Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 9 January 1847-4 April 1847 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 bound volume of 177 pages
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Harriet Susan Swayne was born in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India on 16 February 1826 to Major Stephen Swayne of the 5th Native Infantry and Harriet Maria née Johnstone. She married Dr Robert George Marshall, an army surgeon, on 13 May 1840 at the exceptionally young age of 14. The couple had two children, Robert George Swayne Marshall (1841-1915) and Harriett Susan Marshall (1842-1926). She and her husband lived at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, where Robert died on 23 March 1857. Harriet subsequently moved to England and died on 4 December 1909 at Iron Acton, Gloucestershire.
Archival history
Unknown.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Donated by Dr John Logan to University of Limerick on 9 July 2024.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Journal kept by Harriet Marshall née Swayne during a voyage from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India with her two children to visit her in-laws in England and Ireland. The journal commences on 9 January 1847 with her arrival in Calcutta, where she spends the rest of the month waiting for the commencement of the next leg of her journey on board the vessel Alfred. While in Calcutta, she visits old friends and old scenes, having lived there eight years previously: ‘I had left Calcutta a child and returned a Woman and a Mother, how little had I fancied when I bade it farewell that I should return thus.’
The bulk of the journal is kept on board Alfred and contains descriptions of Harriet's fellow passengers, daily life on the vessel and the grinding monotony of long sea voyages. There are squabbles among children and endless quarrels among passengers, particularly women. Harriet herself becomes embroiled in a hostile exchange of words with the ship's captain, Edward Wall, who makes a derogatory comment about doctors, unaware that Harriet's husband is an army surgeon.
Remarkably, Harriet does not suffer from sea sickness even in the roughest of weathers, and has no patience for those who do. She does, however, regret having allowed herself ‘to be talked into taking a Cabin below [deck]’, where the air is stale as the port holes can only rarely be opened. She also regrets having chosen to travel by sea and concludes that ‘I will undergo any inconvenience & rough travelling rather than come back by sea to India[.] in an Overland trip there is something stirring every day, but here we breathe an impure atmosphere & when we do go upstairs it is only to walk up & down… nothing stirring but the ship’.
Alfred arrives on the island of Saint Helena on 30 March and the passengers get to enjoy a rare break on land. On 31 March they make an excursion around the island, which Harriet describes in great detail, including her disappointment at the shabby state of Napoleon Bonaparte's home. The journal ends with an entry made on 1 April as Alfred weighs anchor and leaves St Helena for England. Harriet's last lines read: ‘now I must go on with my Journal on sheets of Paper till we arrive in England.’ These loose sheets do not appear to have survived, and the fate of any of Harriet's other journals is unknown.
The journal is a useful research source for life in the service of the British Empire and the challenges of ocean travel. More broadly, it provides interesting insights into the lives of women and children in the nineteenth century and the societal mores that defined and separated the sexes.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Unrestricted access to item.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- Béarla
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Bound hardback volume with most of the leaves detached from the spine but otherwise in good condition. Handle with care. Use book rest.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Available digitally on the University of Limerick Digital Library at https://doi.org/10.34966/uldl.jqqz-m397.
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
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Subject access points
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Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
This description follows guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd edition, 2000; Irish Guidelines for Archival Description, 2009; National Council on Archives: Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; and EAP Guidance on Data Protection for Archive Services, 2018.
Status
Level of detail
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Archivist's note
Document described by Anna-Maria Hajba in October 2024.