ABSTRACT
Hickey returned to London from Jamaica with no employment prospects. He, therefore, resolved to return to India as an attorney, there being a demand for attorneys in the Supreme Court that had recently been established in Bengal in 1774. His father, Joseph, provided his son with many letters of recommendation. Hickey established himself in Calcutta and quickly became a successful attorney there. He returned to London in 1779 to deliver a petition to Parliament, and during his time in London, he again succumbed to temptation and returned to his dissolute ways. Hickey drank heavily and consorted with prominent courtesans, like Emily Warren, and another, named Charlotte Barry, became the love of his life. She accompanied Hickey on his return to India. En route, their ship nearly sank during a severe storm, which Hickey describes at length. The survivors were then captured by the French; captors, though enemies of Britain, whom Hickey found gracious and gentlemanly, especially in their treatment of Charlotte. Shortly after their arrival in Calcutta, Charlotte died of fever.
