life had been like for them. But in focusing on details, "She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen" loses some of the greater picture. The exact situation of British people as a whole on the subcontinent can be inferred to a certain point, but it's never clearly stated. I assumed it's presumed to be known.

It's a very informative book, but I'd recommend already knowing about the history of India before starting it.

[Molly Trammell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good, comprehensive history of British women in India. I saw some negative reviews that it didn’t include Indian voices as much, and it doesn’t, but that isn’t what it set out to do. I think it is definitely skewed to favor the British a bit, which can be somewhat unsavory at times, but it was never too blatant. It was well-researched, but there were a fair amount of typos which doesn’t really instill confidence. Overall, it was educational and I think it offers a good perspective on British women in India.

[Adrian]

A rich history of British women in India. The earliest were in the early 17th century when three intrepid souls tried to set up business. The 18th century attracted women like Eliza Faye and Henrietta Clive whose curiosity about the continent pushed them to travel widely and learn much while spurning the ex-patriot community. By the 19th century this passion for India had cooled in those who arrived, the British came to see India and Indians as a conquered people and more racist views of locals prevailed. The trouble caused by disease, heat, loneliness and foreign manners were a constant source of tension and worry. There is an excellent section on what women suffered after the 1857 mutiny in particular in the sieges of Lucknow and Cawnpore. The book ends with the exploits of two British nurses sent to Delhi to fight an occurance of the plague in 1898. Very moving stuff. Hickman is in complete control of the material and you couldn't ask for better history.

[Val Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book. The enjoyment was lessened for me as I read it on my Kindle, as it has a lot of footnotes and references it makes it a little difficult. However, if you are interested in history and India, and are able to read it in book form, I would recommend.

[Lettice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that Katie Hickman brings stories from.women's history to life but I didn't enjoy this one as much as Daughters of Britannia. Think perhaps this book suffers from being published before 2020's Black lives matter protests and now it feels more challenging to be reading about white privileged (mostly) women and their experiences as part of a conquering race in a county that very reasonably didn't welcome the East India Company or being treated very badly by the English. I found myself wanting to read about the Indian women's experiences instead.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating account of the many women from Britain who went to India from the seventeenth century onwards, giving a much broader picture of women in India then just the nineteenth century memsahibs, or those unkindly designated as the fishing fleet. There are lots of accounts of women in their own words which adds to the vividness of the stories, many of which are quite gripping, given the many dangers and adventures that these women faced.

[A J HOOPER · Rating 4 out of 5]

First class history of the British in India focussing on the female residents. I'm fascinated to learn more about life on that continent. But appalled to read about the siege of Lucknow and the atrocities of Cawnpore, literally dreadful.

[Natalie Awdry · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a phenomenal, fascinating and different book. I had recently become fascinated with the life of the "Anglo-Indians" after having discovered that my great-great grandmother was born in India. I had so many assumptions around the life they would have led, the opinions they would have had and the way they would have treated the native people and themselves. Gosh, was I wrong!

While I had assumed that the English would have kept themselves to themselves and led sheltered lives away from the hustle and bustle of the Indian streets, Hickman portrayed a very different reality. I am not sure where my assumption came from, but when imagining my g-g-grandmother, I had pictured her only interacting with Indians if they were house servants and being more or less geographically limited to her house or the house of her noble friends (having got there in a closed carriage). What I found, to my delight, was that the interaction between the races was much more widespread than I imagined.

I also like how unreservedly Hickman describes the atrocities performed on both sides of the story. Now, don't get me wrong, I think that the British colonial hold over the Indian sub-continent is one of the worst parts of our history, but I think that I had received a very biased education in this area. Everything I had learnt had said that the British were the perpetrators of all the worst fighting and injustices; that everything wrong on the subcontinent was the fault of the British; that the British believed themselves to be superior to everyone else and wouldn't interact with the natives. What I discovered through Hickman's book is that, yes, the British were awful but that it was a lot more nuanced than I had been led to believe. For example, I knew absolutely nothing about the uprisings of 1857.

I found it to be a very well-written, and well-researched, book given the difficulty of finding women through history. I had struggled when trying to find first hand accounts of women, similar to my g-g-grandmother who were living and being raised in India but aside from Fanny Parkes (who is a bit of an anomaly anyway!) I couldn't find anyone who wrote in their own words. I'd definitely recommend this book for an interesting and alternative take on a well-known subject.

