ABSTRACT
The Honourable Emily Eden accompanied her brother George, Lord Auckland, to India while he was Governor-General from 1836—42. Both Emily and her brother were unmarried, and Emily undertook the role of hostess in his social obligations, both in London society and in India. Eden is quick to detect the weaknesses of a society of predominantly middleclass origins with pretensions to an aristocracy in the Indian context. She unmercifully exposes petty snobbery toward Indians and Eurasians. Indians, by contrast, are treated with refreshing openness, and judged according to the merits of each case. In Eden's defence all one can reply is that there is no evidence that she did not suspect the true nature of things. Less well-known are the Letters from India, posthumously published in 1872 by her niece, Eleanor Eden. The work contains letters covering her entire stay in India, from the earlier part of her stay in India, before she embarks on the tour, to the final days.
