Ribbons Among the Rajahs: A History of British Women in India Before the Raj

British women traveled to the East Indies in increasing numbers, shaping early cross-cultural life before the Raj.

From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, British women started travelling in any numbers to the East Indies, mostly to accompany husbands, brothers or fathers. Very little about them is recorded from the earlier years, about the remarkable journeys that they made and what drove them to travel those huge distances. Some kept journals, others wrote letters, and for the first time ...