[Simon Binning · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle to this book is 'British Women in India', which very neatly sums up its scope and purpose. The author takes us on a sometimes whirlwind tour of the last four centuries, introducing us to a variety of women who made the journey to India from Britain.
Many, perhaps most, had little real idea of the country they were travelling to, but they had their reasons for going. Be it to make a new life, find a husband, or merely for the adventure, their individual stories, told from their own writings or official records, are remarkable.
Some found a land to fall in love with, others hated every minute. Some tried to learn and understand the cultures they encountered, while others remained firmly apart, seeing themselves as above anything and anyone they met.
The huge gap between those who first travelled to India in the seventeenth century and those of a later age is also remarkable. In the earlier period, the journey took up to twelve months, and many didn't make it. Once there, it was a land of opportunity and danger, though one which had, as yet, not fully realised the threat from the British and the East India Company.
Within a hundred years or so, the states which covered the sub-continent had discovered their mistake but it was too late. And things had changed for women, too.
In the early days, many women made the journey and thrived independently. They travelled, they set up small businesses, some inheriting them from dying husbands, and they created schools. Some of their stories match any tale of derring-do you can think of.
But as time went on, women were slowly nudged into the background, and although there were always some pioneers, by the late Victorian era, most women were dependent on their husbands, following them from post to post across the imperial provinces.
The author has managed to capture the spirit of the women she writes about beautifully in a fresh and engaging way. Their stories, often told from first-hand accounts, brim with their intelligence, their wit and their sheer chutzpah. Some suffered greatly during their time in India, and all were changed by their experiences. But the majority seemed to have loved the place, the people, and their lives there.

[Pierke Bosschieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

She-Merchants, Buccaneers & Gentlewomen sets out to recover the variety of British women’s lives in India from the early East India Company era through the late 19th century. I think it largely succeeds in moving past the stock “memsahib” image. The early chapters, especially on the 1600s and 1700s, feel fresh, and the portraits of figures like Fanny Parkes, Henrietta Clive, and Biddy Timms are vivid without being romanticised. What stood out to me were the textures of daily life—mobility, household management, illness, and the rhythms of travel—and the way curiosity and entitlement often sit side by side. Hickman is clear that these women were part of a colonising project, and that acknowledgment grounds the more adventurous episodes.

The title primed me for a sustained focus on women as economic actors, but actual “she-merchants” are thinner on the page than I expected. There are glimpses of traders and entrepreneurs, yet the narrative leans toward gentlewomen whose letters and diaries have survived. That source bias is understandable, but it narrows the social range and leaves working women and artisans more in the background than the title implies.

Structurally, the chronological sweep keeps the pages turning, though recurring themes—health, cross-cultural friendships, domestic labour—can flicker in and out rather than building cumulatively. The 1857 chapters are gripping, but the emphasis falls more on British experiences than on the wider Indian catastrophe. After 1857, the pace quickens; the later decades receive brisk treatment, and I would have welcomed more space for the late-Raj period and for mixed families and education reforms.

As a panoramic introduction for general readers, the book is lively, humane, and full of memorable scenes that complicate easy clichés. If the goal is a readable survey that broadens the cast of characters, it delivers. If you’re seeking a deeper analysis of class, race, and women’s roles in trade and finance—or a fuller account of the late 19th century—you’ll need to supplement it. I enjoyed the journey most in the earlier sections and would recommend the book with those caveats in mind.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book. The author had done some archival work to unearth the experiences of women in India during the rise and fall of the British East India Company. The title promised ‘She-merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen,’ but sadly only delivered on gentlewomen. As a result, the book does feel somewhat similar across the board, with some exceptions, not helped by the authors insistence to use the women’s marital status and surname instead of first name, giving the chapters a distinctly Austen-like flavour. I wanted to really enjoy this book but it dragged on occasion, simplified Indian women (too often claiming there were no Indian women at all when she meant elite Indian women, because there were women servants and nannies) and just didn’t strike the right notes for me. I could be a fussy reader but it felt like there was something missing, a greater panorama perhaps or at least a more forthright acknowledgement that this was a book largely about an elite, either born or self-made.

