Emily Eden

Emily Eden (3 March 1797 – 5 August 1869) was an English poet and novelist who gave witty accounts of life in the 19th century. She wrote a celebrated account of her travels in India, and two novels that sold well. She was also an accomplished amateur artist.

Family ties

Born in Westminster, Eden was the seventh daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, and his wife Eleanor Elliot. She was the great-great-great-aunt of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

The India years

In her late thirties, she and her sister Fanny travelled to India, where her brother George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland was in residence as Governor-General from 1835 to 1842. She wrote accounts of her time there, which were journal-letters to her other sister, Mary Drummond, later collected in the volume Up The Country: Letters Written to Her Sister from the Upper Provinces of India (1867). While the emphasis of her Indian writings was on travel descriptions, local colour and details of the ceremonial and social functions that she attended, Eden also provided a perceptive record of the major political events that occurred during her brother's term of office. These included the total destruction of a British and Indian army during the retreat from Kabul in 1842, a disaster for which George Eden was held partly responsible.

Eden was also an artist who, during her years in India, created portraits and paintings of Indian princes, soldiers, and servants with both technical skill and "psychological insights". Her book, Portraits of the Princes and People of India, was published in 1844. It contained 24 lithographs that were drawn from her sketches of important Indian subjects such as Dost Muhammad Khan and Ranjit Singh.