Document Type
Research Report
Original Publication Date
2023
Date of Submission
September 2023
Abstract
William Gifford Palgrave (1826-1888) became one of the great Victorian travelers, immortalized in a poem by Alfred Tennyson, “To Ulysses,” in 1888. The letters transcribed here are the record of his first voyage outward in 1847 as an Ensign in the 8th Bombay regiment of native infantry, just after his graduating with a First from Oxford. The letters are found in volume 5 of the Palgrave papers (British Library Add. MS 45738). The first letter is to his mother, dated 28 January 1847 from “Off Cape Mondego” in Portugal, and it describes life on board an outbound steamer. The last is to his uncle William Jackson Hooker, and it is dated 28 November 1848 from Rajcote (Rajkot). By this point he has endured the usual fevers and illnesses, become a professional soldier, learned Hindi and qualified as an interpreter, and to the surprise of his devoted Anglican family converted to Roman Catholicism. The letters provide primary sources for Palgrave’s biography; the recordings of his experience enhance our understanding of the Indian army during the Sikh wars, especially the integration of new English subalterns with minimal military training into the experienced native regiments; finally, Lady Elizabeth Palgrave’s selection of Gifford’s letters home reflects the interactions and family experiences of several highly-cultured Victorian women.
Is Part Of
VCU English Publications
Included in
Asian History Commons, European History Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Military History Commons