To begin her journey to England Harriet would have come to the Hooghly River
there were no passenger ships between India and England at the time passengers
had to travel alongside cargo on the East India Company's ships the voyage
was expensive Harriet's grandmother would have had to pay many thousands of
pounds in today's money to bring her to England to find out about Harriet's
journey Olivia is meeting dr. Sudeep Bhattacharyya so Olivia we are lucky
enough to have found a record of the ship that have you traveled on yes list
of ships company James Fairfax Esquire commander oh I hope he's nice there are
a lot of people and over here if would you like to take a look at the list of
children yeah oh this is amazing okay children miss Charlotte softy this
we came six years Harriet's letter here it says seven years old I thought she
was three or four you know these would be approximate ages
and and they wouldn't have referred to any documents oh so they just sort of
guessing yeah but again we have something very interesting children not
accompanied by parents would be accompanied by servants right now we
don't know if it was a company they certainly isn't an attendant listed for
her as you can see she's on her own really she's certainly on her own and
she's child on her own oh that's really sad okay so he was
looking after her Oh probably some other lady who was accompanying her children
would be requested to look after her yes right so hopefully I'm hoping that
someone takes her under their wing I keep saying she's going home to England
but of course she's not she's leaving her home to alien country yes and
imagine her all alone yes all right from kitchen guns brought to Kalka
it's a huge impact and then there she is you know daddy honest it and how long
was the journey it would take about six months six months around six months all
the way through to written oh it's really sad isn't it Bethel girl I've got
quite little children I get really emotional but the good news is that she
got there safely as you can see she disembarked at Long Reach just outside
London and the 20th for me so do we know where she went from there
there's no more information in the shipping records okay is all the
information we have okay all right thank you very much finding out about parrots
journey was a shock the thought of no tiny person going in six months
other families took under their wing I do feel like I'm finding out that this
little person who did become without her I wouldn't be here
I feel quite invested in finding out what happened to her next and hopefully
it's happy and good or I'm leaving
Olivia has come to me professor read round Shu Mukherjee who has more
information about Harriet hello welcome inside thank you so much
yes it is it's a quaint attempt the last time I heard is that my great-great
great-grandmother Harriet landed in London in 1812 and I wanted to know what
happened to her after that well this is the first mention we have of Harriet in
England this is the last will and testament of one Louisa Gerardo I give
to my great niece Harriet's lesser the granddaughter of my said sister Harriet
Elizabeth's letter and now residing with Miss Mills Park Street Bristol Entwistle
the sum of three hundred pounds a lot of money those days three hundred pounds I
hope so this is Harriet's grandmother's sister her great-aunt redone Louisa is
big greeting three hundred pounds does everyone knew about her that's lovely
yes if Miss Mills who's that miss Mills ran a boarding school in in Bristol and
presumably Harriet was a pupil there okay and how old is she here well this
will is 1824 which makes Harriet seventeen eighteen but if you go on
reading there's an addition to the will four years later okay I leave to
Harriet's lesser the granddaughter of my sister's lesser five hundred pounds in
addition to the three hundred pounds bequeath to her by my will
yes I'm imagine now I'm normal affection between these two the great
armed and the great yes 800 quid do you know what that is in today's money
support roughly forty thousand pounds forty thousand it actually makes her
quite a rich girl Wow Oh her luck has changed I'm so pleased
she's about 21 now and now has her own money and do we know what happened to
her after that we do have some information of what she does with that
money a few years down the line okay list of
passengers this is from the Calcutta magazine and monthly register 1832 this
is a list of passengers who have arrived by ship in Calcutta from England so if
you look at the ship Orient ship Orient mrs. Caroline Bell P mrs.
Jane Dixon Georgiana rickets Harriet's letter that's excited so she's gone
she's gone back to India yes she comes back here to Calcutta she's around 24 25
okay this is a massive investment yet to come back so there must be very strong
reasons and motives one possibility is she came back to seek
her roots as it were where she came from if she could find her mother the other
possibility is she seems to have been of mixed integer a new Indian right and she
might be looking to find a suitable husband and it's easier for her to find
a husband in India because of her background than in England interesting
tittle-tattle here is it was very common for English women in the late 18th early
19th centuries to make this journey to look for a husband in fact the Calcutta
slang for many of these ships coming into port was the fishing fleet and
those who went back without a husband were called returned empty
I hope she had fun and do you know she has fun she has a lot of fun a lot of
fun in fact this visit is a turning point in
her life oh good and my favorite so far next document will reveal to you Oh
marriages 1832 on this third day of April 1832 William Trigg Garrett
leftenant bachelor and Harriet's lesser hang on so who is William trig Garrett I
thought my great-great great-grandfather was Charles Bassett
this is Harriet's first husband I'm in 1832 she did that very quickly I think
it'll be worth your while to look at the passenger list of the Orient once again
you read only after Harriet's less hair accessor Laura Duncan and may Charlotte
Logie a tenant W Garret Oh they met on the ship them read on shoot
Oh and then they got married as soon as
they got there yeah so she didn't return empty no she really didn't so it was a
ship romance this is so exciting and do we know what happened to them next yes
we do sacred to the memory of William take
Garrett leftenant Bengal artillery Oh God he departed this life 25th of July
1833 age 29 few years back to her lonely self again
oh poor Harriet seems like everybody dies so now she's young woman
mid-twenties what was it like for a young British widow in well the life of
a widow in 19th century India even for an English widow couldn't
have been easy this was not the place for single right
but that was amazing to find out that Harriet came back to India as country
she was born in hopefully shows that she did in some way hold it dear that
there's some warm place where it started out happy and maybe it'll be that again
and then again this roller coasting she falls in love and within the year
beloved is dead it's just really highlights what a sort of pretty rough
hand she's been dealt she seems to spent her life on her own from the age of
three or four the thought that she's now alone in this country and only in her
mid-twenties look pretty daunting I can't imagine
you