Begum Johnson

[1] She lived most of her remarkably long life in Calcutta, and was witness to an era which spanned the inception of British rule over Bengal in 1757 to its utter consolidation by the early 1800s.

The first two or three years of their marriage were peaceful, but the early 1750s was a period of political strife in Bengal, and the couple were caught up in the turmoil surrounding the succession of Siraj ud-Daulah on the death of his grandfather Alivardi Khan.

In 1758, Frances's husband was given a fortune in recognition of his services, and was briefly appointed governor of Fort William, but he chose to retire "home", as the phrase was.

It is unclear why Frances separated herself from her children and returned to India, unless she had found herself a misfit in British society and had been unable to adjust to a new environment during the ten years she spent there.

Whatever the reason, she set sail for India in 1769 and settled in Calcutta, the scene of the best years of her life, when her husband had held high office there and made a fortune besides.

Frances lacked her husband's enthusiasm for evangelism, and had not exactly emptied her coffers to fulfil his dream; she now chose to spend her money in quite another way.

Possessed of considerable wealth, in addition to peculiar charm and ability which made her a great favourite in Calcutta, she had evidently not found Johnson indispensable to her life's happiness, so that when he left India on retirement, she decided to remain there.....

Kathleen Blechynden wrote in Calcutta: Past and Present (1905): It is not difficult to picture the old lady, in her hale old age, reclining among great cushions, waited on by attentive slave girls, enjoying the fragrant hookah, and telling over the oft-told tale of her experiences and adventures when under the protection of her friend the begum, whose title, so often on her lips, was turned by her friends in kindly jest into a soubriquet for herself.

That the old lady was very particular about the observance of forms and ceremonies is shown by her having obtained from the Marquess of Wellesley the grant of a plot of ground, and permission that she might be buried in St. John's Churchyard, which had long been closed for interments, and also the promise that she should have a public funeral.

When, in 1812, the time came for the fulfilment of these undertakings, Lord Wellesley had long vacated the Governor-Generalship, but his successor redeemed his pledge, and Begum Johnson was followed to her last resting-place by all the members of Calcutta society, headed by the Governor-General in his state coach, drawn by six horses, attended by the Body-Guard, and followed by the members of Council, and judges in their coaches.She died in Calcutta on 3 February 1812.

Her memorial in St. John's Church (no longer the cathedral) states 'The oldest British resident in Bengal, universally beloved, respected and revered'.

In 1990 the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia published a book entitled The Calcutta of Begum Johnson, taking her name to sum up an age.