[Aarathi Ganesan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories and experiences, however, the sources by the English women are not complemented by any sort of meaningful discussion of Indian women. The British women said Indian women were stuck in zenanas and lived grand lives, and that's all there was to it--Hickman takes this at face value, perhaps ignoring the rich literary and political traditions that women have sustained in the subcontinent, even after the British arrived, even if 'only' in their homes. Does she need to explicitly delve into it? No, that's not the point of the book. Could she have painted a fuller picture of the society the British women partly colonised? Absolutely. It's surprising this has happened, given that Dalrymple's White Mughals (which focuses on the agency of women in part) is cited so liberally!

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this, but the blatant favoritism towards the British and flagrant romanticisation of the “shared history” frustrated and saddened me. Yes, she acknowledges discussing Indian women was beyond the scope (and title) but then don’t cheer on the “shared history forever entwined”. I don’t recommend. This could have done so much better and reads like a poorly constructed thesis, jumping from theme to idea without structure barring a sort of a timeline (colonial to boot). Would read as an appendix to a larger work of history on the tragic and racist colonialism of the British in India.

[Lenore . · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BUTTERFLI PINNERS
(for henrietta clive)

one must admire the precision of their craft.
how deliberately they’ve caught
the chitin-winged state of being
and stoppered it in a brain-chamber
until it could be papered with such care
that even in a hundred years upon display the i-
spot still appears to twitch.

*note: the purpose of the eye-spot is to make the self seem greater to the spectator.

my poems: instagram | tumblr

[Mekare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rarely give up on a book, but sadly this was a book I gradually lost interest in. I think it may work as a reference book, but for me, I just got bored.
It’s well written, but I found it to be repetitive (most Brits were ignorant and/ or segregated from the local populace. Women were seldom seen etc)
I’ve enjoyed Hickmans fictional work, and rate her fiction higher than her non- fiction (purely down to my personal preferences)
It’s not bad enough to warrant under 3 stars but as I got bored and ultimately gave up on it, I can only give 3 stars.

[Gabrielle (Estel.Edits) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickman did a great job of including the primary docs that include shining moments of personality from these women.
- London prostitutes turned respectable British housewives in India
- women traveling independently and creating connections with those in purdah
- the manuals of how to be a housekeeper in India

The conclusion didn't hit for me. I very much disagree that early memsahibs had experiences "closer to that of immigrates than that of colonizers." It was a poor way to end the book.

[Melanie Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed some of the individual females stories within the text and the extended history of the British empire in India, specifically from a female perspective. Some horrifying details of cruelty and torture and an in-depth perspective of the massacres and reprisals in the late 19th century. Extremely interesting if not always comfortable reading.

[V C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish.

Got slightly over halfway through and could plough through the book no more.

Less she merchants and buccaneers and more domestic, subservient, prejudiced gentlewomen.

I mistakenly thought the book was going to be more about interesting, entrepreneurs and less domestic little women with little views. My mistake.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the beginning I was incredibly bored, to the point I almost just stopped reading. It did become more interesting and absorbing as I went on. Even then, it was hit-or-miss, and not all of the women's lives resonated with me. I also didn't feel like there was a satisfactory conclusion.

[Verity W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more, but I found the writing style hard going. The topic is very interesting and the women who Hickman has found to use as case studies (of a sort) are fascinating, but the narrative does flow and the timeline gets jumbled.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an entertaining (but at times horrific) read. I’d have liked to know more about the she-merchants but the insight into women’s lives was fascinating.

The book ended abruptly and was a bit jokey in tone at times hence three stars instead of four.

[Emel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was excellent! It starts out fun and jolly, as life would have been for the cast of characters, but gets darker and more distressing as history plays out. Really wonderful - I barely noticed that it was non-fiction!

[Miles Row · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading as gives a very different view from other non-fiction and fiction I've come across about imperial women travelling from Britain. I'll give it another go as did not get into it as much as other history books but not sure why it engaged me less.

[James Booknight · Rating 1 out of 5]

If there are to be extensive descriptions of she-merchants and buccaneers in this book, they certainly aren't in the first two hundred pages, which was about as much pearls, port, and quadrilles I could stomach before giving up.

[Marianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good research and a very readable text. It is a page-turner.

[PJ Ebbrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book for both the beginnings and the end. The middle bit meandered but was interesting. I need to read more about the early period of EIC.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers three centuries of the lives of British women in India and how they got there. Accessible and well-researched. Disappointingly, fewer buccaneers than I would have liked.